with epic intro music

It's a debriefing room. There is a long table at the center of the room that takes up most of its space, surrounded on all sides by chairs. At the center of the table is a holo-projector, but it is currently turned off. There are cookies and some sort of juice beside it. You will have a few moments to settle yourself (or make a sweet entrance) before the Commander arrives to give your instructions.

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Switch Lanks opened the door and looked through the door curiously around at the large room with the long table and chairs. Noting that no one else was inside he stopped from entering. Is this the right place, he asked himself. He stood apprehensively but then decided to go inside and as he did wore a big smile, excited to start a new experience. Switch's eyes then trailed to where the cookies are and all bad thoughts fled from him. Almost tripping as he made his way over, Switch picked up a cookie and started to fill up a cup with some juice.

Idolon can be heard before he is seen. There is a very light tap tap noise echoing down the corridor as he makes his way to the room. He feels along the wall to find the button pad that would open the doors, but it seems that someone else has already used it. Stepping inside, he sees a very faint Force presence from another being inside the room - Switch. The scent of food and drink reaches his nostrils, and he scrunches his nose in disapproval. Back in his day, such important meetings were conducted with the seriousness they deserved. Not with cookies.

Falztar walks almost silently down the hall, purely out of habit. Just before reaching the door, he pulls out his communication device, types a quick message, smiles and hits send. One look into the room and it is as if he never left.  There must be some international standard towards building a briefing room.   He walks to the food and glances at himself in a reflective piece of the room’s décor. After a brief moment, he sits down a chair away from the Zabrak, nibbling his cookie, mindlessly counting calories.

Switch hears the foot steps and turns around to see who else would be attending the meeting, inadvertently spilling some of the juice on his own shirt, due to the fact that Switch is very clumsy. Wearing a jovial smile, Switch doesn't even notice his accident until midway through his greeting. "Oh hello there, how are you doing? Are you part of this...oops." Switch quickly puts the juice container on the table and tries to wipe off the juice stain but to no avail. He grins sheepishly, seeing how there isn't much more he can do to improve his situation. Figuring it best to sit down, Switch makes his way over to the nearest chair, and almost falling down from slipping on the excess juice.

Nervous, Onou entered the room as though a loud noise would send her bolting back out. Seeing that it really didn't look like the setup for a dismissal, she calmed down a bit, immediately going to sit at the table. She really didn't know why she was taken from her guard duties to be here; there was a bit of instruction but she had already forgotten it. Although she was wondering why there are cookies, if this is truly serious business... and why one of the people present has a stained shirt. Onou hunched in her seat, as though trying to be kind of small.

Taman calmly stepped through the doorway, pausing to take in his surroundings.  He felt more important than normal and walked with an air of dignity helped slightly by the new tailored cloak he felt he had deserved. He pulled back his hood and his eyes landed momentarily upon the strangely spiky creature, he smiled slightly and moved to take his seat next to it. He held out his hand to the seemingly flustered creature; “I am Taman Ood, do you have a name?”

A tall, smartly dressed human woman enters the room, followed closely by two shorter human guards. The three are escorting a young humanoid woman who does not look happy to be here. The older woman dismisses the guards and walks to the head of the table. The girl finds a chair next to Onou and slumps down, folding her arms in a very childish manner.

"Good afternoon," The tall woman says. "I am Commander Molitark. As you all know, you have each been specially selected for a mission for the Rebellion. This is your mission." She gestures to the girl, who slumps lower into the chair.

"The Diva Velia has information vital to the Rebellion. Your mission is to transport her to a hidden base on Alderaan. This mission is fairly straightforward, but be advised that it is highly dangerous. We expect the Empire to be looking for her." She smiles as though she were warning the group to watch out for slippery roads after the rain. "Are there any questions?"

Switch Lanks was about to respond to Taman but then Commander walked in and gave the orders. When she finished, Switch raised his hand with a curious look on his face. "What does she know, Commander Molkart?" He obviously didn't recognize his slip of saying the Commander's name incorrectly.

Onou was so keyed up that she might have bruised herself had she attempted a salute just then, which she was saving for when they were dismissed. With Switch's mistake, though, she just deflated, shooting him an open-mouthed look that was a cross between 'are you serious?' and realization that he was her new teammate. But, hey... a team. Onou was pretty excited about this. Maybe another question would be 'why me?' Then again, if she asked, they could realize their mistake and ship her off. So she'd shut up until later. Maybe after they award her a medal and give her old job back to her.

Jaccovva walked in the door and lurched a little when she saw that not only had she missed something important, but since everyone was seated and quiet, she had a captive audience as she found a seat for her lanky Wookiee self. She was mortified that her first day would start like that, and wished she could look small and anonymous like... that one. The human girl. She growled a "sorry" to the room in general, hoping that things would go on like nothing happened.

"That information is classified," Molitark replies, her face contorting with disapproval at the mispronunciation of her name. "Ah, Jaccovva, thank you for joining us. Your team will fill you in on the details of your mission later, I'm sure. Can I assume your ship will be available for this mission?"

Jaccovva looked quickly up at the Commander. "Yes, definitely." She was ready to do whatever was needed to defeat the Empire, even if the robotic translation voice didn't carry that conviction.

Switch's curiosity was begging to find out what the Diva Velia knew but he understood that it wasn't the time to press the issue. The Zabrak wasn't dismayed about the Commander's disapproval in front of everyone else because the mention that Jaccovva had a ship and that the team was going to use it thrilled him. Not wanting to stand up in case the meeting wasn't over yet, Switch looked around from face to face, to try and see if anyone else was about to get up and start the mission. Finally his eyes rested on the Commander to hear what was going to happen next.

“I hope I’m not the only one wondering this, but why us?” Taman ran his hands through his golden hair – it looked plain in the overhead light of the briefing room. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I for one am no trained assassin or even a decently competent analyst; I’ve never even fired a blaster.” He gazed questioningly at the commander, politely waiting for an answer.

The Commander smiles at Taman, but there is an underlying hint of impatience in her face. "Be assured that each member of this team has skills that will be vital for this mission."

Idolon glances about the room, reading the Force energy about each other life form. He's not impressed, save for one or two of them. He leans back in his seat, twirling his walking staff in his hands. He has no questions for the Commander, only critical opinions of his confidence in the Rebellion.

"Yes, Commander, thank you, Commander." Onou saluted from her sitting position. A little odd, but she hadn't been given permission to stand yet, and hadn't been dismissed. She was nervous, of course, but was trying to steel herself to the mission. Mission! It almost felt good to be given an assignment other than guard duty, something she could really help the Alliance with. ...and then go back to guard duty. Fine by her.

"Right." The Commander glances about the room at the rag-tag group that the Rebellion have put together. Inwardly, she swallows hard. "Well, if there are no more questions, I leave you to your task. You will find the coordinates for the Rebel Base have already been sent to the computer on your ship. The Rebellion thanks you all for your services. May the Force be with you." With that she leaves.

Onou's eyes travel around the world, biting her lip nervously but trying to keep her expression serious. "Hi... My name's Onou." Well. That was a start.

Switch looked at Onou with a jovial smile. "Hi Onou, I'm Switch Lanks," he said, rising from his chair and almost knocking it back from his hurry to shake Onou's hand. Switch was glad that someone was speaking up, otherwise it would be a very silent trip. The Zabrak kept with his curious and happy manner, even though Onou was more serious. He then looked up to Jaccovva since the wookie was definitely taller and asked, "So you have a ship? Where is it?" Switch looked from Onou to Jaccovva, wanting to be have a conversation with both but he couldn't wait to ask Jaccovva about her ship.

"And what type is it?" Onou had almost somewhat smiled at Switch, but he had changed the subject, so her attention was on the wookie. Not that any information given to her would help her to envision the ship, something she realized after she said it. The wookie could say it was a McToaster 2000 and Onou would have no idea if that was an actual ship model.

Falztar finishes his cookie and glances around the room, not sure of what to think about Idolon. He continues and catches eyes with Switch. “Switch is it? My name’s Falztar.” He says facing Switch, but in a tone that is more or less addressing the entire room.

Jaccovva very much did not like all the attention being on her. She shrunk back a bit. "It's a Firespray-31." She looked at Onou and Switch, wondering if they'd be at all impressed. There weren't many left in the galaxy.

Onou just nodded. "Those are nice ships." Didn't ring a bell at all. Her gaze flickered to Falztar. She was trying to memorize their names and really, really hoping she didn't forget. That would be embarrassing. "Should we be heading over there now...? Might be a good idea to get a move-on... soon." She didn't want to take charge, but she felt like staying in the same place would be a bad idea.

Taman mouthed the words Firespray-31 a few more times in awe, but he figured there’d be time to admire their transport soon enough and he turned his attention to the female named Onou. “She’s right, I’m sure we can all get nice and acquainted later.” He stood up for effect. “So, let’s get some more cookies, get ourselves outfitted, and head to the ship.” He smiled to himself - he was finally seeing the universe.

"Agreed" Falztar says picking up another cookie. "Why don't we meet at the ship in two hours? Enough time for everyone?"

Everyone agrees with Falztar's plan, and the group decides to meet up at the docks in two hours.

Except Diva. She isn't there.

Onou blinked, looking around the group, her traveling bag slung over her shoulder. She'd feel like an idiot if she had forgotten something again, but this wasn't something she could bluff her way through. "Um," she started. "...where's our charge?" She glanced almost nervously back at the ship, hoping that Diva was already in there despite what she felt in her gut.

The Harmony rested engines-down, nearly ready for takeoff. All Jaccovva would have to do was run a few checks and she'd be ready to go. She was in excellent condition too. Partly out of love for the ship, and partly out of necessity, Jaccovva was very good about keeping the ship clean and tuned. She couldn't afford parts that rare if anything broke. The exterior was a stealthy phantom-grey with "Harmony" painted artfully across the stern. Unsure of what to do about Diva, Jaccovva headed toward the cockpit to ready the ship for flight.

A whispered “wow!” escaped Taman’s lips as he walked dreamily out to the loading dock, bag of belongings dangling limply at his side and trusty B’ob resting safely in its scabbard. He admired his surroundings for a moment longer, acknowledged the group around him, and yelled; “Hey Jaccovva, want to show us around your ship?” assuming the wookie was buried somewhere inside the heap of metal. 

Diva is not inside the ship.

Idolon counts the fuzzy Force auras and sees that they are one short. He speaks in response to Onou's question, but is basically addressing the rest of the group as well. "The girl does not have a strong connection to the Force, so it would be difficult for me to look for her. Perhaps someone with eyes might take up the task?"

"Yes..." Onou went and put her bag next to the ship before heading off in the direction she came from to try and find Diva. She was grumbling on the inside, oh yes. Why did this chick have to go get lost? Hopefully she was just off preening somewhere public.

Falztar shrugs and carries his twin duffel bags, which also match perfectly to his police-issue uniform, minus the badges, into the cargo hold of the ship, securing them among other things there. He wasn't much of a ship fanatic, but had done enough searches to be basically familiar with a variety of models, including this one.

Switch's smile faded just a little bit when he realized that the Diva was missing. His head swung from one direction to the next. "Oh, is she in the little girl's room?" He was about to go there but realized he wasn't allowed in the girl's restroom.

"Why would she be hiding in the bathroom?" Onou asked, rolling her eyes. It seemed like a really childish thing to do. ...but just in case, she altered her course a bit and ducked her head into the girl's bathroom. Just to check. "Don't we have tracers or something?" she grumbled.

Switch hummed to himself, looking around for a second and then cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hello! Are you around here Diva...Diva..." dropping his hands and turned to everyone else, "What was her name again?" The Zabrak turned to go down the hall that they came from, hoping to himself that he himself won't get lost along with her. Switch looks around after walking a bit to see if he could find her or anything interesting was going on.

Onou picked up the pace, now half-jogging about the ship and even checking into storage, running around and asking random people if they'd seen a female by the Diva's description. Either the girl had already been kidnapped or she was off in a fetal position somewhere being a bitchface. ...okay, maybe not. But Onou's mission was delayed by at least five minutes already for this fun little side quest of 'one of the passengers went AWOL' and there was no way this was fun.

One of the random people Onou happens upon is actually a patrolling staff member of the docking bay. He asks her to repeat the name and then says something into a communicator.

"Does she have pink hair?" comes the voice over the device.

Switch, after seeing nothing of interest in the hallways, wandered back to the docking bay to find Onou talking with someone who looked like he worked there. The zabrak shuffled his feet towards the pair and asked Onou, "Oh hey, Onou right? Did we find her yet?"

"Yes!" Onou exclaimed excitedly. Then she turned to Switch, shaking her head. "Not yet," she muttered. "But maybe somebody saw her. If she's being stubborn about being moved... think you can like... pick her up or something?" she asked, running her fingers through her hair nervously as she waited for more information.

"We got her," the voice responds. Moments later, a guard comes out of a room with the Theelin girl. She is wearing binders on her wrists. "She tried to stow away on another ship."

Diva sulks. She gives a slight sneer to the guard.

"Better keep an eye on her."

Falztar walks idly through the ship, poking at random buttons and lights.

Onou only barely suppressed a sigh and eye-roll. "Have fun?" she asked almost cheerfully, gripping Diva's shoulder and leading her back in the direction of the ship... definitely not taking off the binders. She has no idea why Diva felt the need to run away and doesn't much care at the moment. If the pink one insists on being difficult, Onou might try to put her in a cargo box for the rest of the voyage.

Jac started the ship, and true to its name, the engines literally hummed to life. The Harmony's repulsor lifts played a major C chord. With the Harmony ready to go, Jac walked out to the cargo bay doors and saw Onou leading Diva back. "Where were you? This mission is important," she barked angrily. She hoped it was important, at least.

Diva rolls her eyes at Onou's question. Whatever. But Jac is, like, interrogating her or something. Um, what? "I am the mission," she says icily. "And it's none of your business where I am or what I'm doing, Furball. Now will someone please get these stupid things off of me?" She indicates the binders that Onou never took off.

Idolon glances over where all the noise is coming from, and sees that they've found the girl. He frowns, almost more disappointed that she's back than he would be if the mission were canceled.

"You were sabotaging the mission," Onou pointed out, a polite smile still on her face. "So. No." She led the other to the back and gave a pointed look at Jac. "Let's get off the ground before little Miss Happiness N'Sunshine decides to bolt again," she murmured, not really caring if Diva can hear.

Switch smiles that they actually found the Diva and that the mission was still on. "There you are, how come you ran off like that?" He started to walk with Diva towards the plane, looking at the binders to Onou, not sure which order to follow.

Diva scoffs. "Okay, one two three. Of, wasn't there like six of you? So half of my escorts don't even care where I am. Good to know." She narrows her eyes at Switch, wondering why he hasn't taken her binders off yet.

Idolon taps his way over to the group that is talking. "Now that we've found the last of our party, I suggest we leave. The sooner we get off this planet and on with the mission, the better."

Switch looked around to Onou, not knowing to do right now, to make the mission happy or make Onou happy. He took a second to think of who he'd rather piss off, and then decided to help out Diva. With a sheepish grin, he very clumsily tried to take off Diva's binders, and after half a minute he succeeded. "Alright, sorry about that, please don't go off somewhere without telling us. It wouldn't look good on our record if we really lost ya." All throughout this time Switch refused to acknowledge her scoff and still smiled jovially at her, hoping her mood would lighten up.

Onou felt a headache coming on. Diva's happiness was pretty much bottom-rung in her list of priorities, she just made sure everybody was on and... no idea how to close the door. "Ready to go, Jac," she said. And wondered what the policy was about stapling Diva to a wall until they got to their destination. And maybe Switch... that guy needed to reassess his loyalties.

Taman tightened the straps in his seat while staring intently at Diva. He squirmed a little more and wondered why Diva would want to run away from the people trying to help her. “Hey. It’s Diva right?” He cleared his throat. “Where was that other ship going?” He smiled playfully, “if its someplace nice I’d have half the mind to stowaway too.”

Diva tries to maintain her attitude, but Taman's comment and smile make it difficult. Flattery will probably get you anywhere with this girl. She attempts to supress a smile, but the corners of her lips kind of give her away. "It was going to my home planet," she admits, looking at her feet.

Idolon would roll his eyes if he had any. Instead he shakes his head. He doesn't understand such sentimentalities regarding the planet one is born on.

Jaccovva was not happy with Diva. "You stay on this ship and follow orders, or you can walk wherever we're going." She shot a glare at Switch and growled her way back to the cockpit to find out where exactly that was.

Onou figured that she could suck up to Diva for the rest of the trip and it might make things easier. But that thought made her squeamish. "Sit, get buckled in," she said to Diva, pointing to a seat. Her tone made it clear that this was not to be questioned. At least, if Diva was fond of being not in a storage closet. She followed her own order at least, going to a seat and preparing for takeoff, which should happen pretty soon.

Jaccovva's digital voice came over the Harmony's comlink system: "If you need them for any reason, live animal storage containers are on the starboard side, under the floor panels." The comlink clicked off.

“Where is home for you? “ Taman couldn’t wait to hear her story. “I come from Lao-mon. I do miss it dearly sometimes, but the universe is far too immense to stay trapped on one planet forever. So, here I am.”  

"I'm from Ta... Talravin. It's a small world in the core. Very, um, deserty. And boring. What's Lao-mon like?" Diva is fidgeting with her robes.

The Harmony's computer lights up. Jaccovva now has the coordinates for the hidden base on Alderaan.

Jaccovva checked the coordinates, and after getting approval from the control tower, piloted the Harmony out of the planet's atmosphere. She comlinked back to the crew, "Ready for the jump to lightspeed?" and punched it without waiting for an answer.

Falztar could hardly supress a smile on his face. He always had a thing for lightspeed. He absent-mindedly tightened his seating harness before addressing Switch, "You fly much?"

Switch turned his head to Falztar while unsuccessfully trying to buckle himself in. "I actually do, my past twenty jobs in the last four years were on starships, but for some reason all of them keep forgetting to wait for me whenever we get to our destination planet." The clumsy Zabrak looks down at his hands so he can finally buckle himself in properly, a jovial smile still on his face because he doesn't see any correlation between all his jobs and why he has to look for new ones. "What about you, what did you do before all of this happened?"

"Guard," Onou quietly chimed in, being strapped in and forgetting how lightspeed felt, but hiding any surprise. "I worked for the Alliance for a while and before that... I didn't really do anything. Just helped out at home." She shrugged.

"I was a police officer." Falztar replied, not really wanting to reveal that. Not so much that he wanted to hide it, but he loathed the following inevitable questions about how many people he has shot, or scariest police chase ever.

Diva perks up at that. "Wow, that's awesome. So like, how many people have you shot? Ooooh, no, tell us like the scariest police chase you were ever on!"

Switch smiled wide by the mentioning that he used to be a police officer, to Switch it made himself feel cooler by association. "Did you ever get shot at, or better yet did you ever jump sideways in the air shooting while yelling 'Ahhhhhhh!'?" It was very clear that the Zabrak's attention and excitement were fully based on Falztar.

"You can do that?" Onou asked, eyes wide, looking at Switch and then going back to Falztar, very much involved in this conversation. "If there's a shoot out, wouldn't screaming draw attention to you? Whenever we had intruders on my old turf we had to be pretty quiet... though that sounds pretty freakin' awesome," Onou added in a near-whisper, almost to herself.


"Oh, yeah," Falztar starts, "I once killed a man." He pauses for some effect. "The guy was about to drop a baby he had kidnapped and was holding ransom, now dangling him out of his ship. The helpless child would have fallen sixty stories down if I hadn't acted fast. I got up in a flash and ran across my police cruiser. I still could not get a clear shot, so I jumped from my cruiser to his ship, shooting him between the eyes while still in midair, saving the baby's life." This better get me laid "They nicknamed him Star, after me." He says with a voice of utmost confidence in the stories' truth.

Diva's eyes go wide. "Wow," she murmurs, impressed.

Idolon is less so. "On what planet did this even occur? It is my understanding that on most habitable planets it would be impossible to breathe at sixty stories high, let alone make dubious threats. Also, if the man was holding the child outside of his ship when he was shot, would he not, from sheer reflexes, drop said child, thereby actualizing what had once been merely an attempt to coerce the authorities?" The eyeless man is, awkardly, facing Diva and not Falztar, though it is clear which of the two he is addressing.

Diva makes a face, cuz he's creepy.

Onou bit her lip, not really sure of what to make of that story. It was impressive, but on the other hand it sounded... like total bull. She didn't call him on it, though. Maybe that was normal. She looked off, unsure of how to continue. "...how long do you think it'll take before we get to our destination?" she asked quietly.

Switch wondered what Onou was thinking as well. "Ya, I don't mind to sound like I'm just a little kid, but are we there yet?" He folded his hands together and twindled his thumbs ,trying to pass the time until they arrived at their destination; excited that he was doing his job perfectly so far.

Falztar pulls out his mobile device, frowns, and grumbles about an intergalactic dead zone in service.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH. Three TIE-Fighters fly through the Haromony's airspace (and yes, they make that noise, because in this universe there IS noise in space. Deal with it [kay-chan]). They are flying uncomfortably close.

"Aw, Shit." Falztar says. "What do they want?" Now speaking to the captain.

Onou was already out of her seat to head up to the front, frowning out at the scene. "Can you evade them?" she asked Jaccovva, before of course briefly wondering if they were evil. They looked evil. TIE-Fighters were on the dark side, yes? Sure.

Jac's fur stood up on the back of her neck (and everywhere else). She looked kind of poofy, but fearsome. Leaning toward the comlink microphone, Jac mashed the "talk" button and said, "Harmony to Imperial Fighters, does there seem to be a problem?" Releasing the button she comlinked back to the crew, "I'm finding out what they want. It's probably nothing." She hoped.

There is static over the comlink, then "TIE-4397 to Harmony, possible stowaway on your ship. Prepare to be boarded." The TIE fighters hold their positions, waiting for the Harmony to slow for them to board.

Diva bites her lower lip. "Think they're looking for me?" she asks innocently.

Idolon would roll his eyes if he had any. This was just what they needed.

"...do we let them board and shove her in a wall space?" Was it bad that Onou sounded hopeful? She wanted there to be spiders involved.

Jac tried her hardest to coerce the Harmony back into hyperspace, but the engines just played a very off-key FAIL chord. "Looks like we're not outrunning them." She heaved out of the chair and leaned into the passenger/cargo room. In this case they were about to become interchangeable. "Yeah, Onou-- see that floor panel? It lifts. Watch for mynocks."

Onou had no idea what mynocks were, but she hoped they weren't laser-proof. At least she had her gun. Onou lifted the floor panel and pointed at Diva. "You. In. That's not a suggestion. And I'm pretty sure you'd like it better in here than with them."

Diva rolls her eyes and ducks under the floor panel. "Leave it a little open so I can breathe," she says to Onou.

Idolon scans the ship. Onou and Taman glow brightly with Force energy. Since Onou is busy with Diva (and hasn't really demonstrated an ability to keep herself calm and collected under pressure... or even not under pressure), he approaches Taman. "You," he says somewhat aggressively. "You have great potential, and now is a good time to use some of it. If those Imperials board, we'll need someone to convince them we're not worth their time. Have you ever used persuasion techniques before?"

Onou wasn't a total bitch... just enough. Thankfully the floor panel wasn't totally fitted on, so she slid it to the side, leaving a small strip of space for Diva to get air from. She then looked up and over her shoulder, not knowing about the scan but still feeling like she had just been watched. "Why don't you do it, Jedi?" she asked, standing and putting her hands on her hips. "You probably have more training. We shouldn't be leaving things up to chance."

Idolon turns his head toward the sound of Onou's voice. He takes off the hood of his Jedi robe, revealing his hollow eye sockets. It is horrifying, to say the least. "The weak-minded have a particular prejudice toward my people's appearance. It makes the persuasive techniques... difficult."

Onou can't help but look away, for which she feels immediately guilty, but... hey! If he doesn't have eyes, he can't see! ...yeah, she still feels like shit. "The weak-minded aren't all that observant, so I don't see why you can't just leave the hood up," she said in a tone bordering on sulky.

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I've got a bad feeling about this
bad feeling characters