RPlog:Nar Shaddaa - Sabrina's Rescue 1

The long trip is several hours into its most dull part: the passage between Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa. It's only a 24-hour journey, but waiting for action is always tedious. Unless you're a soldier, of course. In the cockpit, Rook reclines in the pilot's chair, having secured Spanner's aid to monitor the ship's functions in hyperspace. A spare blanket is wrapped lightly around her, and her helmet rests to one side, easy to hand. Her head is tipped back, her mouth parted in a rather undignified impersonation of a goldfish, and she's snoring lightly. Toward the back of the cockpit, Spanner is silent, his scomp-link plugged into the ship's computer.

There isn't much room on board the ship for meditations. However, as it is, the cockpit is a better place for such a thing. If it weren't for his own needs, he may have been meditating jointly with Ai'kani in order to instruct her how to find harmony in the Force so that she and Luke are able to act as one. Rather, he is steadily clearing his mind of the anxiety that has plagued him throughout the time of Sabrina's captivity. In the Force, he could see a webbing of paths, criss-crossing every which way much like the view of Coruscant's industrial zones from orbit. However, recalling his training and the crucial words 'There is no why', the mottled webbing has slowly faded; paths and potential futures slowly fading as he clears his mind of questions. Finally, Skywalker is left with but one path, the one before him. Finally, he comes to the conclusion that the mission ahead is no longer about his rescue of a lover, but the simple act of preserving the crucial yet fragmented Jedi Order. Finally there is but one path ahead, and though it splinters off when he strikes his mind's-eye-view of Nar Shaddaa, it is a path he's quite at peace with. Eventually, the Force draws himself out of the hibernation trance that has kept him for hours, and as he 'awakens', he turns and looks back toward the doorway leading aftward. He rises from his seat and puts a hand on Spanner's dome. "Spanner, summon Artoo for me?"

Spanner turns his dome, whistling a reply. As he turns back, he notices Rook, and a derisive blat escapes him. Knowing Artoo is probably scomp-linked in the back to avoid having to bleep back and forth and disturb people, he sends his message through the ship's computer and goes back to work. Meanwhile, Rook shifts a bit in her sleep, disturbed by Luke's words and Spanner's noises. "Not today, Kord..." she mumbles blearily, and subsides again into sleep.

Exchanging a look between Spanner and Rook, Luke smirks just slightly. "Good try, Spanner," he chides. "Perhaps you ought to sound the reversion klaxon?" He continues before the droid can interrupt with a retort. "I know, we're a good half hour way from the reversion threshold, but I need the crew on their feet before we're out of hyperspace." As R2-D2 rolls into the cockpit's doorway, Luke turns back toward the droid, letting Rook wake naturally or be awoken unnaturally by the warning klaxon. "Artoo," he says, "Have you downloaded the planetary schematics on Nar Shaddaa's capital city?" he inquires.

Spanner swivels his dome in an acknowledging gesture... and disconnects to roll up behind the pilot's seat. An instant later, an electronic squeal sounds.. and Rook jumps! "Wha?!" The blanket's loose ends are thrown aside, revealing that she's unzipped her jacket and unlatched her belt for comfort, and she leans forward to the controls! Only to discover that there's nothing untoward going on! Rook blinks in surprise and looks around to discover Luke smirking at her and Spanner right behind her. She blushes... "So who do I have to thank for this?" she asks, a bit crossly.

Spanner's squeal sounds throughout the entire ship, most likely loud enough to bring the other two to consciousness as well. Luke saw it coming, of course, with just enough time to prepare for it by pressing his hands to his ears. "Blame him," Luke defends, pointing at Spanner. "I told him to sound the reversion alarm, not scare you out of your skin." He turns and regards R2-D2's blipping response, and nods his head to the droid, putting a holding hand on its dome before leaning over and pressing the ship's internal comm. "Sorry about that, you two," he says, for Ai'kani and Snarl's benefit. "We'll be coming out of hyperspace in a half hour, so let's make sure everything's set for the operation." His voice echoes metallically through the ship. Skywalker then turns to face R2-D2. "Okay, Artoo. I want you to leave the flying up to Rook and Spanner. You and I will have other business to attend to as we come in. Prepare your scan shielding algorhythms and make sure you've got plenty of open databank space for incoming data."

Rook glares at Spanner, who blats and goes back to his duties monitoring the ship's systems. Sighing, she refastens her gear belt and armored jacket. "You ran a red flag in front of a Bantha, Luke..." she says patiently. "I'm suddenly glad I didn't undress before I fell asleep." Her expression says she doesn't blame him. Not entirely. The tall woman turns to the control console. "We're as fit as we're going to be for the descent. I'll charge up the main weapons array in orbit so we can come in all guns blazing. Other than that, I can drop us in anytime." She spares the after part of the ship a guilty glance, wondering if Spanner's yowl woke up the others.

R2-D2 whistles approvingly, and rolls over to a small depression beneath the scanning station, which seems to have been designed precisely for it to fit into. It begins to chitter quiet beeps as it accesses the computer and plugs in for the duration of the approach. "Forgive me," replies Luke, his smirk lasting until Rook declares that the guns will be ready. Here he gives her a thoughtful look. "I'm not entirely sure we should come in that way." He doesn't expound, but he does shift and sit himself down in the co-pilot's seat, retaining that thoughtful look for a while.

Rook rubs her chin. "Well, you're the boss, but I won't hold fire if I identify anything big enough to take us down on the way in. But I'll only fire at weapon emplacements... no buildings." She turns back to the controls. "Artoo? If you have those schematics, I'll want to see them as soon as you can get them uploaded. We'll need to see our way in."

R2-D2 blips in acknowledgement, and a small schematic of Nar Shaddaa's primary starport appears on the tactical display before Rook. The image flashes for a few times, before zooming in and displaying a cargo facility labeled as belonging to Galla the Hutt. The inside of the facility has yet to be scanned, but from here, Rook is able to zoom in and view the outlying public structures, or zoom clear out to get a view of the satellites and traffic lanes that surround the Smuggler's Moon. Luke nods his head to Rook. "I know. Just try to find us an inbound route that will give Artoo the opportunity to get a good scan of that cargo facility. We don't want to raise any eyebrows until our lightsabers come into the picture, though, so... get close, but not too close."

Rook smiles faintly as the map comes up on her screen. A touch or two highlights the major structures that will have an effect on their mission. "Okay... only how will I get close enough to get the scan, but not too close?" She gives Luke a quizzical look, though only a short one.

Luke turns and stares at Rook for a moment. Something about this seems... strangely familiar. He's been here, more than once. Heck, more than three or four times in fact. It suddenly dawns on him, and his stare turns into a coy grin. "Fly casual," he instructs. "Anyone asks for hails, tell them we're here on business, and attach to it a credit transfer of five hundred."

"Anyone ever tell you you're a blast to work with, Master Luke?" Rook's grin is a mixture of warrior's ferocity and a friend's enjoyment. She turns back to the monitor. "Okay... I think our cover will get us past the satellites in orbit. Once we're at lower altitude, we'll take the glide path to the starport... only we'll break off our approach once we've got the scan we need. The glide path should take us directly overhead... we'll only get one shot at the scan, so make it count, Artoo. Just to make sure, I'll kill the shields once we're in atmosphere, to lessen the electromagnetic interference. But if we get jumped, I'll have to kick them up again... you know how to compensate." She turns to Luke. "That's my plan... any suggestions or revisions?"

"Plenty of times," Luke replies to the pilot's jesting, before tuning an attentive ear to her words as he leans over to inspect the navigational computer. "No, that sounds good." He turns to look back toward Rook, and his face takes on a more serious note. "The Force will guide us, Rook. If we're going to come under attack, I'll warn you with enough time for us to raise the shields. That's why I'm up here." He then turns and gives a look back toward R2-D2. "Rook's plan is the plan, Artoo. Don't let me down, little fella'." R2-D2 swivels his dome from side to side and bleeps out an extensive response that lasts a good two seconds. Luke merely chuckles, and nods his head, before leaning over the ship's comm once more. "Everyone strap in, we're about to cut in the sublight engines." He pulls the crash webbing over his torso, tests its snugness, and glances toward Spanner for a moment, frowning. "Rook, does Spanner have magnetic locks on his wheels? I'm afraid we've only got one astro-port, and I need Artoo in it for that scan."

Rook would not have believed in Luke's abilities just two years ago... but the woman beside him has changed considerably in that time. "I'll remember that, Luke... thank you. And Spanner should be fine. He's got magnetic grip-plates in his feet that should do the job." She turns back to the front, strapping in and setting the armrests out of the way. "Okay... everybody hold on, I'm cutting in the sublights... now!" The Voidstalker drops back into real space above Nar Shaddaa, hurtling forward in typical smuggler fashion with the deflectors up, raised immediately upon exiting hyperspace. "Nar Shaddaa Control, this is freighter Sideslip. Now entering your traffic lanes... requesting landing coordinates," Rook says, deepening her voice unconsciously. She cuts off the mike. "Okay, here's where we find out just how good our cover ID is..."

Indeed, R2-D2 had done his best to mask the transponder signal, scrambling it so that it reads something different. Depending on their luck, a focused scan may not become necessary. Luke braces during the reversion, as the energy funnel of hyperspace streams into star lines as Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa come zooming at them. He draws in the Force like a deep breath of air, molding himself to become a ripple in the frantic, cold patterns that permeate from the smuggler's moon, that grows and grows as the Voidstalker makes her approach. "We copy, Sideslip," comes a tinny, garbled response. "Slow your approach, the landing pad you've requested isn't quite clear yet." There is acid in the voice of the operator, though it isn't entirely too clear if it's aimed at the pilot of the Voidstalker, or perhaps if it's directed at someone else on the moon below.

Rook breathes a quiet sigh of relief. "Copy that, Control." She eases the throttle back, letting the Voidstalker... um, Sideslip relax its headlong pace. She also drops the shields with a flick of a toggle switch. "Good... we're in. Artoo, get ready. We'll be passing over that facility in less than a minute." Under tight reins, the rescue party cruises lower over the urban wasteland that is the surface of Nar Shaddaa. Gaudy advertisements mingle with blocky ferrocrete towers and burned-out structures that might once have resembled their neighbors, among spidery starport towers stained brown with corrosion and age. Wicked-looking surface weapon emplacements are noticeable here and there, but not too many. It's bad for business.

Throughout the entire trip, Luke doesn't speak a word. He's so enveloped in the Force that, if it weren't for his own efforts to remember himself, he could get lost in the flow of the Force itself. Rook is there, but she is the Force. Artoo and Spanner are behind them, but they too, are another part of the Force, their metal bodies and circuitry making an impression of anti-life in the energy field that surrounds all. As they draw closer to Galla the Hutt's cargo facility, he begins to sense life forms. A number of sentients. This is what he's meant to do... he will know what is down there and, combined with Artoo's scans, they will know exactly what they are dealing with. At Rook's prompting, R2-D2 bleeps three times, and begins a complex scanning procedure, designed to send lateral scans cross-referenced with inverse phase bounce-back scans, bursted between the oscillating transponder mask. The little droid chitters and warbles as his modified brain calculates the complex procedure, but the desired effect is reached... scans are buried within the transponder itself, so that a mere passive scan from the starport wouldn't notice a thing. They wouldn't know that the Voidstalker is downloading a complex integrity and heat-signature scan of Galla's facility.

Rook forces herself to breathe normally as they pass alarmingly near one of those weapon emplacements. Seconds later, they're clear and passing over the facility. She holds course, and the Voidstalker cruises overhead, scanners covertly analyzing every detail possible. Just a few more seconds...          Just then a faint ping from the sensor board pulls the tall woman's attention to a readout. "Artoo, hurry... they're scanning the freighter that came down ahead of us. Active sensor sweep!" Rook's hands tense on the controls...

Luke instinctively reroutes power from life support to the scanning array. "Steady, Rook," he says as the overhead lights throughout the ship blink off, and the air ceases to circulate. "Artoo." The droid is already prepared, and begins to concentrate more on the scanning now that it has more power to work with. Luke leans over the controls, his piercing eyes looking out the view port as he waits for the Force to tell him when he must cut the scanners off. "Steady..." he coaxes, waiting a few precious moments. Then, both hands begin throwing switches. The scanners are immediately cut off, and power is routed evenly throughout the ship. Internal lights come back on, and the air begins to circulate once more. R2-D2, with his computerized reflexes much faster than that of a humans, only lets out one short growl of binary complaint before he process the reason for Luke's actions. A few short whistles later, and he detaches himself from the astro-port, magnetized rollers keeping him safely in place after the ejection. "Scanners offline," Luke clarifies.

Rook lets out her breath in a whoosh... and blushes, as she hadn't know she was holding it. "Okay... we've got what we need. So, on to the landing pad?" She holds course for the moment, not wanting to tip their hand just yet.

"Yeah," replies Luke, smiling ever so slightly. "Just remember... casual." He glances to Rook, giving her a wink. "I don't sense any trouble yet, so just do what you'd normally do."

Rook nods and holds course... casually. "Right... or maybe not what I'd usually do. That involves weapons..." She manages a very slight smile. Voidstalker cruises lower, easing down to a perfect three-pointer on the prepared landing pad. Cushioning thrusters hiss, coolant vents open and spew steam into the air, and the running lights wink out. Rook turns to Luke. "Okay... we're down and dark." She tosses him a comlink from the small storage compartment at her left. "From here on out, it's your show. Keep in touch, okay?" A little worry, more than most people would ever see, creeps into the pilot's icy eyes, but is gone in a blink.

A pillar of serenity, the touchdown is a fitting metaphor to Luke's connection with the Force. Smooth, perfect, serene. He undoes his crash webbing and snatches the comlink out of the air as if he were flicking away a stray hair, effortlessly. "I will. Be mindful, Rook. There is much danger here, and it is erratic. Once we open the can, Galla's people are going to know this ship is involved. It's the tradeoff for being parked so close and not having to rely on speeders." He reaches his free hand to put it on Rook's shoulder. "The Force is with you. Once we're in, it won't be long." Through his hand's connection with Rook, he channels a sense of bravery and strength into the woman's spirit, before rising to his feet. "Artoo?" At Luke's beckon, the little droid flips out his third wheel and begins to follow Luke into the cabin, where Ai'kani and Snarl await.

Rook's eyes slip shut as Luke rests his hand on her shoulder, feeling somehow renewed after that tense flight. She looks up as she stands, but Luke is already moving out the door. "Luke... good luck." The words are almost an afterthought, something to say. As the Jedi Master and his small, barrel-shaped companion leave the cabin, the pilot picks up her helmet and settles it onto her head, latching the straps tightly. One hand drops to the space beside her seat, catching up the heavy ST-II carbine. "Spanner, keep us humming... systems on standby, but don't shut down the reactor. We want to be ready to go at a second's notice." The little droid bleeps his response and turns back to the console. Rook takes a deep breath, then flips down the visor, shuttering her emotions behind the semi-reflective duraplast. And softly speaks the words she'd never have been able to say in front of the Jedi Master. "And... may the Force be with you, Luke..."

Continued in part four.