Shadows of Bankor

The battle was over but there was no time to rest: The base was getting organised for partial relocation. The Jolly Roger was getting loaded and ready to explore the charts Vaya brought as well as possible CIS hidden assests.

Bowze was looking the the theorised hideouts

After a moment, the holo-projector came to life, showing a weary looking Djanik, dressed in sweat and grease stained flight suit, sitting in what quickly became visible as the cockpit of his ship.

He didn't seem to be performing any vigorous maneuvers, so it was safe to say, whatever he was doing, it wasn't dangerous.

It didn't look like he had slept yet - and a large mug of kaff resting in the clamp by the throttle seemed to back-up that assessment.

"You wanted to chat, General?"

Vaya, wrapped in a thermal cloak and other cold-weather gear, trudged into the command room from the access hallway.

"I, uh, talked to the Sargeant," she said. "He said he'd find some volunteers among the V2's to be powered down and partially disassembled for storage. "It'll be a tight fit, but you'll be able to pack all of them. Unless you want to leave some behind to help run the listening post." She shivered, mostly an affectation underneath her layers. "Although their gears might freeze over."

She noticed the holoprojection, and stepped into the pickup. "Hey, Djanik." She took in his condition. "You might want some more military-grade stimulants if you're going to keep flying, cap'n."

''Captain, lieutenant'' Bowze greeted them with a bow ''The B-1 chassis can by compacted without dissasembly so we shoud not have that much problems bringing them around...but indeed, some of them might need to stay behind to man the post. Maybe someone from the metallic unity can stand behind as well.''

He looked over the hanger from where he was

''Once the main door is closed, the cold should not be a problem. I only wonder if we should take T-1 with us.'' he took some notes

''...captain...as you can see weare preparing to move out. There are many location to investigate from the star charts Vaya sent us. Are you willing to investigate them with us?''

"I'm not doing anything dangerous now."

He gave a weary smile, coupled with a sloppy salute. "Sweeping the wreckage for survivors - it may be pointless, but it's an old tradition from before the Clone Wars. I guess I'm just old-fashioned like that."

Tapping the kaff, he added, "It's boring - so at least I have someone to talk to."

As Bowze went into his plans, Djanik nodded wearily. "I, personally, am all for it. I'm not sure I can talk my squad around to that goal, though, and I don't want to abandon them. They deserve a good flight lead - Vik is coming along but he's not learned all the tricks yet."

A little shrug - "That said, we don't have plans yet, so if I can, I'd be happy to cover some of those coordinates for you - the Dawn is designed for that kind of survey work."

''It is a worthy tradition'' he admitted ''Did any of you seen Jabber since yesterday? I have a search and rescue party doing sweeps around the region''

Bowze Coppa wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 23, 2020 11:49 pm

''It is a worthy tradition'' he admitted ''Did any of you seen Jabber since yesterday? I have a search and rescue party doing sweeps around the region''

"I was talking with some of his Jawa friends," said Vaya. "Don't worry about him, I think he's waist-deep in some rather good scrap, eh wot." Vaya frowned. "I think. My Jawa Trade is still developing. He might be waist-deep in, uh, something else. More personal."

"Last I saw him, he said he'd 'left something in the oven.'"

Djanik shrugged. "I think it may be some sort of euphemism for having a personal matter come up?"

Glancing at something outside the view port, he gave the yoke a little tug, correcting his course. "He didn't send me any alarms, so I think he's doing all right."

Bowze took that into consideration

''Very well. We'll give him time.'' he replied before turning to Vaya ''What will you do now? Will you join us hunting CIS remnants and investigating locations?''

Well, there that is. Vaya had spent some time imagining how to have this conversation, and still hadn't really settled on an approach.

"No," said Vaya, maybe surprised as anyone that she'd taken the rip-the-synthflesh-off approach. "General, I've got to leave. I can't stay here anymore." She shook her head and added quickly, "Not as in this instant, I mean." That sounded more dramatic than I meant.

Bowze tilted his head, not sure of where she was going

''Well, we are going to leave the planet soon enought...hum...no about having an idea...or not about coming with us?''

"I'm..."

Not cut out to be an insurgent, abandoning you to help the Jedi that I know you don't like very well, not interrogation-resistant enough to know all your secrets, ideologically hollow, in the middle of a spiritual crisis

"... in debt to Vandil. I traded her for some information -- that's when I managed to sneak a look at all those out-of-the way places, in the dead Hutt's astro-cartographical records." That last part was true, all of it was, and maybe even important context, but Vaya felt a flash of guilt at mentioning it. Was she just saying it to be manipulative? Or to make herself feel better? "I told her I'd give her a share of the treasure from an expedition. I tried to lower her expectations as much as possible, but I don't want to leave her waiting forever."

''Mmmh'' Bowze looked concerned ''I see...if you need help, you know how to call. Do you wish for a few V-2s to accompany you for safety?'' he offered

Vaya found her practical, logistical, expedition-planner mode easy to drop in to for her answer. That saved her from having to react on the spot from a more emotional level to having her declaration of abandonment met with not only equanimity but generosity.

“Thank you, General, but I don’t think that’ll be needed. It’s the nature of these things that you’re either exploring a ruin, which means there’s nothing more dangerous than old traps and structural instability, or you’re dealing with locals who don’t want you to explore a ruin, and I can’t imagine wanting to escalate to shooting.” She turned to the holo’s pickup and joked, smirking, “If Djanik wanted to volunteer to do all the dangerous hyper-route scouting for me, though…”

Djanik pulled a wry face.

"I think I'd fly myself into a star in no time - I'm better at flying at sublight speeds, sorry Vaya."

Glancing between the two, he added, "If you need a lift anywhere, any time, drop me a line. The Zero Dawn can handle long hauls."