Trailblazing (OPEN) (Refuge Event Prologue 3)

Keter,@ronwendig

It then seemed for the longest time he stood there alone gaze at the control panel. As his hand hovered briefly over the control which for the most part had been caked over by dust seem so thick. It would seem been such a wonderment to anyone that it still worked. As it lit up and came to life as his fingers glided to tap over them. Cause a seem old rustic door on the side which had been well camouflaged that it blended all too well with the stone wall surrounding it. At which time look up as the faint light above lit to reveal the outline of a ship. To which he could only but couldn't help stare at briefly. While a slight pang of sadness and loss filled him which had only no sooner briefly had been distracted.

By the all too familiar beeps from the sideline as his once dear and faithful droid awoke from his deep slumber of shutting to power down. Rolling over to him and stop but short few inch from him. It dome head it and let off a string of bleep and beeps. To which he'd only replied....

"Yes it is time.....get the ship ready were leaving soon."

He then walked off to the side hatch and opening the door pausing briefly before entering. As memories of old seem to nip at his thought ever so briefly. Of a time long passed and promises once given but now all but fleeting memories. In a long line of once cherished ones.....but he thought now was nothing less than a distant memory....a faint dream that all been dead.

As he then entered same halls and walkways to head towards the cockpit where his droid Briggs met him. Seat himself back down onto the captain chair he then began to work the controls. Just as Briggs inform him that all was set and the wraith was dock onto the ship underbelly. Before turn asks soon he'd plug himself onto the ship control as to where they were heading. To which Ronin could only reply....home I hope....beyond the stars and shadows of what once was.

The Inferno was certainly an older ship in Amnell's book, a classic even. It happened to be one of her favorite ships out there. As a mechanic specializing in the restoration of classic models like this, she had more than her fair share of experience. A ship like this was a dream to be in; here she couldn't have been more content. It was everything she wanted to have in a job, in life.

A ship such as this needed a lot of care and love to maintain. And Amnell was more than happy to do all she could to provide it the love and attention it needed. If you asked her, she thought of ships more as people, and a mechanic like her tended to treat them as you would your partner in a relationship. And love certainly kept em in the air.


The brunette always was checking on its hyperdrive, and vital systems, looking for the slightest sign that something needed her attention and repair. And for today, she had a simple task, replacing a burned out fuse in the secondary engine room. It was a bugger to get out, just being in an awkward spot that took a good amount of effort to get a hand back there to remove the old one. This particular fuse, required her to be halfway underneath the system. Awkward to say the least, but at least she was slender and a bit flexible. That helped in situations like this for sure.

Finally, she pulled it free and pulled the new fuse from her pocket to replace it at last. Once she was certain she'd worked through the problem, she took the time to ensure that nothing else in the tight, cramped space needed her attention. With that done Amnell pushed herself out from underneath it. With some effort, and a bit of a wince she shifted onto her knees to rest for a short bit.

After a couple of minutes, the young woman pulled herself off the floor and dusted herself off as best she could. Though, there were still several oil stains that were going to require effort to remove. Such was the life of a mechanic, always a touch dirty with oil, and the like. With a soft sigh, she brushed a few strands of hair back into place, and quickly fixed her hair back into a neater ponytail, a bit more civilized than what it looked like when she finished the work.

Lately, she'd gotten a bit worried about Felicity. Something wasn't right with her, but she didn't feel that it was her place to inquire. After all, Amnell had her own illness and hated people poking around and asking questions when she least wanted to talk about it. Though at the rate things were going, she might have to broach the subject with her soon. Passing out couldn't be a good thing in the least.

She slowly made her way to the cockpit, and quietly entered to take a seat for a little while. For a few minutes, she waited to make sure Felicity wasn't in the middle of something before she spoke, "I just finished replacing a burned out fuse for the sublight propulsion system. Nothing major, just a secondary fuse but still redundant systems, backups are more than handy in case something goes wrong on the primary." Amnell was a firm believer in always being prepared.

She sighed quietly, "So, I usually don't mind where we go, as long as I can see a touch more of the galaxy, but I can see this trip is making you nervous. And that leads me to my first question, do we know where we are going to end up or what waits for us on the other side? Which brings me to my next question; what can I do to help you right now?" Amnell hoped there was something, anything that she could do to try and help ease Felicity's mind. "The ship's in good order, humming along happily. So don't worry about that. I've got that. But is there anything else I can do to help?"

Owain nodded as he took the datapad with the list on it. Felicity was just giving him busywork. They had chekced over everything thrice, along with their new mechanic, and it wasn't like they would just turn around now if something WAS missing. Felicity was stubborn like that. Despite her royal upbringing, she was no stranger to going without comfort when pursuing her goal. BUt only then. On a regular day, she would not part with the simple joys of a priveliged position. Not that he didn't agree with her.

Knowing a dismissal when he heard one, he turned away and left the cockpit, nodding at their mechanic as they passed each other in the corridor. THe cargo hold had truly become his haunt. Any more of this situation and he would probably start bunking their too.

"We're coming up on our target now," the helmsman reported, not looking from his console. The whole bridge was tinged blue from the hyperspace visible outside the main viewport. The captain of the Relentless, a stocky woman with short blonde hair named Lorrana Satarin, glanced at Keter. The man said nothing. This was her ship, and she would give the orders. He was merely a passenger at the moment.

"Brace for impact and prepare to drop from hyperspace," she said, looking away from Keter.

"Aye, all hands brace for impact," the helmsman repeated, conveying the message across the whole ship before reaching out to rest a hand on a lever. "Exiting hyperspace in 3...2...1!" he counted down, pulling the lever as he reached the last digit. There was a lurch as the ship dropped back into space, hurtling through the void at what Keter had termed Waypoint, an insignificant system without even any useful mineral deposits, some light years away from Ilum.

"Shields up, engines low. Let us drift in," Lorrana ordered, her green eyes narrowed as she scanned the view before them, as if she could spot any anomalies better than their scanners could. "Any contacts?"

"Negative."

The woman nodded and focused on Keter again. "Alright, here we are. Point of no return. You sure about this?"

Keter let a smile break out on his face. "Of course," he lied, striding over to the ship's navigator, still not deigning to look at the captain. "Here," he said to the zabrak at the station, reaching out to quickly tart typing a new set of coordinates for them to follow.

Rawnie didn't know what to think of this 'crew', especially the one with the red cybernetics. Mother called him a 'friend', so Rawnie had agreed to join him on this job, but Zandra often had questionable 'friends'. Either way, Rawnie did not know him so of course she did not trust him either. Trust was earned.

She stood off to the side, out of the way. Her husbands job on this crew was clear. He was a brilliant doctor, but he was also very mechanically inclined. But Rawnies job was a little more vague. She was flexible, able to preform a variety of tasks, from general security, to scrubbing the floors. She could speak 4 languages, kill quickly and quietly, and on top of it all... she was a fantastic cook. She'd make herself useful.

She had removed her helmet for the time being, keeping it tucked under one arm. Some people were touchy about working with people who hid their face. Strange, but Rawnie was used to aruetiise, outsiders, people not of her culture. It was just part of working off Mandalor.

Her blue eyes scanned the small crew as they worked, studying each face. She'd been introduced briefly, but she had no intention of making friends. Once again, her eyes fell on their... Navigator? The man with the map, the one her buir called 'friend', as he typed a new set of coordinates. He appeared at ease, but Rawnie suspected he wasn't.
Either way, he would be a difficult one to read with half of his face covered in metal.

Amnell sighed but didn't withdraw at the sharp response. "No, I wasn't asking to leave. Wasn't my intention" It was awkward, to say the least, this conversation, "I just worry, I've not seen you like this before. That's all."

She shook her head, "Don't misunderstand my intention. There's no need to apologize; I get it. I'm just here to help, in whatever way I can. That's all. You just have to ask."

"I'll get him," Amnell nodded again, sighing quietly as she wandered back through the ship to locate Owain.

Catching sight of him, she tapped lightly on the wall to get his attention before she spoke. "Felicity asked me to have you go check in on her when you're finished." Never before had she lived this close to anyone save her parents, and she couldn't help but find herself concerned. "I worry," Her voice lower, "If there's anything I can do ... by all means, let me know."

Keter, Ronin Wendigo, Felicity Mason, Owain Barnabus, Rawnie Tanaka, Doc Azure

Red eyes looked away from the screen as he finished typing. "Alright, done," he stated, smiling sweetly at the Captain.

"New course plotted. Ready for hyperspace in...five," the helmsman reported.

Lorrana Satarin nodded at the two of them. "Maintain battle readiness. These empty systems tend to be havens for pirates."

Keter nearly snorted at that. It was why they had pirates on board in the first place. Something about showing Zandra's family the greater galaxy, or getting them experienced, or something. Truthfully, he didn't remember. Still, he'd make sure to look after the kid. Although before that...

The blond warrior strode over to the communications console and quickly pushed a few buttons, ingoring the indignant squawk of the operator. They weren't the only ones out on this little chase after all.



The message drifted across the Waypoint system, transmitting on a loop, even when Keter was dragged from the comms console and recieved a strict talking to from the captain.

"To you who come here, know this. The knowledge is mine through inheritance. The path is mine by the Will of the Force. Whatever lies at the Beachhead is mine by right. Try to take it from me at your own peril. Still, far be it from me to deny the trials you faced to get so far. You think you can take my prize from me? Come and try."

Rawnie jumped when her husband snaked an arm around her waist.

"Ah, Lor'ika," she murmured, "Yeah. I miss bluebird too. We'll see her again when we get back. And I miss Galaar. But he will be safe with my clan while we're gone."

She'd been worried about the boy. He was still so small, only 4 years old, but with the tiny body of a child half his age. Would he grow? Or would he be small forever, like her?

"Lor, Do-"

The one with the red eyes slipped over to the communications console. Rawnie's blue eyes narrowed and she set her helmet down as she followed after. He had not received permission. By the time she reached him to help drag him away, the message was already out.

"Oh, goddammit, what are you doing?"

Lor was much slower to try and get the old cyborg away from the console, but when he got there, he had his shock gauntlet right in the man's face. Regardless of his Force powers, taking a blast of electricity to the cybernetic mask he wore couldn't have been an appetizing idea.

"What in Hell's name made you send that? Are you trying to get your crew killed?"

Why were they taking so long? Didn't they understand the importance of-
No. Of course they didn't understand. She was alone in this mission. She had help, sure, but emotionally, she was the only one invested. Not even Owain seemed to care much.

They joined her and Felicity gestured wildly, almost cartoonishly to the repeating holo.

"Look! It's him! Don't you know what this means!?"

Grinning wildly, eyes still sparkling, she jumped in place like a child, she spun in a circle, arms outstretched, twirling and laughing. She might have looked like a mad woman. Maybe she was. After all this time, maybe this last taste of hope had broken her. Didn't matter. She felt no shame. She was full of joy for the first time in a while.

"He's alive!"

She hurried to closed the distance between them, went to pull Amnell in a brief hug before moving to kiss Owain full on the mouth. For the moment, she felt like her old self again.

Amnell wasn't sure in the least what to think. She worried naturally about all of it and Felicity's state. She cast a glance to Owain, her brow wrinkling with a touch of anxiety and fear for Fel and all of them. This whole thing, she didn't have the greatest feeling about it.

When Felicity hugged her, Amnell winced a little a touch of pain radiated through her body but she was quick to brush it off and ignore it. She was glad to see the young woman happy and that they had a sign that they were on the right track.

Looking back to the blonde, she smiled warmly trying to offer some hint of support for the woman. "Well, it's promising." Her tone was sweet, gentle and reassuring. "What's the next step from here?"

Felicity Mason, Owain Barnabus

Keter let himself be hauled away, thrown to one side of the bridge with nothing but disapporving glares thrown his way. The blond merely laughed at all of them. It was too late for them now. They were part of the story. And they would ride it out to the end. He met the challenging gaze of the two pirates Zandra had had him take along.

"Oh, ye of little faith," he countered with a chuckle, ignoring the shock gauntlet hovering inches from his face. "Think you'll be unable to help if something goes wrong? Why are you here then?" the blond challenged, looking from Azure to Rawnie. "If you're scared, maybe you should grab an escpae pod and scurry home. Epxloring space isn't for the faint of heart."

He could see Lorrana in the corner of his eye straigthen slightly. She had known the risks, coming onto this mission. SHe also knew the potential payoffs. iIther way, after this she was home free of the Banking Clan, which was what she truly wanted.

Amnell's smile brightened a bit more, "Of course I'm still with you. For good or bad, not going anywhere if I can avoid it." Though she couldn't help but feel an anxious feeling rising, and a sense of danger ahead. For the life of her, Amnell couldn't put her finger on it. "Plus I figure it can't hurt to have a mechanic on board a journey like this. That way if anything goes wrong with the ship, someone's around to work miracles." She was mostly teasing a touch.


Owain Barnabus, Felicity Mason

Owain sighed and rolled his eyes. He had been through so much already, as if he'd bail now.

Argue "sunk cost fallacy" all you want, but Mama Barnabus didn't raise a quitter!

"Of course," he stated, as if it were obvious. So, a race huh? He wondered what the prize was...

Felicity Mason, Amnell de Portiers,