The ship heaved as it dropped out of hyperspace, causing Vancil to jolt forward in his seat slightly. He shook his head to clear the usual disorientation that followed exiting hyperspace. He glanced to Kandria briefly before turning his gaze out the viewport of the cockpit to their destination directly in front of the ship.
A small space station turned into what could only be a glorified communications relay. Its main structure was a long cylinder, with a lot of satellites and antenna plastered across it, with one antenna at the end being the size of the station itself. Surrounding it was a slowly rotating ring that Vancil just quite couldn’t understand. Most space stations usually had such rings, their purpose being to generate gravity via spinning. However, even at the distance still between them and the space station, Vancil could tell that the ring was far too small for humans or rooms.
Other than that mystery the rest of the station seemed pretty self-explanatory; he could even spy a few point defence turrets across the main body. The entire thing was so black that without computer aids and the fact that stars disappeared behind it, you would be hard pressed to find it in the inky void that was space.
Vancil double checked the coordinates; sure enough, this was where the signal was coming from. Vancil was conflicted on the nature of the signal however. On one hand, he was absolutely thrilled that something from his time period, something which he had fought tooth and nail for, was still around. On the other hand…
He glanced to Kandria, observing her unreadable gaze, “You sure we’re alone out here?”
Kandria’s lips tightened and she nodded after a few seconds fiddling with the console, “Yep. Not a ship for a couple lightyears… makes sense though considering we are aren’t even in a star system.”
Vancil worked his jaw as he looked back to the station. The signal hadn’t been much, simply a ping off of their ship that had left behind a set of coordinates somewhere in deep space. After a few moments of consideration, the two of them had agreed to check it out, considering that the symbol which appeared had appeared on the display was the symbol of the Sith Empire, particularly the empire Vancil had served and Kandria had fought against.
The approach to the station was silent, with only the gentle rumble of the ship to keep them company. Another ping reached the ST-70, with a small hangar in the side of the main structure opening up at the same time.
And as the ship entered the hangar, finally revealing the interior of this mystery station, Vancil only had one thing to say.
“It… looks like shit.”
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Kandria wasn’t really sure what she was expecting to see as she walked through the desolate and abandoned halls of the space station. A legion of ancient war droids, a terrible and monstrous experiment, or even a secret group of Sith who had existed since the Great Galactic War and were plotting to restore their fallen empire.
Instead… nothing. Just constant, unending silence. Now, usually that would be a given considering they were the only two presents, however they were on a functioning space station. There should have at least been a rumble or silent thrum around them, no matter how quiet it would be. Instead, Kandria felt only a significant pressure in the air which was simply wrong, as though the air itself was disapproving of her presence. It reminded her of how the Rakatan ship had felt when she had first entered it.
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Other than that, the station was noticeably abandoned of either organic or robotic life. Lights flickered and struggled to light wherever Kandria and Vancil went, and age was clear on the black steel walls around them. The hangar had been an empty box, and after making sure the ship was secure, she and Vancil had taken the only door available out into the hallway they now walked through. The corridor itself was at a continuous curve, and after a minute of walking there had been no sign of any changes. They weren’t walking in circles, as they would have seen the door they came through by now. After some confused investigation and a rolling lightsaber, they determined that the corridor was actually on a slant taking them upwards.
Five minutes of walking later, and the first change from the unending black steel walls appeared. It was… an elevator.
“Oh for fucks sake can we just get to wherever we’re going?” She heard Vancil mumble under his breath as they stepped into the elevator.
There was a total of three options presented to them by a panel inside the lift: Hydroponics, Electrical Room, and Bridge. Wanting to discover just what this station was the understandably selected the Bridge, however the other options caught Kandria’s curiosity as the lift started going up.
For one, there was surprisingly few places to go from the lift. Usually in a space station, even one on the smaller side like this one, you’d have at least a dozen options. But even with the few options, why would there ever be a hydroponics floor on what was clearly a communication array station?
Kandria shelved those thoughts away for later as the doors to the lift slid open. As the pair stepped out in unison, lights flickered to life, revealing a series of consoles centred around a much larger console in a semi-circle arrangement.
Cautiously, Kandria followed behind Vancil, eyeing every console they passed suspiciously. She had been on Sith ships and stations before, and from her experience the Sith had a tendency to sabotage their equipment with a metric ton of explosives and traps. The only thing stopping her from dashing back into the elevator was how Vancil simply walked past them as though they couldn’t possibly be their demise. It was at times like these that she appreciated his confidence as a beacon of surety.
When Vancil reached the centre console he almost immediately started fiddling with the buttons, causing the previously dormant screen to burst to life. She supposed his quick actions made sense; this was a Sith station with Sith equipment after all.
Kandria stood slightly behind and to the right of Vancil, letting him do his thing while she continued to nervously glance around the room. The pressure she had felt throughout the ship was particularly strong in this room, and she couldn’t help but furrow her brows as a migraine threatened to take hold.
Refocusing on the console, Vancil appeared to be answering a long series of codes and encryptions one after the other, ones which she couldn’t make heads or tails of. At the same time though, she sensed something emanating from him, although she couldn’t quite pin down what it was. It was like a mix of sadness and nostalgia. Perhaps it was because he was in quite possibly the only remnants of the empire he had once served, she would have to ask him later.
While Vancil fiddled with the console, Kandria turned her gaze to examine the bridge. Something was strange about it. She had been in space stations before, and so had the general gist of how the layout of their bridges usually turned out. This though, this was in a layout similar to something you would see aboard a capital ship.
Before she could ponder it any longer a positive beep emanated from the large console, the screen flashing blue before turning into a deep red, the symbol of the Sith Empire rotating slowly. Before she could question Vancil on what exactly it meant however, a robotic male tone beeped out of the console.
“Welcome to Beacon #487. I am Sith Experimental AI Number 12, but you can call me SEAN. How may I assist you today?”