Chapter 2: Forges of Ithyari

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric glanced over at the newly arrived Mynocks, who huddled over in one corner, conversing angrily. He turned to Nat.

"Nat, I'm going to need you to swing by my office and check it for any datacards we might have left over there. I'd send someone else, but you know how well we can trust these jokers."

Nat nodded, offered an uneccessary salute and headed for the office. Just as he was leaving, Slade marched up to Aeric.

"Lieutenant Tunon."

"Captain, it was cute a few weeks ago, but I've since lost my brevity status. I'd apreciate it if you referred to me by my actual rank."

Slade dismissed it.

"Did your pilots have anything to do with painting our X-Wings pink?"

Aeric made a surprised face.

"Us? We were just as surprised when we walked in. We figured you guys lost a bet with the mechanics or something."

"The mechanics?"

"Well yeah, they paint the X-Wings, don't they?"

"Well, yes..."

"Not a bet then? Perhaps you got on their bad side? I know some officers act as if their mechanics are below them. I notice your XO can be a little stand-offish at times."

Slade blinked a bit in surprise.

"I...never thought about that one. Thank you Captain, and I'm sorry I accused your squadron of this."

"No problem. I'm sure I'd react the same way if your squadron pulled a stunt like that on us."

Slade saluted, spun on his heel and beckoned the rest of the squadron to follow him out the door, towards the mechanics' quarters. Aeric spun on his heel as well, and climbed up the ladder into his snubfighter.

"Let's haul ass!"

[Drake 53]

Tak nodded and pulled the ship out of hyperspace. "We'll have to keep an eye on her then."

They had dropped out in an expanse of space with no other ships, planets or stars to greet them. It only took another minute for Takeshi to bring the YT-2000 about to their next vector and send them, once again, into hyperspace.

"This leg is going to take half an hour then our last jump to Ithyari will be another twenty-two." Tak turned his chair to face Layla then got up, leaned over, and kissed her. "Whatever shall we do with the time?" He asked with a grin.

[Rogue 4]

"Takeshi Beskar, I'm shocked that you would even imply what I think you're implying." Layla smirked up at him. "How very unproffessional of you, Lieutenant."

[Drake 53]

He laughed and shrugged. "What Captain Brier doesn't know, can't hurt me."

[Rogue 4]

"Uh huh..." Layla smirked, standing and wrapping her arms around his neck. She smiled seductively. "So the only real question here is... do these cockpit doors have a lock?"

[Drake 53]

Takeshi reached over to the console next to them and tapped a few controls. There was an audible -clunk- as the locking bolts activated on the doors. "Just turned on the vac-locks used when the rest of the ship suffers a hull breach and decompression. No one aside from Aston or Jya could break in. Aston slicing and Jya blasting, of course."

He wrapped his arms around Layla's waist, pressing his hands against the small of her back.

[Rogue 4]

"Intriguing..." Layla grinned up at him, kissing him softly. "And since this is our vessel I doubt either of them would want to cause it damage..." Her body pressed against his as she kissed him more passionatly, leading him back towards the pilot's seat. "And you thought there'd be no time for recreation on this mission..."

[Drake 53]

Tak bumped up against his chair as Layla nudged him back into it, and he flopped down into it. He looked up at Layla with undisguised desire in his eyes and perhaps a little of something else.

He was just glad that the cockpit doors were soundproofed.

[Princess 35]

Nima hopped into her fighter. "Revenant eight, four green and ready to go. Seven's fighter slaved and ready. Let's blow this popstand!"

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

"Revenant four green and ready when you are. Let's jet before the Mynocks get back."

[Rogue 4]

Forty two minutes later, when they were reverting to realspace, Layla was glad that the cockpit doors were soundproofed. She dropped her bag on her seat, pulling out everything she'd need to make herself look like nothing had happened during the hyperspace jump to an enemy system.

This could take a while...

She was fixing her makeup when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She laughed lightly to herself, picking it up and turning to Takeshi holding it up so he could see it. "Is this the boot you were looking for?"

[Vergere 1]

Having taken a quick nap, Brier had awoken much refreshed and was looking over several datapads quietly, giving them her full attention as she tried to memorize everything on them, doing some Intel work on her down time.

[Mara 29]

Kaden climbed up his ladder quickly and strapped into his cockpit. He flicked the release to close the canopy. Starting his preflight checks, he tapped his comm. "Eleven, here, ready and waiting."

[Drake 53]

Tak grinned, grabbed the boot and returned it to his foot. "Thanks, babe. That was incredible, by the way. Too bad we had to cut it short." He winked at her then turned to flick on the comm. "Buckle up, guys. We're entering the Ithya system now. ETA to planet...three minutes. Get your game faces on."

Edited August 30, 2007 by Drake

[Vergere 1]

She sighed and put her crash webbing back on, not sure about the smoothness of the ride, and began to put away her datapads.

[Rogue 4]

Layla fastened herself into the copilots seat, still grinning as she tried to get her pheromones back in check.

Need to focus now... She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, to calm her racing mind and body. She tried to emerge herself into her character, as idiotic of a name Jaim had given her.

She looked human, but now she would have to act like it. She'd done it before on many occasions, but slipping up here would cause huge problems. She had to be so thoroughly believeable that no one would suspect her of trying to hide anything.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Rogue

[Drake 53]

As the Krazy Krakana approached Ithyari, they could see what looked, at first, like a hazy cloud surrounding the planet. Once they got closer, the cloud focused into vast orbital stations and factories. There were packs of transports and freighters lining up to load and off-load their cargo at the various supply depots and space stations.

Tak pointed to one such line of vessels and said, "Hopefully these trader ships get the good sense to leave once the fireworks start planetside. Although I'm sure most of them are Imperial sypathizers, it would be a shame for them to get caught in our crossfire.

The comm beeped. Takeshi glanced back at Layla. "Show time." He flicked the comm on. Immediately, they were greeted by the not-so-welcoming voice of an Imperial communications officer.

"YT-2000 freighter. You are now entering Ithyari space. Identify yourself, your cargo, and your destination."

Tak cleared his throat and activated the mic. "Ithyari control, this is Captain Kruger Jast of the Krazy Krakana. My only cargo is my crew and a pocket full of credits. Our destination is the Trader's Tier in Yarin City."

"Understood, Krakana. Transmitting vector coordinates for planetary entry. Follow them exactly. Any deviance from your course and you will be seized for questioning. Further instructions to follow."

"Thank you!" said Tak. Once he switched off his mic and began on the course given, he turned to Layla. "Well he was certainly a people-person."

[Rogue 4]

"Probably bored of saying the same thing all day." Layla remarked. Her voice was slowly moving into the more heavily accented voice of her character, who according to the identification Jaim gave her was native to Chandrila. "Although that's probably a sign of what we'll see in Yarin City."

[Mara 29]

He switched over to intership comm and turned to Artie, sitting behind him. "Everything all set for our little trip?"

The droid beeped shortly, all business-like now that everything was finally coming together.

"Good." His preflight checks done, Kaden got everything else ready. All that was left for now was for the captain to send over the coordinates for their location and get this mission started.

[Vergere 1]

Putting away everything that makes her look respectable back into her bag, Brier, now the Scorran gabmler Raya Tsal, pulled out her not-so-legal equipment, a couple blasters, a tool belt she put her blasters on, and a well-worn vest. By the time they landed on the ground, Brier lost all her smiles and if glares could kill, almost everyone in the room she looked at would have been dead. She seemed to take to the role of smuggler/gambler naturally, as they went hand in hand, and brought upon herself an aura that made people want to stay away from her unless they wanted a fight. She didn't smile at all anymore, arms crossed over her chest and slouched in her seat, and looked somewhat sulky. A complete opposite of the bright-eyed, ever-smiling and laughing Intel Captain that gave the briefing several hours before.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Vergere

[Ayingel 24]

Szen jumped a little at the announcement of their arrival. Guess it's now or never.

She checked her clothes, feeling for her id in her pocket again, just to make sure she wasn't going to blow anyone's cover.

Looking over at the Captain, she sighed.

"You ready for this?"

[Vergere 1]

She looked over, first deep in character, but seeing the nerves the girl had she smiled softly. "Yeah... you okay? You ready?" Her eyes went from cold to gentle and friendly, hoping Szen was going to be okay.

[Drake 53]

It took a few minutes for Takeshi to take the freighter along the designated course. It was fairly straightforward, bringing them away from the orbital yards and out into the open space closer to the northern pole of the planet. The rest of the squadron would later be coming to Ithyari in a similar approach. The Ithyar orbital factories and practically all of the space infrastructure was concentrated near the equator, leaving the poles clear of anyone who could look out a viewport and see a dozen X-Wings fly by.

Yarin City was chosen because it not only had a large trading market, for hiding in, but also because it had the sensor network control station for the entire northern quadrant. That was his team's primary target. They would need to infiltrate and disable a part of the sensor network, making it look like a malfunction, to allow their comrades to slip through undetected.

The city was in the arctic tundra climate zone of the planet so, as they approached, the Krazy Krakana was buffeted by a snow flurry that whipped past the forward viewport. It was easy keeping the ship steady. Tak was used to flying in much worse.

At last, they broke free of the storm and made the final approach to Yarin City. At the centre of the city was a collection of large buildings and sensor arrays. Around the station were smaller buildings and marketplaces for traders to sell their merchandise. The entire city was surrounded by a large wall, built to block the wind and snow.

[Rogue 4]

"That's not just a city." Layla remarked, looking out the forward viewports. "With those walls it's a fortress."

She looked around at the cityscape. "Luckily there's no anti-air that I can see, and with the whole place being really one giant marketplace it should be easy to get lost in a crowd."

With the large task they were faced with over the course of the entire mission, Layla was glad to see those favorable situations. Just focus on the immediate goals.

[Ayingel 24]

"I think so. I just don't wanna mess this up, you know? I mean, if I do one thing that isn't who my ID is, I've just ruined the mission. It's a lot to have on anyone's shoulders with their first mission with a new squadron. And right now, I've just taken the spot of someone Captain Tunon must have been very attached to I--I don't want to ruin this."