Estrogen Overload (Mara, Val, Midnight)

[sparrow]

Elsie nodded at Xierra's answer. So much for that line of thought.

It was at this time that she noticed that two others had entered the hangar, a young brown-haired woman of medium height followed by slender Miraluka boy. Judging by appearances, there was their third knight for the mission.

They did not approach, instead standing off the side, evidently not wanting to disturb their conversation, if it could have been called that at this point. Elsie made eye contact, and acknowledged their presence with a quick inclination of the head.

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Val noticed a lull in the conversation and moved forward to join the other two Jedi. She smiled, waving as she entered their conversational area. The silver haired female had given her an inclination which led her to believe they were ready for the other two to join them. Val motioned with a hand for Rein to follow her as they formed a circle with the other two.

"Hi, I'm Val Adeera. I believe we're on a mission together. The others must be running late." She decided that she would let Rein talk for himself. Confidence would be important.

[Anackis]

Rein followed behind Master Adeera staring timidly at the other women they approached. He waited patiently as his master introduced herself and then paused. There was a moment of silence before Rein realized they were looking at him. Nervously he adjusted his blindfold. What were they waiting for? Rein, not turning his head from the other women, studied his Master, searching for direction.

Silence filled the void between them, parading around it's banners of confusion and screaming at Rein. He shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. He would not let it bother him, he would wait patiently.

[Mara]

Xierra nodded and smiled at the duo as they joined her and Elsie. "Xierra Zalq," she offered to the newcomer who identified herself as Val Adeera, though she had known it must be her, since she only knew of two other Knights coming on this mission, and the Echani was already here with her.

She fiddled a little bit with the inside of her sleeves as the four stood there. It seemed obvious to her that all of them were a bit green when it came to missions. But she was sure, a feeling through the Force, if that, that she was the newest Knight in this group. And for that, she was a bit nervous. However, these two seemed competent enough, and she knew she was no slouch either. They would figure out what to do soon enough.

She endured the silence, waiting for someone to take charge. Xierra wasn't about to do so herself: years of spending time with her master made her feel a little unqualified to be a leader, and she really didn't want to endanger this mission because she was too new at this. She would go on the mission and do her duties well, but she wouldn't lead it.

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Xierra, yes, that had been her name. Val had recalled her from a message she had delivered at the temple a few days ago. Well, several days ago. She had not delivered the message to this Falleen, but was certain she was present when the exchange had occured. It appeared she was a little nervous too, and no one appeared to be starting up the conversation at the moment. She surmised that she would be the one taking control of this mission, so decided to conduct a mission summary without the remaining members present. They would catch up quickly, she was sure.

"Our mission, as some of us know, is in Metellos. An urban area heavily populated. We are to recover Jedi Knight Tas Bey and his padawan from the location. They went missing whilst gathering intelligence on a crime syndicate. No doubt the lack of communication with them indicates capture." She took a breath, allowing her padawan in particular to absorb the information she was giving.
"I'll be selecting a ship for us to take to the planet, from which we are to locate the missing Jedi and retrieve them, possibly involving dealings with the crime ring in order to get them. Without bloodshed." She really couldn't stress it enough. Missions were made significantly harder when people started finding dead bodies with saber burns. She concluded the mission briefing. Plans would be made aboard the ship as they travelled.

[Anackis]

Jedi Knight and padawan missing? Crime ring? Rein wondered what he was getting into. He always thought the missions would start out easy and slowly build their way up to more difficult. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as he thought though. Perhaps the jedi had a mole in this crime ring that could give them the information they needed. Then they would only have to pick them up and escort them back.

Rein didn't believe that line of thought. If it were that easy they wouldn't send three Jedi to do it. A million thoughts ran through his head; the Jedi and his padawan were already dead, they themselves got captured and tortured, or worst of all, Rein was left behind. He glanced up at Master Adeera and suddenly felt a calm wash over him. Things would be fine, she would be there to help him, to teach him.

With a new found courage Rein stepped forward, "Which ship are we taking, Master?"

[sparrow]

Elsie had met Val once before, very briefly at a Senator's Gala which they had both been assigned to guard. She wondered if Val still remembered her name.

"The others?" she asked, one eyebrow raised slightly. "There is only one other. A padawan. His shuttle has been delayed but if the monitors are correct he should be here in half in hour. We should get a ship prepped and be ready to go the moment that shuttle lands. If Bey and his padawan are really captured, then the longer we delay the more trouble they could be in."

She listened as Val gave a brief mission summary. She had been at the earlier brief of course, and was already familiar with the mission parameters, though she supposed that the padawan still needed to know. "No bloodshed,... that's always the intention when we start. But anybody who goes through the trouble to capture a Jedi would have a good reason for doing so, one that they're not going to be negotiating easily on. So keep your sabers ready."

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Only one other member. For some odd reason she had believed to have been missing two. She shrugged, maybe assuming another padawan was going to turn up for some reason. Looking at the other Jedi she couldn't help but think she had seen her before. It suddenly clicked in the back of her mind, that they had been walking together in the Senator's gala on guard duty. She bit her lip for forgetting like that. Not wanting to make a scene of it, she decided instead to choose a ship for them to use.

She wandered over to a corner, where she felt the best ship for their purpose may be. It was of medium size, with a boarding ramp to its centre, leading to a room that would allow access to the rest of the ship. Several gun emplacements, a forward cockpit and a good quality hyperdrive. Space enough for 10 people to sleep. She checked a droid near the ship for schematics, and through the whirring and beeping got all the information she needed. She told the droid she'd be taking it for a mission and gave the droid her details and her mission code.

"We'll be going on this one, I think. The Ion Light. Not what I'd name it but I guess that's not really my choice in the matter." She said, indicating the others follow her up the boarding ramp. She'd make sure to talk to that other Jedi once aboard after refreshing her memory. She'd have a lot to meditate on.

[Anackis]

Rein nodded at his Master and tightened his blindfold as he followed her up the ramp. He tried not to think about the mission and how soon it would actually be starting. He tried focusing on the ship, but he really knew little about the ship itself. He was alright at flying most smaller ships, but he never studied the mechanics.

He quickly gave up on the ship and began to worry about the mission again. He only hoped it would start soon so they could finish it more quickly. Rein let out a sigh and decided to sit and wait for his Masters instructions.

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Val noticed that her padawan had been the first one to arrive aboard the ship after her, trailing after her not far behind. He was still nervous, possibly intimidated by the number of 'more experienced' Jedi milling around the mission. She decided to initiate launch first, have the engines warm up and such, and then go tend to him. She might seem cold at the moment but she didn't mean to be. She wanted to be very caring and compassionate for him, but Jedi rules were there for a reason, and it seemed suddenly she was designated leader for this mission.

After checking several readouts and clearing things with the hanger control, she began firing up all six engines, just in case they needed the two auxhilaries. They seemed to be working fine for now, but she didn't really want to dwell on the hypothetical events of what could happen if they broke. She moved back to Rein, who was sat as though awaiting her arrival.
"Listen, I'm sorry if I appear... cold. I'm just a bit busy, but hopefully when we lift off I'll have less on my hands. I hope you won't be afraid. Jedi missions usually aren't this complex, especially for a new padawan, so I think you're doing very well so far." She noticed the blindfold around his eyes had been moved since she last looked.
"And your blindfold... if you'd prefer not to wear it at times when we're alone together, it will be fine. I promise not to forsake you or anything." She smiled, guessing he'd know even without eyes.

[Anackis]

Rein smiled up at Master Adeera, "I understand Master, there are things that need to be prepared. I can wait." He placed a hand on his blindfold. Go without it? He had never thought of that. "Thank you, Master Adeera, but I will leave the blindfold, maybe someday I will get a mask." Rein glanced around the ship again, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Val thought for a moment, listing a few things that weren't usually on the readouts when they took ships.
"Do you think you could go check how much food we have, and see if we have any droids hanging around the ship that could be useful? I'm going to go get the ship prepared for when I take us to hyperspace so it'll go into autopilot." She concluded, turning around to return to the cockpit to begin adding the data for the navigation charts and the autopilot controls. A very nice boy, willing to help eagerly. A mask? If that's what he wanted, they'd see. He may go through several between now and the time he'd finished training, but by then he'd be as strong as she could make him. The rest was down to him. She passed the ramp, wondering where the other two Jedi were. She didn't really want to leave them behind.

[Anackis]

Rein nodded and quickly jumped up pausing a moment as he went into a coughing fit. He took a deep breath before running of to check the food supplies. He recalled Master Adeera saying they were heading to Metellos, the trip would not be far and the food supplies were more then sufficient. He frowned a moment hoping the others were not picky on what they consumed, there was not much of a variety.

Rein searched the remainder of the ship but found no droids on board. He let out a small sigh, wondering of Val would be angry.

[sparrow]

Elsie wasn't a pilot, but she knew a good ship when she saw, and she had to admit that Val had been made the right choice. The ship was small and fairly discreet, with light weaponry, enough for basic defense but within civilian legal limits so as not to attract any unnecessary attention.

She had already brought the supplies that she would be needing, which were arranged in a nice neat pile in one corner of the hangar. Another set of robes and light armor, in darker, more earthy tones, much more suitable on a mission than her normal whites. Next to those was a straight-bladed Echani foil, just in case she needed something other than her lightsaber. With a quick flick of the wrist, the small bundle floated into the air, following her onto the ship.

Once on the ship she turned to the others. "The crime syndicate that Bey was investigating is believed to be led by a man named Templar Forge. Forge is known to have operations on Stratablock 7, which also happens to be where Bey disappeared. He is currently the only lead we have. Once you get the ship into autopilot we can get together to come up with a plan of action."

[Mara]

Xierra listened quietly as Knight Adeera reiterated their mission parameters. She bit her lip slightly at the last part. No bloodshed--that would be the hardest part, especially if Jedi Bey and his padawan were in deeper trouble than the mission briefing seemed to state. She nodded with Elise spoke; she had mentioned aloud her own personal misgivings with this mission. While it was always their job to be peaceful as Jedi, sometimes matters were taken out of their hands.

The Falleen briefly remembered the last time she had used her weapon for violence, back when she was defending her master from that creature. Defended to no avail. Yes, she had cut down and killed the creature, but Master Revisc had already been mortally wounded. It was too late for him...

Breaking out of her thoughts, she realized she was standing alone in the hangar; the others having gone into the chosen ship--Ion Light--already. Recovering quickly, Xierra tightened her grip on her shoulder bag and hurried over to the ship's ramp, going up it. She didn't have many supplies with her; just the things she had packed for her trip to Ilum along with a couple extras she had time to add before joining this mission: an extra pair of clothes to wear under her robes, a headband to tie back her hair (she almost always wore it loose), her datapad and commlink, some food. Everything else she carried on her person: her lightsaber the main one.

By the time she was in the main ship with the others, Xierra had sufficiently calmed herself down from her delve into her memories, her skinned returned to a normal hue and her pheromones functioning at lower levels. She moved a strand of hair back into place and nodded, forcing herself to become businesslike and toss away her nervousness. "Sounds good," Xierra said in response to Knight Therin's idea.


[to An Offer He Can't Refuse...]

[Val - Warning:Contains Sarcasm]

Val listened as the final member of the team arrived aboard the ship. She flicked a switch to her left, and the ship began to bring up the loading ramp into the ship. She sent the request for permission to leave the hanger, which was granted a second later. She didn't expect much else, since there were so few people in the hanger anyway. She engaged the engines in at very low power and slowly guided the ship out of the hanger, taking up the landing gear as she went. She angled the ship directly up and fed more power to the engines as they climbed through the atmosphere.
"You guys might want to grab a seat for the next few seconds." she called back through the ship as the ship rocked a little as they forced their way to the edge of the planet's gravitational field. Finally with more freedom of movement she angled the ship to match the pre-planned destination in the system, and with the final few checks she brought the hyperdrive into action with the pull of a lever. The ship whirred as it engaged the hyperdrive and in seconds they were faster than light.

Moved to An Offer He Can't Refuse