Larik looks around at his companions, barely masking his surprise that no one has much experience piloting much more than a air speeder. Well, to be fair, neither do you, he thinks to himself.

"So our mysterious contact chose all of us and clearly didn't think we'd need a pilot, so let just make the best of it."

Larik loses the glib edge when he approaches the Acklay, slowly, making certain the creature knows it has his full respect.

"Have you the ability to see what lies ahead for us? I am eager to resume my training and I will do my best to be a good student."

Why should we trust this Acklay? and how do we know it's Force sensitive? I see that look on your face Larik, I can pilot stuff, believe me I won't crash us.

Wale speaks for the Guardian, entranced as he speaks, his voice not his own, "Because I can train you for the many dangers ahead, but I cannot provide shelter. Only my previous apprentice can give you that, only Lobrose can do that for you. Lobrose has hidden herself in plain view posing herself as an information broker that has spread across the galaxy in the shadows. There are precious few that escape her view. If she can't hide you from the Empire, then no one can." He regains his senses and says,"I hate when she does that. She also asks me to tell you to basically group hug her son and feel his spirit so that she can talk to you, but you will have less if a connection than me so she won't be able to speak through you and get the hell off her **** planet."

"So the Acklay knows more than she said... Let's hope this previous apprentice knows enough to keep us out of trouble." Khit forms the bond with the young beast, then politely returns to her more trusted mount.

Gup looks at her as if to say "WTF yo doin, those things are monsters!"

"It's okay Gupy, we need the training if we're to survive through this, the beast will help us" but inside Khit still has her doubts.

Naught kneels in front of the Acklay in a meditative posture and attempts to expand her consciousness. Underneath the goggles and breath mask, her face assumes an expression of intense concentration. She is used to using the Force to manipulate tangible objects, things that she can see and imagine the heft and weight of. But a mind cannot be seen, and thoughts have no mass. She struggles, mentally stumbling about like a person in a pitch black room, until she feels an intelligence reaching out to her. Its touch is crude, yet gentle and warm, and Naught allows it to guide her into the bond.

Hello, she thinks through the bond, this Gand is pleased to meet you.

As you stumble through the Acklay's mind, a six limbed humanoid walks out of the darkness of the mindstate, and offers a hand through the open door.

(OOC: I'll leave it up to you to describe your personal experience through the beast's mind, but please use no dialogue as Arkady cannot speak that way to non-acklay.)

Larik kneels before the Acklay, opening himself to the beast's force connection. Images begin coming to him, first as a blur then solidifying into specific times and events, some he recognizes but most he doesn't. All concept of time is lost as he's falling through morphing possibilities, branching off into other possibilities. Suddenly he's hit with one clear image of a figure wielding a red lightsaber. The figure approaches him, telling Larik he will be found and to give in before raising his blade. Everything goes black as he passes out from the exertion of being so deeply connected. He wakes a time later, not at all sure of what he's seen or how long he's been out. He sees Naught by his side.

"I'm OK. I..., we... we need to go. Now. Events have been set into motion. I'm sorry. I don't know. We...we have to save, no, not save, relieve her. Before it's too late."

Naught slowly rises to her feet, still unsteady from the new sensations she is experiencing. "Indeed, we have taken an initial step, but there are many more to come. We can get better acquainted in hyperspace."

Naught turns and climbs up the landing ramp into the Rusty Mynock, taking stock of the ship's interior. The cargo hold is perhaps not ideal, but it should be big enough to hold Gupgup and the Acklay if the speeder bikes are well stowed. Though we certainly won't be transporting much in the way of cargo, she thinks with amusement. Having established that, she heads next to the bunk room. Let the others fawn over the cockpit, this Gand wants to know where she'll be sleeping. There are enough bunks to accommodate every one, but Naught still pulls out a small mesh hammock from her pack and hangs it in one corner. No need to be sleeping too close to anyone else, she thinks, dropping her packs underneath and climbing into the hammock to await takeoff and enjoying the gentle sway back and forth.

Lying in the hammock, she thinks back to what she just experienced. Touching another being's mind wasn't as intrusive or disturbing as she had feared, but she wasn't sure she wanted to do it again in a hurry. Still, Naught mused, there are probably many things to be learned through such a connection, and much that could be accomplished.

If one was to explore the vessel one would quickly find that this was not meant for transporting standard cargo, this seems more like a VIP transport, and a well-armed one at that, there are two luxurious rooms with a full queen sized bed and lockable doors, all well maintained, with one being more blue in theme and the other a reddish color. These are at the fore of the vessel and separating a hall with 3 rooms on either side of the vessel. These rooms are simple but have two beds apiece with room to store the occupants gear. The last room where the cargo bay should be has been converted into a speeder storage zone, but it can be quickly turned into a barn if need be, there is also a bunk and storage locker in there should one want to take it. The cockpit is bare and empty except for two bantha leather seats and the controls, there is a ladder on the port side going up and down to allow access to the bubble quad turrets the Dorsal (or top) is the ion cannon and the Ventral (or bottom) is a laser cannon, clearly this could have been used to support people on the ground by flying a circle over the target and firing on the enemy below.

If one is to inspect Lady and Tramp , those Z-95s have seen a lot of combat, designed to be entered quickly and from the confines of the Rusty Mynock. This is done by way of an advanced docking tube in the cargo bay connected to each one and set up in a way to where one just jumps down the tube and is seated by the end of it. The tube closes and the cockpit seals before detaching itself from the Rusty Mynock.

After you are all situated and bunks have been chosen, you put in the coordenents given to you by the mysterious figure into the navicomputer and set off into your grand adventure.

(Gain 25 XP and roll for destiny points and morality.)

As you exit Hyperspace at the planet Ribaxa, which seems to be war-scarred, with deep craters visible from high orbit and the nearest moon. Seemingly caused by an ancient WMD from long ago. The planet itself a fraction of what it used to be. In orbit are seven Imperial-1 class Star Destroyers slugging it out, with each other. Smaller ships, mostly TIE craft, are also in this massive battle, snubfighter VS snubfighter, capital VS capital, Imperial VS Imperial. Something happened in the week you were in hyperspace, and it didn't turn out well for the Imps.

Khit is in the barn when the call comes that the ship is dropping out of Hyper space. She looks out a window, curious to see this new world, and is shocked by what she sees. The planet itself is scorched, a wasteland with very little sign of life, entirely alien to the Nautolan who grew up on a lush green world full of life. The feeling she now knows as The Force feels almost alien here. But its the massive battle raging nearby thats drawing her in. The sight of Imperials firing massive turbo laser batteries at each other, unleashing hell on themselves, has her both perplexed and frightened.

"What the Force is going on here!"

The fear takes hold and a vision of broken ships, wreckage, destruction and death presents itself in Khit's mind. Overshadowing the whole scene is a dark, menacing, hooded figure. The cackling laughter coming from beneath the hood is that of malice and hate, of the pleasure of others suffering. This rocks Khit to her core, breaking out in a cold sweat and shivering like death just crossed her grave. That someone can take so much pleasure in others suffering is hard to bear, its only the reassurance and calming thoughts of her mentor that relax her. A harrowing experience none the less.

"There are powers at work here beyond those we see around us, we have a journey long and hard to come i fear."

A week's meditation with Arkady had been fruitful in terms of Naught's understanding of the Force, though manipulating the visible was still far easier than perceiving the invisible. Her mind was like the body of an athlete in training—definitely sore, but in a way that made it feel as though she could do anything. In the meantime, she had settled for "juggling" the weights she carried in her sleeves, an activity that seemed to amuse the Acklay.

As they approached their destination in hyperspace, Naught moved to the cockpit so that she would get a first glimpse of the new world they were visiting. She never tired of seeing new corners of the galaxy.

What she saw as they left hyperspace was entirely unexpected, however. A devastated world lay below them and in-between was a colossal battle taking place between what appeared to be two Imperial fleets. "That does not look like a training exercise," Naught remarked as a frigate began to fall apart under overwhelming fire. "This Gand hopes we they will be too busy to notice us, but perhaps pilots should be in the Lady and Tramp in case they take untoward interest in us." Not in a hurry to be volunteered for such a position herself, Naught instead grabs a headset and moves to operate the ventral laser turret.

Larik had moved to the cockpit to keep Wale company on the final leg of their trip hoping pick up a few piloting pointers, but instead is learning up close - far too close for his taste - about the horrors of war. It wasn't the first space battle he'd witnessed, but it was far beyond the typical pirate on pirate violence he was accustomed to on the outer rim.

He is dumbfounded by the carnage and momentarily frozen in panic, but thanks to his time with Arkady is able to recenter himself and find peace through the Force.

In his moment of clarity he wonders if everything is as it seems. He'd heard about Seperatists commandeering Republic ships and infiltrating fleets during the Clone Wars and pirate crews had copied the tactic. If he could pick up anything on the scanners, it might help them get an idea of how best to avoid the fray and determine what they were seeing.

"OK everyone, first thing we need to do is stay calm. They look pretty preoccupied with each other and we're still a little ways away. Naught, good call heading for the turret just in case, but we might want to hold off on crewing the headhunters. Khit, can you and Lama see if you can rig up a simple autopilot protocol for Lady and the Tramp? We may need to use them as bait and to cover our escape. None of us are good enough pilots to get into a dogfight with those TIEs and I've grown rather fond of all of you so I'd really prefer not to see anyone become one with the Force in a snubfighter. Wale, you know Imperial tactics. Anything about either side seem off to you?
"Let me see if they've spotted us. Maybe something else useful will turn up on the scanners."

"Total carnage." Lama says as he sees what is going on.

Lama sprints out of the cockpit and yells over his shoulder. "I'll get in the Tramp, and fly escort."

As the chatter coming over the comms begins to coalesce into a picture of what is happening, Naught shudders. While the Gand has no love for the Empire, the Galactic Civil War turning into a three-way fight does not bode well for innocents caught in the middle. There will be many more planets like Ribaxa in the galaxy if things continue as they are.

After taking a moment to steady herself, Naught says "We had best get down to that planet quickly. Anyone still down there is in grave danger of becoming collateral damage, and this Gand has no desire to see anyone caught between two warring Sith." After a pause, she adds "Ourselves included."

"Agreed," Larik said, staring out the forward transparisteel screen. As he watched the Imperial factions tearing each other apart, he began to squint a bit and then a slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Wale, do you see that?" he asks, pointing toward the lower left quadrant. "That Star Destroyer's bridge section is destroyed. It's just floating and the other side is ignoring it, focusing on the other ones. That's our way in. Skirt around it and down into the atmosphere."

Then over the intercom, "Lama, do not launch. It's going to be tricky enough for one ship to get through this, let alone two."

"No problem Larik."

Wale sets the tiny HWK on a course that will end up going around the destroyed vessel, hopefully avoiding their attention.

As you enter the atmosphere you are contacted by an unknown source, "Slow speed and identify yourselves, you're not on our list nor are you Imperial. What is your business here?"

Any relief he had from them not being vaporized in a Sith vs. Sith space battle evaporated when Larik heard the hail come across the Mynock's outside comm system.
"Did everyone catch that?," Larik says over the ship's intercom, staring at the scanner bank and not sure how to proceed.

"Anyone have any ideas how we should respond?"

Naught patches her vocoder into the internal comm system: "Try to determine the source of that transmission, this Gand will respond in a peaceful fashion so as not to prompt them to intercept us as presumed enemies."

After taking a moment to mentally compose herself and locate the appropriate frequency, Naught sends back a narrowband transmission stating: "This is the Rusty Mynock, a neutral party here on a mission of mercy. We wish to exit the combat zone as quickly as possible. Please advise."

Naught then anxiously turns back to her targeting computer while awaiting a response, remaining vigilant in case enemy fighters take notice of them.

"You came to Ribaxa and wish to exit a combat zone, cute" the voice on the comm starts laughing, "The planet has always been a world at war, there is not an inch of the planet that isn't a combat zone. All that happens is that a new faction springs up to fight an older one. Our history is filled with combat since the beginning of recorded history."

While listening to the back and forth between Naught and the being on the ground Larik decides scan for the source of the transmission. It takes a bit longer than he'd like, but eventually the ping comes back.

He waves his hands to get Wale's attention and indicates to mute the ship to ground comm and quietly informs the rest of the crew what he's found.

"I found the source of the transmission. It's coming from an airfield right by our target coordinates. Whoever this is probably knows the babysitter we've been sent to help."

"We can't know that for certain," Wale argues, "That is a public Space port by the looks of it, and I'd rather not risk our cover yet."

Naught considers the situation for a moment. It was entirely possible that the being on the radio would be friendlier if they knew what was going on, but it was a big risk. Moreover, it was possible that either of the Imperial factions in orbit were listening in on their conversation, and nothing would get their attention faster than word of a Jedi on the planet's surface. "Then we shall have to plead our case without the benefit of specifics."

Naught unmutes the transmitter and responds, "Regardless, there is currently a battle taking place in orbit that we would rather not be caught up in. As stated, we are here on a mission of mercy, not to participate in any ongoing conflicts. May we have clearance to land?"