O Frack! [Tera Uolmi]

[Lucy Gray]

"Whooo, that was close", said Kylie as she looked over at Tera. The shuttle had suffered a direct hit when they jumped to hyperspace, but they had made it out alive and mostly intact.

That couldn't be said for the plow pushers of Tie Fighter pilots that they went up against. By her records, they had accounted for at least 4 kills... IN A SHUTTLE. Kylie really thought it was her fabulous flying that helped Tera hit them.

"Dropping out of hyperspace in 5 seconds. Then I can collect on all those drinks you owe me." Kylie flashed a smirk at Tera and them pulled back on the hyperdrive lever.

Nothing happened.

Kylie pulled back on it again.

Again... nothing.

"Frackin' Sithspit. Something's wrong."

Kylie swore and slammed her fist down on the console. Nothing happened. The shuttle continued to barrel through hyperspace past the rendezvous point of the Wheel.

"We are in fracking huge trouble."

Kylie pushed herself out of her chair and made her way to the back of the ship. She had no idea how to fix a malfunctioning hyperdrive, but she figured that she might as well hit it with a huge hydrospanner. She pulled back and whacked the hyperdrive with it.

Still the shuttle continued down their hyperspace route.

Where it would lead would be anyone's guest.

"O Frack!"

[Tera Uolmi]

“What are you doing in there?”

Tera's voice carried easily through the narrow confines of the shuttle. She appeared in the door of the engine room moments later and peered accusingly from the hyperdrive to Kylie, who was brandishing a hydrospanner like a club. Tera felt the irritation bubbling under her own skin, ready to boil over.

“A sodding 'spanner? If you hadn't been so busy gloating maybe we would have dropped out of hyperspace at the right time-”

The shuttle rocked, as if tossed on the crest of a wave. Tera stumbled against the doorway and grimaced as she knocked her injured arm. She clutched at the sling with her good hand and promptly stumbled forward, right into Kylie, as the shuttle lurched into real-space.

[Lucy Gray]

Kylie was in mid-swing. Her face was red and she wasn't smiling anymore.

"I'm trying to stop this Sith-forsaken Frack-job of a bucket before we end up in a bla..."

At that point the ship dropped out of hyperspace. Tera went tumbling into Kylie, hitting the doorway first. Kylie dropped the hydrospanner and caught Tera, keeping them both from slamming against the wall or floor. Then she moved past the injured pilot, dreading bubbling up in her stomach.

Only a huge gravity well would have kicked the safety in on the hyperdrive. That means a planet... or a black hole. Kylie made it back to the cockpit first and sat in the pilot's seat. She sighed when she saw a planet. At least maybe they would be helped. She scrolled through the star charts, trying to find exactly where they ended up. She hoped desperately that they were not at Coruscant or some Imperial Stronghold. What came up was just slightly better.

Ord Mantell glowed pink and her numerous satellites could be seen. Kylie looked up at Tera as she reappeared.

"We are at Ord Mantell."

A communique broke through on their comm system.

== Unidentified Shuttle, this is ORD Mantell Control, state your business ==

"Control this is the shuttle, Daffy-deal. We are experiencing hyperdrive difficulty. Requesting authorization to sit down at space port and effect repairs."

There was a pause.

== Authorization granted. Welcome to ORD Mantell ==

Kylie looked over at Tera. "We either need to find the parts to fix our hyperdrive, or steal a ship to get back to the Wheel."

She began to copy down the coordinates that they were supposed to go to on two pieces of flismi. She reversed the last two set of coordinates. She handed one to Tera.

"Take this. If something happens to me, then you will be able to get back to the Wheel. The last two coordinates are reversed so that if they fall into the wrong hands, it will be useless."

Then she dove the shuttle towards the planets surface.

[Tera Uolmi]

Tera glanced at the flimsi then out at Ord Mantell, regarding both objects with the same look of despondence. There were worse places they could have come out of hyperspace, there was no denying that. Where better to find some spare parts for the shuttle than on a junkyard? The trouble was, finding something worthwhile on Ord Mantell would be like finding a blister gnat in the Dune Sea. A whole planets worth of space detritus wasn't worth a single thing if they couldn't find what they needed, and fast. The Wheel would only stop moving for so long.

“I've heard this place is swarming with bounty hunters. Stealing a ship might only make matters worse.”

[Lucy Gray]

Kylie shrugged, but it wasn't out of unconcern.

"True, but if need be, we could ditch the ship at the next rendezvous and then just send it down a hyperspace path to oblivion. We miss the rendezvous and we are stuck. We then jump to Calamari or Bothawui, but it would be months before we are back with the squadron. Most likely, they would just reassign us to different squadrons."

Kylie put the shuttle in a dive toward the planets surface. ORD Mantell loomed larger and the shuttle was buffeted by the atmosphere as they entered.

"By my calculations we have 2 days before they jump to their next coordinates. They'll wait for the rest of the ships to arrive, probably send out a recon flight to try to find some evidence of us, and then jump away."

"I think we need to find out just what weapons we have onboard and what we have to barter with. Most of my credits are back on the Valiant."

Kylie flipped a switch as the shuttle neared their berth. The two lower wings began to lift up with a whine that suggested more damage. Out the port window, she saw the port wing rise and set in place. The starboard wing, however was frozen at 45 degrees off. The whine intensified and then smoke began to pour out of the wing servos.

"I think that is as good as we are going to get out of this heap. Hold onto something, I don't know what the landing will be like."

Kylie kicked in the repulsorlifts and began to set the ship down. In the rear of the ship, something exploded and cracked. The repulsorlifts cut out five feet above the ground and the shuttle landed abruptly, tail first and then the nose. The cabin was rattled by the landing, but nothing else exploded. Kylie held her breath for a few seconds and then looked over at Tera.

"Not the most elegant landing, but I can put her down when I have to."

Reaching over she erased the navi-computer so no trace of where they were going or coming from could be determined.

"Let's see what luck has for us."

[Tera Uolmi]

With one hand, Tera stripped off the dress jacket she'd been wearing on deck when the alert had sounded. They weren't stricly in Imperial territory but wearing Alliance insignia in such uncertain circumstances was a bad idea. She turned the jacket inside out and draped it over her shoulders like a mantle, where it did a good job of concealing her injured arm.

Dry, dusty air rose up to meet the pair as the shuttle's exit ramp groaned its way to the ground. Tera ducked out after Kylie, the rest of her senses soon assaulted by the smells and sounds of the space-port. She stood for a moment, taking in the scene – scores of ships, interspersed with traders stalls and the wagons of maintenance crews, who trudged through the busy crowds to get to their latest job for the day. Drawn to the shuttle by the smoke rising from its stern, a crowd of Duro's were murmuring in a trade-language that only partly understood, as they pointed long green fingers at various parts of the shuttle. It might have been grounded, but there were parts to be scavenged.

[Lucy Gray]

Kylie came down the ramp and walked around to the rear of the ship with Tera. Already a group of Duros were looking at her ship appraisingly. Wondering what they saw, Kylie cleared the underbelly of the shuttle and looked up, towards the aft.

And her heart sank.

While the front of the shuttle just had some carbon scoring from the recent battle, the aft was barely hanging in there. It was torn to shreds from at least one missile impact and a few strafing runs. Kylie wasn't a mechanic, but she knew that the ship would never fly again. It had been miraculous, a work of the force, if you believed in it, that they were able to set it down in one piece.

"That must have been nasty furball, lady. You must be one hot pilot to get that down in one piece."

Kylie turned to see who was speaking. It was one of the Duros that had been evaluating her ship.

"Pirates, jumped us", she lied. "We managed to get away from them but we are pretty heavily damaged." The less they knew about where they were actually from, the better."

"Well it won't fly again... not without a cargo hold full of credits. Still...." spoke the Duros, rubbing his long blue fingers along his small chin. "If you were in the mind to sell it, I would make you a good deal on it."

Kylie knew she wouldn't be able to leave here with it, but she also disliked leaving behind a shuttle that didn't belong to her. With time she would be able to con enough targets and with enough sabaac pots to fix it. With time, the shuttle would fly again.

But time wasn't on their side. The longer they delayed, the more they risked never finding the Wheel again.

"Sixty thousand credits." The number just blurted out of her almost without thought. She looked over at Tera and then at the Duros, who was looking up at the ship and then at his comrades.

"Forty Thousand."

"Let's split the difference at Fifty Thousand and you can keep what is in the Cargo Hold."

Kylie looked at Tera to see if she would give it away that there was nothing in the cargo hold.

"Deal." The Duros stuck out his hand, to complete the deal. As the other Duros approached, he pulled out a case of credits. "I would have as high as Fifty-Five Thousand." he said as he opened the case to reveal credits. He removed Fifty Thousand and handed them to Kylie.

"I would have gone as low as Forty-Five Thousand." She said, taking the credits. "So we will just call it even."

She tossed him a salute and motioned for Tera to follow her. They had to get farther away from the shuttle before the found the extent of the damage on the inside.

"So do you want to go get some new clothes, a day at the spa and then buy a boutique?"

[Tera Uolmi]

Tera took one last look over her shoulder at the shuttle and the crowd of Duros surrounding it. She had to admit, she wouldn't be sad to see the shuttle go. Ever since it had been brought into the Wheel, she'd felt uneasy around it. It was an irrational fear, but just the fact that it was Imperial set her on edge.

“New clothes wouldn't be such a bad idea,” she said, at last answering Kylie's question.

[Lucy Gray]

"Great, then let's get something more suitable and then hit The Run."

The Run was a strip about 2 kilometers long that held almost any business that was legal... and few that weren't on Ord Mantell. Either they would find a ship to buy from one of the used ship dealers, they would con an unlikely mark out of their ship... or they would just steal one.

A laser blast up ahead caught Kylie's attention. A being that Kylie couldn't recognized went down with a charred hole in his chest. Before he was even dead, two thugs ran out and began to remove anything of value from the victim. The dying being tried to ask for help, but the thugs just smashed him in the head with the butt of the blaster.

Kylie pulled Tera into the nearest shop. It was small and not very crowded.

"What may I help you fine ladies with today?"

Kylie turned to see a Zeltros female walking towards them. The shop dealt with antiques and so-called treasures from the time before the Old Republic. With the commotion going on outside, Kylie decided that they had a few minutes to spare.

"Yes, we are looking for clothes and a stylish weapon that would fit two ladies of our caliber."

[Lucy Gray]

The Zeltron smiles and motioned for them to follow her back to the rear of the ship.

"In that case, it is cash only and what you are looking for is back this way."

She pushed a button and a wall holding hold pictures on the wall slid open, revealing a hidden room. Inside the room, the wall was packed with weapons, clothes and some armor.

Kylie moved into the room, looking at the weapons and then at the clothes. Over in the corner was a set of Ubese Armor. It was black and gray and though it was dinged, it seemed to be in full working order. Beside it was a blaster carbine.

"I'll give you 3000 credits for the armor and the weapon."

The Zeltron hesitated and then nodded. "It is an acceptable price." Then the Zeltron turned to Tera.

"Anything catch your eye hon?"