i. Network Post [video]

[provenforce]

[ The video turns on to Rey's face, her brows furrowed in concentration as she messes with the settings, before sitting back in frame, visible from the waist up. ]

Hello, my name is Rey. I just— arrived here.

[ She looks about as pleased as a happabore in a drought about that. ]

I've gotten the general briefing so I don't need a second rundown, but maybe some insight? How long have people been here? Has this project of theirs actually been going on as long as the data point said?

Then there are the ships, do they have hyperdrives that are operational?

Comments

Video

[doubled_speed]

[Enjoy the brief wave from Tommy]

Those of us that have been here longest passed the two year mark last month. Everyone else is less than that. I can't say about whether the datapoint is right or not.

And no, the whateverdrives aren't doing stuff. I think they started being able to fly between Temba and the other city, though they can't leave the planet from what I've heard from Weeble

[Not that Rey should have any idea who Weeble was. Hell, only Tommy, Poe, and BB-8 himself knew of the droid's nickname from Tommy.]

[provenforce]

Two years?

[ Rey looks completely shocked that people have been here that long and not found a way off the planet. The status of the ships just deepens that scowl on her face. ]

Some kind of gravity lock that keeps ships within the atmosphere? That should be possible to override... but without a hyperdrive you wouldn't get far anyway.

[ Sorry Tommy you aren't actually needed for any of that she's mostly talking to herself now. ]

[doubled_speed]

[Oh Rey, they've been off planet and back a few times since then.]

They get pretty far. We visited other planets, the Agrii ships, even some place called Coruscant. Nah, it's more like we're supposed to be here and we can't leave for long. We're sorta tied to all of this.

[provenforce]

You've been to Coruscant?

[ Man even she hasn't ever been to Coruscant. But the wheels are turning, now. ]

So they're far more capable than they look but without hyperdrives how is that possible? The next closest galaxy to ours would be at least two hundred standard years in dark space.

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, we were all there for a month a while back. But apparently, according to all the Space Monks, it was like a almost a millennium before their time.

[Tommy shrugged.]

Sorry, I'm Agricultural, not Piloting. I don't even know.

[provenforce]

[ Rey wrinkles her nose as she frowns at the Space Monks comment, none of what he said making any particular sense. ]

...Do you mean Jedi? Are there Jedi here?

[doubled_speed]

[Yeah, that's the word for them isn't it?]

Yeah, them. There's them, a Mandosomething, some sheriff dude, the awesome Omega girl, and Poe.

Oh and the droids. They're the best. Wait, you're someone that respects droid rights, right? Otherwise we've got beef.

[Video]

[out_of_order]

Been there, definitely.

[She doesn't need to say it but her expression speaks volumes. The redhead grins crookedly.]

Name's Cal. The range of how long people have been here varies. I've been here probably over a year now. Gets a little confusing- the days are longer than I'm used to, and then trying to account for the time spent off-world the few chances we've had, well.

[He shrugs.]

Can't say much for how long the city's been like this. I know the data point says one thing, but there are...things that don't seem to match up. Anyway, the ships...are unfortunately not equipped with that sort of function. If I could have, I would have tried to get something like that installed the last time we had the chance to upgrade them, but the only thing I could manage was a speed boost and shields.

[provenforce]

There's a lot about this place that doesn't seem to match up.

[ The news about the ships not having hyperdrives makes her sigh, pure frustration. ]

If there were parts I could put one together, but you've probably already thought of that?

[ She really hopes you haven't and there's a hyperdrive laying in fifteen pieces somewhere. ]

[out_of_order]

[He wishes he could say otherwise.]

If there were parts to do it we would've.

[Cal sighs.]

We were fortunate enough just to find parts for the upgrades we were able to make, and that was because we had the opportunity to go to the Agrii's ship. There's no ships to scrap and salvage from around here and with the amount of people we've grown to we'll need all the ships we have in case we do need to fly anywhere- whenever that might come up.

[provenforce]

So wherever "here" is, it isn't where these ships came from, and it isn't somewhere where a battle that would have produced wreckage took place, either.

[ This is the worst. ]

I can't believe I miss Jakku right now.

[out_of_order]

No, they aren't. The ships aren't even Agrii tech, actually. The Agrii don't seem to be the sort of people to engage in combat.

Jakku?

[provenforce]

They just engage in kidnapping and holding people captive. But I could see how violence would be crossing the line.

[ Rey is spicy about kidnapping. Her expression shifts into one of a little more hesitation, before she replies ]

Jakku is the planet where I grew up. Mostly sand, but there was a massive starship battle above the planet and the desert is covered in the wreckage. I could easily rebuild a hyperdrive from parts if we were there.

Video;

[demjiin]

[ The first view of Kaz is that of a 17-year-old kid, with his black hair shaved on the sides then long on top. ]

For your first question, it seems that there have been humans here for roughly 2 years. I've only been here for a few months so I can't speak on that. And while the Datapoint isn't wrong, it leaves out quite a bit of the information that us captives have worked out for ourselves. For your second question; I haven't ever heard of a 'hyperdrive' so it's probably going to be a no on hyperdrives on the ships.

[ When he speaks, Kaz's voice sounds like he gargles with whiskey and broken glass every morning; a grizzled old man speaking from a teenager's mouth. ]

[provenforce]

[ She's heard the two years enough that now that's sunken in, but it's gonna bug her forever. ]

So we're just trapped here, then.

[demjiin]

[ Kaz grimaces at that. ]

For the most part, yes. You'll get the same thoroughly invasive feeling of compulsion to go to or stay on the ships as the rest of us when the lot of us captives are rounded up then deposited on a new planet. Or you'll also get a very invasive feeling from the Datapoints when they download information straight into your brain.

[provenforce]

[ If there's one thing Rey love it's people rooting around in her head. Her jaw moves as she chews on that information, frustrated. ]

I experienced that once with the datapoint I woke up near. There's no way to block it?

[demjiin]

[ Oh you are not alone, Rey. Kaz thoroughly hates anything that messes with his mind. ]

Depends on whether you end up needing to use one particular skill. In that case, you'll have to use the Datapoint that corresponds with that skill - but people do get by without using one. I resisted taking one on for a while but with so much alien tech lying around, the only way to know how to use any of it was to take on the 'Engineer' Datapoint.

[provenforce]

You can't just learn how to use it the normal way?

[ You know, hard work, simulations, hours of reading manuals. All that stuff Rey loves because she's a nerd. ]

[Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

I don't have the Piloting or Engineering data point, but I was a bit of a mechanic and pilot back home, on hyperdrive capable ships. I don't think these ships work on the same principles, like, at all.

And not everyone here come from places that have hyperdrives. In fact, I'd guess the majority don't.

[provenforce]

Do you really need these... datapoints for working on the ships?

[ She neither likes nor understands the concept of downloading things into her brain when she's already a pretty stellar mechanic and pilot. ]

[ezra_of_lothal]

I piloted one of the ships really briefly without one, when it was already in transit. It felt really weird, and I'm uh...usually pretty good at intuiting controls.

[He doesn't expect her to understand 'I was opening myself up to the Force to let it guide me', so he's going with intuition as an explanation.]

[provenforce]

[ Rey hates that answer so much. She frowns at the ground, thinking about that for a long moment, before finally replying. ]

So even if someone were to have grown up studying all different kinds of ships, whatever these are, they need something more than that knowledge and... natural ability to pilot? Even to work on mechanically?

[ezra_of_lothal]

That seems to be the consensus. Sorry.

And look, usually I'd say give it a try anyway, but some of us...live on these ships, since they're relatively secure and have hot water and those kinds of things. Screw something up badly enough, and it's not just you dealing with it, right?

[provenforce]

I don't screw things up.

[ Says the one who screwed things up by going to Exegol instead of stopping and having a grown up conversation with Kylo Ren. ]

I get your point, though. I usually lived on my ship when my friend wasn't off setting it on fire.