The Rockhound- Monday
They should have reached Coruscant by now. Instead, when they exited hyperspace, they were at Kessel.
After a few moments, Lando sighed and leaned back into the pilot's chair. "Go ahead, say it?"
"Say what?" she said. "'It's not my fault?'"
Lando looked irritated for about a second, then chucked when he caught the meaning. “You’re as bad as your old man. Can’t you see this is no time to joke?”
Jaina cocked a brow. “So you didn’t decide to swing past Kessel to say hello to the wife and son?”
“Good idea. But... no.”
“Well, then… What are we doing here?”
"Good question," Lando said, turning back towards the flight deck and the bridge droid, RN8, or Ornate. You know, the one with the woman's voice, because Lando was weird. "I know I told Ornate to set a course for Coruscant.”
Ornate's head spun towards him. “Yes, you did. And then you countermanded that order with one directing us to our current destination.”
“You need to do a better job maintaining your auditory systems,” Lando frowned. “You’re hearing things.”
Ornate shut down for the moment to run a diagnostic, and came back a minute later saying, "My auditory sensors are in optimum condition, Captain- as are my data storage and retrieval systems.” And then she replayed the command, which yeah, did sound like Lando's voice. “Redirect to destination Ashteri’s Cloud, arrival time seventeen hours fifteen, Galactic Standard.”
Lando’s jaw dropped. "That’s not me!”
“Not quite,” Jaina agreed, frowning as she listened. The emphasis was placed in the wrong place in several words, like it was spoken by someone who didn't really get human language. "But it’s close enough to fool a droid.”
“Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?” Lando asked.
“Yes,” Jaina said, glancing at her blank sensor display. “I don’t quite know how, but someone impersonated you.”
“Through the Force?”
Jaina shrugged, but thought about it. “They must be using the Force. There’s no one aboard but us and the droids.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Lando paused for a moment, then asked, “Luke’s friends?”
“I hate to jump to conclusions, but...who else?” Jaina replied. “First, Lost Tribe or not, they’re Sith. Second, they already tried to double-cross us once.”
“Which makes them as crazy as a rancor on the dancing deck,. Abeloth was locked in a black-hole prison for twenty-five thousand years. What kind of maniacs would think it was a good idea to bust her out?”
“They’re Sith,” Jaina said again. She was not a fan, if that wasn't clear. “All that matters to them is power, and Abeloth had power like a nova has light- until Luke killed her.”
“And if they’re crazy enough to think they could take Abeloth home with them, they’re probably crazy enough to think they could take the guy who killed her," Lando said thoughtfully.
“Exactly,” Jaina said. “Until a few months ago, no one even knew the Lost Tribe existed. That’s changed, but they’ll still want to keep what they can secret.”
“So they’ll try to take out Luke and Ben,” Lando agreed. “And us, too. Contain the leak.”
“That’s my guess,” Jaina said. “Sith like secrecy, and secrecy means stopping us now. Once we’re out of the Maw, they’ll expect us to access the HoloNet and report.”
"I told Luke he couldn't trust anyone who puts High Lord before his name," Lando said, sounding frustrated. He'd argued with Luke even harder than Jaina had about making any further deals with the Sith. "Maybe we should go back.”
While that was Jaina's first thought too, she shook her head. “No, Luke knew the bargain wouldn’t last when he agreed to it. Sarasu Taalon has already betrayed his word once.”
"That doesn’t mean Luke and Ben are safe.”
“No,” Jaina agreed. “But it does mean he’s risking their lives to increase our chances of reporting to the Jedi Council. That’s our mission.”
“Technically, Luke doesn’t get to assign missions right now," he said. “You wouldn’t be violating orders if we-”
“Luke Skywalker is still the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. I think we should assume he has a plan,” Jaina said, hitting the release on her crash harness as her danger sense began tingling. “Besides, we need to start worrying about saving our own skins.”
"You’re sensing something?” Lando asked.
"Not yet," she said as she stood. “But I will be. Why do you suppose they sent us someplace easy to find?”
Lando frowned and started tapping keys on his console, then slammed his fist against the edge. “Are they jamming us?”
“That’s difficult to know with the ship’s sensor systems offline for degaussing,” Ornate replied.
“Offline? Who authorized that?” Lando demanded.
“You did, ninety-seven seconds ago. Would you like me to play it back?”
“No! Countermand it and bring all systems back up.” Lando turned to Jaina and asked, “Any feel for how long we have until the shooting starts?”
Jaina closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. Yeah, she could definitely sense something coming now. "How long until the sensor systems reboot?" she asked Ornate.
“Approximately three minutes and fifty-seven seconds,” the droid reported. “I’m afraid Captain Calrissian also ordered a complete data consolidation.”
“In that case, I’d say we have less than three minutes and fifty-two seconds. There’s someone hostile coming up behind us," Jaina told him, already starting towards the hatchway to leave. “Why don’t you see if you can put a stop to those false orders?”
“And you’re going where?” Lando asked.
“You know where,” Jaina said.
“To your StealthX?” Lando returned. “The one with only three engines? The one that lost its targeting array?”
“Yeah, that one. We need a set of eyes out there. And someone to fly cover.”
“No way. If I let you go out to fight Sith in that thing, your dad will be feeding pieces of me to Amelia’s nexu for the next ten years.”
Jaina stopped and spun towards him, one hand on her hip. "Lando, did you just say let? Did you really say no way to me?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. But have you gone spacesick? With only three engines, that starfighter is going to be about as maneuverable as an escape pod!”
“Maybe, but it still beats sitting around like a blind bantha in this thing. Thanks for worrying, though.” She shot Lando a smile. “It’s so sweet when you old guys do that.”
"Old?" he said reflexively. "I deserved that, didn't I?"
"You think?" she laughed. “And you know what Tendra would do to me if I came back without Chance’s father. So let’s both be careful.”
“Okay, deal.” Lando waved her toward the hatchway. “Go. Blow things up. Have fun.”
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay! Taken from Vortex by Troy Denning, which means we've made it to book six, all two of you reading! :D]
After a few moments, Lando sighed and leaned back into the pilot's chair. "Go ahead, say it?"
"Say what?" she said. "'It's not my fault?'"
Lando looked irritated for about a second, then chucked when he caught the meaning. “You’re as bad as your old man. Can’t you see this is no time to joke?”
Jaina cocked a brow. “So you didn’t decide to swing past Kessel to say hello to the wife and son?”
“Good idea. But... no.”
“Well, then… What are we doing here?”
"Good question," Lando said, turning back towards the flight deck and the bridge droid, RN8, or Ornate. You know, the one with the woman's voice, because Lando was weird. "I know I told Ornate to set a course for Coruscant.”
Ornate's head spun towards him. “Yes, you did. And then you countermanded that order with one directing us to our current destination.”
“You need to do a better job maintaining your auditory systems,” Lando frowned. “You’re hearing things.”
Ornate shut down for the moment to run a diagnostic, and came back a minute later saying, "My auditory sensors are in optimum condition, Captain- as are my data storage and retrieval systems.” And then she replayed the command, which yeah, did sound like Lando's voice. “Redirect to destination Ashteri’s Cloud, arrival time seventeen hours fifteen, Galactic Standard.”
Lando’s jaw dropped. "That’s not me!”
“Not quite,” Jaina agreed, frowning as she listened. The emphasis was placed in the wrong place in several words, like it was spoken by someone who didn't really get human language. "But it’s close enough to fool a droid.”
“Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?” Lando asked.
“Yes,” Jaina said, glancing at her blank sensor display. “I don’t quite know how, but someone impersonated you.”
“Through the Force?”
Jaina shrugged, but thought about it. “They must be using the Force. There’s no one aboard but us and the droids.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Lando paused for a moment, then asked, “Luke’s friends?”
“I hate to jump to conclusions, but...who else?” Jaina replied. “First, Lost Tribe or not, they’re Sith. Second, they already tried to double-cross us once.”
“Which makes them as crazy as a rancor on the dancing deck,. Abeloth was locked in a black-hole prison for twenty-five thousand years. What kind of maniacs would think it was a good idea to bust her out?”
“They’re Sith,” Jaina said again. She was not a fan, if that wasn't clear. “All that matters to them is power, and Abeloth had power like a nova has light- until Luke killed her.”
“And if they’re crazy enough to think they could take Abeloth home with them, they’re probably crazy enough to think they could take the guy who killed her," Lando said thoughtfully.
“Exactly,” Jaina said. “Until a few months ago, no one even knew the Lost Tribe existed. That’s changed, but they’ll still want to keep what they can secret.”
“So they’ll try to take out Luke and Ben,” Lando agreed. “And us, too. Contain the leak.”
“That’s my guess,” Jaina said. “Sith like secrecy, and secrecy means stopping us now. Once we’re out of the Maw, they’ll expect us to access the HoloNet and report.”
"I told Luke he couldn't trust anyone who puts High Lord before his name," Lando said, sounding frustrated. He'd argued with Luke even harder than Jaina had about making any further deals with the Sith. "Maybe we should go back.”
While that was Jaina's first thought too, she shook her head. “No, Luke knew the bargain wouldn’t last when he agreed to it. Sarasu Taalon has already betrayed his word once.”
"That doesn’t mean Luke and Ben are safe.”
“No,” Jaina agreed. “But it does mean he’s risking their lives to increase our chances of reporting to the Jedi Council. That’s our mission.”
“Technically, Luke doesn’t get to assign missions right now," he said. “You wouldn’t be violating orders if we-”
“Luke Skywalker is still the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. I think we should assume he has a plan,” Jaina said, hitting the release on her crash harness as her danger sense began tingling. “Besides, we need to start worrying about saving our own skins.”
"You’re sensing something?” Lando asked.
"Not yet," she said as she stood. “But I will be. Why do you suppose they sent us someplace easy to find?”
Lando frowned and started tapping keys on his console, then slammed his fist against the edge. “Are they jamming us?”
“That’s difficult to know with the ship’s sensor systems offline for degaussing,” Ornate replied.
“Offline? Who authorized that?” Lando demanded.
“You did, ninety-seven seconds ago. Would you like me to play it back?”
“No! Countermand it and bring all systems back up.” Lando turned to Jaina and asked, “Any feel for how long we have until the shooting starts?”
Jaina closed her eyes and opened herself to the Force. Yeah, she could definitely sense something coming now. "How long until the sensor systems reboot?" she asked Ornate.
“Approximately three minutes and fifty-seven seconds,” the droid reported. “I’m afraid Captain Calrissian also ordered a complete data consolidation.”
“In that case, I’d say we have less than three minutes and fifty-two seconds. There’s someone hostile coming up behind us," Jaina told him, already starting towards the hatchway to leave. “Why don’t you see if you can put a stop to those false orders?”
“And you’re going where?” Lando asked.
“You know where,” Jaina said.
“To your StealthX?” Lando returned. “The one with only three engines? The one that lost its targeting array?”
“Yeah, that one. We need a set of eyes out there. And someone to fly cover.”
“No way. If I let you go out to fight Sith in that thing, your dad will be feeding pieces of me to Amelia’s nexu for the next ten years.”
Jaina stopped and spun towards him, one hand on her hip. "Lando, did you just say let? Did you really say no way to me?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. But have you gone spacesick? With only three engines, that starfighter is going to be about as maneuverable as an escape pod!”
“Maybe, but it still beats sitting around like a blind bantha in this thing. Thanks for worrying, though.” She shot Lando a smile. “It’s so sweet when you old guys do that.”
"Old?" he said reflexively. "I deserved that, didn't I?"
"You think?" she laughed. “And you know what Tendra would do to me if I came back without Chance’s father. So let’s both be careful.”
“Okay, deal.” Lando waved her toward the hatchway. “Go. Blow things up. Have fun.”
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay! Taken from Vortex by Troy Denning, which means we've made it to book six, all two of you reading! :D]