**Disclaimer**
I do not own SWTOR or any affiliated characters/species. I only claim creative rights to Raven and Sentalique at the time of the writing of this particular chapter.
Please Note: My Sith Warrior was only at level 30 at the time I wrote this story, so chapter 2 and 3 of the Warrior story are not factored into the timeline (can't write about something I do not know about, sorry. Don't like spoilers so I won't look it up).
Quinn
He sat down at the foot of his bed, reading over the inventory write-up on his datapad for the fifth time. Their credits, escrow, the fuel level of the fury, the crew, the supplies, the cargo, and all of the ship modifications, plus approximately six pages' worth of formulas and summaries. The complex mathematical figures seemed to have no end, and he looked over each peice, running the figures in his head to be absolutely certain it was all correct. He would not accept any errors. For a moment, Malavai considered checking the engines and guns to perform any needed maintenance before the computers could even detect an arising issue. Of course, the ship had a droid for that, which was very careful to stay ahead of such things (clearly fearful of dismemberment). It would likely be a waste of his time, but he felt he needed to remember to look within the next hour or so, just to be absolutely certain all was in order.
The hum of the ship lulled him into a daydream. As he and the Apprentice Sentalique shredded Republic armies and destroyed the Jedi in his head, he smiled faintly. Their work was most enjoyable, and the young Sith juggernaut never missed an opportunity for violence. She also never missed an opportunity to be unnaturally cruel. Even Quinn, a pledged ally, sometimes felt...threatened by her. But, illogical and occasionally frightening as she was, the young woman was also strong and exciting. He truly enjoyed working with her. Darth Baras's decision to release him of his debt so that he could proceed with his own career had been very fortunate. It had opened the door for him to join Sentalique and not only closely observe her abilities, but aid her. Of course, he suspected that even if Baras's Apprentice had not spoken favorably for him, Malavai would have still been traveling with the Zabrak until the Darth was satisfied. Only, on orders, instead of willingly.
The sound of a steady, rhythmic beep roused him before he realized he had actually fallen back and begun to truly doze off, coming from the ship's bay. He sat up and saw a pale blue light glowing faintly in the hall. It took him a moment to clear his cloudy head enough to realize that it meant someone was attempting to call the ship's holoterminal.
His knees popped as he rose from the bed, stretched, and yawned before stumbling out into the hall, having to put out a gloved hand against the wall opposite his bedroom doorway in order to steady himself as his vision blurred and he experienced a dizzy spell. Moved too fast. He thought to himself, then straightened, looked around just long enough to be certain no one had seen that, and walked down the hall. The droid was standing by the doorway leading to the ship's controls, where it always was, motionless. It was creepy how the maintenance droid always managed to keep the ship in working order, but never appeared to have left its spot since the first day it was placed there. He walked to the center of the room, where a circular piece of machinery continued to blink and beep, and pressed a button.
A million lights seemed to fire up, both from the part of the holoterminal embedded in the floor and the part that was embedded in the ceiling. The faint blue lights wove together into a transparent, 3-Dimensional miniaturized version of Darth Baras himself. "It is excellent that you answer the call, Quinn. As it happens, I have a mission for you that does not involve my Apprentice due to her unfortunate appearance." Malavai knew almost immediately what he was referring to: her alien lineage. He heard footsteps and turned his head just enough to see Vette walk into view out in the hall, lean against the entryway's framing, and cross her arms over her chest while looking on at Baras, who did not see her.
"Yes, my lord?" Quinn struck a stiff attention stance; feet braced shoulder-length apart with his toes pointing straight forward (second-position, parallel), back straight, chin up, eyes forward (with him facing the hologram so that he was still looking at the Sith), and hands clasped tight behind his back. It was a formal, knee-jerk response to being faced with a higher authority. Something he now did without thinking, merely the results of years of service.
The Darth crossed his arms over his chest and clearly chose to get straight to the point. "Imperial Intelligence has detected faint signals from out in the uncharted areas of deep space. They are all low-tech and easily decodable. Some upstart planet has been blaring signals from several galaxies out, and they have finally reached us. They all appear humanoid - which is why I'm sending you, and not our dear Sentalique.
"Some speak in languages we understand (but with strange inflections and shortenings), but most do not. You will go to this planet and infiltrate one of the populations that we are able to converse with. Find someone to bring back to me on Dromund Kaas, along with samples of the environment and local species.
"The planet is clearly divided, and not only by language or physical barriers; there appear to be hundreds of puny and separate governments, all trying to occupy the same place. Governments that despise each other, secretly. For this reason, conquering it will be a simple matter." Darth Baras paced on the hologram, head down with his hands switched to clasp behind his back. Then, pausing, he pulled out a datapad and started tinkering with it. The systems in the piloting room lit up, and it was apparent that whatever information the Imperials had on Quinn's mission had just been sent to them. Quinn waited silently for Baras to continue, which he soon did as he turned to face Malavai, putting down the datapad. "The question is, are they worth conquering?"
"Quite a discussion you're having without me." Malavai flinched, then turned to see Apprentice Sentalique walking up. Taking a few samples and detaining a random person for discussion was a very simple task, one that she could easily handle. But, if the population was human then she would stick out like a sore thumb and cause quite an uproar, especially once she disappeared someone (possibly publicly). No one could possibly go without noticing that bright red skin, those orange bloodshot eyes, the horns and extremely short dark red hair...the facial scars, the black tattoos... Discretion would be impossible without a cloaking device.
Darth Baras, who must have seen her walking up, didn't miss a beat. "Indeed, I have to send Quinn on a small errand for me. It is not a task for my Apprentice. Reconnaissance and inviting a random stranger for a little chat here in Kaas City is all. While I admire your thirst for blood, I would prefer it if my surprise guest weren't roughed up. Yet."
"Are they enemies?" The Apprentice asked, a little too sweetly. Malavai tried not to read any threat into it, but he couldn't help but fear that she may choose to compromise his mission. No, surely not. He glanced sideways at her and fought a groan. Her eyes were slits, and her lips were pulled back in a sneer. She was just in the middle stepping forward to shake her fist at the hologram. "If they are, I want to crush them. Now."
"Patience, Apprentice. You shall, very soon I hope. But now is not yet the time, so bear with me. If you help move things along, perhaps blood shall spill in a matter of days." Darth Baras turned back to Quinn, disregarding his glowering Apprentice, and pointed a gloved finger at him. "I expect results. Soon."
"Yes, my lord." His response was instant, and as monotonous as his uniform. He was already compiling a mental list of all the supplies he would need, along with several contingency plans. He strode away to begin his preparations, heading to the piloting bay to begin review of the materials that had been routed their way. There were several videos, ranging from strange black and white scenes of orderly armies marching under strange flags and shouting angrily, and a dark-toned man giving a speech about a dream he had, and footage of a slow-moving person in a barren location wearing a strange bulky white suit stabbing a flag pole into the ground, to signals that were nothing but audio or moving images. Very strange. Apparently, according to an Intelligence Agent's note, those were only a few small samples of the things they were receiving and processing. It was unclear whether or not the Republic had detected the messages, clearly not meant for anyone in particular. Clearly very, very old, and quite low-tech.
At the holoterminal, the conversation between Darth and Apprentice continued. The Darth's tone was either businesslike, cautioning, or borderline dangerous. The Apprentice's continually swwitched between pleased, irritated, and calculating. Eventually, they both fell silent, and when Malavai turned, Sentalique was standing beside him. Studying him, his facial expressions and notes, instead of the data itself. Her expression was unreadable. He sensed some hesitation before she turned to sit in a nearby chair. "So, then. Where to, Quinn?"
She was oddly cold, stoic... Malavai found he actually didn't like that very much. The juggernaut was usually so lively. A wild and bloodthirsty firecracker with a temper matched by few (possibly none at all). Singleminded, yes, but that was usually a good thing (until she started flirting with him and forgot about the task at hand, anyway). Perhaps arguing with Darth Baras had taken a toll on her. Well, maybe next time she will accept his directives a little more gracefully.
"We are setting course to an uncharted airspace. A planet called Earth... We cannot tell if any others nearby are inhabited as well." He programmed the coordinates into the ship's computer and turned on autopilot, starting the course. As he watched, the lights of stars began to inch by, then breeze, then fly. Soon it was nothing but a blur, which continued for a surprising amount of seconds before they finally began to slow. As a strange, blue, green, and white planet came into view, he drew a breath. Not one of awe, either. He held it for a moment, then looked to the Apprentice. "I do not relish going in blind."
She looked at him sharply, but something on his face seemed to freeze whatever she was going to respond with on her tongue. She rose and walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and gripping it before giving him a small, one-handed shake. The juggernaut almost seemed to be trying to will strength into him. He almost felt like maybe, maybe, some part of the Force actually had managed to seep into him. But, that was silly.
Sentalique finally spoke. "I will be right here, Quinn." So. She really was trying to comfort him. That warmed Quinn, just a little, though he did his best not to show it.
"I know you will be. Now, then...A carrier ship should be joining us soon. They will deploy probe droids to perform a preliminary scan of the atmosphere before even clearing anyone to go to the planet's surface. Once it's cleared, I will be on board a dropship, on my way to begin the mission." He hesitated again, then sat down in the ship captain's chair, with the galaxy map in front of it. The map was suddenly almost frighteningly empty, as there was nothing marked for this galaxy. Not even a name... It showed absolutely nothing; the galaxy map was just empty, dancing light. A blue Aurora. Perhaps he could suggest that for the name of the galaxy. Or name it after Sentalique... But, no. Someone else made this discovery. It was theirs to name, not his. He looked to the Sith Apprentice. "I was not informed of where I am to land."
He looked back down at his lists, revising and rechecking it. Trying to determine just how he would go about procuring a live specimen from the planet below for Darth Baras. Tranquilized? Frozen? He heard footsteps, moving away from him. The Zabrak's hand was gone, but the ghost sensation of her touch remained. "That small speck of a world beyond this one almost looks like Korriban."
Quinn looked. A red planet hovered beyond the strange world with the Fury-esque machinery orbiting it. He wondered if the people here were descendants of previous Imperial armies, stranded after fleeing from one of the last wars with the Republic prior to Sith's resettlement of Korriban and return to Dromund Kaas. After a moment's consideration, he supposed it didn't matter. Regardless of what their ancestors' original allegiances were, they had certainly long since forgotten by now. There would be only two paths most likely open for them; slavery or death. "They likely have a name for it, if they even know that it is there. These people are not on our level as far as technology goes."
"If they deployed those ships, surely they realize there are other things out here." Sentalique turned back to him. "Though their disturbing lack of traffic to and away from the planet certainly speaks volumes as to where they are compared to us."
"It would definitely appear that they cannot yet expand to other planets. These other worlds will be utterly uncivilized. Most definitely uninhabitable, by the looks of it. For now..." The ship's systems lit up. They were being hailed.
CARRIER 77
As the Fury landed in the docking bay, a unit of droids and maintenance crew workers approached, setting up to begin refueling the vessel. A Sith Zabrak, Imperial Captain, and Twi'lek treasure-hunter disembarked, leaving the rest of the crew on board the ship. Imperial Officers on duty lined the walls, a few patrolled, while off-duty or on-break Imperial researchers and officers loitered about, discussing the possibilities of a new world.
The Captain split off at one of the elevators the Fury's small group passed, to attend a painfully short briefing based off of the tiny amount of information they had managed to gather and analyze within a forty-eight hour period before he awaited the results of the probes so that he could board the shuttle and leave the station. The Sith and Twi'lek wandered for a bit before the treasure-hunter managed to stop someone and ask directions to a cantina. When they arrived, it was conspicuously empty save for a few overly excited scientists and one lone bartender. The Sith handed some credits to the Twi'lek and then went off alone to a corner booth to lay back and take a small nap. The Twi'lek happily used those credits to order herself a drink, glad to be off the ship and at the same time able to relax instead of having to constantly shoot and run.
In the upper floors of the station, teams of officers crowded around tables and computers. They were waiting for the shuttle to land; they were waiting for data to begin arriving via the probe droids, for Quinn to bring back test subjects.
AIR FORCE BASE
The radars went off first. As officers shouted in confusion at one another, the computers went haywire. A large screen displayed satellite footage of a strange vessel approaching from space. It entered the atmosphere and landed in North America, in a clearing. They could see things beginning to emerge from the ship, but of course it was hard to make out details using a camera that was several hundreds of miles above the Earth's atmosphere. Soon the phones began to ring; the CIA had already been called by the NSA about strange pictures, texts, and phone call conversations circling Texas and branching out. Hysteria was already breaking out about the arrival of aliens; now, people who watched far too much tv were screaming that either this was the government's fault, the homosexuals' faults, or a hostile invasion. Honestly, it could be anything. Unfortunately, this happened so fast, so unexpectedly, they weren't able to pinpoint a landing area. Weren't able to cover it up, hush the witnesses, get rid of the evidence. Something was out there. And now everyone knew at the exact same time they did. Because that something finally found them.
Imperial Probe
They floated aimlessly about, only pausing every few feet to scan the area around them. Compile data, then send it off to CARRIER 77's receiving computers. Scooping up soil samples for analysis. Bottling the air.
The human Quinn was working as well. He bottled water, took vegetation and rock samples, then used a handheld scanner to learn the cellular and chemical compositions of multiple plants, animals, and inanimate dead objects in the environment.
Raven
Raven Ariana Sinclaire peered out over a moss-laden boulder, pushing aside vines and a few leafy branches just enough that she could see the strange scene unfolding in the clearing. An odd plane had landed, and now queer machines were moving about. There was a man out there, too, wandering and collecting things. He was completely absorbed in his work, so it must have been very important. She only wished she was confident enough to get up and run while his back was turned.
She missed her chance, though. After a few moments, he straightened and turned towards her hiding place, so she released the bushes and ducked back down. Pressed her back against the stone and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to slow and quiet her breathing. She took special care to try and hold each breath for at least a few seconds before slowly, so slowly, letting them out. Don't let him find me. Please, please don't let him find me. She never thought she would catch herself praying for anything. Especially considering that she was an atheist and didn't believe there was anything out there to heal her. Perhaps if there was, and it wasn't vindictive enough to punish her not for taking a proofless book at its word, things would have been different.
But, Raven was a very unlucky girl, and today was just not her day. After a sudden puffing sound, a sharp pain lanced her right calf before quickly dulling. The calf itself immediately felt weakened. She opened her eyes and looked down to see a dart sticking out of the side, pulling it out and then reaching down to run a fingertip over the sensitive area where the needle had stabbed into her skin. Ari then looked up into the cold blue eyes of the man, who had walked around the boulder to where she would be in full view, before her vision began to blur.
A gun-like object was brandished in his hand, aimed at her. She looked down at the dart in her now shaking hand, letting it fall out and clatter on the stones beside her as she forced herself to get up on her feet. The blurry world spun, and she stumbled, catching herself on sharp rocks. She was distantly aware of a sharp pain in her palms.
"N-no..." She said, sounding weak. Her own voice, to her, sounded far away. She tried to walk, but found she couldn't feel her legs anymore. The last thing she remembered was watching the ground rushing up to meet her for a second time. She just didn't remember hitting it.