STAR WARS VII: A NEW WAY

ORIGINAL THREAD: STAR WARS VII: A NEW WAY
FROM: Old Muse
WITH: Purple and Lari
CONTINUED: from last post

Tamaya opened up the hatch for the cargo bay so that Pollux could move his ship inside when he was ready. She imagined he had a few things to check inside, so she had Red give her a report of the ship to make sure everything was working properly. It wouldn't be good if they started to leave, only to find something malfunctioning. Especially not with Grando and the sand people about.

Red reported, with the aid of 3PO, that she had run full diagnostics earlier that morning and that everything was in good shape. That finished, Tamaya relaxed in the pilot's seat, her feat up on the control panel, and told 3PO to make sure space was cleared out for Pollux and his droid.

Pollux tapped his foot, trying to decide what to tell his father. They had a tracking chip on his ship, no doubt, so they would know when he makes it to Whitop. He could always just leave the ship behind, so they think he was still here, but that would probably end in him losing the ship, which could get messy later. Think of a great excuse, he told Rue to start recording his message and stood in front of her.

"Nice to speak to you too, Father, how's the other masters and everyone else back home?" Lux said sarcastically. If he acted too monotone and serious, then they would suspicious, so Lux spoke like he normally did. "So I'm not dead. Anyway, now that all that small talk is over with, my sources here in Tatooine tell me that the rogue has gone to Whitop, and I plan on following her there. Don't worry, Master Trikaan and all the others that are probably listening in too, I will have the girl brought to you soon." He made sure to keep his face straight at Rue, as looking around would also draw questions. He also kept the bitterness and "I'm so lying" smirk out of it too. He would have been a great actor, had his career choice not picked itself for him.

Once Rue turned off her recording, Lux went to the control panel and turned on the ship. He really did hate flying or piloting or anything of the like. He flew the ship into the open cargo bay, parking it. Rue made an annoying noise that basically said, "What the hell is going on? Don't tell me you lied to the Council."

"Going on vacation to Whitop with the rogue is what we're doing, and you have strict orders not to tell anyone back home, not that you would," Lux told her. The droid was just as careless as he was sometimes, and he knew that a vacation sounded nice by the way her eyes turned a blue color. "And the rogue has some nice droid friends for you." Lux got out of his ship and walked over to where to control panel is, behind Tamaya, with Rue at his heels. "This is Rue. Rue, that's Tamaya, 3PO, and Red," Pollux introduced, pointing to the people/droids associated with the names. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yup, all ready," Tamaya said, dropping her feet. She smiled at the new droid and said, "Nice to meet you, Rue. 3PO, Red, why don't you show our guest here where she can rest a bit."

Once the droids were gone the girl began preparing the ship to take off, starting up the engines and deflector shields, just in case. The star skiff rose into the air, hovering for a moment before taking off over the barren landscape of Tattooine. Tamaya drove the craft higher and higher until they'd left the planet's atmosphere and were out in open space.

"So what'd you tell the council?" she asked, strapping herself in as she prepared to make the jump into hyperspace. She assumed that he'd had a message. The Jedi council didn't like to leave things unfinished. They wanted her brought in as soon as possible, and they would nag poor Pollux until that happened. Another reason being a rogue was easier. The only authority you had to deal with were the gangsters, and if you paid them enough they'd get off your tail.

Lux dropped into the passenger car, staying there if she needed anything. Besides, he didn't want to be in the company of droids, as terrible as that sounds. Lately he's spent most of his days with Rue, and the lack of real people to talk to or just be near without cringing or being ordered around was starting to take its toll on Lux. But he didn't know what to say to the girl, as he didn't understand the concepts of small talk. And besides, she looked a bit busy keeping us from crashing and such.

He put his seat belt on when she put hers own, as he was smart enough to know they were about to go into hyperspace. And he wasn't so stupid not to wear one with the ship was going at such speeds. Not after that one time with Castor, at least, when the ship got thrown into a spiral; that was fun. "Told the council that I was informed that you were heading to Whitop, and I was going to follow you and bring you back as soon as I can. Not much else I could have said, with them tracking me and all." Pollux glanced at the doors where Rue had left, wondering if they had a tracker on Rue, too. There was one there, but he doubted they ever used it, as they would just use the tracker on his plane if they had to send him a message. But still, he needed to make sure Rue didn't venture too far from the plane when they were on Whitop, as that could be weird if anyone picked up on it. But the fact that Lux was even friendly with his droid was weird to the oh-so-superior Jedi.

"Smart," Tamaya said pulling the necessary levers to launch the ship into hyperspace. He was right, there wasn't much else he could have said to excuse going to Whitop. He could have left the ship to throw them off, but that would get suspicious after awhile. After all, she was a smuggler, she was bound to leave the planet sometime. Especially with the Jedi council trying to bring her in.

Their brief travel in hyperspace was smooth, and they came to Whitop in a matter of seconds. The problem came a moment later in the form of two republic cruisers, sitting near the watery planet's small moon. Tamaya continued on her way towards the planet. To turn and run would be the worst thing they could do right now. At the moment the cruisers had no reason to suspect them of any wrongdoing, and technically, they weren't doing anything wrong. Unconventional, perhaps, but not wrong. Of course, the council wouldn't see it that way.

She was hoping to slip by unnoticed, but the transmission came right on cue, just as soon as they'd gotten close enough for the cruisers to get a good look at them. Essentially, too close to run away, to far to run to the planet or the moon.

This is Delta 219, republic patrol.

"No shit," Tamaya whispered, but the commander continued, unaware of her sarcasm.

What is your business on Whitop?

"No business, sir, just a vacation," she said now, holding down the button that allowed him to hear her.

What kind of cargo do you have on board?

"Nothing heavy. Just two passengers, eight droids, a speeder, some foodstuffs," the girl replied. She had expected the question. If there was a republic patrol hanging around Whitop, it was most likely to stop smugglers or something of the like. Little Whitop was a nice place, but it was full of resorts, and plenty of the things those resorts needed came from off planet. The republic tariffs could be enough to kill profits for some of the smaller ones.

Our scans are indicating a larger bulk on board.

Tamaya swore. It was that blasted fighter. That would be hard to explain. Who needed a fighter on vacation? Normally that wouldn't be enough extra weight to cause suspicion. Weapons were much heavier than a single fighter, at least in the amounts people usually ordered, but the smuggling concern here was about luxury items, lighter stuff.

We're going to need to come aboard and do a quick search.

"That's no problem, commander," she said now, "We're heading your way now."

Tamaya steered the ship towards the cruisers, but before she was too close she jerked on the steering wheel, making a sharp turn in the other direction. Her fake compliance was simply a means of throwing them off, getting their guard down. No doubt there were plenty of tourists who had to be checked. They would submit to the search gladly if it meant staying out of trouble. Unfortunately for the commander, Tamaya was no timid tourist. She was a smuggler, and a damn good one at that.

She pushed the skiff up to its maximum speed, racing towards the planet. The cruisers wouldn't follow, and they could easily evade anyone they sent in chase. If they were lucky the cruisers would be too surprised to activate a tractor beam before the little ship was out of range. If they weren't...well that was a different story.

Lux listened to the conversation between Tamaya and the patrollers, also realizing that the fighter would be a problem when they mentioned the heavier load. His eyes practically popped out when she said she would let them aboard. There was the possibility they could use the force to make them forget and let them pass, but relying on that chance was completely stupid. If it didn't work, then the patrollers would let them go now, as they were on "Jedi Business," but they would no doubt report that bit of information back to the Council. But then again, Lux knew Tamaya was smarter than that, despite only knowing her for less than a day. And sure enough, her common sense didn't disappoint him as he found himself being flown straight at Whitop at high speeds.

There was no way to block off a tracker beam until on dodged them, and the patrollers, while probably shocked, were trained in this. It would be stupid to underestimate them. Lux knew the most likely would use the beam instead of the chip. The beam was harder to get rid of while the chip was just a little device that attaches to a ship and can easily be pulled off. From a bad experience, Lux knew that the beam did come off with water (and by water, he means heavy amounts of water surrounding). But that would require crashing the ship into a lake or ocean, which Lux figured Tamaya wouldn't agree with.

He watched the girl drive, afraid to speak and break her concentration. Distracted people could get them killed or tracked or in trouble, which he also knew from bad experiences. He just hoped that she had a better idea to get rid of the tracking beam or to avoid those tracking them than he did, as the last time he crashed a plane into an ocean, he and his twin combined spent a good hour of concentrating of the force to get it back, and the musky ocean smell never did come out of it.

Tamaya gripped the wheel tightly, easing up on the speed ever so slightly as they entered the blue planet's atmosphere. They were out of range of the tractor beam, but a slow beeping alarm told her that they were being tracked. Most ships didn't come equipped with tracking beam sensors, but as a smuggler, it was something you needed to know.

"Hope you're not afraid to get a little wet, Jedi," the rogue quipped as they plummeted towards the planet's surface. They were headed straight for the water, and at this rate it was unlikely that Tamaya could have pulled the craft up out of the dive if she'd tried. The ship was somewhat amphibious--meaning it wouldn't hurt it to get wet--but it wasn't designed for underwater travel either. The other times she'd crash landed it in a body of water hadn't been disastrous, but then, they hadn't been easy going either.

"Brace yourself," she said, the water rising up to meet them in a loud woosh. They were beneath the surface a moment later, the water like a blanket that blocked out everything else. The tracker alarm was silent. Tamaya peered through the clear blue water at the sandy bottom far below, seeing fish dart back and forth. A moment later she was focused again, though, flipping the switches that would turn on fans to propel them through the water. She pushed the com link button and go 3PO's polite greeting a moment later.

"Get Red to make sure everything is functioning properly," she said, "I don't think we sustained any damage, but we don't need anything breaking down on us right now."

"Right away, Miss," the droid responded, followed by Red's friendly beeping. Tamaya nodded and steered the ship upwards, feeling the controls react sluggishly in the denser surroundings. After a minute they popped up, floating like a cork on top of the water. Tamaya killed the fans and stood up, pulling up a map of Whitop showing their current location. They would have to use the fans to propel themselves through the water towards land as the ship wouldn't take off without something more solid underneath it, and it would be slow going.

"We're not too far from the mainland, but it could take us all afternoon to get there," she said, "Might help if we get up on top and push it a bit." She meant with the Force, of course, but he didn't seem so dimwitted that she felt the need to say it.