Black Ship, Dark Captain (kt, Midnight Sun)

Silent was this part in space, which was generally abnormal. No blaster fire, no screams, no banging on glass, it was a first. At this moment, only one ship could be seen; the Midnight Sun, a larger ship. However, another ship, less than a quarter of a quarter of the MS's size. A small Defier-Class Snub Fighter quickly came out of hyperspace and trailing behind, blue and gray smoke. The hyperspace 'portal' closed and the ship's boosters powered down.

So there it was, a small ship just sitting there, guns pointed at the MS. However, inside was a different story. Syaoran, the Aegis's pilot, stared, astonished at the large vessel. He examined its features and at the same time, scrolled through his database of ships and licenses. It was a strange type of ship and this perked Syaoran's interest. He'd try to dock it, but would have to be careful not to blow his cover. He punched in a code into the keypad next to the controls and gripped a lever on his right side. Slowly pushing it upwards, the Aegis began slowly maneuvering toward the other vessel.

The ship, now around 100 meters away from the MS, stopped after the Dark Jedi punched in another code and pulled the lever. He attempted to open a comm channel between the two ships, constantly attempting to speak to them.

"Is anyone there?"

"There's a ship," one of the bridge crew announced. "Little snub fighter."

"It's trying to hail us," the radio operator replied. "Should I acknowledge and respond?"

"Leave 'im alone," the current dock officer said languidly. "He's probably just out for a joy r-"

"Belay that," came a sudden, sharp order. "Respond, invite aboard, and issue docking instructions." The source of such an order could only be the captain, and so it was; the Miraluka Sith, Charlill Sylvorr, better known as Shard.

"Y-Yessir," the radio man said, unnerved by his captain's sudden appearance. He shook it aside, though, and reached for the transmission switch. "Unidentified fighter, this is the Midnight Sun. You are authorized for docking and boarding, proceed to the bay." This was followed with technical directions for boarding the larger ship, which the pilot of the fighter would know to follow.

"Excellent, carry on," and Shard left to go greet his newest guest. The bridge crew sighed in relief and went about their duties; for all their fervent loyalty to the insane Miraluka, there was still something disconcerting about his presence...

Xerron Delzaren was making himself at home in one of the ships many rooms he'd been shown too. He was a little dissapointed when both parties had given up the fight, neither of them going anywhere with each other.
He'd had no use for a blaster and so tossed it back to the Mandalorian, Cirith something or other. The Mandalorian had taken off in his ship after that, which was a Revenant Blockade Runner.

A few minutes later he felt some alarm on the bridge and few seconds after that felt another Dark Jedi draw close, but the Dark Jedi wasn't on the ship, or so Xerron thought at first. Xerron simply placed his duffel bag beneath the bed and lay down. It was none of his buisness. The insult Shard had messaged him with earlier was already forgotten, more humorous now than anything. Atleast Xerron knew how Shard fought now, he'd watched the whole fight between Shard and the Mandalorian. As fights went it was largely unimpressive to Xerron but, it had gleamed valuable information.

The human kept his hood and half mask up, even though for the moment he was alone. He walked over to the bed and lay down, crossing his legs and putting his hands behind his head. He didn't know if he was going to have a room mate or not, but it didn't concern him much. He was here to hone his skills and make some money on the side. Nothing else mattered.

Syaoran heard the condescending tone of the captain as the transmission opened up clearing him for docking. Confused, the man decided it'd be interesting to check out what the deal with this place was. I mean, it was sitting in the middle of nowhere for seemingly no reason. That was reason enough for the young man to become interested. Immediately punching a few buttons on his console, the ship's engines once again exploded to life. A red and blue flame emitted from the tubes on the back of the fighter as it slowly approached the Midnight Sun.

The moment it was close, Syaoran noticed a hangar door open up, replaced by a blue shield. The man used his ship to approach the hangar doors and lazily leaned back in his seat. The ship, now inside the hangar, activated its landing gear, causing three small steel legs to come out of the bottom of the fighter in a V formation. The ship landed on the ground softly, and the cockpit opened up. Syaoran stood up and gazed around. The hangar was large. A group of men came to greet Syaoran, but noticed the scowl on his face and lightsaber at his side and moved backward in obvious fear.

The man jumped out of the cockpit and power walked toward the door, raising his hand in front of him and moving it to the side in attempt to open the door using the force. The door unwittingly slid open and the man stepped through. Now in the hall, Syaoran took a random direction and began down the hall. Lost, he called out for help.

"So yeah, if anyone feels like helping me out here, I'd, you know, appreciate it."

Arrogant fellow, Shard thought to himself as he trailed behind Tanso. The Miraluka had been among those going to escort the new arrival, but had concealed himself with Art of the Small; now he followed behind, undetectable by any means Tanso possessed until he decided to reveal himself. Waltzing in like he owns the place... I might make him useful, though. First, though, I shall have some fun!

Tanso called for help, and Shard took that as his cue. "Help only comes to those who can make use of it," came his murmured reply, seeming to come from everywhere. There would be no indication whatsoever, in any of Tanso's perceptions, of the source; Shard's illusions were that complete. It was a simple matter to distort the sound of his voice, create phantom echoes, and erase himself utterly from what Tanso could see, hear, sense or feel; this was Shard's ship, and here he ruled all.

"You don't seem very, how do you say... resourceful?" he went on, keeping out of Tanso's range in case he began lashing out randomly. "What use could we have for one so impetuous as to barge aboard a ship without waiting for her captain?" A chuckle echoed through the hall, distorting eerily. "Why are you here, anyway? What brought you so far out into these dank stretches of emptiness?" A pause, thick as frozen butter. "Were you, perhaps... called?"

From his pocket, Shard drew a little stone, a gleaming yellow gem; it was perfectly spherical and exactingly polished. He drew back his arm and threw it at Tanso, striking the man right in the ear; this was accompanied by the sound of a powerful slugthrower being fired. "Good heavens! You're being attacked!" came the echoing voice, louder this time but still impossible to triangulate.

Lee Ru was tired, bored, and trying to figure out how to get Kojii onto this vessel without pissing off the boss. He hadn't anticipated working with someone who violently abhorred slavery, and with Kojii technically being his slave still, he had to find a way to either get her to join willingly and portray her as a crew mate, or he had to order her to do so and make her keep it hush hush. Either of these ways meant communication, and communication could be tracked. Using the comm system aboard the Midnight Sun was instantly out of the picture, and using a comm system planet-side held it's own unique risks. In fact, he didn't even know if he could think about this without that Shard character finding out, who knew what was going on in his mind....

Lee Ru sighed, a relatively comic affair, and continued walking the halls of the moderately sized vessel. My not knowin what mesa gonna do. Right about then he walked into a hallway near the landing bay, to spot a yellow stone flying at someone he'd never seen before.... he traced the tragectory and couldn't find anyone throwing it, but instantly realized that whomever it was that just got hit would think that he had thrown the thing.... "Sith bein spittin....." He turned around and ran down the corridor. "My always bein getting the short end of da stinkin gullypud!" he muttered to himself as he ran.

Sorrow....anger.....confusion......all of these things were now running rampant throughout Xander's being. For months now the once very flamboyant and fun loving zeltron had now become the current depressed and moody man that sat in the cockpit of his ship. He was floating now, not really going anywhere in particular, but mearely wandering from place to place, trying to figure himself out, the image of Lanara still burning deep in his brain everytime he closed his eyes.

Xander began daydreaming once more as image after image flew through his mind, only after a loud beeping noise sounded, did he snap out of it. Blood shot gold colored eyes opened and focused on a gauge on the console in front of him, the life support system was failing, he needed to repair it soon....well, if he survived long enough to fix it at any rate.

With a long drawn out sigh, the zeltron checked his radar for any nearby ships, one in particular caught his interest, it was very large and looked as though it could help him out. "Hello there, I'm in need of assistance and would very much appreciate any help."

The ball hit his head, causing Syaoran to abruptly come to a halt and shift his body to face behind him where he saw nothing! His hands gripped his lightsaber, ready for whatever was coming at him. However, he heard a strange voice talking to him. He concluded it was a drunken midget and continued walking until he found a door. It looked large, was silver-colored, and had a red button on the side. The boy pressed it and the double-doors slid open at remarkable speed. The boy, interested, turned around to see if anyone was following him. He released his saber and entered the elevator. Syaoran hit a random button on the panel on the inside of the 'vator [lul.] and the doors slid closed as quickly as before. He could feel the metal box he was inside beginning to rise, as if by a cable.

It was only seconds when the elevator came to an abrupt stop, causing Syaoran to shoot upwards and hit his head on the top of the vator.

"Gah! Dammit!!" He cursed, grumpily gripping the top of his head where, luckily, no bump formed.

He hoped no one had seen that. That'd suck.

The man, now extremely pissed off, threw his fist forward into the wall, creating a small dent as well as the echo of a 22 year old man's fist hitting against a hard, probably durasteel elevator. It didn't hurt all that much, giving the man a chance to ignore it. He approached the elevator door which immediately slid open. Syaoran stepped out and gazed around. It was a large, somewhat-rectangular room larger than 10 copies of his fighter. Along the sides there were men and women working on terminals and things, and in the front were three ginormous viewports, all showing stars. Small screens were scattered throughout, many showing Syaoran's ship, him walking through the hallway and, of course, him comically hitting his head on the ceiling. That was embarrassing. He continued looking until he concluded that he knew where he was.


It was the bridge.

Shard had to laugh at Tanso's actions, as well as his apparent lack of control. "You'll do just fine," he said to himself as he followed Tanso into the elevator, then up and out onto the bridge. He noted there was another ship out there, asking for help; well, he was feeling magnanimous, so why not? First, though, there was this Tanso fellow to deal with.

He stepped up behind the Dark Jedi, abruptly lowering his cloak; Tanso would feel an immense power spring into being behind him, just as two arms clamped about his head and neck in a merciless sleeper hold. "You walk onto my ship and think you own it?" an insane voice hissed into his ear as the hold tightened, cutting off his air. "Show some respect, or have it beaten into you!" Abruptly the arms let go, allowing Tanso to recover as he would and get his breath back.

"Captain, there's another ship," one of the crewmen said. "The pilot says he needs help, and scanners indicate his life support systems are failing."

"Mhmm," Shard muttered. "Well, whatever; tractor him in, we'll put him to use I suppose." He turned to go back to the landing bay, gesturing imperiously at Tanso. "Come along, you; you're stuck on my ship for a while, so tell me about yourself." Not like he really cared, but it was always good to let others think they were wanted.

The crewman nodded as Shard walked out, and turned to the radio. "We're going to tractor you in, so just power down your systems and sit tight," he said to Xander, as he activated the tractor beam and focused it on Xander's ship. It was then guided to the docking bay of the larger vessel, where presumably some mechanics would be waiting to administer to it.

Shard, meanwhile, ran into Lee Ru again on the way. "Ahh, good, you can come too," he ordered, gesturing behind him. He peered more closely at the Gungan, and frowned. "Don't be so flustered all the time, you'll give people the wrong impression; be more like me." As if that was a good idea. Farther on they passed by Xerron's quarters, and the Miraluka halted again; a twitch of his finger had the door opened, and he looked inside. "Get up, Sir Delzaren, you'll be the welcoming committee as well," he ordered.

So armed, Shard went on to the docking bay, and watched as Xander's ship settled in. "Say something witty," he whispered to Lee Ru, prodding the Gungan forward as he himself stepped back and became utterly innocuous.

OOC: Yousa goin to bein findin dat puttin Lee Rusa on da front line liken dat always bein workin different dan yousa 'spectin....

IC: If little else, the trip thru the corridors of the Midnight Sun gave Lee Ru a chance to bury the conflicting thoughts, along with the motivation to do so. If the boss found out at a later date, there might be the chance to escape, but if the boss found out while he was less than a meter or two from him... well, escape would be the least of his problems.

. . . . . . . . . . .

"Hey der boyos, welcome to wesa ship, da Midnighten Sun." One of his eye stalks rotated slighty, just enough to bring Shard into focus, and the eye on it winked. "Yousa soul belongin to usen now, okeeday?" His face opened up into a cheesy, almost sheepish grin, to disguise his discomfort at using such a pathetic line while someone who had so recently proven himself more than willing to use a lightsaber, not to mention quite capable in it's use, stood bare inches from him.

"My bein sorry, but da boss bein rader picky 'bout dat 'undyen loyalty' stuff." His grin grew broader, "Somedin about hisa employee retention plan mesa dinkin." Lee Ru looked at the pilot still climbing from the cockpit, "Yousa still not bein outt dat ting?" He called, quite a bit louder this time, "Yousa gonna be makin mesa bein repeatin mesaself?" He lowered his voice so that it'd be difficult to hear more than a foot or two away, "How wude."

Xerron sighed and got up at hearing Shard's voice and summons as they passed his room. A moment later he walked out of the room, lightsabers hanging on his belt, half mask in place and his hood up. He didn't say anything as they walked down the corridors to one of the hangars. I'm to be part of a welcoming commitee? What am I? The ship's mascot? Something like this is much better suited to someone more goofy looking Xerron thought looking at the Gungan and then rolling his eyes figures. When they arrived the man was still getting out of his ship when the Gungan started speaking.

Your fault for speaking too early fool Xerron thought as the man stepped out of the ship and most likely missed everything the Gungan had said. Xerron looked to the Zeltron and measured him with his eyes. "The Gungan says hi and welcome aboard the Midnight Sun and that your soul now belongs to us. The GunGan is Lee Ru, I'm Xerron Delzaren and this is Captain Shard" he said gesturing to each in turn "You'll do what he says when he says and no back talk please, he doesn't like that. Trust me you don't want to know the consequences" Xerron said in a nearly apathetic tone "Any questions?" he said looking to Shard in a manner that asked "can I go now"? He really didn't understand the point to dragging him out here for something like this. He went along with it and did his supposed job of welcoming the new comer. If it was just to show Xerron who was boss, Xerron got it, point proven. That didn't mean he was anyone's property though. What's next for me to do? Hair braiding? Xerron thought as he crossed his arms and waited for instructions.

Urias strolled down the halls of the Midnight Sun, admiring the construction, followed by ATD-1. The ship was much nicer then the one that belonged to the last pirate crew he'd joined. He shuddered at the thought. The insane Kel Dor had taken over the ship and led them to attack Coruscant... He forcefully shoved the thoughts aside and forced himself to concentrate on finding the hangar. It wasn't too hard. After a few minutes of wandering around, he found it. He walked in, and looked around for his Tracinya-class fighter. He also noticed there were a few more ships then when he'd been here last. He shrugged mentally, then went to his ship, and opened the cockpit. He reached in, grabbing his blaster-cleaning pack, which he had accidentally left here when he'd arrived. He started back towards the hall, then noticed something on his HUD's 360 vision. A ship was being tugged by a tractor beam into the hangar. He stopped and turned, watching. Perhaps he'd stick around a few more minutes...