"Conduct your reconnaissance mission as you see fit, Commander. I will accompany you as an observer."
She cut a glance at Xilarian again.
"But ignore my observations at your peril. The Force can see what eyes and instruments cannot."
"Conduct your reconnaissance mission as you see fit, Commander. I will accompany you as an observer."
She cut a glance at Xilarian again.
"But ignore my observations at your peril. The Force can see what eyes and instruments cannot."
Silus glared right back at Vissica. He wasn't about to overstep Bette's lead, but damned if he didn't want to.
I don't know if you read minds or not you overgrown bag of fur, but let her step outta my way and see if I don't snatch a knot in your big ass...
"Commander Xilarian." Bette didn't look away from the Imperial Knight as she addressed Silus who was still standing just behind her. "Please escort Knight Vissica to her TIE Defender. The deck chief should have it ready by now. She will be joining us on the mission in an unofficial capacity."
She nodded cooly to the Selonian, and crisply turned away, walking directly to Shadow Nine's TIE to have a word with Jackal.
yo ho yo ho a pilot's life for me
The top of the Hound popped open, and Jackal emerged from the top, scrub brush in hand.
"Woo-wee, that was quite a tuss-up. Does Silus even know who that is? That's Matatek Sel Vissica. She's the most famous Imperial Knight 'cept for Baastain. I've heard she can cut five men in half with one swing. Dang, that would be a sight to see. No mistake about that! Silus better be careful. That's gonna be like poking a Stingwing nest on a hot summer afternoon right after a hard rain."
Zach had been scrubbing the insides of his cockpit, again, trying to get ride of the fishy smell that had permeated the whole thing. He wanted to be mad, but the Cascatton Flopfish that he'd found in his cockpit yesterday had been a real beauty. Eyes still clear, scales still slimy. It was stuffed in a freezer in the galley until he could figure a way to cook the dang thing without stinking up the whole ship. Between strokes of his brush he heard the exchange outside. It wasn't sinful eavesdropping when their voices were loud enough to be heard over the sound of pious cleaning, he told himself.
Zachariah "Jackal" Jak'el. Shadow Nine.
Vissica fell in with the second Commander, following alongside as he directed her to her own fighter. The feelings of animosity and aggression coming from this second officer weren't sheathed in the slightest. The Selonian was used to a certain amount of animus and unease from those she commanded. That, in her experience, was an asset. It helped her enforce her will, and kept her subordinates sharp and focused. This, however, felt considerably more piqued.
"You may speak your mind, Commander."
Silus almost had the good sense to walk away. Almost.
"Everything she said back there was correct. Every word of it..."
He felt his temper getting away from him. As badly as he wanted to let it run, he had to think about the rest of his squadmates, his friends. He took a deep breath, getting some semblance of calm about himself. The fire was burning hot but he was keeping it contained.
"Look, when I served under Vice Admiral Garrett there was something he always used to tell me: The difference between a good leader and a poor one is strength of character and about five heartbeats. A good leader makes immediate decisions based on the information on hand. If they get new information, they adjust. You didn't give us any new information. There's something lurking for us in that nebula and we don't know what it is. Shoo...Commander Davis, took that into consideration and she feels it's best to go in there full bore. Then you come in here, talking to her like she's some nugget fresh out of the academy, spouting off about this mystical power you have. All you've done is dumped a shitload of doubt on her shoulders that she's going to wrestle with every time she needs to make a quick decision."
He shook his head and walked away.
Vissica could feel Silus's anger. The way it ran hot and close to his skin with righteous inflection almost made the air dance between them. It slaked the Selonian's senses and fed the wellspring. There was the moment of potential reciprocation that drew hot in her chest and yearned to lash out and strike - to break this man before her and all witnesses, but the Vissica had learned Knight General Atrapes' lessons well. Her own anger shook the cage, but she was its master. And knowing she mastered her anger was power itself.
Silus turned to disengage from the conversation, but suddenly found his limbs betraying him, holding him fast in a pivoted standing pose while the sound of blood rushed softly in his ears.
"A moment, Commander." Vissica spoke softly. "I have not dismissed you."
The Selonian Knight took a few steps until they were facing each other again. The anger she'd felt before was even sharper now.
"It is my nature to be forthright. What I know, you will know, as it pertains to our mission."
Vissica's carious breath was close enough to warm Silus's face as she spoke.
"But I expect you all to adapt to the unknown, and I will not accept something as small as a bruised ego as an excuse for falling short of my expectation."
A low rumble rattled the Selonian's chest. Her flews parted slightly, showing sharp and slightly-yellowed teeth before disappearing from view again. The rushing sound in Silus's ears ended, and the invisible tether rooting him to the spot relented.
"Thank you for your candor, Commander Xilarian. Now prepare for launch."
1st Lieutenant Tod "Maniac" Marr was jogging past Silus and Vissica, but took a detour toward them when he caught the thunderous look on Silus' face. Catching the end of the conversation the blue haired pilot clapped his hands on Nomad's shoulders and grinned at the Imperial Knight.
"Prepare for launch! Ten-four, copy that." He pulled Xilarian backwards, muttering in his ear, "Are you looking for another Kellison situation? She won't just kick you out of the navy, Nomad, she'll eat your intestines for lunch."
Across the flight deck Bette wrinkled her nose at the faint seafood smell wafting off of Jackal. "I'd imagine that no, Xilarian has no idea who he's talking to, or if he does, he doesn't care. I'm not in the hand-holding business, however."
She looked over her shoulder at Silus, seeing Marr towing him away from the towering Knight. Get it together, Nomad. I just put my neck out for you getting you reinstated to the Shadows, don't screw it up.
Turning her attention back to Zach, she sighed. "I can't even remember why I came over here. Oh! Knight Vissica has a bad feeling about the nebula, so let's stay extra sharp, okay?"
"It's probably the fish she's smellin'. You think she'll sign my Imperial Knights Recruitment poster? Yeah, probably not. She looks busy. And strong. Hmm, what? Oh, right. Extra sharp, dangerous nebula, got it. Can you requisition more bleach, when you've got a moment, ma'am."
Popping back down below the hatch he started gathering up his cleaning supplies, that he was going to use during what should be a pretty boring scouting mission, and instead handed it off to a passing tech and settled into his cockpit. His nose has long ago gone blind to the smell, but he was vaguely aware of a burning sensation in his eyes and nostrils from the cleaning solution. Wouldn't matter much once he got his flight helmet on. Recycled air was wonderfully stale and devoid of taste and smell. Zach was always one for following standards to the letter, but he put more effort into double and triple checking through his pre-flight. Maybe Vissica would notice. Somehow. Then she'd teach him the secret of her space magic and he could be a big, tall inspiring hero of the Empire. That's how it worked out in his dreams, at least.
As the Imperial Knight held him in place, Silus barely processed her words. Instead of being intimidated, he instead found himself spiraling into a dimension of pissed off that until today was thought only theoretical. Every muscle in his body fought against her hold on him, but only succeeded in frustrating him even further. There was a point where he felt like he might actually explode until his anger finally hit some sort of upward limit and logic was able to start gaining enough ground to bring him back to a mental state where he could actually think and act like a somewhat normal person instead of the blond-headed rage monster that he was starting to turn into. There was still a part of him that was trying to figure out how to go about putting this thing on it's ass in the most efficient way possible, but the rest of him was now going over all the reasons to NOT do that exact thing.
As the hold on him suddenly fell away, he started to speak but felt hands clamp down on his shoulders. Behind him, Maniac had been overtaken by some strange sense of irony and was now the sane voice of reason. He held eye contact with the Knight for a few more seconds and as Maniac pulled him away, before finally flashing a quick grin at the knight and turning around to head to his TIE. As he walked away, he reached back and scratched the back of his head with his middle finger then gave Maniac a smack on the shoulder as they split off to head for their ships.
Last edited by Silus Xilarian; Jul 8th, 2019 at 02:28:29 PM.
The rude gesture went unnoticed by Vissica. She pivoted, dropped to four feet, and loped towards her fighter. When she arrived, the Selonian free-climbed up the fighter's superstructure, and slinked through the dorsal hatch into the cockpit bubble. Forepaws found purchase on familiar controls as she sat on her tail, quickly flipping through pre-flight checks.
"Shadow Leader, this is Knight One. Standing by for launch clearance."
Through her canopy, the Knight could see the pilots of Shadow Squadron similarly priming their ships for space. It wouldn't be lone.
The next few minutes turned the flight deck into a hive of activity, as droids and techs raced around and pilots climbed down from the catwalks into their Defenders.
Shadow Squadron launched, joined by Knight One, and they assembled at the edges of the nebula like a swarm of insects.
"Shadows, we don't know what's in this nebula. The eggheads say our sensors should work while we're inside, but the range will be short. So we're going to split into four wings of three and stagger our positions. Each group will keep the next one in range.
"You probably noticed the new probes you have loaded into your Defender. Once dropped and activated the Admonisher should be able to recieve sensor data from inside the nebula. Starting with Shadow Twelve we will be placing these probes throughout the nebula, within range of each other, creating a sensor net.
"Don't depend entirely on your sensors. Keep your eyes open. Our job is to find out what's going on in here, and find the raiders. XO said they think there's a base of some kind hidden in here. Once we find it our orders will be updated."
Bette paused for a moment. "Knight One, you're with me, Two, and Three. Xilarian is leading the next wing - you all know your wing assignments. Let's go."
She tipped the wing panels of her Defender, and headed into the nebula.
"Copy that Shadow Leader."
Silus did a little roll as Shadows four and five fell in behind him. On his radar, he could see the other wings forming up, all of them crossing into the nebula at the same time. While they'd done this routine hundreds of times, something kept nagging at Silus. It was a weird little tug in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't seem to shake. His mind wandered back briefly to the warning Vissica had given them back on the Admonisher. He shook his head to refocus. They were committed now, and the best way to meet whatever was waiting for them was to stay alert and ready.
"Everyone keep your heads on a swivel, if we die in here I lose a bet."
The tension since launch was almost a physical thing, strung taut throughout the squadron. Railla fell in with Shadow Leader into the right flank of their staggered diamond formation. She tried not to think about the unusual wingmate bringing up the rear, and kept her eyes forward on the massive maelstrom ahead of them. The nebula was still a good distance away, but it occupied so much space that it loomed over a vast area. If the raiders were in there, it would take a massive amount of ships to properly blockade it. That was going to be impractical save for the most dire of reasons. So it didn't surprise her that the Shadows were tapped to plunge into the soup and hopefully flush the enemy out of it.
Forward sensors were already starting to fuzz out, and Railla frowned. The nebula was a thicket of charged particles, radiation, and who-knew-what. TIE pilots trained to dance on the knife edge of trusting their instrumentation and trusting their eyes. Too much in either direction imperiled you - especially in situations where both inputs were lacking.
She stole a glance to her left and right, noting the spacing between the groupings. Then the purplish wisps of the nebula began to pass between them, turning the distant ships into ghosts and shadows.
"First prr...probe away." Shadow Twelve deployed the first beacon, which plexed with a single lonely light.
The tightbeam communications were choppy but so far, so good. Railla kept her eyes up.
By contrast, Lady Vissica paid only the slightest heed to her controls, allowing herself to fall into the force. The unease of unexplained peril still felt salient and near, but it had not manifested itself in a manner to which she could react. The Selonian controlled her own stoking emotions of frustration, using that anger to drive her clarity of purpose.
"You know, if it wasn't so gosh darn dangerous, this'ed be a real purdy ride."
Zach spoke to himself a lot, especially when alone in the cockpit. He'd been disciplined officially, and unofficially, many times at the beginning for talking too much over comms. Since he hadn't gotten a handle on keeps all the words from spilling out his head, he just said them to himself instead. Jokes were funnier that way, because at least he was laughing along with them instead of having to listen to an empty comm channel that at best refused to acknowledge him or at best told him to shut up. It was okay. He knew it was because they were so serious and stuff. The Goddess makes all types in this galaxy.
After launch he immediately brought his TIE in line behind Wampa and Saber, keeping one eye on the rest of his wing to make sure he was on course, and the other on the nebula ahead. It was really pretty, with it's shifting colors and bellowing edges. It looked like magical clouds from a fairy land. The yellowish hues made him think of the gas that comes off the top of Gungan lakes. Gosh. He hoped the nebula didn't smell bad like that.
As they progressed into the nebula Maniac dropped the first beacon. Long range sensors weren't great, as expected, but short range was doing fine. Enough to keep them all from running into each other and to get a bit of a heads up if something came at them, anyway.
Ox, and then Mutt dropped their beacons at the prescribed distances, the probes funneling telemetry to the Shadows from their positions, and communications from the Admonisher on the outside of the nebula.
"So far so good," said Bette over the comm. "Maniac, hold your wing here and spread out a bit, but stay within range of each other and the nearest probe. I don't want anyone getting lost in this soup."
"Copy that Shadow Leader."
The three Shadows dropped back as the rest progressed. They were not making good time, but they were certainly making progress. After they'd laid their breadcrumbs back to the Admonisher the plan was to light it all up, making the probes look like attractive bait to draw out the pirates.
Jackal dropped his probe.
"Uh, Shooter," came Silus' voice over the comm, on a private channel to her. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Vissica's breathing slowed. The fur at the back of her neck began to stand on end.
Abruptly, she accelerated, peeling hard starboard out of formation, her Defender tumbling into a barrel roll.
"Squadron on my vector, now!"
There wasn't anything on her scopes and nothing on her visuals to respond to other than the pearlescent nothing that was the nebula. But the Selonian could feel the familiar stirrings of danger in the force, and they were screaming at her to run.
Then, lighting flashed in the deep purple, illuminating a legion of shadows.
The cockpit seemed to be shrinking around Silus and he was having trouble staying comfortable in his seat. Every instinct he had was screaming at him that something wasn't right, but his senses turned up no evidence to support the feeling in his gut.
Then the entire universe seemed to come into focus.
As Vissica's voice grated over the comms, Silus found himself pushing his forward engines to max thrust as his maneuvering thrusters twisted his ship into a starboard turn. Mid-maneuver he found his vector lining up with Vissica's, and he unconsciously micro-adjusted his own to match. As his wingmates scrambled to react, he found words pouring out of his mouth before he fully realized why he was saying them.
"Enemy spotted..."
He could see shapes starting to form in the haze of the nebula. Dozens of small shapes slowly faded into view. They were definitely in a formation, too uniform to be natural, but the silhouettes didn't looking like ships of any kind.
Their vector was taking them in a long turn back toward the way they came, and Silus found calmness returning. Now that he had something to react to his senses seemed to fall in line. Even though he had no clue what he was looking at, everything began to feel familiar again.
"Shadow Leader, we have no clue what we're looking at here, permission to take a closer look?"
Last edited by Silus Xilarian; Sep 18th, 2019 at 10:22:43 PM.
Her irritation at the Knight commanding the Shadows to follow her faded as the bogeys appeared before them.
"Permission granted, Shadow Six. Nomad, keep it tight out there. Maniac -- keep your wing where we left you, we can't lose our communication line.
"Admonisher, are you still reading us?"
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