Desperate Measures - Strange Allies

Tisto 13922 COU
Talis 14096 COU
Andan 107 TAL

Drop Shuttle
Unknown Space, 34 ABY
En route to derelict Star Destroyers

The feelings of uneasiness and worry hung over Talis’ mind like a wet towel. He just couldn’t seem to shake off the thought that this was a really bad idea.

“Have I said that I think this is a blatantly obvious ruse?” The Miralukan was met by resounding silence and malice from all the other members of his team.

‘This ought to be fun,’ Talis thought to himself.

Talis didn’t like the idea of exploring and claiming a derelict ship without his unit, Garza’s Pathfinders, but they were off doing other missions and he was the only one free at the moment.

He did one last look over his gear before settling back into his seat and going quiet as he let a few deep breaths in and out. The shuttle began to slow as they approached the hangar bay entrance in the bottom of the nearest Star Destroyer. Something kept nagging at the Miralukan’s senses as they made their final approach.

As the ship came around the Odanite stood and made his way to the door. With a fluid lurch the ship landed and the engines began to spool down.
Talis’ didn’t like the idea of having a cold engine sitting waiting for them if they had a problem.

The Jedi buried his thoughts and pulled out his lightsaber as the landing ramp came to a clanging halt on the durasteel flight deck of the empty hangar.

Talis stepped out into the dimly lit hangar bay behind Tisto, a large Kiffar and their Taldryan allie. Talis didn’t like the emotions rolling off of the large Zabrak. He didn’t look all that bad to the Jedi with his hair kept neat, just inside his crown of spikes that ran down his head and his fiery red eyes that could bore into the souls of the imposing Warlord’s enemies.

The Taldryan’s emotions accentuated the man’s evil look. His sorrow, the Miralukan could understand. He had felt the same way during the sacking of New Tython. The thing the Odanite couldn’t get past was the pure malice rolling off the Sith. It unnerved the Jedi and he knew that he needed to focus to complete this mission.

The Marauder pushed the thoughts from his mind again and went back to scanning his surroundings. There was nothing.

The hangar had nothing in it. No boxes of parts, no destroyed wrecks, no useable equipment from wall to wall. Just lots of empty ground with no cover.

“Let’s move forward,” Aiden piped up from behind the Armored Miralukan, “the bridge should be through those doors and up the elevator.”

“Does this all seem a little fishy to the rest of you?” Talis’ grip tightened on his lightsaber. He could feel it. Almost as if the air itself was tensing up for a fight. The Jedi reached out again and still nothing living was within his range of awareness. Again, the talkative Pathfinder was met by brooding silence.

The group entered the first corridor and nothing. No damage, no rubble, not a single scorch mark marred the pristine dimly lit hallway. The group pushed on and came to the elevator quickly. Tisto stepped forward and began fiddling with the panel. The imposing Hothian seemed to be having some difficulty so Talis figured he would give him some encouragement.

“Do you know what you are doing?” Talis joked, “or are you gonna set off an alarm that wakes everyone up on this ship?”

“Nobody is on this ship.” Aiden interrupted nonchalantly before the Juggernaut could turn around and reply.

“You would think they would send someone who actually knows how to slice things.” Talis’ statement drew a growl and a sideways glare from Tisto that silenced him.

The once comatose panel suddenly sprang to life, startling the entire group and caused the Kiffar to drop his equipment. Talis hadn’t even realized it until moments later when the entire group looked at him. In one hand was a Thermal Detonator with his thumb poised to activate and in his other was his lightsaber. The amethyst blade’s hum echoed down the empty hallways and back to the group.

The Miralukan took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly as he deactivated his lightsabers. The group all tossed glances at each other. They had stopped paying attention to the now active elevator as their attention was firmly glued to their teammate and his overreaction to the panel sudden resurrection. They all failed to notice that the elevator was slowing its descent to stop at their level.

The group turned their attention back to the elevator as the doors shot open. Standing in the elevator was a ten man squad of Iron Legion troopers. Without even thinking Talis clicked the detonator and under handed the thermal explosive into the thick of the group before bouncing out of range of the initial blast.

The resulting explosion pushed out from the elevator as the loud clanging of the lift coming off its rails echoed just after the explosion. Short yells of surprise followed as the elevator broke free and fell to the survivors doom. Talis turned back to Aiden and pointed at the now smoke filled shaft before his booming voice echoed out.

“I told you so, It’s a Trap!”

The biker was able to ignore the Knights comment about not knowing what he was doing. It was obvious what the COU members must be thinking. He was only released from prison a while ago. His skills must have deteriorated. He was untrustworthy. He was a criminal. The stun cuffs on his arms didn’t help. While these were made just to contain him, without limiting his movement, there was always the fear they would go off. Plus now everyone looked at him funny. He was supposed to be a gang leader before jail, and now he was just a man in cuffs.

Yet as the elevator fell, he snapped. This was ridiculous. He was sent here with three people he didn’t know, and this wise cracking fool. It felt like a suicide mission. He dropped his hydrospanner, and extended both arms, focusing on those feelings. He felt something inside him, filling up the cracks that were his constant reminder he was different. He called on the Force, letting it carry his feeling. He opened both his hands, using the Force to slow down the elevator as it fell to the bottom level of the ship. The metal of the elevator groaned from the pressure put on it.

The team could see the color of Tisto eyes change from a dark hazel to a lighter shade as the elevator hit the ground with a light thud. He seemed tired after that, and it did take a lot to hold the elevator from going down at a speed that would kill them for so long. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs and filling himself with the Force. In an instant the exhaustion was gone, and he gave the group a look.

“What no sarcastic remark there Talis? How about you Ryuu? Nothing?” He said quickly, not allowing anyone to butt in. “Would you boys be nice and get the door for the rest of the team so we can get going? Or do I?”

Again without letting them answer he bent down to grab his hydrospanner, then pushed them aside, and tried the door. While the power too it was out, there was little a hydrospanner souldn’t solve when used as a crowbar. The biker couldn’t even remember how many times such a tool had saved his life. But it had regardless. Once he stepped into the corridor he felt that something was off but he couldn’t quite name it. Maybe this is what the fraking Miralukan was talking about. Something isn’t right.

The corridor was spotless, and quiet, almost too perfect. There was something missing, and he had been too distracted before to realize it. He couldn’t feel the engine. It was wrong, there should have been a sign of engine life, yet that was missing. No light hum across the ground. He gave a glance to the group too see if anyone else saw it, but he didn’t want to give anything away.

“Anyone know where the engine is on one of these things?” He asked the others. “If we are going to take off in this thing, I want to see what we are looking at.”