Connections Indeed

The Puddle Jumper breaks out of hyperspace with a soft jolt felt by Janus and Kodo. Deeply mined out, the asteroid of Kessel appeared to float aimlessly through the void. Quickly jumping from his seat, Kodo begins his last minute preparation of his gear, moving into the cabin to do so out of Janus's sight. As he checks the primers on his detonators and the cell in his E-11, he calls back to see if Janus remembered her part. "You have our infil set up?"

"Yep, got the schematics before we jumped. There's an old mine with a bay that's been abandoned for years, should give us an easy way in and out." Her voice,  while trying to sound as serious as Kodo, betrays a hint of pride in her slicing ability.

"Good, if this guy is connected to the Pykes, then we may need to get out in a hurry." Kodo's voice remains flat and neutral as he glances back, slowly uncovering a floor panel. The lacquered box sits right where he left it, the Imperial seal still burned into the wood. Sliding it back, he looks up as Janus swings out from the cockpit into the cabin.

"Got the course all set up, should just take about fifteen minutes or so." Janus hesitates slightly, her finger running through her dark shoulder length hair as she feels a rush of nerves. "So...can I go on this one?"

Carefully twisting the timer on a sonic charge, Kodo sighs. "Are you going to ask that every time?"

"Come on Kodo, I can handle myself. I've seen how you do it, I just want to help."

Turning his massive frame through the cabin, Kodo pulls his holdout blaster from its holster and hands her the sonic charge, "You can help by staying with the ship and protecting yourself. I'm not risking my fixer in some random bounty."

With a pout, Janus takes the weapons with a shrug. "Come on, you're not my dad. You don't need to protect me from everything."

"It has nothing to do with that." He says with a slight snap. "I'm not going to let an asset like you take a bolt to the face because you want to run around playing with blasters. You're staying here."

"Fine...but promise, the next one you take me."

Kodo looks down at the Mirialan woman, she was only about five years younger than him, but he looked like he could have been a decade older or more. With a mutter, he turns around as he approaches the ramp, "Fine, I promise."

The ramp falls with a hiss from the ship as it gently makes contact with the metal floor of the bay. A small number of crates dotted the floor and broke up the large flat room. The only apparent entry and exit to the bay seemed to be a large blast door, as well as several adjoining vents that could feasibly fit someone much smaller than Kodo. His armored footsteps echo through the bay as Kodo strides forth from the Puddle Jumper. Before he even gets halfway across the abandoned bay, the blast door opens to a flood of black robed figures as they quickly form a line across the bay, blocking Kodo's forward progression. With a quick flick of his comm bead, he relays one word back to Janus, "Hide."

< Prev : Revealing Discomfort Next > : A Rivalry Reignited