A healthy fear to have…

[Tejori Lotor]

The storm had abated. And if rumours were to be believed, the shifting landscape had unveiled a new find. Of course, even on her speeder, she wouldn’t get there first. Secrets, especially ones this important, travelled faster than X’us'R'iia — the storm itself.

But she had one advantage nobody else had. She was brave. Some say she simply lacked the common sense to be scared. It was a moot point.

The quickest way to the find was not the direct route. Because the direct route was too dangerous for everyone. Everyone.

Everyone except Tejori.

She would not skirt the feeding grounds. She didn’t need to. How many creatures could the area support? And what were the odds on finding one? And so she’d get there first.

As she travelled, she drew in a sharp intake of breath. She’d known the eastern reaches were prone to sinkholes, but this place was a geologic minefield. Worse, it was the kind of pockmarked landform favoured by — and often caused by — those creatures so horrific they nearly defied description.

Sarlaccs. Big underground appetites that preyed on anything foolish enough to wander along. Monsters that could swallow a landspeeder whole, but were often impossible to see until they had you.

And she was running straight across the place.

But she was Tejori, so she pushed ahead. She didn't like the look of the area, but she had to play the odds. Sarlaccs were rare. Even a tiny one of their spawn could be a fatal discovery — but there was no other choice now. She focused on keeping as far away from the mini craters as possible.

The desert floor rose and fell below, present here, absent there. And there was the constant thrum of her engine. Ahead, there was a sinking in the sand. A groan came from beneath, and a tremor rocked the place.

In her desire to avoid it, she lost control of the speeder. She was thrown from it, fortunately away from the creature that would have devoured her whole. She saw light as the sun flashed before her eyes — and then darkness as the bulk of a speeder eclipsed it.

And then, nothing.

She opened her eyes and swiftly shut them. "I can't see." She held up a hand and brushed the grains of sand from her eyelashes. “Oh…OK...Good.”

She looked around. Night was falling and she was too far from home to make it back — and the majority of predators were nocturnal. And her speeder looked the worse for wear. And her ankle hurt like crazy.

“OK…not good. Not good at all.”

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]

It was getting darker out, the sun setting across the void windswept landscapes/ Hours earlier Vassara had already picked her way across the landscape of Sarlaac minefields and set up a camp/ It was nothing pretty, just an A frame burlap tent, with her pack on one end and her Legionaire armor in the other. After the bandits on Concord Dawn she'd decided to take a break and go treasure hunting.

Perched on a supply pod, she was roasting some dehydrated meat over the crackling fire when she heard it. The high pitched whine of a speeder echoing across the flats. Her eyes narrowed , and her ears perked. But then it was gone, followed by very, very familiar sound.

The burp of a Sarlaac.

"Interesting."

She was about to go back to simply minding her own business, when she felt a nudge in the force. Someone was in pain, she could feel their anguish.

Scooping up the rucksack, she stomped out the fire, and headed down towards the flats....

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Tejori propped herself onto an elbow and surveyed the scene. It didn’t look any better from a horizontal perspective.

Next she gingerly swivelled around so she was sitting. She tested her ankle with her hand. It was not only sore, it was swollen. And although she was no doctor, she suspected a broken bone. Even if she were in the nearby town, there was no guarantee she could receive medical help to resolve a breakage. Out here? She had no chance.

So she had to be mobile.

From this distance it was impossible to tell what condition her speeder was in, so she first needed to get to it.

Attempting to stand, her ankle gave out immediately and she fell heavily, jarring her elbow and grazing her face.

“Poodoo.”

She glanced around again, looking for inspiration. When none came she gritted her teeth and started to drag herself along the ground in the direction of her speeder. It was painful. And it was painfully slow too.

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]

It was not difficult for Vassara to find the fallen woman. Years of exploring backwater worlds and abandoned stations had allowed her to hone her skills, sharpening them to the razor edge. She could sense the path through the flats. Step left hee, two hundred feet, stop, cross a crag. As she picked her way across letting her instinctive astrogation guide her through the minefield of Sarlaacs and crevasses she was expanding her senses as well. Aided by a walking meditation her ears particularly became sharper.

She could hear her now. It was the sound of a body dragging in dirt. Boots scraping rock hard ground and a single curse uttered from the darkness near a clump of boulders. For a second she paused. Who was this person, what were they doing so far out here?

Instinct declared she draw hr blaster, but the echoes of the force spoke a different story. From her belt Vassara produced a glowstick and cracked it, holding the red light high above he head, casting light upon the situation. Twenty feet away was a woman. Crawling through dirt to an upturned speeder.

Odd. Very odd.

"Oya, hold up a second!"

The spacer moved closer, catching a fuller view of her. One palm was held up in a neutral position and her blue orbs pierced the darkness searching for any sign of treachery.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Was Tejori a fallen woman? In the strictly literal sense, she probably was…

Tejori was acutely aware she was making a lot of noise, but she had no choice. Her scent would carry further than the sound she was making, and she needed to get onto her speeder and hope it was still working. Otherwise she’d be hard pushed to make it through the night alive. Fully fit, her chances were slim. Unable to walk, let alone run? The odds were not worth calculating.

She thought she heard something approaching, the sound carrying on the desert wind, but she had no time to wait and listen and even then, she was unsure she’d actually heard more than her own imagination running wild.

"Oya, hold up a second!"

OK, so she was mistaken. Which could go one of two ways. She could be saved. Or the stranger could be the new owner of a heavily modified one seater speeder. Her life was in the balance.

Tejori stopped dragging herself, the numbness of her fingers hiding the pain that would kick in once feeling returned to the bloodied digits.

She attempted a laugh, but gave up after she wheezed and spluttered instead. “Sure, I’ll hold up,” she said wearily. “Not as if I was going anywhere quickly.”

[member="Vassara Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Tejori Lotor"]

She was hurt. And Vassara moved in quickly, kneeling by the shattered girls side. Her lip pursed and she blew a silent whistle as her hands moved over the body, checking for wounds. She didn't know who the girl was, much less cared/ The code of the spacers was honor distress signals. She figured this would count as one of those moments.

Her hands found what they were looking for. Lacerations and a few small wounds.

"Alright there miss. I can take you with me or leave you here. Your choice."

It was odd she'd run into many people on her travels and some? Some definitely did not want to be saved. Actively refused. So again the womans choice. She waited for her reply, piercing blue orbs running over the wounds, taking them in in detail.

 

[Tejori Lotor]

Tejori was conflicted. She shouldn’t be, but she was. She sat silent and still as the woman appraised her for injuries. She didn’t seem overly concerned — people tended to let you know when things were bad. You could just read them.

Perhaps Tejori had over-egged any damage in her own mind? Possibly, but she couldn’t stand. But it may just be a bad sprain as opposed to a break. Not that it truly mattered. Not being able to walk was the key fact here.

Being left behind? She might be able to fix her speeder. And she might be able to ride it. And she might make it back home. And she might not die…or none of those things might be possible, in which case if the cold didn’t get her, some predator would.

But going with the woman? She’d have to leave her speeder behind. It was almost a certainty it wouldn’t be here when she got back. And without a speeder, she couldn’t scavenge. And if she could get to and from the graveyard, she’d have no means of generating income. And no income meant no food or water. Or, in other words…certain death.

So she hesitated. For a while. And she hadn’t even taken into account what this woman might want. What her motives might be.

She sighed audibly and stared into the woman’s eyes - her own colourless irises contrasting with the piercing blue she saw. “Take me with you. I can’t support my own weight. Not without a crutch or something.” She checked her neck, the strap of her satchel was there, at least she hadn’t lost that. “There’s a piece of pipe on my speeder that I can use, if it’s still attached.”

[member="Vassara Raxis"]