One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mandalore

[Jax]

"Very well then," Jax said, "Well shall we head back to the cockpit? We've got about another minute or so before we're done with this last hyperspace leg." Jax led the two of them back down the corridor and into the small room where Sheila was waiting for them.

"Captain Kel-Droma, we will reach our destination in precisely...45 seconds."

"Thank you Sheila, strap yourself in buddy," Jax said warning Sol, "Re-entry always feels weird when you're not strapped in." And he strapped himself to his pilot's chair and slowly counted down in his head '4...3...2...and' and then slowly grabbed the hyperspace controls and eased them back up to their starting position and the DeepWater eased out into sublight flight. The blueish tint of the planet Mandalore filled their viewscreen and Jax grabbed the controls and eased them towards the planet. "Welcome, to Mandalore," Jax said with a slight hint of pride.

He searched through the nav computer, looking for reference points towards where Keldabe was located, and found the file he was looking for. He pressed a button on the side of the navcomp's screen and the readout gave him a pitch, roll, and yaw to execute to successfully navigate to the dock of his choosing. Following the computer's instructions, Jax slowly eased them closer to the capital city's docks. They were about almost ready to enter the atmosphere when they received an incoming transmission.

"This is Mandalorian air space. Please submit your ID credentials and state your purpose of your visit," said a rather irritated sounding Mandalorian.

"Submitting ID creds now," Jax said calmly. "Purpose of visit," Jax paused and slowly eyed Sol over thinking on his feet and replied, "We're sightseeing. A little R and R that's all."

"Please wait," said the Mandalorian, and then there was silence. They waited for a response, but none came, and Jax was beginning to get restless. Minutes passed with no response until finally, they got their response.

In the form of three pulses from an Anti-Air turret from the planet's surface. The three shots rocked the side of the ship, catching Jax completely off guard. He yanked the controls and turned them into a steep dive towards the planet's atmosphere, which caused the AA tower to erupt into a steady stream of laserfire. Just catching the beginning of Mandalore's atmosphere, the heat began to rattle against the sides of the ship, visible in slight red waves, and simultaneously the ship was being pelted with red laser pulses, filling the cockpit with a very ominous crimson tint.

Upon entering the atmosphere, the Aria's shields were almost completely ripped through, and as Jax leaned them towards the surface, the city walls of Keldabe, and the turrets on the top of those walls came into view. Searching for a reprieve Jax saw a lake stretched out in front of a forest a few clicks away from the city. Turning to his Mirilukan companion he said, "I'm not sure how much of this you're going to be able to see, but just trust me on this," he said. He then increased their incline, and sped towards the lake. Climbing a little higher for authenticity's sake, he waited for a few more pulses to hit the ship, draining the rest of their shields, and then took them into a steep dive, rapidly approaching the lake.

And then they splashed down, hitting the surface of the lake and falling a few feet below the surface of the water, utterly spooking several local fish. To an observer who didn't realize the DeepWater also doubled as a submarine, it would appear as though the Aria had just been shot down.

"Well that wasn't quite the smooth landing we were looking for, but it would appear we've managed to make contact with your group you were looking for, if instincts serve me well," Jax said, his sarcastic humor shining through. "Come with me. They're going to send out a scouting party to make sure we died in the crash, and we're going to want to run for that forest if we want to take out a Mando'a scouting group just the two of us."

[Solomon Kurro]

"Very well." Quietly, Solomon Kurro, Miralukan force adept, and Leader of the group known as the Jensaari, followed his pilot to the cockpit. Easing into his seat, he took the man's advice, and buckled in.

As they exited hyperspace, he felt the world around them bend and twist, before finally returning to normal. To one such as him, who depended entirely on his senses other than sight, the transfer could be disorienting, but it never effected him for long. After all, percieving things through the force allowed him to see clearer than anything else in the Galaxy, or so he believed.

He waited calmly, in the back seat, until he heard the mandalorian over the comm. He started feeling uneasy then, still, the voice didn't ask for anything unusual.

"We're sightseeing. A little R and R that's all." When he heard this, Kurro was cringing, wishing he'd planned ahead for that question. His head snapped over towards Jax. It later occurred to him that if he'd had eyes, they would have been wide open. Sightseeing! People go to Alderaan for sightseeing! People go to Telerath for sightseeing! He didn't believe the mandalorians, a warlike culture of mercenaries and fighters, would look favorably on a pair of tourists.

He felt the blasts coming a fraction of a moment before they hit, just long enough to brace himself, though his head still bounced off the droid's seat in front of him. After recovering he gave a shout. "Jax! Dive!" He felt the ship rattle, and focused his perception towards the planet. As they neared the surface, he began to make out the thronging of life in what he believed to be Keldabe. As they took the hits, he did eventually come to the conclusion that they were going to splashdown in a lake. submersible ships could be useful, he had to give the Mon Cals that. "I don't think they could have known we were coming yet. Maybe they're just unfriendly? What of your droid?" Sol swept checked through his equipment, paying special attention to the eighteen inch, extendable, white cane strapped to his back. He wanted to be able to reach it quickly if needed.

"And, hey! I thought you said it felt weird when you weren't strapped in." He quipped to his partner, giving a wolfish grin. Out in the woods, he'd have quite an advantage. Not even the most sophisticated of 360 degree visual equipment could match a miraluka's force sight.

[Jax]

Jax chuckled at his friend's acidic humor and said, "Sheila will be fine here. When the scouting party comes to investigate they will assume that the ship is wrecked. Submersibles are rather rare after all. I doubt they'll even check the ship for valuables, but they will check for a jettisoned escape pod, and we're going to have to hit them before they find us. Sheila, shut down all power for now, we'll be back for you."

"Very well Captain Kel-Droma," Sheila said shortly before powering down with a slight whirring noise. Jax grabbed his blaster and holstered it, and throwing on his leather vest he led Solomon to the rear of the ship was, where the water-airlock was located for underwater exits. Jax opened the interior airlock door, and motioned for Solomon to enter. Once they were both inside, he shut the interior door, and pressed the button to open the exterior door. And alarm not unlike a honking horn went off, and a red light starting flashing, along with the recorded verbal warning, "Submersible exterior door opening." The door slid open, allowing the water from the lake to flood into the small room that the two of them were in. They swam out, and Jax turned back to press the button that would close and drain the room they were just in, and then turned back to swim up to the shore.

Once on the shore, Jax ruffled his hair with his fingers, attempting to get some of the moisture out, and then led Sol to the edge of the forest that was just a few feet from the lake's edge. Jax searched the forest floor until he found the trunk of a giant tree that had fallen on its side, and jumped over the side of it. Crouching behind the tree trunk, he pulled out a pair of macronoculars from his vest pocket and put them to his face, scanning the horizon for signs of a search party. It didn't take him long to find a small group of five Mandalorian scout troopers jogging towards the supposed remains of the Aria.

"I'll give 'em one thing, those damn Mandalorians sure are efficient. We've been 'crashed' for a minute and a half and they already sent out a search party." Jax rubbed his chin, roughly dragging through the hairs of his goatee. "We're going to need a plan. They outnumber us 5-to-2, but I think we both know that the two of us make a pretty good team." Jax mused it over for a second, and then it came to him. He snapped his fingers excitedly, and said, "I've got it. I'll draw their attention from here, get 'em a little angry at me and get 'em to chase me. Meanwhile you hid behind one of the bigger trees back there. I'll run 'em past your hiding spot, you ambush 'em, and then while they're trying to figure out what's going on we'll finish them off as quick as we can. What do ya think?"

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol followed Jax at a measured, confident stride down the corridor of the ship. So apparently, they were going for a little swim. It didn't particularly worry him, the miraluka couldn't help but remember the time he'd been pursued through a swamp by a tra'cor. Not the best thought to have at the moment.

Solomon plunged into the lake right behind Jax, and kept swimming when the man hit the door controls, closing off the ship again. The lake was alive with life to his force vision, but he couldn't detect anything that they should be concerned about. He couldn't help but note that Jax became easier to detect in the water, due to the water disturbances as they passed through it.

It was only a brief space before they arrived, and Sol took the opportunity to do like his companion, pressing out whatever moisture he could, before following Jax to a downed log for cover.

"Grife! Already?" Sol said as he listened to Jax' report from the macros. "It sounds like a plan." Short. Sweet. Simple. There's a time when those plans work best. He sighed. He already had an idea about what he was going to do, but he'd hoped he wouldn't have to ruin another cane so soon. 'Looking' around, the area, he found a tree about the right size, and in the right position. A tall tree, a little thicker around than Solomon was. It had a thick full canopy, and was a good distance away from any other sizable trees. "These tin-hats won't be trouble, but we'll have to move double quick to avoid whatever will come next.... One more thing. When you run them past this place...don't stop. The area will be otherwise occupied."

Sol patted the tree a bit before tilting his head, as if to gaze up at the tree. Inwardly, he shook his head at how he'd naturally looked up, a useless movement to one such as him. Hanging around with non-miralukas all these years seemed to have caused some of their gestures, and movements to wear off on him. "Ready?"

[Jax]

Jax dug in behind his tree and waited for the Mandalorians to get within blaster range. The five scouts were efficiently and quickly scanning the area for any survivors, and as they got to the edge of the lake he heard one of them (presumably the leader) say, "Okay Trooper, you check the lake for the remains of the ship. I want no survivors running off on us here." The trooper that the leader was talking to nodded in acknowledgement and began to head for the edge of the lake. Jax, sensing his opportunity, took a deep breath to steady himself and then snapped to a combat position and fired off three shots at the scout heading for the Aria. The first shot skimmed the ground, but the other two hit home one in the chest and the other on the side of the scout's face and with a loud groan the Mandalorian fell to the ground incapacitated.

The other four, completely thrown off guard turned their heads to look at their new enemy, and Jax couldn't help but smirk imagining the wide-eyed, gape-jawed expressions that were probably on their faces under those helmets. He shouted out to the Mandalorians, "Stay away from my ship you schuttas!" and then turned and ran, firing a couple of blind shots off behind him as he went just for show.

Jax heard the leader shout, "There's one of them men! Go get him!" and he could hear the group chasing after him through the woods. Jax's eyes fixed on the tree he knew Sol was hiding behind, and he shifted into that extra gear sprinting for it. As he came up even with the tree he dove headfirst for the ground and slid, in his mind crossing his fingers hoping that Sol was ready.

[Solomon Kurro]

Ruin the cane? Don't ruin the cane? Ruin the cane? Don't- Starlines! Forget this he wanted his lightsaber!

As Jax made it past, Solomon, slipped a small panel out of the way, and activated his weapon. The fiery red blade burned steadily through the white material, eventually sloughing it off altogether. This is more like it. The lightsaber is the ultimate weapon. Capable of extreme precision, Sol gave a mighty swing, carving a chunk of the tree away and allowing it to fall. He finished his thought as he watched the tree plummet towards the now close pursuers. And absolute dominance on the field.

With a "Get to cover!" he jumped down into the fray. All the troopers in the vicinity were startled, and some may even have been crushed by the falling behemoth. With a sprint and a dash, he swept past one of the recovering troops, throwing a swipe at the trooper's chest plate, before diving into the mess of branches now on the forest floor.

[Jax]

Jax's eyes widened in shock, as Sol's white cane turned (as if by magic) into a red lightsaber, which he then used to slice the tree he'd been hiding behind, sending it crashing down on the Mandalorian leader and onto the legs of another scout. Hell I was just hoping he'd whack the guy hard enough with the cane that I'd be able to get a couple of clean shots off with my blaster.

Jax couldn't help but notice that his feelings that something lay below the surface of Sol were correct, as he apparently was some sort of Sith; or at least one damned good lightsaber fighter. Well the way I see it, I'm not a Jedi anymore so as long as he doesn't ask me to kill innocents I can work for a Sith. If he is indeed a Sith. Jax shook off his musings for now, as no matter what Sol's true nature was it wouldn't matter if they both got killed here. Sol yelled out for Jax to take cover, and Jax fired off two shots at one of the remaining two scouts as he slid in front of the now fallen tree. Taking a second to get his breath, he then popped back up and took aim at the closer scout who was advancing on Sol's position amongst the branches of the fallen tree. Jax squeezed out three shots, which hit the legs of the Mandalorian and knocked him to the ground. Firing off another three Jax finished him off and then began to fire out covering fire so Sol could advance on the final attacker.

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol "saw" the blaster bolts coming from behind him. Jax, a shadowy void in his own senses, was driving the last opponent into cover. It was a simple matter for the Miraluka to rush up to the log that the trooper was taking cover behind, and drive the blade through, searing wood, armor and flesh.

That was it for him. A lightsaber was one of the most efficient and destructive tools in the galaxy. Few materials could stand up to it's focused beam. The enemy gave a short cry before slouching over, dead.

Sol inclined his head at the body of the man, and picked the helmet up off the trooper... There was likely a transponder in it, giving the location back to a headquarters someplace. He dropped it in the forest dirt again.

"Nice shooting, Jax. If only your flying were a match." Solomon dead panned this, though you could see from his slight smile that he was kidding the man. That still left them with a downed ship, in the wilderness someplace near Keldabe though. "Do you have any idea which way Keldabe is? I need more information on this group, and I'd prefer to give them some sort of parting gift as well. You know, for all the trouble they went through on our behalf."

[Jax]

Jax cracked a smirk and said, "Yeah well you try landing a DeepWater with a Mandoa anti-air turret breathing down your neck! And what about you?!?" he said the dry humor not hidden in his tone. "It seems that I was correct in assuming you were more than you let on! Much more than a clumsy blind man, eh?" he said while pointing at Sol's new lightsaber.

He scratched his head at Sol's question, trying to get a grasp on his bearings. "Well the tower that shot us down was presumably on the outskirts of Keldabe...and the shots came from over there," he said while pointing through the trees and across the lake at a pair of mountains in the distance, "So my best guess is that it's in that direction. And I should very much like to also thank them for the detailing they did on the Aria's exterior! Let's move out before they send a commando squad out looking for those scouts." And he started his way out of the forest and began to lead Sol across the open field toward the twin mountains about a mile and a half away.

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol smiled at Jax's retort about landing, "Alright. Point taken, point taken. The blindfolded man angled his head, a human gesture, towards the now deactivated lightsaber the smuggler was pointing at. It's smooth, whitish handle in stark contrast with the darker clothing that the Jensaarai swordsman favored. "Much more, indeed." Hopefully this wouldn't cause any trouble with his pilot.

They hiked for a time. The forest around them was alive with the force. Sol could almost forget that they were being hunted as he walked there. He'd grown used to Jax's odd, shadowy presence in the force, there and yet not there at the same time. He decided that it was time they broached the subject, while they headed towards the mountain path, and Keldabe in between.

"...Jax, You've seen that I'm more than I make out. A blind man can be a useful cover to have, but when hunted by squads of Mandalorian troops it doesn't seem to be that important anymore. I think we should take this time to settle any issues you may have. Before the next encounter."

Sol stopped, stubbornly looking at his companion. Huttspit. He was actually starting get fond of the fellow.

[Jax]

They walked for a time in comfortable silence, until Sol interjected saying, "...Jax, You've seen that I'm more than I make out. A blind man can be a useful cover to have, but when hunted by squads of Mandalorian troops it doesn't seem to be that important anymore. I think we should take this time to settle any issues you may have. Before the next encounter."

Jax looked over at his companion and knew what he was referring to. Being careful to choose his words carefully he said, "I have no issues with working with you Sol. The two of us make a pretty good team, and I'm...well I'm starting to trust you. It surprises me a little to find out you're a Sith, but as long as you don't have me killing little babies we'll be alright. And I suppose you have earned the right to know about how I was seperated from the Jedi. It's a long story though, and I don't really have time to get into it right now. So I'll tell you what, we get out of this alive...and I'll tell you the whole story. How's that sound?"

[Solomon Kurro]

"A Sith? Oh please... Don't confuse me with one of those pathetic fools. I am Jensaarai." Sol had only heard the legends bantered about, mostly hearsay about the ancient order of the enemies of the Jedi. From what he'd heard, Sith were jedi who had decided to take a route of conquest; rule over the weak. They were always painted as vicious monsters, given over to anger and jealousy, but Sol had to wonder if it was simply prejudice. An easy enough mistake I suppose. I've heard that sith often used red lightsabers. That doesn't make that much difference to me.... Occasionally Sol wished he had eyes to see with, as the rest of the galaxy did. It wasn't something that bothered him often though. He normally just put those thoughts away.

"As you said, though there's not time to speak of these things now. Just know that I am the one in control of my emotions. Not the other way around."

They continued on, making their way towards the capital. That was when Sol stopped. He felt something. Something rising through the sky, and shooting away, beyond his senses. Is that.... Spacecrafts? So many.... Ships were the only thing Solomon could think of that could travel like that. Opening himself to the force, he tried to get a general read of what it was. Overall, he felt excitement. Excitement, and grim resolve.

The Miraluka was reasonably sure he knew what he was sensing, but he spoke up anyway. "Are those ships? I'm unable to clearly distinguish what I'm seeing from here ." His senses tingled again, though this time he was unsure what he felt.

[Jax]

Jax let out a deep sigh of relief and said, "Phew, that's a relief. Sith can be a little...well a little self-righteous, and it puts me at ease knowing you are not one. I should have known better really," he said with a smile about 12 parsecs wide. "I've never heard of the Jensaarii, you'll have to tell me more about them when we get off this blasted rock!"

Right after Jax had finished talking he heard a loud lurching noise, and in the distance past the mountains a group of at least twenty battle cruisers and frigates launched into the sky and left the atmosphere. Jax could make out the bright flash of light that every pilot could associate with ships entering hyperspace and then they were gone. Next to him Sol, mouth agape asked, "Are those ships? I'm unable to clearly distinguish what I'm seeing from here."

Jax gulped and said, "Chuba, yeah those were ships alright! A whole blasted battle fleet! Looks like your Hutt friends were right to be suspicious, something is definitely not right here. I've got a bad feeling about this. We better hurry up and figure out what's going on and quick. They launched off from over there, come on!" he said and then started to run towards the forest just beyond the twin peaks, in which Jax was willing to bet, lay the base they were looking for.

[Solomon Kurro]

A fleet... This changes things. Sol took off at a run after his smuggler companion, senses tuned to read and detect signs of life ahead of them. Not even hills and walls could hide someone from a miraluka's force sight, though details were fuzzier with the more things one had to look through.

My task was to get in, find the rival group, and assess their strength. Then report back. If they can support a battle fleet though, then thats all the information I need. Yet, now that I know how dangerous they are, my gut is telling me to hit them while they're vulnerable here. These, and other thoughts passed through Sol's mind, calculating them out then setting others aside for later. If I get the chance, he decided, I'm hitting them. If not, then I need to get out of here.

Eventually, they came up on an area with several structures. There seemed to be facilities for maintenance on the surface, as well as several armored bunkers. The Miraluka moved to hide behind some of the local fauna, several large fronds hiding him from easy viewing.

"See that?" He whispered over to Jax. "This is probably only a small installation. There must be other pads further on...." Sol paused for a moment. "I don't need any more information. If they can support a fleet, they're serious. I'd still rather leave them with something to remember us by, but prudence doesn't seem to suggest such an action just now....how bad was the Aria?"

[Jax]

The two of them came to a clearing in the forest that lay at the foot of the twin mountains and before them stretched a small camp. It looked like there was a couple maintenance buildings, a few armored bunkers and one building that looked like a warehouse. Sol commented that he thought it seemed as though this outpost was probably just one of a grid of similar outposts. Jax grunted in agreement.

"Probably connected by underground tunnels too."

Sol went on to say that the ships would be more than enough evidence forthe Hutts and that while he wanted to pay them back for the inconveniences that perhaps now wasn't the best time to do so. Jax nodded in begrudging agreement. Then Sol asked if the Aria was flightworthy.

"The Aria?," he asked, as though surprised thay Sol would consider that something to be concerned about. "Oh yeah, the Aria is fine, trust me on that one. Believe me, she's been through a lot worse and still flew. And besides that crash was more acting than it was crashing. Oh, but there is something we're going to need to take care of if we want her, and ourselves for that matter, in one piece when we try to take off. And unless you had a rocket launcher hidden in that cane as well, this could be...tricky," he said as he pointed above the peaks of the twin mountains at the two looming anti-air towers that stood threateningly above the twin peaks.

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol nodded in relief that the Aria was still flyable. "You did a good job crashing her. I could hardly tell the difference." More of that dry humor, but mixed with a compliment this time... or was it?

He gave a quiet hiss of displeasure as the air turrets were pointed out to him. "No. I'm afraid I don't have a rocket launcher, or even a concussion grenade."

Sol stopped thinking of the problem, cutting away the extraneous information, and began focusing on solutions. There were a few he could think of.

"The way I see it, we can either go the direct route, or the way of the sabateur. I don't think we can cover the grounds fast enough to get to each gun before they're alerted. We'll have to find a way to disable both at the same time." An idea began forming in Sol's head. If he'd had eyes to narrow, they would have been. As it was, you could only see the movement of a few muscles in his forehead. "How good are you're decryption skills?... Or your droid's?"

[Jax]

"Not good enough to risk betting our skins on. But Sheila...She could get you into pretty much any network you needed her to. One reason I got her actually, it's very useful having a dishonest ID signature on your ship..." he said with a smirk as he tailed off. "If you don't mind I'll just run back and get her. Try to stay out of sight. We've probably only got about a minute or so before these guys start wondering where those scouts went. I'll try to hurry but if anyone comes just make sure they don't find you. I don't want to be reporting to the Hutts by myself!" he said with an air of genuine concern and then full-out sprinted back towards the lake.

---

About two minutes later Jax was jogging back to Sol's position, sweating and breathing heavily and trying to urge Sheila to walk faster. "Come on Sheila, we need to get there today!"

The protocol droid snapped back with her emotionless tone, "Captain Kel-Droma, if you wanted me there so quickly then perhaps you should not have left me deactivated and in charge of the Aria! After all, as you are well aware and are so quick to point out to me on a consistent basis, I am not a combat model. As it is this current breakneck pace is threating to bust several of my joints."

"Well just try to hurry it up will ya?!?" Jax retorted frustdatedly. "I swear, next time you get yourself busted and I need to fix you I'm gonna replace you with and HK-unit!"

Jax felt like Sheila would have rolled her eyes, if she was capable of doing so or had eyes to roll. "Master, please! An HK-unit would never put up with your...sense of humor. Besides, those models are primitively programmed and could never perform the wide array of duties you have me perform with satisfactory efficiency."

Jax found no problem rolling his own eyes however, as they finally made it to where Sol was waiting patiently. Jax bent over, hands on his knees and caught his breath for a second then said, "Sorry we're late. Princess here had a hard time keeping up!"

"And thick-skulled Captain here forgot that I have the mobility capabilities of a fuel droid," Sheila responded, her emotionless tone somehow amplifying the humor of it.

Jax chuckled heartily for a brief second and then coughing to interrupt himself asked Sol, "Okay, so what exactly did you have in mind?"

[Solomon Kurro]

Sol nodded as Jax headed off. The last thing he wanted to do was give away his position. It could potentially harm himself, or Jax. Risk with no gain was unacceptable.

Sol smiled at the antics of the two as they made their way back to the position. "I thought, maybe their guns were pointed at the wrong ship on our way down. We should change that." A predatory smile erupted onto the eyeless man's face. The menace in it making it less than pleasant to have directed your way. "If we can get inside and get to a main terminal, Sheila should be able to change their friend-foe codes for us." Sol continued on in his thoughts. Their personnel are probably depleted now as well. I doubt this group has enough forces on hand to fully man a fleet as well as their installation.

"It should prove far more detrimental than simply disabling the power supply."

[Jax]

Jax smiled broadly, nodding his head exuberantly. "That's a brilliant idea! I wish I'd thought of it. We should be careful though... They might not have a whole commando squad here waiting for us, but they've probably got a few men on sentry duty. Let's do our best not to raise the alarm. I'd hate to dent Sheila's shiny new finish after all."

The two of them quietly began to head into the seemingly deserted camp, the hum of a generator filled the silence for them. Jax suggested trying the warehouse building first, and the group walked quietly up to the door of the largest building in the camp. The door was locked, with a computer terminal on the wall for entering passwords.

"Sheila, can you slice into this for us?" Jax asked in a tone that wasn't so much a question as it was an order.

"Well considering it is one of my primary programmings, yes I can slice into it."

Jax rolled his eyes and stood aside, gesturing with his hands for Sheila to get to work, and the droid abliged, pressing buttons and entering commands until about ten seconds later the door slid open with a whoosh.

"Twelve seconds," Jax said clucking his tongue, "Awfully slow for you Sheila. What's the matter, are you still tired from your little jog?"

"As if. That terminal is programmed in Mandoa! Such a difficult language, it takes ages to be able to communicate anything adequately in Mandoa!"

"I don't know Sheila, that sounds like an excuse to me."

They entered the large building, feet clanking on the metal floor sending echoes vibrating along the durasteel walls. The room was full of crates stacked about fifteen feet high, just short of the ceiling, and they were laid out in rows, presumedly sorted by function. In the center of the room sat another computer terminal, this one on a circular pedestal high enough off the ground to make it ergonomically convenient to use for a man of average height.

Sheila approached the terminal and went to work, searching and prying for about two minutes before announcing, "This terminal controls the inventory for this warehouse, this one in particular contains illicit goods too numerous to count."

Jax ran his fingers through his goatee, his eyes widening as they scanned the vast array of illegal goods in the room. "That's probably how they're able to fund such a large fleet..." he mused.

"In addition," Sheila interjected, "This terminal does not have access to the friend-foe parameters. But I have managed to determine in which building the terminal that does is located."

"Show us," Jax said. And Sheila led them back out the door and across the dirt path that divided the complex in two, over to one of the armored bunkers.

Holding out a hand she said, "This is the security bunker." a few seconds later she had opened the door and another unmanned room stretched before them, this one lined with security terminals and camera feeds from the two anti-air towers and one from what looked like the center of Keldabe. Sheila turned to the two men and said, "If you will excuse me for a moment," and then she began to set about trying to find which terminal controlled the friend-foe identifiers.

---

A few tense minutes passed, as Jax paced the room impatiently and Sol quietly stood in the corner; Jax guessed he was meditating or scanning the area for enemies, one of the two. Finally, just as Jax was about to lose his patience Sheila said, "Almost finished."

Sol and Jax looked up as she said this and walked over to peer over her "shoulders" to observe the finishing touches. "Now we just put the Aria's ID signature on the list marked friendlies... and there! Good to go," she said returning the terminal back to its homescreen. "Now those turrets will ignore us and shoot at any Mandalorian vessel that should happen to pass within their scopes."

"Good!" Jax exclaimed relieved. "Now let's get the hell out of here, this place is giving me the-"

Suddenly a Mandalorian voice called out to them from the door, "You two! Hands where I can see them!"

Jax cocked his head, caught Sol's eye and smirked, giving him a sarcastic wink. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" he whispered, and slowly lowered his hand down to his pistol.

[Solomon Kurro]

Though Sol couldn't see the "shiny new finish" which Jax spoke of, he still grinned at the phrasing. "Agreed. If the alarm sounds it will make the entire situation more difficult." Perhaps "more difficult" was an understatement. It could ruin their entire chance at pulling it off.

Sol remained quiet as they passed through the compound. It was eerily empty for a war facility. Perhaps they'd emptied their troops into their ships before taking off. It was a possibility. When they arrived in the warehouse and he heard what was contained in the boxes he began to wonder how the Hutts would react to this group. While it seemed unlikely that the organizations network of trade was as widespread as the Hutt Empire's, these people clearly were more than a simple lowly gang. They would be worth the full attention of the Hutts.

"... I don't know how my clients will react to this." Sol whispered quietly to Jax, remembering that he needed to keep the Hutt's name out of this. Anger, interest, bargaining, greed.... The Jensaarai couldn't even begin to fathom which would come out on top, but he was sure some form of action would be taken.

As they entered the bunker, Sol realized that the particular armor they used could be "seen" far more clearly than certain other materials he was used to. This was a problem. Since he could see the walls better, it limited his force sight's natural ability to see through walls. It became more difficult for him the farther they went into the structure. Oh, he could still see into the room they were in just fine, but he was used to being aware of much more. This forced him to rely more on his sense based abilities rather than purely forcesight.

He came over to join Sheila and Jax when the droid said it was about done. "Now we just put the Aria's ID signature on the list marked friendlies... and there! Good to go. Now those turrets will ignore us and shoot at any Mandalorian vessel that should happen to pass within their scopes."

"Good!" Jax exclaimed relieved. "Now let's get the hell out of here this place is giving me the-"

Suddenly a Mandalorian voice called out to them from the door, "You two! Hands where I can see them!" Sol had let his guard down apparently. There were at least three commandos behind them. They seemed confidant but he could tell they were not fully armed or armored. They didn't know what they'd stumbled on. They would learn.

Sol sensed Jax glance his way and smirk, giving a conspiratorial wink to the miraluka. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Jax whispered, and slowly lowered his hand down to his pistol.

"I'm thinking he was talking to you and your droid. Clearly, a blind man is nothing to be concerned about." Of course, Sol knew that he probably had a gun aimed at his back just now too. Mandalorians were a vigilant people.

With a whirl, Sol ripped the lightsaber from his belt, it's blade jubilantly bursting into a line of burning red incineration. There was a scattershot of firing towards them, but Sol's lightsaber was their, weaving into the path of the dangerous shots. These fighters were good, they were quick on the draw, but Sol's senses had helped him to avoid several Faster-Than-Light travel accidents.

Rather than simply deflecting the blaster bolts away, Sol angled his blade to send them careening back to the Mandolorians A few of the reflected shots found one of the warriors, and hit him with with enough force to knock him down, as the third mando drew a vibroblade and charged forward yelling. The only thing that Sol could make out was something about "dar'jetti". The Jensaarai stepped in, and aimed to hack the Mandalorian's weapon, armor, and body, but when his lightsaber connected with the blade, an impact jarred his arms. His lightsaber wasn't cutting through. "Stang!" He didn't let the surprise stop him though. Instead, he lifted his foot, gathering the force around him and gave a swift boot to the armor plated chest of the warrior.