Bankor

Space was quiet. It was cold. But most importantly, it was boring. The time spent in hyperspace transit was filled with nothing but eating, sleeping, and waiting. Right now, Layne was combining the first and last item on that overly short list of entertainment options. Standard Protein Goop, favorite finger food of every former slave. Yum. As she finished the serving and licked her fingers clean, Layne's free hand went and punched in some numbers on the terminal she was seated at. Might as well see if anyone else was bored out there, and there were a few names she could check up on in an effort to stave off mental zombificiation.

A casual "'Sup?" was the first thing that Baesal would be greeted by when opening the comm-call. She hadn't quite figured out how to give a proper greeting to people without hating herself yet. "You heading to this planet too? Ban-something-or-another?"

Layne knew perfectly well what the rock was called, of course. She'd been studying up on the place for weeks.

The comm rang for a moment before the channel opened up. The first sounds coming from Baesal's end were a mixture of Wookie Metal and power tools...it was not sure if the latter was part of the former. The noises died quickly after Layne spoke up and the togruta came on the line

"Who-what?...Oh! Layne! What's up? Are you speaking about Bankor?"

Layne was no fan of wookie anything, least of all music. Her expression saying as much for the thankfully brief period during which she was forced to listen to it.

"That'd be the place. You're going, right? Figure you'll want to fieldtest some stuff, or something."

Baesal gave up a nod

"You are well informed Layne. I am indeed en route there but while I do have a few ideas for gizmos, I will likely spend most of my time on repairs and reconstruction."

After her reply was made she raised an eyebrow in curiosity

"What about you? You'll be there as well?"

"I have business there. The war stuff is just incidental. Mandadorkians just can't keep themselves from making things more difficult for the rest of us, I guess."

Baes stood silent for a moment before letting out a good natured chuckle.

''Wow...what kind of business do you have on Bankor so that a war is deemed incidental? Either it is very important or you are one hell of a hard-ass to plunge into conflict like it is a mere inconvenience''

"I'm pretty sure both of those things are true, thank you very much. Anyway, I can't talk about it over comms like this, and I need to verify some things on the ground first. But if I'm right, it's far more important than anything else."

The engineer got serious

''I see...'' she massaged her forehead for a moment ''Well then, if you need help or support feel free to hit me up; I'll help as much as I can.''

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

An actual expression of genuine gratitude from Layne, truly she was learning.

"It'd be dangerous though. Crazy dangerous, probably. And when *I* say that, it says a lot. No boasting."

''Then we will need to prepare.'' she replied ''Inform me as soon as you can...if this is really that dangerous then we need all the time we can scrape''

"Conditions on the ground probably won't really help there. For all I know, there could be a mandadorkian army camping out right where I need to go. I'll have to figure some things out."

''Yeah...'' she was toughful ''If that is the case then I can try to pull the favor that a mandalorian big shot owes me''

"You know a mando big shot?" that seemed to surprise her. "On the opposing side?"

''Yeah...a guy named Corso Fett if I remember correctly. Two others and I saved his life back on Nar Shaddaa'' she stroked her chin, remembering the event

"And you think he's the sort to value that as more important than being our enemy right now?"

She shrugged

"Depends on what needs to happen...gaining access to a location to solve something that has nothing to do with the war and could be dangerous to his troops as well is something quite reasonable."

"You make it sound so easy to reason with the unreasonable."

She grinned

''Everything is a question of perspective''

"I'd prefer not to have to deal with them entirely, but having options is good. In any case, I'm going to need to scout things out first anyway. Talk to some locals. The information I'm going on isn't complete."

She nods then something comes to mind

''Sensible...what kind of armor do you have?''

"Same as I had on Nar Shaddaa?" the question confused her. "It's got some rather special significance, and it does the job. Even better since I fitted it with a biofeedback system."

"I don't think I ever saw it or studied it" She replied "If things get complicated I could check if I can upgrade it"

"You've seen me wearing it at least. Anyway, it's pretty ancient. At least as old as that droid I gave you. Good condition though. And I'm no tech-head, but I don't think there's much room for additional enhancements unless I take the feedback system out. Now if you had enough cortosis lying around to line the thing, that'd be an instant hell yes."

Baesal waves her head

"It's more complicated...but I theorically could increase what can be added..but I must check a few things."

She thinks for a while

"Heh, it might not be for now"

"Well, if you could do your thing, then I'd be grateful. No pressure or anything though."