-1Knights of the Old Republic II: Sith Lords
Knights of the old Republic and Starwars are owned by George Lucas (I think he owns them both). Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon. I own nothing here. As said by many wise men..and women…please don't sue me.
The timeline for Buffy takes place about three years after the end of Buffy. No exact date has been decided. KOTOR 2 timeline starts right from the beginning of the game. I apologize now for my lack of grammar etc, etc. I've never posted anything I've written until now. This bug has been floating in my skull since I first read Slayers of the old republic by Michael Weyer. It definitely fed my imagination. Thanks Michael. Anyways on with the show. Please comment. It won't get better in quality or quantity without constructive criticism.
I should have mentioned previously that I have completed the story though the Peragus Facility, I am currently cleaning up small sections at a time and posting them, and writing the next stop in the adventure at the same time, I do have plans that will seriously send the KOTOR game into AU.
Xander, Shayla and Faith watched the turbolift doors open, revealing a short corridor, completely empty, the three slowly moved towards the door on the far side.
"We should be extremely careful, Atton was right about the tunnels, superheated rock, gas as well as mining droids might bar our way" Shayla said.
"He's cute, but not too bright" Faith quipped.
Xander laughed and reached for the door switch, it flashed open just as the comm unit Shayla took activated, Attons voice echoed within the corridor "Can you read me?".
"Barely, there's a lot of static" She replied.
"There's a lot of interference down there, probably caused by that explosion, still, it looks like there's a route down to the peragus fuel depot, if the passages haven't collapsed. That explosion knocked out most of the sensors, there should be an emergency crate in the next room, watch yourselves, there's a lot of droid broadcasts in that area, I can't pin them down though".
"Understood, alert us immediately if you pick up anything else" shayla replied.
"Will do, and be careful down there" Atton said.
Faith chuckled "Aw, the hotshot might actually have a heart after all".
Xander chuckled as well, "I see the crate" he pointed down the next corridor, the remains of a burnt and shattered mining droid not far off.
Shayla quickly moved to the cylinder and opened it "I've got five uniforms and some mining gear".
Xander quickly joined her "Sweet" he grabbed one and quickly slipped into it "Ah, nakedness is good but only in certain situations".
Faith chuckled as she checked the other items with Shayla, "What are these things" she asked pointing at several odd looking devices with metal head bands attached to them.
"Mining sensors, they help the miners detect various gasses and identify mining charges in the area, it also helps to absorb high decibel emissions from explosions" she explained.
"And these?" Faith asked holding up what appeared to be a forearm bracer.
"Energy shields, they create a shield around the wearer and help to protect you from incoming fire or even hand weapon attacks, some weapons however are designed to bypass them" she explained.
"Cool" Faith said and donned a set of both, then looked around "Nifty, things are slightly different to my eyes, almost clearer".
Shayla nodded and slipped into a uniform herself then grabbed a survey headset and shields as well, Xander had already done so and moved off to the fallen droid.
"Hey Shay" he said, catching the Jedi off guard by shortening her name "Can we salvage anything from this thing?".
Shayla moved nex to him and quickly checked it out "A few components we can break down later and some parts that might be usefull for jury rigging anything that might need fixing, good to keep".
Faith stepped up next to them "I made two sacks from the uniforms to help carry anything we salvage, the last uniform is for dawnie".
Xander smiled "Nice thinking Faith".
"Thanks" she said and moved to the next door while Shayla quickly removed the spare parts from the droid.
A few seconds later they all moved to the door "Okay, let's do this fast and quiet" Faith said.
"Agreed" Shayla nodded and opened the door, revealing another corridor.
The next door opened and both Xander and Faith stopped as the sight of a large central pillar seemed to thrum with energy as it pumped a bright orange energy almost like fire straight up into the ceiling.
Shayla smiled at the two "Processed fuel being pumped to a storage tank I assume".
"That's fuel?" Xander asked "Looks like fire".
"More like plasma, a hot liquid or gas, perfect for powering ships and space stations" The Jedi explained.
"Nifty" was all Faith said.
Three corridors lead from the room, one was blocked with several sonic mines and appeared to be collapsed beyond, the second was locked down and the third was occupied by a slightly different mining droid than they had previously encountered, it was squickly dispatched.
The corridor opened up into a rough hewn corridor of rock, pillars could be seen every few meters, obviously used to brace the ceiling, the three moved as quietly as they could down the corridor, several droids blocked there way shortly after entering the tunnels.
Xander quickly moved to engage the closest one, knowing that Faith would likely be jumping to attack the second one further back, he just hoped shayla headed for the third one to the left.
Sure enough he brought his vibro sword down into the metallic head of the first droid as Faith flipped over him and the droid, landing softly and rolling forward, she came up swinging, her vibro sword quickly severed the front legs of the droid, her second attack took off it's head.
Shayla had already dispatched the third one and smiled at the two of them "We seem to be developing as a team quite nicely".
Faith nodded "X-man and I have fought together for a while now, it's easy between us".
"I can see that, it also makes it easy for me to fit myself in that'll make it easier for us to reach the depot below" Shayla added.
The next ten minutes was filled with fighting, Xander lost track of how many droids they had destroyed, their make shift packs were getting pretty full with salvaged droid components.
Finally they reached a tunnel that showed how truly dangerous the tunnels were, the corridor was glowing and the heat from the rock was enough to make him back up quickly.
"The explosion did superheat the tunnels, we should be careful, the steam alone could kill us, we need to use the mining shields, it should buy us enough time to get through if we move fast enough" Shayla explained.
Within seconds the three of them were almost glowing from the shields protection, then Shayla took the lead, followed by xander and then Faith, the shields did protect them but even with them he could still feel the heat, it was almost unbearable.
Finaly they reached the end, only to stumble into the middle of several more mining droids, the three of them quickly finished them off however and continued down the corridor.
"How much longer?" Xander asked as they turned a corner and stumbled into a very large room, the center was basically a massive pit or hole that looked very deep with a single walkway stretching across it, a small central platform suspended in the center, a computer console could barely be seen from there position.
From the trio's vantage point, two identical fuel pump stations could be seen, the entire area around them protected by a shimmering blue force shield, mining droids wandered everywhere.
Xander nodded to himself and closed his eyes, the memory of sensing the droids before flooded his mind, he held onto the memory and reached out with his senses, he felt it stretching out, filling the void of the room.
"I can sense eleven or twelve droids, I think the shields and fuel pumps are messing with my count though" he said quietly.
Faith looked at him but remained silent, Shayla however nodded "I can feel them too, and your right, those shields are interfering with our senses".
"So oh great and powerful Jedi, we sneak to the computer?" Faith asked the two of them smirking.
Xander nodded "I figure that's the best place, with those shields up we can't get through to the other tunnels".
Shayla stepped forward as if trying to get a better view "The computer should be tied into the fuel systems, maybe even droid control, let's just hope it's not damaged or severed like the communications computer".
"Well, what are we waiting for" Faith said as she simply bolted for the walkway.
Xander smiled and took off after her, Shayla fell in right behind him, the three reached the walkway within seconds, Faith stopped to check the body of a miner but shook her head upon finding nothing of value.
Xander and Shayla continued to the computer, the elder Jedi moved directly to the console and immediately got to work accessing the systems, Xander spotted a storage cylinder and moved to check the contents.
"Okay, I've accessed the systems, bringing Droid command protocols….let's try raising the temperature to blind their thermal sensors" Shayla said quietly.
Xander smiled "I've got four medpacks".
"Good, we'll need as many as we can find" she said "Accessing fuel containment…shutting down fuel containment fields…opening emergency hatch to administration level".
All three of them watched the shields around the fuel pumps wink out of existence, they also realized their were four pumps in the room, not two.
Xander watched the woman work and noticed a strange look cross her face "What's up Shay?".
"Hmm, nothing" she said distracted "Just getting used to the feeling of being connected to the force again" she added.
Xander knew better than to push the subject even though he could see the lie "Okay" he smiled and turned towards Faith who was watching the area for any droids that might get too close.
"Time to go Faith" he called out.
The Slayer joined them and Xander lead the way towards one of the fuel pumps "I'll be with you in a second" Shayla added and after the two were a short distance away deleted a holorecord she found in the database, she hadn't watched it but the digital display had recorded the dialogue, it mentioned a painful memory she really didn't want to deal with yet.
With that done she moved to catch up with her two companions, they handn't moved far, once together they moved for one of the pumps, taking great care to not get too close to any droids.
"You guys sure they can't see us?" Faith asked.
Xander stopped and waved his hand infront of a droids metallic head "Yup, their as good as blind".
"Show off" Faith said as she continued around the pump.
Heading down a curving corridor they stopped when Attons voice echoed from the comm. Unit "Hey, I'm picking up some strange readings, what are you doing down there".
"Trust me, whatever you've detected, it's likely our fault" Shayla smiled.
"The containment fields in the mining tunnels are shutting down, you need to get out of there before they vent fuel to the surface of the asteroid through the tunnels".
"How much time do we have?" Xander asked.
"I may be able to keep it contained until you get to the turbolift to the fuel depot but not for much longer, I'm locking down the turbolift to the administration section now to keep the blast from spreading…if you've got anything left to do down there make it quick, because were you are is going to get real hot, real soon".
Faith moved further down the corridor "Then let's get moving".
The three wasted no time, breaking into a run they quickly moved through the tunnels, a minute later a warning siren echoed throughout the area, Faith spotted a closed door not far away "I think I see it" she called back
The other two caught up with her just as she managed to get the door open, the three jumped through into the turbolift and hit the access for the fuel depot, it moved down quickly and opened on another level, the lift shook as if another explosion went off above them.
They dived into the next room without thinking, Shayla rolled easily into a combat stance as did Faith, Xander however landed on his face.
The door closed just in time, they heard the turbolift mechanisms snap dropping the lift down the shaft.
"That was close" Faith said as she looked around.
Xander looked at the surroundings from his vantage point on the floor "Looks like we found Droid Maintenance".
The area was actually two rooms separated by a short corridor, each room had workbenches and tools and a few deactivated droids in various states of repair.
To the right was also a body, likely once a young man with flame red hair but now covered in so many laser burns his features were hard to make out.
Shayla stepped towards the remains and was cut short by a mechanical voice just out of sight.
"Greetings: it is a pleasure to see you alive master, provided my receptors are not off-focus. How may I be of assistance?" a tall protocol droid said as it moved into view.
Xander was up in a flash, Faith moved to the side in order to assist Shayla if the droid was deceiving them, the blonde Jedi was definitely curious.
"How do you know me, I'm not you master" she stated.
"Answer: I am a survivor of the Harbinger, just as you were master. With the unexpected termination of my previous master, you are the only organic which I may now serve" the droid explained.
"Who was your previous master?" she asked..
"Answer: The captain of the Harbinger master. I was in transit to Telos to facilitate communications and terminate hostilities…However, we did not arrive at our intended desitination" it added.
Shayla glanced to Xander before continuing, he moved slightly closer in case the encounter did head south, she turned back to the droid "What happened?".
"Irritated Answer: Oh master, it is such a long, dull story and not terribly relevant to our current situation".
"Why not tell me anyway?" she insisted.
"Hesitant explanation: That has been the subject of considerable discussion since our arrival here master. Many have attempted to claim you and this unit as salvage" it said, Xander was struck by how annoyed the droid sounded.
"I was crudely interrogated concerning our brief history together on board the Harbinger..before it's communications, weapons and engines suffered the cascade failure that disabled the ship" it finished.
Shayla shook her head "How come I don't remember any of this?".
"Speculation: It is possible you were incapacitated and locked in the well-shielded cargo compartment as the Harbinger was being systematically crippled master".
"But how did I get from the Harbinger to here?" she asked.
"Recitation: Following the unusual set of coincidences that led to the cascade failure in the Harbinger's systems we were boarded by a small freighter with unknown ID codes, It appeared that this freighter had been attacked and the captain wanted to study it. This freighter appeared to still be spaceworthy. Your cargo compartment was breached and you were taken on board the freighter shortly before the Harbinger's systems began to go critical. I too managed to board the freighter before the Harbingers destruction, we were most fortunate to have survived master".
Shayla watched her two companions absently as she moved slightly closer to the droid "Who's body is that?" she asked.
"Answer: That is all that remains of the maintenance officer master. At the end he was quite incoherent from the pain and attempts to facilitate communications with him proved useless, I heard his dying screams as the droids he tended turned on him, mining him like a piece of asteroid rock" it replied.
"Did he say anything at the end?" she asked.
"Recitation: Oh yes master, the record of his last moments were: ..five droids..burning through the outer door…they're forcing their way into the bay…please, someone, they…oh no, they're through…Aiigh, My Leg! They've burned through my leg, I..stop, Stop!..St..".
"Addendum: His remaining attempts at communication are variations in decibel master, ranging from frenzied screams to gibbering inarticulate attempts to beg for his life" it finished.
Shayla couldn't believe how this droid made her feel, she looked to Xander and spotted a similar look of uncomfort on his face, Faith was now standing beside him.
"We need to find away into the Peragus hangar bay" she said, changing the subject.
"Pitying answer: Oh that is unfortunate master. The hangar bay is sealed behind a containment field, it would be impossible to open it" the droid replied.
Faith stepped forward "What about codes, there has to be a way to shut it down?".
The droid seemed to regard her for a second before speaking "Answer: Only the peragus administration officer would have such codes, If he hasn't already been murdered in an unfortunate accident, then he is trapped in the dormitory section, which has been effectively cut off from the facility by explosives".
"There has to be another way to reach the dormitories" Xander said.
"Theory: You could walk across the surface of the asteroid to the dormitory airlock, but such a route would be extremely hazardous and I would not wish to see you damaged" it added.
Shayla shook her head "Those miners could be hurt or in danger, we need to make sure they're all right".
"Warning: Master, continued exploration of this facility may place you in unnecessary danger" the droids voice became almost threatening "I encourage you to return to the medical bay and wait for retrieval from a vessel that is no doubt on the way even as we continue this pointless conversation".
"We're going to find those miners and you're going to help" she stated coldly.
"Weary resignation: Very well master, but there is very little that I can do, you see the airlock is sealed by a code"
"So how do we get the code to the airlock?" she asked.
"Correction: Oh, I already possess the code master, but I am afraid that it will do you no good".
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Condescending explanation: Master, the console governing the droid maintenance area…and the airlock…is voice printed" it said.
"Musing: In the last days of his life, the mainetenance officer was quite carefull about voice protocols bordering on paranoid obsession" it chuckled.
"Conjecture: I suspect once he realized something was wrong in the facility he voice locked the droid ay functions. A prudent measure but in the end he met the same fate as the rest of the organics".
Xander stepped forward "You already have the code though".
"Condescending explanation: Oh yes master, the code is 'Maintenance control: Voiceprint ID: R1-B5'. But unless the maintenance officer speaks the code, it is useless".
Faith moved closer "You can mimic voices. Can't you speak the code?".
"Objection: To commit such an act would be in violation of the ethics programming most droids are believed to possess. I am afraid there is nothing that can be done".
Faith wasn't finished "That fact that you can mimic voices is pretty cool. What would it sound like if you did speak the code to the console?"
Shayla looked at the brunette and saw a small smirk tugging at her lips, she had a plan that much was obvious "Yes, I'm curious as well" she said to the droid.
"Proud answer: Master, I believe my vocabulator is working adequately enough to accommodate your request" it literally puffed out it's metallic chest "Recitation: Maintenance control: Voiceprint ID: R1-B5". There, was that sufficient master?".
She looked at faith who just winked "Yes, I think that's all I need".
"Confused query: I am sorry master, were you speaking to yourself?".
"Never mind, we should be going" she said to the droid, Xander and Faith moved to the far side of the corridor heading towards the only other door.
Checking to ensure the way was clear they waited for the door to close before Faith started laughing almost histerically "My god, that was like taking candy from a vampire!".
Shayla shook her head obviously confused "I assume you had a plan of some sort?".
Faith nodded and caught her breath before explaining "I quickly checked a storage bin and found something belonging to our poor deceased maintenance officer" she said and pulled out a small device "I couldn't read the pad thing I found with it but it looked like a recorder to me so when that thing started talking about voice print codes I thought why the hell not give it a try" she pulled the device out from her pocket and pushed a button, the droids impression of the maintenance officer echoed back.
"Nice work Faith" Xander smiled.
Shayla nodded "Indeed".
The metallic clinking of droid legs hitting the floor echoed nearby "We got company" Xander straightened.
A few seconds later four droids appeared through a door to the right, the three launched into combat without hesitation.
Earth 2006, May 9th
Buffy Summers listened to one of her oldest friends talk to someone in England, the conversation was annoyingly one sided, Willow seemed to be only nodding her head with the occaisional "Okay".
After what felt like forever had passed the red headed witch hung up the phone and looked into the blondes eyes "I'm sorry buffy, Carmela couldn't find anything".
Buffy nodded slowly and sat down in the massive recliner hard, like a puppet with her strings cut "That's it then, there gone".
Willow quickly moved to her friends side and kneeled in front of her "Buffy, it's only been four days, we have time, we'll find them".
"You don't know that wills and even if we do find the dimension they were sucked into, we already know that time moves differently in a lot of them…they could already be dead" she croaked.
Willow pulled the Slayer into a fierce hug and just held her, she let the woman breakdown in her embrace, Buffy had done it for her more times than she could count, they were sisters after all not by bloody but through a deeper connection.
Willow pushed buffy back "That's it!".
Buffy wiped the tears from her face "Willow, I'm breaking down here, what's with the strange…".
Willow was smiling "…You've had an epiphany".
Willow nodded.
"Well, don't just stare at me, what is it?" she demanded.
"Connections…we might be able to find them through connections, between you and Faith" she forced herself to speak slowly, then stood up and ran for the stairs leading to the councils library.
Buffy smiled and just as quickly raced after her.
Peragus -4000 BBY
Xander finished cleaving through the torso of the excavation droid that tried to ambush them and spun for the enxt threat, only to find there was none left, both Shayla and Faith were finishing off the last two.
He shrugged his shoulders and moved to the computer console then stopped, realizing that Faith still had the voiceprint recorder, so he turned and leaned against the console and waited.
The last few minutes seemed like a blur in his mind, now that he wasn't fighting he realized that he didn't feel winded or tired, in fact he felt completely normal, if not stronger.
He could almost taste the power within him now, it made him slightly queasy actually, he frowned, he was normal guy, he wasn't suppose to have power.
Faith finished before Shayla and seeing the woman was fine with her droid moved to Xanders side "Hey, x-man, I have to say, you're looking good out there".
Xander just nodded but remained silent.
"Hey, what's eating at ya?" she asked.
Xander sighed "I can feel the power in side me now, it's there and it's growing, faster than it should be I think".
Faith didn't say a word.
"I think Dawn's feeling it too, I think we're both linked to Shay somehow, that we're gaining strength in the force at the same rate that she's remembering" he explained.
Faith nodded "Not that bad from where I stand, three Jedi is better than one".
"She has training Faith, we don't, we're advancing to fast, I think this might be a problem" he said quietly.
Shayla finished her droid at that moment drawing there attention, Faith touched his arm lightly "We'll talk about this later, once we're off this rock".
Xander nodded and waited for shayla to join them.
"This must be the airlock console" the blonde said as she moved towards them, not bothering to salvage anything from her kill, the make shift bag was already full of junk.
"The only console we've found so far, it must be" Xander said and stepped aside so the Jedi could do her thing.
"Okay, I'm accessing the Airlock systems…Faith run the recorder" she said.
Faith nodded and fished it from her pocket, the droids impression of the maintenance officer echoed throughout the room, Shayla smiled "It worked, the airlock is open".
Faith nodded with a smile "One step closer to freedom, shall we get moving?".
Shayla shook her head "There are some holorecords here that might give us more on what's going on".
"Or more questions" Xander stated.
A few seconds later the face of the now dead maintenance officer appeared on the viewscreen "..finished the sonic imprint sensor prototype for the mining droids. Everyone knows they need an upgrade, the sensor should allow me to issue voice commands to them rather than manually adjusting their routine each toime the mining specifications change. I've been keeping the sensor in the maintenance workshop for the time being. I wanted to test it first by recording and playing back some simple voice commands".
Shayla wasted no time in playing the next one.
"…finished my examination of the droids from the Ebon Hawk freighter. The T3 unit looked like it had shut itself down…the protocol droid however made up for it. I talked my ear off for most of the hour, asking questions about the facility, the personnel and so on. Still it wanted to make itself usefull, so I put it to work until it's master wakes up from the med bay. It seems to have some skills in speaking to droid behavior cores so…theres been some trouble with some of the mining droids so I'm signing off".
Xander chuckled "That protocol droid is seriously whacked….hey faith, you remember seeing it on that freighter?".
Faith shook her head "I was in the cargo area with you two, the door was locked until the stations security cut us out, they took you to medical and moved me to security, after a heated argument with the security officer I was locked up".
"You really hit someone?" he asked.
She nodded "He was a smart guy, I couldn't lie to him effectively so I hit him lightly to get tossed in the cells, figured I could use the time to think…I just wasn't prepared for the cells to be of the impenetrable force field variety".
Xander chuckled and turned back to the console, Shayla took that as a queue to continue.
"…been speaking to the protocol droid in the medbay. I thought they all had gone away or had been killed in the Jedi civil war..The droid told that his master, the tall blonde is the only Jedi he knows of in all the Galaxy and that the Jedi had served in the Mandalorian Wars, almost ten years ago..That would have meant that the Jedi served under Revan for a time, and that can't be good. Everyone knows that all the Jedi that followed Revan fell to the Dark side..".
Both Xander and Faith watched Shayla's face darken "Whoa Shay, you okay girl?".
Shayla took a deep breath and nodded "I will be.." she sighed "How the droid knew about that I don't know…" she could tell the two of them wanted to ask her a lot of questions.
Xander took a breath of his own that seemed louder than it actually was "How about we wait until we're long gone from this place before we go getting all Serpico on her" he told Faith, not asked.
Faith smirked and nodded "Yeah, your right, definitely not the time for questions".
Shayla smiled weakly and checked the next log entry.
"…Been to busy to enter a log for a while. There's been more and more accidents since the Jedi arrived. Funny though, everyone seems to think that the three in medbay are all Jedi…The miners are starting to get restless, especially Coorta. He said the Exchange is offering a huge bounty on Jedi knights and that we could make a fortune if we sell the Jedi on Nar Shadaa, Security shot down that idea pretty quickly, but I don't think Coorta and his men are going to give up that easily. I mentioned the trouble to the Jedi's protocol droid, he seemed concerned about his masters safety. I told the droid not to worry, that coorta wouldn't.."
"Now, that's definitely something we need to know more about" Xander stated "What's Nar Shadaa…the Exchange I can figure out..some kind of Mafia, organized crime ring right?".
Shayla nodded "They've been around a very long time yes" she said "Nar Shadaa is a moon, one large city covers the entire surface, it belongs to a species called the Hutt's, large slug like aliens who just happen to be the biggest players in the area of organized crime".
"Sounds like a nice place" Faith joked.
Shayla couldn't help but smile as she activated the next log.
"…When the dock officer reported the droids repairing the Ebon Hawk, I installed a voiceprint ID on the droid console system. Someone, ordered them to repair that freighter, but I can't find a trace of the order anywhere. If anyone tries that again they won't be able to do it from this terminal unless I let them. The voice print should cut any user off from the central functions unless I give the code.."
"So, we now know for certain that we have a ride waiting" Faith said.
Shayla nodded as the next one was activated.
"…The maintenance check on the droids didn't help, if anything the accidents have increased. Security interrogated me about the droids and they weren't too happy with my answers. I don't understand it though, these aren't combat models, they shouldn't even know how to attack. I can't help but think, what if somebody staged the intial trouble with the droids just to get them all sent to maintenance, and then did something to them?. I think security's right, someones trying to sabotage this facility, and they're using the doids to do it. But why?..."
Faith snorted "Gee, I wonder" she said as she nudged Xander in the ribs.
The tall one eyed Jedi shook his head "Don't start Faith, just don't start" he looked to Shayla "Shall we make our way to the airlock?".
Administration level
"I have to admit, your getting the hang of the systems a lot faster than I expected" Atton said as he watched Dawn maneuver through the few system that were accessible to the communications console.
"I've always had a knack with computers…and languages" she said.
Atton stopped "Your teaching yourself to read that?" he asked rather impressed.
Dawn nodded "Once I figured out the basis of the language, key words used more often and the syntax the rest just seems to fall into place…I also feel like I'm remembering the language instead of learning it".
Atton shook his head "Oh, back to that theory about this dimension making you and your friends compatible with how things work here".
Dawn smiled "Now your getting it".
Atton moved to the console to the right and sat down "So what's this place your from like, this earth?".
"Hard to really describe, it's our home" she said.
Atton nodded "Yeah, I guess it would be hard to describe, I couldn't even think about how to describe some of the places I've been to someone who's never been there".
Dawn nodded "You know, when your not being all uber asshole, you're a pretty nice guy".
Atton frowned "Asshole?".
Dawn blushed "A generalized term that conotates..".
"I know what an asshole is" he smirked.
Dawn's jaw gaped open for a moment "I take my compliment back, your Evil".
Atton chuckled but stopped upon hearing familiar beep coming from Dawn's console, he racedover and checked the readouts "I'm picking up there signal again".
Dawn already activated the comm. Unit "It's about time guys. We lost your signal after you left the mining tunnels. Now your coming in clear".
"..Except we're picking you up on the exterior of the facility, on the asteroids surface. That can't be right" Atton said.
"Really?" Faith echoed over the speakers "Maybe you should look up".
Both of them looked up and spotted three figures on the catwalk in front of the main view port, Dawn smiled as Atton keyed the comm. Unit "Huh, what are you guys doing out there?".
"Just taking a relaxing walk" Shayla added as they moved down the Catwalk.
"Your all crazy. Even for Jedi. Look, you need to get out of there…quick" He said as he began to type on the console over Dawn's shoulder.
"We're trying to pick up the pace, believe me" Xander replied.
Atton shook his head "What little is left of the facility's venting systems have gone active, most likely from the explosions in the mining tunnels. They're venting peragus fuel deposits into space throught the exterior vents, right in your path".
"Why are the the vents placed so close to the exterior scaffolding?" Shayla asked.
"That's just it, they're not suppose to be active when the airlock's opened and not without the safety measures kicking in, the vents look like they've been purposely rerouted to vent gases to the exterior and only in the last few minutes. It's almost as if…" he was cut off by another console beeping "Oh, what now..".
He checked the readings and Dawn saw the color darin from his face "I don't believe this…there's a ship coming in, sending a docking code?.." he glanced to Dawn "I have a bad feeling about this".
