Distress signal, Open to everyone

[Artis Talak]

"Osik!" came a stern, but somewhat metallic sounding voice. "Osik!" The voice repeated the cursing of the situation. Pushing open a door that was suppose to slide open on its own, a figure moved down the dark hall, making his way for the generator room. His T shaped visor compensating for the darkness filling the halls. But his visor wasn't perfect, and he was quickly learning this as his foot slammed into another box or pipe or who knows what. This of course was instantly followed by another cursing. After another fifteen minutes of this the man finally flipped a switch, played around with some wires, and managed to get most of the lights back on.

It could now be seen that the man wore a heavy suit of dark gray armor. A classic style of armor worn by the Mandalorians of the Dxun moon. He moved back to the cockpit of the HWK- 290 light freighter. Checking a screen he slammed down his fist onto the console. The reading told him that the ship's engine had been damaged. He wasn't going anywhere, and he didn't really know anyone he could count on that was close. Which of course meant he would have to rely on the 'kindness of strangers.' His hand gripped his blaster just thinking about it.

A small stream of letters moved over his screen. The droid he kept handy felt like speaking up, nothing more than a string of beeps of course. Reading off the information it basically told him he would have to call for help. "You think so Tin can?" the man said with an obvious tone of sarcasm. flipping a few switches and holding down a red button, the man followed up his statement with the following. "My name is Kale Beviin. My ship was hit by asteroids, and my engine is damaged. Life support is still on, but it could fail at any moment. If anyone gets this distress signal, please send assistance at the following coordinates." After that he pressed another button and began to send a series of codes to help anyone receiving the signal find his ship.

After sending out the signal, he quickly moved down the hall once more, this time the door opening for him on its own. Three doors down he opened the cargo and began to pick out his weaponry. Just because he was asking for help, didn't mean he had to be unprepared. There were a lot of people out there just waiting to steal cargo from stranded ships in the universe. By the end of it all he was ready with two blaster pistols, his close range vibro weapons, and a WESTAR-M5 blaster rifle. Kale Beviin was stranded, but not defenseless.

[Anthony Van Meer]

"Sir, incoming signal. It appears to be a rescue message. Sir, what are your orders? We have no information about the ship or his occupants."

The pilot looked at his superior, Captain Gadon Corr, with an alarmed face. It could be just a helpless person but it could be a trap, especially because they were transporting Anthony van Meer, Prince of Onderon and heir of the crown. The captain though for a bit, though it was interrupted by the prince himself. As always he was wandering around the ship while travelling. He just couldn't stand being closed in his room all the way to Coruscant.

He was currently heading to the Senate, ordered by his father. It appeared that there were some issues and it was his job to resolve them. This was one of his father missions to help him get experience as ruler. He didn't want to, but he had to do it, either he liked it or not.

Though, looking at the faces of both pilot and his captain he knew something was wrong and, of course, he wanted to know what was it.

"Is anything wrong? You look worried, what happened? Captain Corr, please explain."

"Your highness, its nothing. Please, go back to your room. We will be arriving soon." he said calmly, trying to convince the Prince that everything was ok. But judging his face he had failed. He sighed and decided to explain. "We received a rescue signal. There is a ship somewhere near in trouble bu--"

He was interrupted by Anthony.

"And what we are waiting for? Lets go! People need us! Hurry and help that ship!"

The captain looked back to the pilot and ordered him to follow the signal coordinates. Soon, the modified Consular-class Space Cruiser, Onderon Star, reached the damaged freighter. Once there, the rescue operation was quickly initiated.


"This is Onderon Star. We have received your signal and come to help you. We will now begin to the extraction of your ship crew."

[Artis Talak]

In the time he had been waiting, Kale had been a busy, locking away a few weapons, opening a few secret hatches to hide weapons, and grabbing some ammo for the weapons he already had. Yeah, he had guns on the mind. No matter, he was just trying to be careful. He had been on his way back to Dxun with some new guns and ammunition for the Mandalorians. After he got back he had planned to get a list of replacement parts needed for the generator ect... ect... But obviously he couldn't do that at the moment. Waiting next to a computer screen he eventually received a response.

"This is Onderon Star. We have received your signal and come to help you. We will now begin to the extraction of your ship crew." Kale's ears picked up at the word 'Onderon'. That was good right? Maybe they were on their way back to Onderon now, if so it would just be a short trip back for Dxun. If they weren't, well he supposed they would still be going somewhere that had spare parts to fix his own ship up. It might have been easier to call back to Dxun from a near by planet, but the communications were down and of course no generator meant no power.

He sat back in a chair and pressed a small red button. "No crew, just me and a droid. Look for the floating piece of scrap, that will be us." It was somewhat true, his father's freighter was a bit old. After a few more minutes he saw the ship coming closer. A big royal kind of ship, way out of the league of some two bit thief. Well, he lowered his gun, he most likely wouldn't need it after all. But he wasn't going to leave it unless he had too. Better safe than sorry. He unhooked his R5 droid from the computers and sent it out into the main corridor, following behind it. It would be rude not to greet them when they boarded, or took him aboard, or whatever they planned to do.

[Anthony Van Meer]

"Only one" the Captain pointed.

Who could this be? He gave a quick look to Prince Anthony. Many thoughts were roaming his mind. This could be an assassin. A ruthless and deadly one. He had to be prepared and so he ordered through the comlink to his men be prepared. The soldiers quickly moved to the door. Since the ship wasn't big enough to hold a docking bay, the only way to rescue the stranger from the damaged ship was through the docking ring that would connect both ships and for that, the ships would need to be very close.

The five soldiers waited in front of the door holding their weapons, waiting for it to open. That would only happen when the two ships were securely connected. Meanwhile Captain Corr and Prince Anthony had joined them. They were all waiting, to see who would come from the other side. While Captain Corr was thinking in a possible assassin, Anthony was more optimist, thinking in a merchant or a traveller. But soon, all the doubts would be dissipated.

[Artis Talak]

Kale frowned, that ship wouldn't be big enough to have its own dock. Oh well, as long as it could get him to safety it would work out just fine. Based off the way things had been going so far, these people were very passive and helpful. He had no reason to try and confront them for the first time with a big intimidating gun like the WESTAR blaster he was holding. He opened a small hidden storage space under his feet and placed the gun down. He would have to make sure his ship was safe, far too many guns and supplies to lose after all. He would keep his smaller plaster and vibro weapons though, no soldier would willingly give those up without good reason.

The door opened down the little hallway. Well, brilliant, they attached to his own ship much faster than he would have expected. "Well, go on Tin Can. Have to make a good first impression." If they were from Onderon they might catch on what he was from a look at his helmet. The T-shaped visor was all to common for a Mandalorian. Kale walked up behind his droid, his arms up in the air to show he could shoot them without dramatically dropping them to his side. This way they wouldn't felt the need to shoot at him in return.

"Thanks for the help."

He said through his helmet, his voice passing through it and coming out somewhat metallic and hollow sounding. He walked up to them until he spotted the kid standing near the person he assumed to be the owner of the ship and his rescuer. "Bring your kid to work day?" Kale said with a rather dry sense of humor. It wasn't said as a joke so much as a serious question. His droid began to make some beeping and whistling sounds and his first instinct was to kick the little trash can until it stopped, but he figured he might try being civilised for the moment. He could always kick the little R5 unit later.

[Anthony Van Meer]

The door opened and revealed what appeared to be a mandalorian warrior. It seemed that Captain Corr could be right. it could be really and assassin, here to kill the Prince. He noticed that the first comment was precisely about Prince Anthony and that could mean something. Though, the man came with his arms up, showing no intention of fight. Yet, Captain Corr did not ordered the soldiers to lower their weapons. More about this man needed to be known and so he would not risk to be caught off guard.

"You are welcome. But now, please identify yourself. We need to be sure. Also, we would like to know why are you here and how did your ship got damaged."

Anthony raised his eyebrow after his Captain reply. He saw no threat in this man and was questioning himself why Corr was doing this. The fact of this man being madalorian meant nothing. Onderon was full of them and never revealed to be threats, at least thats what he thought. However, he would not interfere for now. Captain Corr was in charge of his security and he would allow him to do his job.

[Artis Talak]

Kale couldn't say he didn't expect this kind of greeting. And one look at their faces told him that they had recognized his helmet. Mandalorians were often contracted to do all kinds of jobs. Pretending to be stuck and then using the opportunity to steal a ship as nice as the one that came to save him would not be above most. Hell, if someone paid him enough he himself would more than likely do it. The guards kept their guns up, and one or two looked a little trigger happy in Kale's opinion. "Easy now." He didn't want a hole in his chest unless he had it coming.

"You are welcome. But now, please identify yourself. We need to be sure. Also, we would like to know why are you here and how did your ship got damaged."

The Mandalorian rolled his eyes, but this was obviously hidden behind his helmet. He was getting bored with his hands in the air, but put up with it for the moment. Personally he wouldn't let some random Mandalorian that he just met on his ship either. Most were worthless mercenaries without any honor anyway. Clearing his throat, Kale responded, "My name is Kale Beviin. I was on a supply run, when I flew too close to some asteroids. I wasn't paying attention and the droid there wasn't programed to watch for them." True enough, although he was going to overlook exactly what his supplies were. He may of had a bit of food and things with him, and enough weapons to blow up 1/6 of Dxun.

[Anthony Van Meer]

Corr listened carefully to what the mandalorian said. he didn't want to miss a thing. He needed to be sure about this stranger. Much depended on that. Though, after his introduction, Corr was now more comfortable. He revealed his name and came up with a convincing story. It looked like he was telling the truth. though, there was one final "test" that he would face. Only after that, the soldiers would lower their weapons.

"You can lower your arms now. However, i have a final question for you Kale. Do you know this young men here, the one who you mocked earlier?" he said looking to Anthony

This was his final test. It was almost certain that a stranger would not recognize Prince Anthony, though an assassin would need to know who he was to prevent him of killing the wrong person. If he showed to not know Anthony then everything was alright.

Anthony kept quiet all the time. He was now sure that Corr was trying to see if this man was of confidence or not. However he saw no point in doing this. The ship was trully damaged and he seemed quite convincing with his story, even giving his name. But again, it was Captain Corr job to protect him.

[Artis Talak]

Kale lowered his arms to his side, that was a relief. He was really getting bored just standing their somewhat helpless. Then came the final test of the captain. He asked if Kale knew who the kid next to him was. Obviously Kale had never seen him before, growing up on Dxun left him out of every day events and things like that. At first he had been almost certain that it was just the kid of someone on the ship coming to his aid. But if they were asking him something like that then the boy was more than likely someone important, at the least the child of a senator.

Oh well, he had no reason to poke his nose into the matter, so he said in a gruff voice filtered through his metallic helmet, "Should I?" Then deciding that his most recent comment might have been taken as asking who the boy was, Kale followed up with a very positive, "No, I've never seen him before in my life." That would be the best answer in Kale's opinion. Hopefully by saying he has never seen the boy before, instead of just not knowing who he was, it would make them feel me certain that Kale didn't know who he really was.

Which of course Kale didn't. His droid began to make several whistling and beeping sounds. Try to tell Kale that they should find repairs to his ship as soon as possible. It was good that Kale didn't understand the droid, obvious statements like that get on his nerves and he most certainly would have kicked the little rust bucket. "So can I get some help? Or are you just going to have your guards shoot me down?" He was being very careful now to watch the hands of the guards, their body posture. Everything about them, if he had answered something wrong and they decided to fire, he might get a brief warning of it. At which point he would have to open fire too. At the least, maybe his droid would get hit and shut up.

[Anthony Van Meer]

Kale answer was a relief to Corr. He was now almost sure that this mandalorian was only here because of his misfortune. However, he would pay attention to him in case he tries something. He ordered his men to lower their weapons and help Kale with whatever he wanted. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his ship. It looked pretty damaged and transporting it would be difficult since the ship didn't have hangar bay.

"Very well, Kale. My men will help you with whatever you want. Also, i would like to know what do you plan to do to your ship. The transport of such a ship will be difficult. Maybe with a cable and a hook, dragging it to the nearest planet, and that would be Alderaan. However im not sure how will we land with it. Any ideas?"

He then waited for a response. Though, while he waited, he kept an idea that something was missing. After several seconds thinking on it he finally got it. He forgot to present himself. It was only fair to this stranger to introduce himself, specially after all those questions.

"Oh, by the way, i am Captain Gadon Corr, commander of this ship and this is--"

He was going to introduce Prince Anthony but stopped half way. It was better to not do it. At least for now. However, Anthony wasnt pleased with that. After all, this man proved to be honest. Seeing that his Captain was holding himself he stepped forward. Corr tried to stop him. He knew what he was going to do, but Anthony was faster.

"And I am Anthony Van Meer, Prince of Onderon."

[Artis Talak]

Now came the difficult task of what will come of his ship. They could pull it, but couldn't land with it. And he couldn't have them move his cargo on their ship. Lets face it, the conversation would be a bit strange. Hey, mind taking all these weapons that are going to another army on your ship and then fly over and personally hand it to them? No? Well why not? That just wasn't going to happen, so he needed his ship to come with him. More importantly it seemed like they were going away from where he needed to go. He would have to send a message back to Mandalore on Dxun about the supplies being late.

Then the captain introduced himself, Kale gave an Mandalorian solute used to greet people of a higher rank than yourself. Then the young prince introduced himself. A slight sneer crossed Kale's face, but was hidden by his helmet. He didn't like royal types, they would often boast strength but never have to fight a real battle themselves. But the boy was still young so maybe he would get to fight. It didn't matter though, Kale gave a respectful nod and then addressed the Captain again. "I may have an idea. Do you have any mechanics I could barrow? If we can get the shields and landing equipment back online then we could just drop the ship off on one of Alderaan's moons." The idea was most likely the best situation for Kale.

He couldn't ask them to alter his course just for him, as they wouldn't, and he still needed repairs. On one of the moons his ship would most likely be left alone giving him time to find spare parts and get back to it. "I'm pretty good at crash landings, so if you wouldn't mind picking me up after I 'land' the ship, then that would be the best situation. Once I'm on Alderaan I can find some new parts for it." He said, stepping from his ship and into theirs. The change was a little drastic, from an old light freighter to a classy royal ship. It was nice, his droid followed behind him shortly.

"So, what is the prince of Oonderon doing way out here? I can't imagine you flew out all this way just for the heck of it." Kale said, just voicing his thoughts as he looked around.

[Anthony Van Meer]

"Mechanics?" he asked "Well, we have 2 mechanics and they are both droids. They are utility droids and repair the ship when its needed. However they wander around the ship and i have no idead where they are. But you can look around. I guess we are not going anywhere soon."

The Captain wasnt sure about the mado idea but it was better then nothing. Also, the damaged ships wasnt his problem and if Kale said it was ok that way then it must be true. However, this rescue mission was taking too long and the Prince had a meeting scheduled. They could not be late.

None the less, this mandalorin appeard to be a nice guy after all, though, the captain opinion changed again when he questioned Price Anthony about this travel. Anthony was going to answer, but Corr was faster and answered first.

"Im afraid we cant tell you that. Royal Affairs, thats all you can get." said with a serious tone.

Anthony disliked those kind of actions. Speaking for him was too much. Protection was one thing, now answering for him was crossing the line. He had much respect for all his workers, specially military, but he also liked freedom. His parents didnt allow him to do many things, but they were his parents and even them did not had his full cooperation. A simple officer had no chance with him. He turned to Captain Corr and began his lecture.

"With all due respect, Captain Corr, the question was adressed to me, not to your person and so, i was the one who should answer it. I know you have orders from my parents to protect me, and you did well in that specific area, but enough is enough. Cant i have a normal conversation? Is it all dangerous for me? Should you eat for me first also? Ride my vessels, vehicles, maybe date my girlfriends too, to see if they are no threat to me? I appreaciate your job and everything you have done for me but now everything is alright. And, by the way, i can defend myself, Captain. I do have combat training, so stop being so protective and give me some space."

It looked like he explode,d though he was calm yet serious. He did not raised his tone nor looked agressive. However the message was clear, and Captain Corr got it very well.

"Very well sir, call me if you need."

He bowed and left.

[Artis Talak]

Droids... of course it was droids. Kale had nothing against them personally, but he would have really preferred people if he had a choice in the matter. Oh well, work with what you got and all that. Kale gave the captain a nod and decided that he would look for those two droids, get an idea about what could be done to the ship with he supplies he currently had and fix it up best he could until they could drop it off. Then of course there was his other question, about the kid. And the answer the the word 'royal' in it. So the kid was important, but Kale was fine leaving it at that.

Unfortunately it seemed that the young prince wasn't. He quickly took the time to tell off the captain for answering for him. Kale tried his best not to laugh, it wasn't so much the fact that the captain was getting talked down to by a child as it was that comment about combat training. The kid had obviously never fought a mandalorian or he wouldn't have sounded so confident with something as trivial sounding as combat training. Kale had been given combat training too... when he was five. Then when he was thirteen he was taken into war.

Nothing got you ready for a fight like that, what a rush. He also found the comment about dating the prince's girlfriends funny, and maybe eve a good idea. Girls could be hard to deal with or predict. Scary too. Either way it seemed the prince was in charge now because the captain left him on his own. Kale walked over towards the prince while looking around him at their ship. "Nice ship, doesn't seem like something made on Onderon." Kale said casually as he began to roam, searching for the two mechanic droids. His best bet would be to find the engine and control rooms, as they needed to be monitored better than other rooms in case they broke down.

[Anthony Van Meer]

"No, it was not." he replied "I was built on Corellia.It was a special request from my father. He gave it to me in my birthday, though i dont use it very much. I usually use it in diplomatic missions like this one. It has low firepower but a good shield, yet, it would survive long in a battle."

Anthony followed Kale through the ship, talking to him at the same time. It had been a while since he talked to someone apart from his family or the military personel. it was nice and he thoguht he could be friend of this stranger. He seemed ok to him, besides, a mandalorian is always usefull.

"So, what was your business. I mean, what were you doing? Were you on a mission?"