Station: Back to the Lion's Den

Posted on Tue Aug 5th, 2025 @ 1:32am by Lieutenant Ainkara "Kara" {Meji}

Mission: Stellar Problems
Location: M-69
Timeline: Current

OOC: This takes place during/after an upcoming JP.

ON:

Leaving Captain Vehn's office, where Master Ro needed to meet with the command staff for M-69, Ainkara made her way back to the Promenade. She had no destination in mind, simply wandering as she thought on things in regards to her life. Becoming Ro's Padawan, or apprentice, had been a boon for her, had shown her the error of her ways for listening to that dark spirit that had set he on this path of the Force. The red plasma crystal also gave Kara pause. Was that the thing that held the dark spirit? Is that why she was directed by the Force to find it? Was this being trying to coerce her into committing evil deeds in order to re-enter the galaxy as a solid creature, guiding Kara through subterfuge and lies to get her to open up the way for that to happen? So many questions with no answers.

Stopping at a section of railing, leaning on it with her forearms, Kara's eyes stared down at the lower Promenade without actually seeing it, her mind lost in a meditative stance. Visions quick-flashed through her mind concerning Dark Harbor. Tore's face, the guards walking their patrols in the streets, Billi's face with an expression of sadness as if begging forgiveness, and many more. The very place where her life had been pain and torment, her home for months, and yet she thought on it often since leaving. She used her own control of the Force to mask any hint of her feelings from master Ro, knowing that it would bring up long conversations she was not ready to discuss. What had happened on Dark Harbor for all those months was her business and no one needed to hear about it. A personal hell she herself needed to come to grips with. No one else could aid in that. As she thought on all this her mind was made up, her decision made. Turning from the railing she walked through the Promenade with a brisk, casual gait as she headed for their cabin. On the way she purchased a backpack.

Upon arrival, Kara went to her room and opened the chest with her garb inside, folding and packing an extra outfit into the backpack. The only way to overcome her past was to go back where it had all happened, to bring closure to that world. Once the items were secure in her pack she slung it over one shoulder and went into the common room, taking up the note PADD and began typing.

***

"Master Ro,

Please, forgive me for my departure. I need to return to Dark Harbor and face my life there. Too many unanswered questions remain that I must find answers to. I have the Meji code memorized, and I trust in your teachings so far. You have my word I will not return to the Dark side, but this is something that I must do, for good or ill. It is my hope that this will not damage our relationship or cause my training to discontinue. If it does, then just know that you will forever have an ally out there. May the Force be with you, always.

Love,
Ainkara

***

Finishing her message, Kara swiped the tears away as she placed the PADD on the table and swiped away the tears trying to form in her eyes. A bit of Control and she had stopped the water works, determined to do exactly as she had said in her message to Ro. Having to steel herself to get moving, truly not wanting to leave Ro's side, Kara made the final decision and exited the cabin. Making her way to the landing bay she saw Nano and Cosmo conferring between the X-wings as they had been tweaking their systems, with Cosmo no doubt passing on his years of knowledge to her own droid. Coming in she went to a knee and wrapped an arm around each of them in a double hug before leaning back. "Cosmo, we're leaving. Please, keep this between us. I left a message for Master Ro in our cabin since she is busy with the command staff. She will know soon enough. Will you do that for me?"

Cosmo's domed head slid forward in a pose of sadness, a droid sound coming forth from him that sounded like a moan of sorrow. "I will respect your wishes, Miss Kara. Take care."

Again, her damn eyes tried to tear up, so Kara had to get herself under control once more. "Come on, Nano, we're leaving." She stood up and began to move to her ship. with Nano giving his own sad whimper as he looked to Cosmo. They warbled to each other a moment before he turned to follow his master. As Kara mounted the ladder his socket lift dropped for him to board. Tossing her backpack behind her seat, in the emergency seat that could fold up and give a tight space for another needing a ride, Kara got into the cockpit and closed the canopy. Nano started the warming of the coils, getting the engines ready for flight while Kara went through the pre-flight check. All was good and ready.

"I'm sorry, Nano. I know you will miss Cosmo. We'll come back, I promise."

"My place is with you, Master Kara. I will trust in your promise and will see Cosmo again."

That made Kara smile to herself. Now, with that conviction in her heart, to bring her companion back to see his brother, the Voran known as Ainkara was ready to go forth on her personal quest. The Meji teachings talked of taking trials to show if one was ready to go from student to Champion. Perhaps the Force was guiding her training, sending her on a trial that would determine her fate one way or the other. That thought gave her hope even as she lifted off, got permission to depart, and then shot out of the bay. She angled her fighter on the vector they had used to come into the M-69 security zone, following that path out to the outer markers.

"Nano, what is our maximum sustainable warp speed?"

Nano checked his memory and got back to her in two seconds. "Warp factor eight. We can attain warp nine-point-two, but for a limited time."

"I see," Kara replied. "At warp eight, how long to get back to Dark Harbor?"

Another few seconds went by. "From our current location, Master, we will arrive at the Rift Alliance border in approximately twelve hours." Nano answered.

"Twelve hours," said Kara under her breath. "Any way to shrink that time down, Nano?"

"Not with warp speed, Master. However, there is the hyperdrive motivator." Nano announced.

"Hyperdrive motivator? What is that?" Kara asked. She knew the theory of hyperdrive, being a scientist, but was he saying they actually had the capability to achieve it? No wonder kept the X-wing data out of the hands of others for now. In theory hyperdrive was a propulsion system that allowed a starship to reach lightspeed and traverse the void between stars in the alternate dimension of hyperspace. The vessel then traveled along a programmed course until it dropped back into normal space—realspace—at its destination. Large objects in normal space cast "mass shadows" in hyperspace, thus hyperspace jumps required accurate plotting to avoid collisions, which would be fatal. All this theoretical knowledge passed through her mind in the few seconds it took Nano to respond to her queries.

"The hyperdrive motivator is to hyperdrive what the warp core is to warp drive, Master." Nano explained. "There is one aboard each X-wing, allowing for hyperspace travel. It is a simple matter to switch from one to the other."

"You are just telling me this now?" Asked Kara, chuckling. "Sorry, trying to be funny at the shock of being told we can do something only discussed in theory."

Nano took that in stride. "Master Kara, it is reasonable to be surprised. I myself had to learn of it too. Cosmo gave me all the data I needed from his own memory core. Were we to use the hyperdrive then Dark Harbor is only twenty minutes away."

"Twelve hours down to twenty minutes? Damn." Another surprise for Kara's brain to take in.

"Shall I switch then, Master?"

"Please, do." Kara said. "Are we out of sensor range for M-69, yet?" Nano said they were not out of range yet even as he switched from the warp core to the motivator. "Let me know when we are out of sensor range then we'll make the jump."

A quarter of an hour later Nano informed Kara that they were clear of scrutiny from M-69. "Alright, let's make the jump. Compute our course, please."

"Already done, Master. I set the course the moment I mentioned the motivator to you."

"Nano, have I ever told you I love you?"

"No, Mistress, you have not."

"Nano, I love you, my friend. Jumping to hyperspace now." Reaching out, Kara grabbed the shifter for hyperspace and pushed it forward, getting pushed back into her seat as her X-wing crossed from real space into hyperspace with the streaking of the stars to show for it. They were now on their way.

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