Present Day – Catain – Fleet Yards
"Captain," the shuttle pilot called back into open hold, "We're about three minutes away from the dock."
"Okay, last check," Ittei said as he looked over the marine squad. "We are guests on this ship while we're going through this training exercise. They've got certain procedures for the different conditions that they have to operate under and we're going to have to abide by those while we're onboard. Everyone copy that?" Most of the group, including their guest nodded softly at the question and Captain Ittei walked up towards the cockpit to look out towards their arrival.
Marin listened closely to Captain Ittei as he spoke, and then nodded her understanding. Ethan had done his best to prepare her for this, but she was still nervous. And she was pretty sure that having a member of Jedi Intelligence aboard a Cataani ship of the wall wasn't normal. With that in mind, she was being a bit overly cautious with her interactions. But, that did nothing to sate her curiosity. After a moment's hesitation, she rose to her feet and followed after the Captain. When she reached the flight cabin, she peeked out through the transparisteel and gasped. The ship was huge. And to her eyes it was beautiful.
Ittei heard the gasp and looked over at her. "First time seeing a warship this close?"
She grinned nervously, but nodded. "Yeah. Never really been around ships much larger than light freighters or cargo haulers.." she admitted after a moment as she traced the vessel's lines with her eyes. "I... don't know a lot about the class, but aren't the Nighthawks billeted aboard?" Sure, there were a ton of questions she wanted to ask...but what was she allowed to..?
"The hangars can hold four of them, if the mission calls for them," the captain told her. "But those fighters are usually deployed on their home carriers, which are much larger than this. Normally, the hangar space would be used for assault shuttles like this one along with our support gunships. About...how many pilot, same number?"
"Aye, sir," the pilot said as he started to line up towards the back of the ship. "Its tight space in the hangar of these things. We usually have to do several sim runs and have to ace them before we're allowed to practice landing on the real thing."
Nodding, Marin filed that information away for the moment as she watched the approach carefully. She could only imagine what it felt like to fly one of the Nighthawks. Maybe some day she'd get the chance. She chewed her lip for a moment and then leaned forward slightly as she noticed something odd closer to the hangar bay doors. After a moment, it vanished.
"Through the dock magcon," the pilot said as they entered the drydock area and closed in on the hanger doors, adjusting his throttle controls to drop power. "One minute." He could already see the marker lights that he was directed towards and saw hangar personnel giving him hand signals.
For the moment, Marin remained in the control cabin, watching over the pilot's shoulder as he brought the small craft closer. She'd flown bigger ships, sure, but part of her wanted to experience flying smaller craft. She then felt the small bump as the shuttle settled to the deck in it's assigned berth.
"Here you go, captain," the pilot said as he powered down the shuttle's systems.
"Enjoyed the flight," Ittei commented as he walked back into the passenger area. "Marines, prepare to disembark. I'll hand out bunk assignments once we're on the deck."
Shaking herself slightly, Marin followed behind him. She wasn't entirely sure what to do here. So, she gathered her gear and fell into line with the rest of the Marines. As she reached the end of the shuttle's boarding ramp, she paused. A feeling... almost like.. .coming home welled up in her chest. It was strange, because she knew she'd never been on a ship such as this. Perhaps it was Jarius' spirit manifesting again. She sighed softly and traced her thumb over his tags for a moment before tucking them back under her standard issue fatigues. She wore the same uniform as the other Marines, though hers bore no rank except that of Private. She was fine with that, really. She was here to learn.
There was an officer that walked out into the hangar area as the marines were getting sorted and walked over towards Ittei. Marin noticed that he has the same design jumpsuit that she had seen Master Karrde's daughter, Catherine, wearing the one time they had met. Though the main differences she could see was the red band on the sleeve and the two bars that were on the uniform neck.
"My apologies for not being here sooner," he said as he shook hands with Ittei. "I'm the ship's exec. Captain Rightman is seeing to our final preps and asked that I bring you up. We've got the crew bunks just off the hangar prepped and ready for you."
"Per your request, we've got a separate cabin forward of there. They're not much."
"I remember how space can be cramped on this class," Ittei commented as he looked at Marin. "Durza, you can follow him and get squared away and meet me back here before I check in with the captain."
Marin's head came up at that, and then she belatedly realized that she was the only woman in the squad. Mentally she shrugged as her gaze went to Ittei. "Yes, sir. Understood." she replied evenly, hefting her gear bag over her shoulder. For once. she'd left her beskar'gam and the majority of her weapons belt at home. The only thing she'd brought along from it was her saber. She was... very glad to have it back. The replacement she'd constructed before they'd left for their previous mission.. hadn't felt the same.
Ittei had invited Marin with him as they ascended up the stairwells through the decks and arrived at the main corridor for what was labeled as Deck A. He motioned her to come with him and they started walking along the corridor.
Curious, she followed behind him, looking around a bit as she did so. As different as it was to be in these surroundings, she still couldn't shake the strange feeling of... belonging. She thought to mention it to Ittei. She wasn't sure if it was the right time or place. "Excuse me, Captain.." she said politely as they made their way along the corridor. "I'm... not sure if I should share this.. but when I came on board I felt a sense of belonging. Almost like I'd come home.." She shrugged, not really wanting to get into a philosophical discussion on the matter.
"Oh?" Ittei asked as he turned and looked at her as they proceeded down the corridor. "Not sure exactly how you mean that, recruit."
She shrugged, not really sure what to make of it, either. "I don't really have an explanation for it, either, Sir." she admitted after a moment. "Just a feeling I couldn't explain."
"I'm sorry to say that I don't recall if you're father spent any time on one of these ships or not," he said as they stopped before a small set of doors. "In that regard, I'm not sure if he was still in the service when this class was commissioned or not."
Nodding, Marin paused beside him, her gaze going towards the right of the entry. She'd seen many sections of the ship denoted with a sign near the entry, but she didn't see one. At that, she frowned slightly. "Where are we..?" she asked after a moment.
"The bridge," Ittei said as he walked forward enough for the doors to start to open. Kure's bridge, like the rest of the ship, was a small space compared to most other ships. It was a narrow space with consoles along both sides, a central console in the forward area, looking towards a set of three wide viewports arrayed in a semi-circle. Through them, they could see the drydock area, but Marin also noticed that there were holographic images being displayed on the viewports as well, showing various kinds of information for anyone who wasn't sitting at a console. The ceiling, like most of the rest of the ship, was low, but also had commpads hanging from them at different locations. She looked towards the back and could see a small plotting table taking up a good portion of the rear section of the compartment. And just about center of the entire area was a singular chair, with an officer standing just in front of it watching over the entire workings of the bridge crew.
That made sense, and she nodded as she stepped into the compartment behind him, automatically scanning the area. She kept her hands loose and ready out of habit. As she looked around, she noticed the holographic display over some of the windows and she hid a smile. For as little space as the bridge had, it was an excellent idea. What drew her attention next was the tactical repeater at the rear of the compartment. Perhaps she'd have a chance to study it later. For now, she kept pace with Ittei, a step or two behind him as the pair made their way forward of the entry and towards the area in front of that central chair. It was hard for Marin to keep her gaze from the viewports, but she managed.
"Sorry I didn't make it down," the officer said without turning for a moment as he was watching over everything. Then he finally turned and shook hands with Ittei. The uniform, like all the others she'd seen onboard, had only the difference of four bars on the neck. "I'm Jonathan Rightman, ship's CO. They told me you were coming onboard and I guess they wanted to give you some training at the same time we're about to run a shakedown to see if we're ready to go."
'Shakedown...' Marin thought. And then she remembered. The Sith attack several weeks back. Her left hand clenched into a fist for a moment before she relaxed it. She glanced at Ittei for a moment, as if asking permission. "Excuse me, sir," she said, addressing Rightman. "I'm unfamiliar with ships of this class. What, in general is involved in a shakedown?" she hoped it wasn't a question that would make her look like an idiot.
"And you are?"
She cleared her throat nervously, and glanced at Ittei again, hoping she hadn't gotten in over her head. "Marin Durza, sir. I'm a Recruit with Ittei's Marine detachment." She didn't add any other details; she knew it wasn't the time or place.
"Its okay, Durza," Ittei told her as he looked to Rightman. "She attached to us from the Jedi, learning techniques from us."
Rightman nodded understanding then. "I see. Well, Ms. Durza, a shakedown is usually when we go and make sure that everything is in proper working order. Usually, its done with a newly-built ship or one that has undergone serious repairs. In our case, its the latter. We just finished up about a month or so of essential repairs after we had to slug our way out of Bastion."
She blushed slightly and then nodded as Rightman answered her question. She didn't know much about their mission to Bastion, and thought it better not to ask. "Well, then I hope everything was repaired well." she said evenly as she clasped her hands behind her back to stop the urge to fidget. She knew she had nothing to worry about. "How long does it usually take..?" she asked after a moment.
"It all depends on what needs to be tested," the captain told her as he looked over to his exec walking up.
"Sir, we're all set. Dock has given us clearance for departure."
"All stations standby," Rightman said as he looked back to Ittei and Marin. "You're welcome to stay here and watch. Nothing special, though."
That got Marin to grin slightly. "Thank you, Sir." She moved off to the side slightly where she hoped she wouldn't be in the way, but where she could still see the forward viewports.
Rightman was all business now as he centered himself in the compartment and looked to all the stations, stopping at the forward one. "Helm, clear moorings, standby on repulsorlifts."
"Aye sir," the officer at the helm said as he started to adjust his controls and threw several switches off to his right. "Moorings cleared. Repulsorlifts coming up to thirty percent." Slowly, they felt the soft thrum through the ship that told Rightman that the engines were coming online now. "Magcon field?"
"Dropped," another officer said to his right. "We are cleared aft."
"Reverse thrusters," Rightman ordered. "Five second burst."
Marin kept her position and listened intently to the cross-talk as the bridge crew slowly began to clear Kure of her moorings. To a degree, it reminded Marin of what she read about in books about sailing ships. She supposed the same general concept applied here. For now, she simply watched and listened, her gaze on the forward viewports.
It took a few moments, because Rightman wanted to go slow and careful, but drydock started drifting away as Kure was backing out of the slot and into open space. "We're cleared from drydock, captain."
"Very well, Kuroda," the captain acknowledge as he looked back towards another console. "Confirm exit route, signals. Helm, rotate port ninety degrees and light the engines."
"We're cleared for route Blue, level Three," the signals officer told him. Right behind him, the man at the plot table called out next. "Recommend bearing 268, captain."
"Helm, rudder amidship at ninety-two degrees from start of the turn," Rightman ordered, remembering the way that the docks had arranged the entry and exit routes. "Z-axis plus fifteen hundred meters, all ahead one third."
Marin nodded then. Her astrogation was a slight bit rusty, but she was able to mentally plot the direction of their course. After a moment, she looked across at Ittei and gave him a bit of a smile in thanks.
Ittei nodded and looked around himself. It would be a while before they were going to get started. He knew the rough plan that Kure was going to go by and he had already briefed his squad on what was going to happen. The time passed smoothly, listening in to regular chatter on the bridge, reports coming in and being acknowledged.
"Outer dock marker cleared," the man at the plot table called from the back. "We are free and clear to navigate, captain."
"Very well," Rightman said as he checked the chrono on the wall...they were ahead of schedule. "Helm, course 044 by 060. Ahead two-thirds."
Marin listened for a moment before she slipped away from Ittei and went to have a look at the tactical plot at the rear of the bridge.
"Aye, sir, ahead two-thirds," the helmsman acknowledged as Rightman reached up to one of the comm panels and punched in a key code. "Bridge to Engineering, report."
"She's holding fine and steady," he heard over the intercom. "I have the reactor cores at eighty five percent and all systems are holding. We can push to one hundred percent on your order."
"Keep it in check until we've made our jump to the second proving stage, Chief. We'll see how we do then. Bridge out."
Marin perked up slightly at that, and looked across at Ittei for a moment as she hung back from the tactical plot. She could still see the flickering holograms above it, though, and she watched as the markers for Catain and Cataan slipped away.
Rightman turned around and walked back to check the plot to make sure of their position and made a few calculations in his head. "We're just about done with the engine testing. All that's left is to run at flank from this point," he indicated a spot on their course that the navigator had already marked, "to our jump point. We'll jump to the outer colony system at Collier and we'll start working on our other system tests."
A nod was Marin's only response for the moment. She'd never been to the Collier Colony, and was... looking forward to it. A chance to see something new.
"Sir," the navigator mentioned as he looked at another point. "We're getting close to checkpoint bravo."
"Thank you," Rightman said as he looked over to his exec. "MTC been notified?"
"They're tracking us now, waiting for us to start the next test before we finish the engine testing. All systems check out."
"Very well," the captain said as he looked towards Marin. "Do you know much about this class of ship?"
She frowned then. "Not really, no, sir..." she admitted after a moment. She had hoped to learn a bit more before starting the actual exchange program, but there hadn't been time. It was almost as if Master Karrde and Ethan wanted her a bit off-balance. But would they do that..? Perhaps they were testing her in some manner.
"We're pretty heavily armed and armored," he told her as they stood there for a few moments, behind him, the viewports were starting to be covered by armor plating. The holographic displays were still there, soon joined by a visual feed from the scanners as if the viewports were still uncovered. "But our primary role is recon and spec ops. You noticed that our hull was a matte black when you arrived."
"Aye, I did, sir..." she said evenly. "I would think, that would be to minimize reflection of light and to help in hiding the ship from the naked eye."
"And it partially helps protect us from most sensors," he told her as he turned around and looked towards the forward screens. "Our engines, when we're running quiet, are switched to a preset that tunes them to a EM range that is hard to see from long range. But most military scanning systems can work through most of that."
Nodding, she frowned slightly. "And the armor plating over the viewports..?"
"We have a system that gives us an additional edge, but looking through the viewports is blurred when we use it, so we use visual scanners when that's in place. XO?"
"We're rigged for silent running," the exec said from the tactical station. "MTC reports that their track of us is intermittent. They're ready for the second phase of the test."
"Then let us begin," Rightman said as he looked to Marin with a bit of a smile. "Engage cloaking device." A few moments later, the lights dimmed in the compartment, the main white lights going offline and the bridge started to be awash in a soft blue light now to go along with the lighted consoles.
Marin was silent for the moment, considering what Rightman had said. When the lighting changed, her eyes widened for a moment. Hesitant, she opened herself to the Force as she tried to get a sense of the bridge crew. They were focused, and ready. 'Cloaking... device..?' her thoughts skipped a second or two and she frowned. She knew the technology was possible, but had no idea that it was viable. Now, she had her answer.
"It works like a shield generator system," the captain explained to her. "Outside the ship, we're completely invisible to the eye. With our adjustments to the engines, we're practically invisible to scanners too. We still have to be careful about any emissions from us, so we have to rely on our visual and passive scanners. Active scans, while they won't reveal our exact location, will let others know that we're in the area."
"Aye..." she said softly, her gaze traveling around the bridge for a moment as she studied some of the systems status panels for a moment. She then thought for a moment. "If an engine or other system was damaged it would make it difficult to use the cloak effectively, yes?"
Rightman nodded solemnly at that. "That happened to one of our sister ships that was with us over Bastion. As I said, we have to keep a close eye on our systems."
Marin was silent for a moment then. She'd heard bits and pieces of that.. at least that a couple ships had returned heavily damaged.
The captain looked around the bridge and checked with several stations as they moved along. "Disengage the cloak and secure from silent running. Prep for hyperspace."
Marin's gaze slid to Ittei for a moment, speculative. She'd been on several missions before, with Ethan.. and even Jarius before his death. But this... She'd never been on a ship of the wall before.
"MCA reports show that the cloak is working perfectly," the exec said as he looked over from the signals station. "No traces of our passage."
"Jump prep complete," the helm called as the lighting on the bridge returned to normal as the cloaking device was shut down. Rightman acknowledged and made the announcement that they were fixing to leave the system.
"No trace...?" she whispered, almost under her breath. To her mind, that seemed... incredible. A faint frown creased her forehead as she kept out of the way near Ittei and studied the tactical plot.
The jump was pretty standard, nothing special to it at all as the starlines appeared through the viewports. Rightman nodded to the exec and gave him the bridge and started towards the doors on the starboard side with Ittei and Marin in tow. "We've got several hours before we arrive," he told them as they entered the corridor. "Should give you enough time to do some prep for your exercises."
Marin followed behind Ittei, absently tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her left ear. She still wasn't used to wearing her hair up in the manner that was required in the Cataani military service. Though, she had to admit, it made her hair less of a target. She was lost in thought, and only avoided running into the edge of the hatchway on pure instinct.
"We're supposed to coordinate orbital insertions with you," Ittei mentioned as they stopped at the first set of doors on their left. Rightman punched in a code that opened them and led them into a small office area, taking a seat behind a desk with datapads arranged over it. "It'll give us a good way to test the new shields, so it'll work out well on the scheduling."
Marin followed behind them, and fell into an at ease position for the moment. Ittei had briefed her on general things, but she was curious. With a glance to Ittei again, she asked. "What's involved with an orbital insertion, Sir..?"
Rightman nodded at the question and leaned back in his chair. "Normally, our shields can be set to a more aerodynamic configuration that allows us to enter most atmospheres with the shields up and less resistance upon entry. Since our cloaking system works along the same lines as a shield system, we should be able to enter cloaked with much if any interference."
"Once the ship is into the atmosphere," Ittei added in. "We egress in the assault shuttle, following the gunships, and head for the target. With Kure flying low enough when we launch, we should be able to avoid detection until we're right on them and the gunships area already into the attack."
Marin nodded as she thought that over. "It would maintain the element of surprise, certainly," she said after a moment as she visualized what the run might look like in her head.
"Its a concept that we've practiced on a regular basis," Ittei told her as he looked to the captain. "But we've never had to actually carry out such an operation against a real objective."
She looked over at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. "And are we now...?" she asked after a moment.
"This is a training run," the marine told her, understanding her question. "Ours may be a combat unit, but we're in a training cycle right now. The only way we're going to be called to active status is if there is no option."
"Also," Rightman added. "This is our first run since we've been in drydock for a while for repairs. The ship took a pounding over the Imperial capital trying to get out of the system and we've had to repair and replace a lot of systems."
She nodded at that and accepted his explanation for the moment. She hoped she wasn't asking too many questions... whether she was attached for training or not. At that point, Marin chewed on her lip for a moment before she made a decision. This time, she addressed her question to Rightman, straightening from her "at ease" posture for a moment. "Sir... I apologize if my question is too... forward. I was wondering why you were so open with me earlier regarding how Kure conducts such operations. I know I'm attached for training, but I wasn't expecting you to share such details." She shrugged slightly and looked at Ittei for a moment out of the corner of her eye.
Rightman nodded at this and steepled his hands as he turned in his chair. "Ms. Durza, your reputation precedes you onboard this ship as far as I'm concerned. I do keep in touch with other officers and word does get around about people sometimes. I've been told that you are a person who can be trusted and does show extreme loyalty to those you serve with. I've had dealings with your teachers before and know that, you being one of their students, speaks for itself."
At that, she blinked and then blushed ever so slightly. "I..." she paused as if trying to make sense of that for a moment or two. When she had, she nodded at him and smiled slightly. "Thank you, Sir. That... means a lot."
"You're welcome," the captain said as he leaned forward and picked up a datapad. "Well, I'm sure you two have things to do before we arrive in the system and start to do our tests in earnest."
