3 - Every Story Has A Beginning
29 Standard Years Later
The gangster who was known on Ord Mirrit only as "The Boss" had a look in his eyes that, even though she wasn't accustomed to reading quarren facial expressions, she could tell he was fuming to the point that one just might be able to melt durasteel on his face. Kia Obscura glanced down at her pair of red dice. Twelve. Then to The Boss's blue dice. Eleven.
Kia smirked as she reached for the pile of credits that had been in the pot, sliding them into her pouch, she looked up at the Boss, "I guess today is just not your day," she quipped after beating him for almost the entire game. "I'll just use these to buy some upgrades and I'll be..." the teenager broke off at the sound of blaster pistols being drawn. Not good. The Boss's face was twitching so violently that it was difficult to determine if he was extremely put off, or having a small seizure. He couldn't know that she had used her rudimentary skill with the Force to nudge one of his dice from a six to a five, could he? Probably not. "Aww, come on, no need to get so serious." she admonishes, looking down at the table for an instant. One of the more twitchy guards fired a blaster shot past her skull. Time to get moving! She connects with the table through the force, and darts away from the table, using the force as runs to fling the table at the boss and the guards. She may not know everything about the force, but tables throwing themselves at people would certainly be a distraction.
Aasan Tom the Kel Dor found himself wishing once again that his breather mask allowed for even a small tube for him do drink out of. The selection of beverages at the bar looked so tempting. No time for that, though. He had received his payment for bringing in that smuggler, and now it was time to go find another job. Well, he may have been paid for bringing in a smuggler who had betrayed The Boss, but it was one smuggler down nonetheless. Score one point for Justice. And a good amount of credits for Aasan.
The Kel Dor headed for the landing pad, looking to find passage to nowhere in particular. Whatever was convenient would be whatever he would take. Aasan had just recognized the flight office when a young small-framed human girl bowled him over. He quickly got to his feet, and was just about to tell her off when a blaster shot went right in front of his eyes. Oh, what now? Another blaster shot went by right past his head. Was whoever was chasing that human after him now? A streak of red light singed his cloak. Yep, they were after him! He didn't know where to run, but the stirring of spacecraft thrusters close by provided him a direction. Aasan found himself running at breakneck speed towards a YT-1300 Corellian Transport, and noticed that girl running up the entrance ramp.
A few seconds later, he got up the ramp just as it closed. Heck, she got him into this mess, whoever she was. She would get him out of it. Aasan strangely found himself smiling. It was a bit unexpected, but he had found his transportation.
Her hair flapping in the wind as she runs, Kia makes it up the landing ramp of the
Dawnsprinter just in time. She slaps the close ramp button behind her and moves on to the cockpit without slowing. "No time for a full boot up, have to hot load." she muttered as she did exactly that, draining power from her Laser Cannon to feed into her engines. Kia, not caring that she was still on the ground, thrust the throttle of the
Dawnsprinter straight from stall to full speed. Of course, this would be hell on the engines, but with the credits she had just won, that wouldn't be too hard to undo. Once free from Ord Mirrit's atmosphere, she flew straight for the nearest hyperspace jump point. Home free. A series of tremors rocked the ship, accompanied by a drop in shield power. Or not. Kia set the shields to full aft and checked the radar. A wing of Z-95 Headhunters was right on the
Dawnsprinter's tail. The shields kept dropping, no matter what maneuvers she tried. The navicomputer beeped, indicating that the transport was out of the gravity well and could enter hyperspace, reminding her with big, bold, obvious letters to plot a course beforehand. Kia was about to plot a course when she was jolted forward by further hits, this time on the hull from the creaking sounds and the dozens of flashing red lights in the cockpit. 90...80...70 percent hull strength. With a mental note to give herself a beating if she survived this, Kia Obscura pushed the lever that sent the
Dawnsprinter into hyperspace.
Jorran Kaarai woke up in the pilot's seat to the beeping of the navicomputer. The transport was so old and beat up that he was surprised that it could still stand up to the rigors of hyperspace travel. Even so, he couldn't even remember its original name so he could wish it good luck. He just called it The Old Battleaxe, a phrase used on some primitive planets to refer to old women who just wouldn't die no matter how old they got.
Jorran didn't know exactly why, but this particular area in the galaxy called to him. The Force? Definitely. He had enough Jedi training to recognize the pull he felt. Why? No clue.
He exited hyperspace to the sight of a blue-green planet ringed by an asteroid field. Actually, the planet filled up most of his view. That is, it did the until the YT-1300 Corellian Transport that exited out of hyperspace right next to his ship crashed into the Battleaxe, sending the ship spinning towards a VERY large asteroid. The big red light that should never ever ever EVER be lit up....was lit up. HULL FAILURE IMMINENT! Well...damn. Being sure to grab his lightsaber, Jorran sprinted into the escape pod and hit the ejection switch, seeing his ship explode into a brief ball of flames seconds after the pod shot away.
"Sithspit" she cursed as she saw the planet approaching much to fast, "this is sooo gonna hurt."
Although logic told him that he should be panicking and soiling himself, Jorran was calm. In over thirty years, his senses had rarely been wrong about this sort of thing, though he was technically still a Padawan. Or would be if the Jedi Order still existed. Trusting to the force, Jorran sat back and waited for the inevitable impact with the planet which had been calling to him. Strangely enough, that Corellian ship which had collided with him was headed in the same direction. At a much higher speed.
"Sithspit" Kia cursed as she saw the planet approaching much to fast, "this is sooo gonna hurt."
***
Rubbing her head, and the sore spot on her right temple, Kia groans herself to wakefulness. She had no clue how long it was since the crash, the cockpit lights were out and she was in total darkness. She knew the ship like the back of her hand, so it shouldn't be that hard to get out and start looking around. "First things first, get outside, see what I have to work with...this could be Naboo, or Malistaire for all I know, hopefully it’s inhabited. She shakily makes her way to the boarding ramp, and manually lowers it as much as she can. The gears were out of alignment, or something, so she had to slide out on her belly, unable to get it full open.
Kia's first observation upon looking out of the exit ramp is one word. Jungle. Steamy, hot, humid, with plants everywhere. When Kia lowers herself to the ground, she hears a small splash and feels moisture around her ankles. Looking around, she sees that the
Dawnsprinter has bisected a good-sized stream. Not too deep, but almost as wide as the transport itself. The stream has diverted to go around her ship, effectively surrounding it with water.
"Great, just great, I bet this place isn't inhabited at all, just my luck... I hope I can repair her, otherwise its going to be a real long wait for someone to show up." Kia complains, looking out into the jungle, and then down into the river. "At least my boots are keeping me feet dry, it could be worse, not sure how, but it could."
Aasan awakes to a headache, a neck ache, and a backache. Really, nothing new these days. He was getting was getting to old for this kind of excitement. Of course, he only vaguely knew of where he was and how he'd gotten there. Again, nothing new. As events slowly came back to him, he took in the surroundings of the ship.
It looked as bad as he felt. With a sigh from within his breath mask, he sat up and allowed his head to stop spinning. Through his goggles, the world was slowly beginning to clear up. He saw some movement, and nearly reacted by drawing his blaster and firing. Quickly, though, he realized it was the same girl who's nearly run him over back on wherever that was. He lost track of planet names these days, too.
Or maybe it was someone different. Humans all had a similar look to them. After he'd watched her climb out of the ship, Aasan got to his feet and made sure he still had everything. His two reddish, claw-like hands patted himself down. Everything was still there, including the large blaster carbine slung in an old stormtrooper's holster. He still didn't remember exactly how he pulled that one off...
Another sigh, and Aasan decided that staying inside a ship that had gone down wasn't going to do him any good. Rubbing his forehead and trying to ignore the pain there, he walked over to the access ramp and saw the shape it was in. Yes, that girl could get through that...but him? Definitely getting too old for this. Standing on top of the access ramp and holding on to the wall, he kicked down on it hard a few times until there was finally enough room, he slipped out to see himself in water next to the human.
Calmly, so as not to startle her anymore that she might already be, the Kel Dor said softly through his breath mask, "I am assuming you didn't plan to bring your ship down into a river..."
At the sound of thumping on the ramp followed by the splash, Kia turns swiftly away from the jungle, and back towards her ship, her hand flashing to her hip, bringing her lightsaber around and up, calling the Violet blade to life. She dropped into a guard position, or what she hoped looked like a guard position, she didn't really know how to fight with the weapon, but most people thought lightsaber meant Jedi and no one ever wanted to take the chance. "What in the name of the Sith were you doing on my ship? Not that it matters, but no, it wasn't planned to crash at all, let alone here, wherever here is."
Aasan was surprised to see the lightsaber, but both that and his smile were hidden by the goggles and breath mask. He eyed Kia carefully for a moment, allowing the hum of the lightsaber to bring back old memories. So the question then became an important one...was she just carrying a lightsaber as so many others he'd found in the past years did?
Calmly, though, he raised a hand, though the Kel Dor's other was resting calmly on his belt...close enough to his blaster is necessary, "Calm yourself. I simply needed a ride and this ship was closest. I can pay for the ride if you'd like, though crashing isn't usually something worth paying for."
Aasan paused a moment, almost getting lost in watching the lightsaber blade, "Where did you get that weapon?"
Kia's eyes narrowed as she looked over the Kel Dor, she was not very good at reading non-humans, and the Kel Dor's breath mask made it particularly difficult. She doubted he was one of the Quarren's gangsters, one of those would have just killed her while she was distracted by the void-brawl with the star fighters.
When the older being raised his hand to calm her, Kia, wasn't fooled, she was paying more attention to his blaster pistol hand then the other. "I'd be more friendly if you hadn't snuck aboard my ship, I doubt you work for he Boss, but I can't be too sure." she says, still watching him warily. "I think we might have bigger problems though, help me fix the
Dawnsprinter and I'll get you as far as you want to go, with in reason."
The CorSec Academy candidate doesn't lower her guard, while waiting for an answer, not being entirely willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, he had stowed away after all, but if they could get the ship repaired, well, it would be worth putting up with a lot.
As the human and Kel Dor stood there talking, or arguing, depending on how one looked at the situation, they both barely noticed the two dog-like creatures that burst out of the foliage and rushed them without a sound.
"I would think I have earned this Saber, I 'liberated' it from an Imperial sympathizer on Tattooine..." she breaks off sharply, turning to face away from the stowaway and towards the creatures that were charging the pair of them. Kia’s right hand shoots out towards the animals, leaving the lightsaber in her offhand. The move looked rather foolish until the Blaster that was cradled on her shapely hip jumped from its holster into the outstretched hand that was already pointing at the dog-things. She drew a quick bead on the closer of the pair, and caressed the firing stud with her finger.
"Yes, we can talk later, just don't turn that thing on me," Aasan commented more off hand than anything, though his breath mask didn't portray his change in tone very well. Either way, it didn't really matter at this point.
Turning to the creatures, Aasan was at least slightly surprised at their lack of sounds. Passing it off, he quickly drew his carbine and trained it on the nearest before squeezing off a single shot at the nearest of the two creatures. The shot would have hit it right in the eyes, but the thing stopped in its tracks and ducked with obvious effort, the beam skimming over the top of its body by mere centimeters.
Kia fired off a shot towards the other of the pair which was now less than 10 meters from her, carefully aiming for what she hoped was a weak spot. The blaster shot actually went into the creature's gaping mouth and down its throat. It made an odd sound halfway between a startled yelp and a roar of pain, then collapsed to the ground, shaking for a moment before going still.
The first of the pair reeled back, scuffing the ground as it wheeled around and retreated.
"Do you have any idea of where we are or what those things are?" Kia asks the Kel-dor as she double taps the saber's power stud to turn it off. She clicks the blade back to her belt, and lets it bounce on her thigh. Kia looked at her handiwork for a moment before turning back to the Kel-dor, her pistol still in hand, though not pointed. With her right hand, she sweeps the hair that had come out of her pony tail back in under the binder.
"So, can I trust you to play nice until we're back to civilization?" she asks, smirking.
Aasan watched the creature disappear before sliding the carbine back into its holster on his thigh. After a short moment, he looked back to the young human, "If I can trust you with that weapon..." he trailed off a moment and then looked around to take in their surroundings, idly commented, "You should not carry that weapon if you are not Jedi..."
Kia rolled her eyes at the admonishment about carrying a Jedi weapon. "I put it to better use then the Collector that possessed it, and unlike most people that carry them now, I can actually use the force. That makes me the next best thing to a Jedi." she says confidently, returning the blaster to its spot on her thigh. The smuggler, sighs and turns back to the ship.
"First things first, we need to see what we can salvage in the way of supplies from the
Dawnsprinter. Then we need to figure out what it'll take to get her running again. We can sleep onboard her at night to avoid the predators, and there should at least be rations in her galley, not Luxury class, but they should do, if they survived. You get started on the Inventory, I'll do what I can to get a diagnostic going." Kia says, taking charge. She slides back into the Darkened ship, and then ignites her Saber for light. The girl heads back up to the cockpit, intending to get working whatever systems she can.
The first thing she does is secure her lightsaber into a holder so tat she can have both hands free. After that she works on getting power back, with lights being her main goal at first, figuring if she can get the lights back, it would at least allow the two of them to see and work more efficiently.
"If anything needs fixing, I've got some experience in holding hunks of junk together..." Aasan called down towards the cockpit before deciding that inventory was a good idea anyway. He had no idea how many supplies were on this thing in the first place, and couldn't help but wonder if she did.
So, he had a look over everything, trying to find anything useful, be it food, supplies, or simple spare parts. He'd have to speak with her later when things weren't moving too quickly as they seemed to be now. A Force user...this wasn't luck, and he doubted it was also coincidence that she happened to wield a lightsaber. Perhaps the Force did have something in mind for him, after all.
Upon diagnosing the diagnostic computer for damage, Kia comes to the realization that whoever designed this ship didn't have planetary crash-landings in mind when he designed the shock buffer. As she has considerable experience with making repairs, she can tell that nothing is where it should be. If she were to try and attempt a repair on the diagnostic systems, she would need more reliable, and less dangerous light than that of her lightsaber.
Kia notices that the part of the control switch that feeds power to the lights on the ship has been damaged. A few quick wire splices have the switch up and running as it should, but the lights still do not turn on. A quick examination of nearby light panels and fixtures confirms her suspicions that the lights themselves have been damage. Repairable, but it would take quite a while to get all of the lights on the ship working. Kia surmises that it would likely take about ten minutes or so an average to fix each light...if she can find the proper materials.
Aasan's ventures prove a bit more fruitful. He finds that the ship has enough food stored away in various compartments and suchlike to feed a single person for four months, given proper rationing.
Kia groans when the lights fail to come back on after her efforts. Sighing, she starts the process of cannibalizing every other light panel for the parts needed to fix the other glow panels. From her years of experience repairing things, especially the ship, she figured she could make things work with half-light, or even only a third. Worst comes to worst, and she would strip all but one light out of everywhere that wasn't essential. A single light in the galley, a single light in her cabin and the crew quarters, etc, to get the amount of light she needed elsewhere. She wondered if the Cockpit was the only place without light at the moment, if any of the lights had survived intact, if they had, she could just switch them in immediately and save time.
"I have the power back up, but it looks like a lot of the glow panels themselves are broken, I'm gonna see if I can cannibalize some to get the rest running. Are any actually working back where you are?" she calls out to her 'guest'.
After calling out to the Kel-Dor, she gets down to the repairing of the lights, wondering f she should close the hatch in case more of those dog things showed up, she decided against it, the ramp only opened so much, if she closed and opened it too much it might get stuck.
After an hour or so of moving about the ship and trying to repair what light sources she can, Kia hears a series of odd sounds when she passes by the landing ramp. She hears what sounds like the ripping and tearing of flesh accompanied by frequent growling, barking, and yelping.
"Hey...uh...whoever you are, I think we have more of those dog things outside the ship. I don't think they'll be able to get on the ship, but I'd like you to cover me with that Carbine of yours while I check it out." Kia calls out to the Kel-Dor wanderer. She heads over to the ramp, and kneels down, to look out towards where she had killed the one animal, expecting to see it get torn to pieces by others. She doesn't get too close to the edge, and she has her blaster pistol in hand pointing down the ramp.
Kia looks out over the edge of the ramp and sees what has to be at least a dozen of those dog-things devouring the corpse of the one she had killed earlier. They can't have been at it for long, but the remains were near skeletal now. Now having a chance to look at them without worrying about her immediate survival, Kia sees that they are all gaunt, with barely any meat on them at all. She is shocked to see that they have already finished off the meat on the recently dead corpse, and now appeared to be attacking each other. The pack circled around the smallest of their number, slavering and growling, and then they all pounced at once. Within seconds it was torn apart, limb from limb, the pack feasting on it before it was even properly dead.
Kia watches in horror as the dog things tear ravenously into the dead, and then into their weaker members, it was horrific. The Force Sensitive girl could almost feel the teeth and claws of the dog things digging into her, though it was most likely only empathizing and no force gift. She knew they would attack her given the chance, and she didn't want to give them that chance. Lying on her belly, Kia lines up a shot on the largest of the animals, taking the time to be sure of a hit. Just like her father had taught her, she pulled the blaster stud softly, sending out a glowing red line. Although her shot was well placed, the targeted dog-creature's constant movement from fighting over the scraps of meat on the corpse caused the shot to merely graze its shoulder, doing little more than singing some hair...and getting its attention.
Although the others take no notice, the one she had shot at ran from the cannibalistic feast to the landing ramp of the
Dawnsprinter, trying to leap up and get at her, but it can do no more than claw harmlessly at the edge of the ramp.
Kia growls in frustration at the glancing shot, she had hoped to do more. She flinches at the creatures darting attack, even if she was safe, it still was startling to say the least. She lines up on it again, this time, not bothering to aim as much, the entire pack was behind it, still feeding, so a miss might not miss entirely. She strokes the firing stud, again. Kia's next shot has similar results, but this time she notices that her target is growing shaky and tired from trying to avoid her attacks. Another shot just might do the trick.
"We have a whole pack of those dog things out here, eating the dead one from earlier, and they just killed another of their own, I think we are going to have to deal with them if we ever want to go outside the ship to do external repairs and stuff." Kia calls out.
Kia refuses to give into frustration, she knew that these creatures had to be dealt with and that patience is a virtue. She also knew that it would take her guest a good bit of time to do a full inventory to be able to tell her what she had to work with to repair the rest of the ship. Idly she wished that the ships laser cannon were operational and that the pack was in its arc. It seemed over-kill, it would probably be wasteful, and until she knew just how much power she had, didn't want to waste any of it. The CorSec hopeful, carefully, lines up a shot and then fires at the winded dog thing again.
Another shot from her blaster strikes the creature square in the chest as it tries to get at her again, bringing a yelp of pain as it falls to the ground and lays motionless.
Half of the pack leaps upon the fallen creature, tearing into the flesh with complete disregard to the fact this it was one of their own.
Horrified, Kia fires shot after shot into the mass of creatures, bringing two more of them down before the rest realize the danger and begin to back off. Another few blasts send them scurrying into the foliage, but Kia has a nagging suspicion that they aren't gone for good.
"Any way we can close this boarding ramp?" Aasan suggests, finally catching up to the sounds. Inwardly, he wishes he hadn't kicked the thing down, but it was too late for regrets like that. Having at least caught a glance at the actions of the creatures, he wasn't at all phased by their eating of their own. It was ironic, really...no, not ironic, more nostalgic.
It reminded him far too much of the old days. The old days when he was young. After a moment, the Kel Dor brought himself back into the moment and said calmly, "We have food, at least, and there area a good amount of supplies. I assume the ship isn't in great shape, though, and there's only so long we're going to be able to stay cooped up in this thing hiding from those animals."
Kia sighs at the question and then rises from her belly, holstering the blaster once again on her hip. She shakes her head, "I don't know how difficult it'll be, I for one don't want to go out there at the moment, and they don't appear to be able to get in, the fit is too tight. I think its okay for now, but before nightfall we should definitely do it." Kia explains.
"Since it looks like we are going to be spending a good deal of time together for the immediate future, I suppose we should introduce ourselves. You can call me Kia, I'm a trader, I work the outer-rim, among other things, and since I'm the only crew on this bucket, I've had to be pretty good at repairing her. Do you have any experience with repair work...?"
"Our first priority should be to get as much of the lighting working as possible so we can see to work on the rest of the stuff, I've gotten about half of it, if you can get the rest going, I can start on the ship's computer, and figure out how bad off we are and where exactly we are. After that, its just going to be going through system by system, seeing what we can get working. I'd like to wait for tomorrow morning before going outside to work on exterior repairs to the ship."
At the mention of repair work, Aasan smiled under the breath mask, though it didn't show, he did his best to show a nod, saying calmly once she was finished, "I am Aasan. And yes, I have much experience with repair work. When you have been around as long as I have, you pick up a few things and learn how to keep things together. However the lights are a...ah...minor concern."
He paused for a moment, curious as to why Kia wanted the lights fixed first. He then remembered, and silently scolded himself for forgetting. It had been so long since he'd been around a human in the dark, "Ah...I apologize, it has been many years since I have been in the lower light with a human. I can see well enough and I truly am sorry, but it slips my mind much of the time that you cannot. If you would like, I can attempt to check on any of the more critical systems first, as I can see without trouble."
Another pause, and this time it lasted long enough that it was obvious the Kel Dor was slightly nervous, "I must...speak with you of something once we have the important systems back online. I have some questions I must ask...they are ah...important."
"Feel free to ask while we work, its not like we have anything we need to talk about." Kia says, before nodding. Of course, Ked-Dor could see in the dark better then humans, then again I didn't know if he was any good with repairs either. "I need the lighting to see to make repairs. The other thing it fixing them lets me do is got an eye for the rest of the ship and how it fared in the crash, sort of a visual diagnostic. If you'd care to work on the fixing the landing ramp and getting it closed up nice and tight, now, we'll both be ready to move onto the ships main systems together. I have modified her a bit so I could pilot her more easily, so it would be best if I was in on whatever we do."
"I don't think the things out there can get in here, but there might be other stuff to worry about, so get the ship shut up tight if you don't need more light to do so. By the time I'm done. I should know what wrong with the ship, physically at least, and we can go from there."
Aasan nodded and moved carefully to the boarding ramp, pulling out a few tools from various pockets and trying to do what he can to get the thing working enough to close and open completely.
As he works, he calls back to Kia, though the breath mask makes it sound more echoed than it normally would be through the ship, "Skilled in the Force or not, you should not carry a lightsaber in this day. It is very dangerous, even with the Empire in decline. It is especially...especially not suggested if you are not a Jedi. Those weapons are not toys for every Force sensitive in the galaxy to play with."
Though his words are a bit harsh, Aasan is doing his best to convey a sense of understanding of the situation...asking questions through simple statements. It had worked in the past, so he had no reason to believe it wasn't the best tactic at the moment.
Kia continues her work on the lighting as she converses with Aasan, removing the components from a pair of lights to get the parts for the glow panel between the two. "I'm not worried about it, its been less dangerous to carry them ever since the Emperor died, and now even Imperial center has fallen to the Rebel Alliance. Things have changed, the Empire just can't get after everyone carrying one, and now some wealthy people even carry them if they are afraid to carry a blaster." she calls out, laughing at the idea.
"I am actually passable with the thing, and even if I'm not a Jedi, I'm sure that eventually there will be some Jedi again. Its just a question of when, who knows, I might just be a Jedi Knight some day." she says the mirth carrying through her voice, if not through her facial expression in the dark. "Skywalker was a farm boy before he became one, who is to say that a Corellian trader can't be next."
"Look, I don't need a lecture, or a father, I used to be on a path not so different from a Jedi’s. You wouldn't be able to tell, but I was accepted to the Corellian Security Force back home before the Diktat and the Empire purged it, just like they did the Jedi, I figure I have a lot in common with them, and that’s really all that you need to know about it." The girl calls out defensively.
"What happened to CorSec was nothing like what happened to the Jedi!!" Aasan snapped back, a short burst of anger involuntarily grasping him. He paused a moment to calm himself, then spoke again, "I apologize for that...but it is a subject...very close to my life. I have seen enough young Force sensitives killed because of what they were or what they carried. Just because the Empire is dying doesn't mean it is any less dangerous. “
"I was there, I survived the purge of CorSec, my father and a lot of other Officers and their families were not so lucky. Dead is Dead, both worked to protect innocent citizens, and both were betrayed by those they worked for, being hunted by the Government that they faithfully served because of a shift in the political climate. I know of officers who escaped just ahead of Death marks being placed on them, I have one on me for escaping. If the Empire is going to try to kill me for one thing, I might as well make them do it for 10, or 15."
"I mean no offense, but the path of the Jedi is gone. Trying to bring back a dead time is useless...believe me, I have tried for many years," with a sigh, he turned back to the boarding ramp, trying to calm himself by trying to get the thing to close completely.
"I don't think the Jedi will be gone forever, I'm sure that the Empire was as inept at killing all of the Jedi as it was at crushing the Rebellion, somewhere, someone survived, or wrote down what they knew, or passed it on to their children. Somewhere there are Jedi just waiting to be found, and Luke Skywalker is already a Jedi Knight, or a Master, I'm sure he wont let the Jedi way die with him."
After some quick exploratory tinkering, Aasan finds that there are two main problems with the landing ramp. The power feeds that allow it to be commanded by the various control panels in the ship have been nearly severed. The Kel Dor may be able to repair them to a point, but to bring them back to full functionality he will need several hours, and a whole lot of insulating material so that the power lines don't electrocute anyone. The other problem is that the crash had apparently caused one the hydraulic arms that lower and raise the ramp had been bent near its center. Aasan can probably get it to open up to halfway or close it completely, but to get it to do anything more than that he'll need to remove it and bend it back into shape.
"Hey, if you can't get it totally working, just get it closed for now, we can always exit out the top hatch, or through the cargo ramp." Kia offers.
After a few hours of work, Kia has repaired enough of the lighting to be able to see in every room of the ship, though it still isn't as bright as she would like it to be. Her work on the main computer was surprisingly quick and easy. Apparently, it had very effective protection against collision damage. Kia had but to replace a few loose wires, and the diagnostics screen sprung to life.
Landing ramp..............................damaged, extensive repairs required.
Sensors.....................................clogged d, excessive organic matter suspected.
Communications..........................damaged, limited to short range.
Environmental utilities...................minor damage detected.
Repulsor Lifts..............................damaged, extensive repairs required.
Ion Engines.................................low power.
Hyperdrive..................................*ERROR* Recommend manual analysis.
***
Adrial Strogg sat cross-legged on a straw mat, feeling the force within and surrounding the basket of stones that floated in the air in front of her.
"Remember, Adrial. The force not only surrounds the physical materials of the universe, but is within them as well. It is in you, me, everyone and everything. Learn better to perceive the universe with the force instead of just your natural senses, and you'll be better able to control what you perceive."
Adrial nodded, concentrating on the basket. Although she had considerable skill with this aspect of the force, it was by far her least favorite. She felt the wicker weave of the basket, and the stones within. So like the stones she had unknowingly moved so long ago...Adrial saw in her mind the day when she lost her mother, when her pitiful attempt to save her life with a child's wish had triggered a rockslide that killed not only the nightstalker that was trying to kill her mother, but her mother as well. If only she had known what she was doing...
The basket fell to the floor with an audible crash. Adrial didn't notice. She was concentrating on holding back her tears. She didn't want to show weakness to Miera, but it was too late, the tears were sliding slowly down her face.
Adiral's mentor sighed, and began to gather the stones back into the basket. "You're improving, Adrial, but you must learn not the dwell on the past. The more you think of the grief and sadness you have experienced, the less you can concentrate on the matters at hand." Miera handed Adrial a small square of cloth to try her face with. "Remember that you should never let go of the past and loved ones you have lost, but you should not let them drag you down with them, either. You waited eleven years before you began to realize this and came to me for training, but I knew you could feel the force all along. If you had come to me before then, I would have refused you, because your grief could only have been made greater with training in the force."
Adrial wiped the tears from her face and nodded.
"Good, now lets go out for a bit. A nice long walk would do you good."
They left the large, elongated hut that served as a meeting hall and training center for Arias and Miera's Sethi learners, and after a quick gesture to one of the young wall guards, the northeastern village gate opened. A few more minutes of walking and they left the edge of the croplands encircling the city walls and entered the wilderness.
***
Jorran woke to find himself hanging in the restraints of his seat. The escape pod was at rest, and seemed to be vertical; the front window showed only rocky soil, visible in the yellow glow from the emergency lights. Pulling the release-tab on the webbing, Jorran fell forwards onto the window with a thud. He stood up and grabbed the release lever on the exit hatch.
The mechanical door struggled to open outwards, letting out only an unpleasant grinding noise. Jorran pushed, and the door opened just a crack. Bits of dirt and gravel poured in.
"Spast!"
He climbed up to the back of the escape pod, clinging to the various protruding survival-gear compartments. Bracing his back against the floor, and his feet against the back of his seat, he pulled the lever on the rear hatch. Not surprisingly, the near-antique mechanical components had long since expired. So, he pulled the short, black-and-silver lightsaber from his belt. It was heavily battered.
"I hope I don't regret this."
He put the emitter of the saber near the 'ceiling' of the pod, and ignited it. The blue-white blade immediately melted through the thin durasteel of the hatch, and he slowly cut through where he expected the latch to be. He turned off the saber and pushed on the hatch. It swung open, and light streamed in. Jorran stood up to his full height, sticking out of the hatch, and surveyed his surroundings.
As Jorran pops his head out of the exit hatch, he is immediately greeted by a rush of warmth and humidity. As he looks around, the Padawan sees that the escape pod is buried up to half its length in the soft loam floor of a very peculiar looking forest...jungle? It was hard to tell which. There are trees as far as the eye can see, some very tall and coniferous, reminiscent of some of the more temperate planets he had visited, while others are maybe twenty meters tall, but absolutely covered in leaves, vines, and condensation. The flora is typical green and brown, which makes Jorran wonder why the large, predatory-looking creature streaking along the ground towards the escape pod is a bloody red in color.
With an air of calm, Jorran ducks back inside the escape pod, holding his lightsaber, ready to ignite it and fight if the creature comes in after him.
Jorran hears the creature rushing towards the pod, and then stop. He can hear a snuffling, sniffing sound, as well as its paws crunching dead leaves and this world's equivalent of pinecones as it circles the pod. There is a moment of silence, and the sound of the creature moving away from the pod. Just as Jorran breathes a small sigh of relief, the 2-meter long, quadruped creature lands on top of the escape pod, thrusting its long neck into the pod, the head stopping barely ten centimeters in front of Jorran's face, giving him a good look at its five very large, very sharp fangs.
As the dangerous-looking creature thrust its head towards his face, Jorran switched on his lightsaber, the blue blade coming to life and lighting up the tiny space. The creature's focus turned from the human to this sudden rod of light. Jorran thrust the blade at the creature, and it backed off out of his reach, but not out of view. It remained perched on the pod for a moment, watching Jorran's blade cautiously. Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the creature had run off.
After the creature left, Jorran turned off his saber and pulled out his blaster. He proceeded to climb out of the escape pod and walk the perimeter of the clearing, looking around carefully.
Several hours of calm, wordless strolling through the heavily wooded area surrounding their village, Adrial felt a twinge in the force. Something unusual that she hadn't felt before. She turned to Miera, who was looking off to their right.
"I feel it too. Something...unnatural has happened not far from here."
As if to confirm her words, a single red, four-legged, fearsome-looking creature padded calmly out from a copse of trees and approached Miera.
Adrial felt a wave of hate flow through her. A nightstalker. The same kind of creature that had tried to kill her mother. But despise them though she did, Adrial knew that this one was no threat.
Miera reached out and scratched one of the nightstalker's ears. "So you've felt it too, Alloj?"
Alloj's face was dominated mostly by her race's five large fangs, but the small, beady eyes closed halfway for a moment as Miera scratched her ears. The nightstalker shook its head after a moment, and let out a short hissing sound, nodding off to their right.
Miera turned to Adrial, "I think Alloj has found the source of the disturbance."
Alloj hissed again, and started off into the forest, looking back towards them to make sure they were following.
As Alloj headed off away from them, Adrial nodded at her mentor. "Yes Master Miera." She began to go after the nightstalker. As they followed the beast she turned to Miera. "What can do you think it could be?" She gets excited at the thought of something new. "I feel... excited yet apprehensive at the same time. Is this a natural feeling?" Since loosing her all of her family she had always wondered if her emotion were correct. She always strived to 'feel' right. She smiled at Miera as they continued.
"I'm not sure, Adrial. It could be anything. We'll just have to wait and see." Miera said. "And it is quite natural to feel apprehension and excitement as well as fear together. They are often one and the same." Adrial continues to follow the beast, along with Miera. Adrial, thinking she heard something, stops and turns to look. When she turns back, Alloj and Miera have moved on.
After several minutes of circling the area immediately around his escape pod, keenly aware and ready for trouble, there is none coming. As Jorran begins to think on his next move, he detects movement to his left, from the far edge of the clearing.
The same creature from before comes trotting calmly into the clearing, and comes to a stop approximately 20 meters from him. Jorran quickly raises his blaster, ready to defend himself. He did not, of course, expect what he heard next.
"What is it, Alloj?" A woman's voice? At the words, the red predatory-looking creature's ears perked slightly, and it made a sharp hissing noise, raising an appendage towards Jorran.
A human woman walked out of the forest and into the clearing. She wore simple clothes, something between a robe and a dress that Jorran hadn't encountered before, along with what looked like a brass circlet on her forehead. Upon seeing Jorran, and his escape pod, she stopped immediately and regarded him with a shocked expression.
Just ahead, Adrial can see that Miera has stopped in a clearing. She moves quickly to join her. As she steps out of the forest and into the clearing she sees Alloj nearby. She also sees Jorran and his escape pod. Never having seen such a thing she waits for her tutor's lead. She remains silent and looks to Miera.
"Were you in that ship that hit me?" Jorran asked, lowering his blaster. "And I hope I didn't hurt your...uhh...pet when it met me earlier. It gave me the distinct impression that it wanted to eat me."
Miera is speechless for a moment before she speaks quickly. "What? No, no. You mean there is another ship out there? Are the communications systems in your pod working? We have to try and contact it if we can!" Adrial is surprised that Master Pannar has reacted in such a manner, having always seen her as calm and deliberate.
Jorran notices the very short Adrial standing next to Miera, looking unsure of what to do.
Jorran feels a twinge in the force, and attempts to detect if these two are force sensitive. His probing yields a feeling of strength somewhat lesser than his own from the short woman. When he focuses on the taller of the pair, what he senses can only be described as instant sensory overload.
After blinking a few times, Jorran regained his composure.
"I've got a short-range com system in the pod, but I'm not sure how it fared in the crash. Anyway, the other ship looked like it went down after it hit me. But...if you're not from the other ship, how did you get here? Are there others?"
"You think the other ship crashed? Hurry, try and contact it!" Miera hurries over towards Jorran and his escape pod. "There are many more of us, in a settlement not far off. We were on a refugee ship that crashed a long time ago. Don't just stand there. If the other ship you mentioned didn't crash we might not be able to contact it if it's flown off by now!"
Jorran nodded and ran back to the escape pod. After climbing up the side, he lowered himself through the hatch. Inside, he brushed dirt off of the com system near the front of the pod. He set it to an open channel, and cleared his throat.
"Does anyone copy? I repeat, does anyone copy? Over."
Adrial simply watched for now. She was in awe of someone off world coming here. Arias and Miera had always said that someday this would happen. But for some reason, Adrial had always imagined it would happen when she was much, much older. She also had visualized it quite a bit differently. She figured they would come and land right next to the settlement. A large shiny ship with many comforts. The crew would welcome them aboard. When they returned to where ever, they would be tagged as heroes. At least that was how she had imagined it. But these people seem to have crashed landed just like they had. Her thoughts return to that day so many years ago when she lost her uncle. She shivers just thinking about it.
***
Once Kia had gotten what lighting that she could working, she got down to the real work, the work on the computer system itself. The ease with which she got the diagnostic routines working made her smile, but the damage report killed her lopsided grin. It would mean a lot of work, if it could be done at all, and parts that she might have no way of getting.
"At least I have a hierarchy to work down, I can get Aasan to start clearing the organic matter off the top of the ship through the top hatch, away from those things." she mutters to herself.
Not wanting to tamper with the systems too much, Aasan leaves as much as he can as is...just doing his best to make sure the boarding ramp can close completely for safety's sake.
Once done with that, he heads over to the cockpit to find Kia and ask more politely than he'd been speaking before, "What's next on the list of things to do?"
"Hey, Aasan, I got a diagnostic up, that ramp is going to take some pretty extensive repairs, we should hit the more vital systems first, just get it closed and we can use the top hatch. After that’s closed, If you can handle fixing some minor issues with the environmentals, I can work on the communications arra....." the girl breaks off as she hears a sound from the comm.
" This is the escape pod from the Umber Dart, and I'm also planet side. y? I ..peat, does anyone copy? Over."
Kia is extremely surprised to hear a voice over the comm, slightly staticy at first, but it cleared up quickly. She darts over to the panel, and clicks it open.
"This is the
Dawnsprinter, we have crash landed on the planet and are in need of some repairs, Repeat this is the
Dawnsprinter, we are on the planet in the middle of a river, we need repairs to get off the ground, over."
***
Glad to hear someone on the other end, Jorran responded.
"This is the escape pod from the Umber Dart, and I'm also planet side. I think we met in orbit. Are any of your crew injured?"
***
"No one is injured, just the ship is damaged, Repulsor Lifts, are out, Hyperdrive inoperable, and I don't know that we have enough power to lift us off again and get to orbit. Everything else should be fine with a bit of work. We might be able to repair the Repulsor lifts, but at the moment it’s difficult to get outside, there’s a pack of Red Dog things in the area, we've killed a few, but they keep coming back to eat their dead."
"You can't have much in the way of supplies on the escape pod, bring what you have and join us, with another pair of hands, we should be able to get her working that much sooner. Bring whatever you can, power packs, energy cells, any parts you can pry off the Pod,"
"Uhh, Umber, exactly how many of you are there in that pod, I have myself and a Kel-Dor on the
Dawnsprinter."
***
Miera stands close to the pod, listening in on the conversation. Her face is a mask of concentration, taking in every word exchanged like it might be the last. At the mention of the dog-like creatures, she quickly taps Jorran on his shoulder, motioning for him to relay a message.
"They're called masliths. How many have you killed?! You have to get the corpses as far away from your ship as you possibly can!"