SithLore

It drifted on the edge of Mandalorian space, silent. Scans showed it to be in some kind of standby mode, life support was fully functional but there were no biological matter aboard, no droids, just emptiness and ship. The vessel was of unknown type, nothing quite like it had been seen before--at least not in recent memory. It was a large saucer shaped section connected to a main body by an extension, off of the extension itself on either side was a long nacelle reminiscent of a Y-Wing.

The Firehawk dropped out of hyperspace and performed a quick fly-around of the unknown vessel. "What the hell is it?" Rhoden asked, Dot beeped in response but no other reply was given--he was alone for once. "Never seen anything like it... scanning." he said, "No biomatter, no droids. Where'd the crew go?" he pressed a few buttons, "No signs of dangerous microorganisms..." he sent a ping to the vessels transponder, "Medical Frigate NX-375, how poetic."

He took the ship in to what looked to be a docking bay, "I detected a few docking clamps but they weren't compatible, setting down in the bay. Aaand... we're in." the ship set down with a slight lurch and Rhoden quickly headed for the boarding ramp. He put on his helmet but left the airseal off, the atmosphere was clean.

He stepped out into a hangar, there was nothing inside it beside his own vessel, Dot floated out and connected to his back. "Maybe they left in shuttles, escape pods?" he spoke to himself. He began to step forward but there was a shudder and the lights turned on. "Huh, that's nice." he said. The shudder grew into a low rumble and another ship landed in the docking bay beside his own.

"Oh boy, we've visitors, Dot." he sighed.

Mandalorian Space
Kyramud-type Battleship Desolation

Daera Spar of Clan Spar was no longer a part of Mando Cabure, as per the request of the Jensaari, but the amount of golden armored Mandalorian's on board her ship was still astronomical. Her own green and white armor had seen better days, but she liked the scars it bore. She understood why Colt had asked her to step down, too many Chiefs in the organization could cause the council to accuse Hunter of not allowing for unbias in what was essentially a policing agency. That didn't stop Daera from being there to assist the local authority anyway she could.

The Desolation had picked up a decaying distress signal just on the fringe of their sector, and while the Jensaari had plenty of ships, he had nothing meant for long range, not without the help of a hypersled. Her eyes drifting to her instruments from time to time to keep him apprised of the situation. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to, the whole thing had started as an alliance to help end the civil war. Colt had succeeded with the help of so many others. The war was finally over, yet he still fought, and she still followed. Even without being a member of Mando Cabure any more.

"Hey Chief, we're picking up some activity, looks like a drifter, and another ship," came the response over by sensors. Colt had been staring out the massive view screen until he heard those words, head turning to look at the man in question.

"What kind of ship?" he asked.

"A Starwing," there was a brief pause from Colt, then a sigh.

"Chief Spar, permission to disembark? I'll need my ship prepped," he said. Daera couldn't hide the small smile. Perhaps that was it, he didn't act like he was in charge if he didn't have to. He requested, and people just followed. If she didn't know the kind of man he was, and what their relationship truly was, she could have been in love.

"Sure you don't want us to offer support?" she asked.

"What's on the other side of that border?" Colt asked. Daera paused, then nodded, "A show of force like that won't win us any favors," he mused, then made his way for the docking bay.

-----

A few moments later, the Desolation stopped, releasing a small vessel, a Trilon Aggressor, Mandalorian in make and model, it cut through the stars, and soon pulled along the side of the ship, once he neared, the Desolation made a jump to Hyperspace to show it was not here as a threat. Though it'd remain nearby, just in case Colt needed it. The Aggressor circled once, then twice, with a sigh Colt began a different search, coming across an access door. He landed across it, activating maglocks, he then proceeded to move to the center of his ship, pulling open the floor, revealing the access door. Within minutes, he was in. Drifting gently to the floor, Colt scowled a bit, then looked back up the hatch.

"Sevenate, see if you can restore gravity, I'm going to try and find out what the Empire wants here," he added, using the rail on the wall to propel him down the straight away. There was a series of boops and beeps telling him the status of the derelict vessel. Some systems were down, some were up, not all of them were on the same section. With a soft curse, Colt moved down the corridor, he supposed he'd have to make some repairs along the way-

As if on cue, gravity restored in his section, causing him to fall forward, he grunted as he hit, and popped up on his feet, dusting the golden armor off.

"Bee doo weep," came the call over his com.

"Yeah, thanks a lot..." he muttered.

See, it isn't that hard, is it? Colt sighed softly, and just pushed on, for now.

Neive's Delta shuttle slowly drifted towards the lone vessel, thinking as he looked over the faint distress signal. Although it was in mandalorian space, Neive would usually help those in need if it was indeed an emergency. Though, seeing the state of the ship, his scans showed that he may have been too late...

"What happened...?"

Neive looked over to the co-pilot's seat, looking at the young man who looked over the scans.

"No life signs, no droids... it's like the whole vessel was abandoned... or destroyed."

Neive looked back, grabbing the PA system for the ship.

"Look alive, we're docking."

Trivium nodded and readied the ship for docking onto the vessel.

"Are you sure about this...?"

Neive sighed.

"Honestly... not at all."

The shuttle made its way towards the bay, as the docking clamps wouldn't work for the shuttle. However, as the scanner picked up life signs from other areas boarding as well, Neive narrowed his eyes.

"Them again... Alright, I want everyone ready to fight when we step out of the ship, but don't engage unless they fight first, or I give the word."

Lentan nodded as Neive walked towards the back of his ship, resting his hand on his lightsaber hilt. He tried not to use his saber, but in cases like this, when it's these people he's dealing with, he doubted his vibro blades would take care of them.

"Make sure that everyone has defensive measures. Worst comes to worse, we won't have any cover when laser bolts fly."

An all to familiar figure disembarked and Rhoden barked a laugh, "What are you doing here, Alliance?" he asked. "In case you haven't noticed this is kind of the fine line between Imperial and Mandalorian space." he raised a finger, "In other words, the ship we noticed docking just a moment ago is probably Mandalorian, and you, my friend are not apt to be welcomed by either of us."

There was another gentle rumble as more systems came online. "Well, since you're here, you can make yourself useful." He frowned to himself, he was outnumbered, this was a lousy situation. He headed briskly toward the far door which, thankfully, slid open without trouble.

The interior was of odd design, not unlike Utopia, he thought. The floor was carpeted lightly, there were sleek panels on the walls, and abundant viewports. "Hmm. Nice place for a medical frigate." he turned toward the other man, "You wouldn't happen to know what kind of ship it is? Where it came from? Anything?"

As Neive looked at the man who begrudgedly greeted him, his dread evident as he put on his metal helmet, the other 5 following him out as he sighed.

"Well, sorry I have a conscience. You see an emergency transmitter, theres something about it that says "hey, we need help."

Neive's tone was almost dripping with sarcasm as he looked around the bay.

He nodded to the others and they began to look at the ship, making sure it was up for a fight, or anything else that comes its way.

Neive stayed silent as he followed the 2 men through the ship, taking note of the surroundings.

"Beedooweee." came the update, Colt nodded as he ventured alone, making his way toward the medical bay, while the security systems were still offline, the power to the doors were operational, and every time one opened, Sevenate was monitoring it. His golden form stalking down the corridors, he'd arrive at the side opposite the others, hands removing the T-shaped handles at his side. They were left deactivated as the golden clad Mandalorian entered the med bay at last, beneath his purple T-shaped visor, a red light glowed as he scanned the pair that had arrived.

"To be fair, it's easy for people to get lost when they don't know if they're coming or going," he said once they arrived, his eyes falling on the Zabrak however, eyes narrowing as he ignited both blades. Two blades each, one long, one short, one weapon shining silver, the other a deep purple. There wasn't a lot of intel about the Mandalorians, a lot of people didn't understand the significance of their armor, or the colors and markings, but one thing had reached other ears. Talk of the Jensaari, a Mandalorian who wielded shoto guards, one silver, one purple. One who rose up to put an end to the Mandalorian civil war, and seemed to enjoy kicking Sith in the teeth.

"Undant, what are you doing here?" he asked menacingly.

"Oh, a conscience, that's cute." Rhoden said sarcastically, "Tell me, when and how did you detect an emergency transmitter? We detected nothing, nothing at all, I'm not sure if it even has an emergency beacon." his eyes narrowed, but before he could speak a figure came around the corner and he watched it from the corner of his eye, "We'll discuss your true reasons for being here later." he hissed.

His eyes widened at the Mandalorian's anger. "Ah, I... don't want to know." he said, holding his hands palms outwards and taking a few steps forward. "Now I don't know what your trouble with Mr. Alliance here is, but if we could all get along until we figure out what's going on here, that would be simply brilliant." he smiled in a friendly manner, though it could also be interpreted as a predator's smile.

Neive looked at the Mandalorian, feeling his hate and anger flowing through him. Neive didn't bother taking out any weapons, only looked at him, and sighing.

"You missed much after you handed me over to the alliance, didn't you..."

Neive looked at rhoden, not acknowledging his words, as to Neive, he didn't have any reason to fight with colt. Though, he had some choice words for the imperial as he spoke.

"Maybe it wasn't from this vessel, but there was an emergency signal from these coordinates, and it doesn't seem like there's any other ship nearby."

Neive kept his sarcastic tone before looking back to Colt.

"Anyways, to catch you up, since I was released to the Galactic alliance, I've since been working for them while keeping up with my training in the force. I even rescued a Jedi from one of the maximum security prisons on Dromund Kaas. So, please don't mistake me for a sith."

Neive looked at Rhoden once more, speaking louder.

"I've made a few new friends, for better or worse as well." Neive shook his head.

"So, if you would oblige me, why has it been this long since our paths have crossed?" Neive crossed his arms, looking once more around the area.

Colt paused as he watched the pair, brows furrowing beneath his helmet's visor. There was no anger or hatred in him, there was plenty caution though. He was very cautious of the former Sith, he remembered his ploy on that shuttle when they had first met him. Though he deactivated his blades, they spun about in his hands, then returned to his hips. His eyes scanning the medical bay, looking for a console or something...

"I'm not one to begrudge a few moments of peace between an Imperial and an apparent Jedi," he said, though he'd still keep an eye on the young Zabrak. Colt did not trust easily. It was how he had survived as long as he had. He paused for a moment, eyes finally settling on the Imperial.

"I'm Colt," he said in way of greeting, "As he mentioned, he was a Sith who had caused nothing but strife, but if Master Buggie has seen that you're fit to serve in any capacity, I'll defer to his judgement until otherwise proven," he said, then sighed, pausing for a moment one console had a power light. The others weren't connected, but that one seemed to be still tied to a power source of some sort. "I came here to investigate this ship floating right on the border line between our spaces, we were going to come in with a Kyramud Battleship, but I didn't want to alarm you, once we saw your vessel," he explained, moving to the console, he turned on the monitor, to get a screen of static. With a sigh, he pried the monitor open, and began to extract some wires, a brief touch of his armored and insulated fingers to the cables told him they were still live.

That done, he glanced toward one of the other monitors, that one closer to where the office that was in the corner of most medical bays.

"In the interest of working together to see what's going on here, could you gentlemen acquire me a bit more wire?" he asked. "Don't damage that computer," he offered, pointing toward the one near the office. His eyes drifting toward Neive and his entourage, good to know. "The way I see it, if this is a medical frigate, then an explanation to what happened may very well be in the medical files, if not, then we should check the bridge," he suggested.

"Working together is a most admirable prospect." Rhoden said, slightly relieved they weren't going to start shooting at each other. He examined one of the offline terminals near him, apparently power had failed to return to the terminal--odd considering there was no damage to be seen on the vessel. He opened the housing to the older, bulkier terminal. "Ah, yes, wire..." he said, "Anything specific?" he stared into the meshwork of wires, chips, and small lights.

He examined a large datacard inside and pulled it out. "Looks like primary memory," he muttered, carefully removing the hard cover to the device. He frowned, "What's this, then?" he asked softly. There was a fuzzy growth of black on the inside of the chip. Rhoden scraped it off carefully with the blade of his knife. He snapped the cover back on and inserted it back into the console, he pulled the main power supply cable out. More growth. He scraped it off and put the cord back in. The terminal lit up.

He stood and snapped his fingers, "Online." he held up his blade to the light and pointed at it. "Ever seen anything like that?" he asked. There was a growing concern in the back of his mind, the sensors hadn't detected biological matter but the growth didn't appear to be a mechanical issue of any kind. What if it got into the Firehawk's systems? Or Dot's?