Ending The War, It Begins [SWSE]

[Disciple of Sakura]

Dakine settles in to one of the cramped seats, strapping herself in and feeling the familiar claustrophobic confines of a troop transport. It reminded her of the many times she and her master had been dropped into combat before his injuries. She had felt almost invincible, the Force pumping through her as her lightsaber ignited and rent droids into pieces, dodging blaster fire alongside him. And then had come the heavy blastercannon fire that had all but destroyed his legs... Dakine felt a surge of anger and frustration mixed with a chill of helplessness flow through her, and she gritted her teeth and did her best to force it back down. No point in dwelling on the past right now - she'd have to focus all her thoughts on their current mission so that they could bring this war to an end as soon as possible.  

[jennibert]

Cole heads straight for the cockpit and settles into the pilot's seat. He loves to fly, to know that the ship responds to his whims. This isn't the most beautiful craft he's ever flown, but it doesn't matter. It's taking him back into the sky and off of this miserable rock. That makes it perfect.

Cole takes several minutes to check over his instruments and run through his preflight checklist before yelling back to his new teammates. "Everyone back there ready to go? We'll be taking off as soon as everyone and everything's aboard."  

[Lord of the Vine]

Tiberius takes a seat near the front of the spacecraft.

(...that's pretty much it.)  

[Anatarei Crimsonthrone]

DFKT-1dr enters and surveys the ship, noting the assembled soldiers and ensuring that they are ready for the ship to lift off. "It would appear that we are ready to launch, Mr. MacEachern. Please follow the coordinates preprogramed into the main logic drive." The droid takes a seat in the corner, its legs folding into itself to take up significantly less space than the living members of the crew.

The ship shudders as it takes off, and you can hear the whine of the engines - clearly droids don't care as much about creature comforts in a starship. Cole maneuvers it out of the hangar, finding it a little unresponsive - likely due to it having once used a direct droid-controlled interface. Still, it'll get you into space, most definitely.

"The ship is armed with two heavy blaster turrets on its sides, but you will require a life support suit to man them, should you choose to." DFKT-1dr informs you as Cole hits the accelerator and the starship breaks free of Tattooine's gravity.

{Please feel free to roll me an astrogation roll.}  

[Dallas Moonrain]

"Hopefully we will have no need of ship-based weaponry," says Ayan-Dar, trying to hide his unease. He doesn't mind ships, but he's never actually been in a space battle, and has little interest in changing that.  

[jennibert]

Cole speaks to the ship as he takes her out, coaxing and gentle as if the ship were a child--or a lover. Just because she's slow and unresponsive doesn't make her a bad little ship.

As they start their way into orbit, he turns to his side and flashes a smile at the slip of the girl in the navigator's chair. "You're Knives, right? I'm Cole. Astrogation isn't my thing, so that'll be up to you. You as good at it as you talk? I'd rather not run through an asteroid field or anything." He winks at her, his grin getting a bit wider.  

[Emerald the Crow]

jennibert

Cole speaks to the ship as he takes her out, coaxing and gentle as if the ship were a child--or a lover. Just because she's slow and unresponsive doesn't make her a bad little ship.

As they start their way into orbit, he turns to his side and flashes a smile at the slip of the girl in the navigator's chair. "You're Knives, right? I'm Cole. Astrogation isn't my thing, so that'll be up to you. You as good at it as you talk? I'd rather not run through an asteroid field or anything." He winks at her, his grin getting a bit wider.

Knives snorted derisively. "'As good at it as I talk?' Honey, I'm better than it than I talk." She tapped out a couple of buttons and looked back. "All done. Ready to go when you are." Her smile was cat-like. "Oh, and nice to meet you, Cole. I like your accent."

{Taking 10 on an Astrogation roll gets me a 25, -10 for doing it in one round brings it to a 15, which autosucceeds, so that's naturally what I'll be doing. Zoom zoom.}  

[jennibert]

"Either you're hella good or really careless," Cole says, raising one blond eyebrow. He'd never seen anyone make astrogation calculations that quickly, but from his years of watching Mercer at work, it looked like she'd done it right. "Guess we'll find out if we hit that asteroid field." His face twists into a half-grin. "I like your sytle, Knives. Should be interesting."

"Going into hyperspace!" he shouts back to the passengers in back. "Everybody be ready."  

[Disciple of Sakura]

"That's certainly the fastest I've ever seen someone plot an astrogation. I certainly hope that you're as talented as you're saying, and didn't just imperil us all. Though," she says with something of a wry smile, "I've always wondered what the inside of a sun looked like..."  

[Anatarei Crimsonthrone]

The ship kicks into hyperspace, and you all notice that it feels like it may lack a few of the typical hyperspace buffers common to starships, making it feel slightly uncomfortable. In the pit of your stomachs, you feel a queasiness growing, but you can probably control it. It's likely that droids don't really care about this sort of thing, so their starships don't need the additional supports, and command probably either overlooked it or didn't think it was worth the extra expense.

Fortunately for everyone, Knives is, in fact, a remarkably talented astrogater, and you neither plow through a sun nor get caught in the gravitational well of a black hole - though from the read-outs, you get about thirteen parsecs away from one, which only exacerbates the sensation that a few thousand more credits for a hyperspace buffer would have been well spent.

The trip is otherwise uneventful, taking about eight hours to cross the distance and reach your approach vector for the shadow planet command tipped you off to. As you come out of hyperspace and the stars stop streaking past your windows like white lightsaber blades, you can see the pallid grey planetoid floating in the black fabric of space. Sensors begin to flare to life as readouts warn you of a double-halo of defensive systems and droid-operated battle stations surrounding it.  

[jennibert]

Cole had spent the time in hyperspace dozing as best he could in the not-terribly-comfortable pilot's chair, making him now alert and ready to wind his way as best he can through the obstacles in their way. His face twists into a smile as he evaluates the best way to make it to their landing spot.

{What kind of check do I need for that? Pilot, or should I enlist Knives's assistance at astrogation?}  

[Anatarei Crimsonthrone]

{It'd be a pilot check. Knives is certainly welcome to make a Use Computer check to get read-outs of the area, and anyone interested in making a Perception or Knowledge (Technology) is welcome to do so.}  

[Dallas Moonrain]

I really hate hyperspace. Ayan-Dar is rather green, having only barely managed to keep his lunch down through the flight.

His stomach calms as they come out of hyperspace. He remains silent--he's not that much better--and closes his eyes, using his unity with the force to find anything that may be in their way.

{Ayan-Dar has force perception. +15 for his check.}  

[Emerald the Crow]

Knives stretches out as well as she can at the end of the hyperspace jump. "It's not exactly the most graceful ship, is it? And there isn't even a shred of room to bunk. How boring." She taps the computer displays, bringing up as many read-outs as she can, while perusing the tapestry with eyes alert for anything out of the ordinary.

{In alphabetical order, Knowledge Technology +10 (27), Perception +8 (20), Use Computer +15 (32)}  

[jennibert]

{perception +7, pilot +15}