Adrift

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

Locke snorted, before sitting down on one of the crates loosely-spread about.

"I have had more fun with you than with most, Dahlia, would be the perfect holiday if it weren't for the fact that we are karking stranded in the middle of nowhere." It wasn't just about the karking though, even if that enhanced the appeal by a generous factor, No, it was the talking, the jokes, the easy exchanges like it was nothing. It was the simplicity of understanding that both of them had dark secrets and experiences, but didn't need to talk about it to know.

It was a comfortable thing.

But yeah, the karking probably had a pretty heavy hand in it too.

"Yeah, flip it, dying to get some gorram change of scenery. Been walking this same clearing a thousand times now, feels like."

He needed to be on the move, that was one of his... things. Otherwise Locke started to get anxious, the longer he had to stick to one particular place.

 

[Delila Castillon]

There was no objection to what types of characters a boosted signal could bring in. [member="Elliot Locke"] already knew the dangers. Delila was fairly confident that both of them could take out anyone who may try taking them as slaves or deciding to off them for amusement. Her skills may be rusty but when it came to a life-and-death situation she liked to think training and some type of muscle memory would kick in.


"More fun with than most? So I'm in the top twenty. Not a bad spot to be in." There was a grin and she tried not to laugh. "So, we get out of here I'll treat you to a nice beach side holiday. Plus the panties I already promised. Not a bad deal."


Head dipped down to work one again, securing a few final pieces. There was a bit of nervousness. Worrying it wasn't going to work. Worrying it was going to work. Wondering what she would do if she got off the planet. Part of her wrestled if she should even bother getting off planet but for some reason she didn't think Scars would be keen on leaving her behind. A slowing of her hands. Blue-green eyes overlooking the mess of wires, the line that fed back into the cockpit.


A flip of the switch. An electrical hum. Eyes came back to settle on Scars.


"Lets see what we got....I've rigged it up to the console in the cockpit, figured that was our better of the chances."

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

"It will get ya free coupons at McYoda's and a monthly all-expenses paid trip to the Hologram Fun World on Fondor too." Locke smirked back, before pushing himself off the crate and standing upright again. Days since the crash and her short-wired attempts to get him patched up and he still got dizzy every time he stood up too fast, lights echoing in his eyes and everything.

But at least it didn't feel like his head was being mauled by a herd of banthas.

"How's that for perks." After that Delila flipped the switch. A deep hum vibrated through the cords and the ground as power was being re-diverted towards exhausted secondary systems.

Didn't seem like anything was exploding though, so for all intents and purposes this was going rather well.

"Alright, let's go see what we got here." Back at the cockpit Elly settled down in the pilot seat. Comfortable leather, he dug himself in and started switching through the controls of the console. Took him a few moments, but eventually they managed to get to the scanning equipment. The screen was empty. He was about to curse and then pet Dahlia on the back, until suddenly a ping appeared on the screen.

It seemed they hadn't send a transmission, but managed to pick up some kind of residual anomaly.

Many clicks away and cross-referencing it with the scans Locke had taken right before crashing, it seemed to be located around the mountains in the North.

"You ever been there?" They couldn't make heads-or-tails out of this signal, but it was definitely sentient-made and modern. That suggested they weren't alone here and that worried Locke to a degree.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]


"McYoda's and Hologram Fun World? More than any girl could ask for. I lived on Fondor, never visited though."


Delila was silent for a long moment, too busy flipping the switch and making sure they didn't quite blow up. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, perhaps a small electrical crackle here or there but nothing she felt overly concerned about. Scars was already moving towards the cockpit and she slowly followed, arriving by the time he was settling into the buttery leather seats.


Quietly she watched the scans, thinking her work was for nothing. As quickly as a horrible, gut sinking feeling of failure had set in there was a glimmer of hope. A ping, mountains to the North of them. Delila had only seen them from afar, hazy and lumbering in the far distance. Limited resources had kept her from travelling such a distance on her own. Head came down next to his,standing behind the chair to look. She was trying to guess how feasible it would be to travel to such a place.


"No, never been. Made a concentric circle search throughout the years. Additionally I've followed the current South and followed it back up to my campsite."


Delila couldn't tell much from the signal.


"Any idea what it is? Has to be....active?....right?"

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

Locke's frown deepened as he tried to equate the sensory readings from his pass to the ping, but couldn't get anything valuable out of the static.

Two moments later there was a sizzzzzle as some of the diodes burned out. The screens whitened out and then dimmed, before going completely black. It seemed that the intensity of the signal receiver had burned out some of the equipment and left them with a pile of nothing and a location.

"Either that or the power source has been going strong for feth knows how long." A shrug of the shoulders. From their training they both knew that the most logical solution was usually the right one. Don't over-complicate it and think there is more going on than there seemed to be. If there was a signal out there, it was probably an active... facility? installation? Maybe someone else had crashed and it was a distress call.

"Seems like we got a choice." Wasn't much of a choice if she asked him - it was either sitting around here, karking, eating and sleeping, or try to find a way out.

...well, when Elliot put it like that, maybe there was a choice after all?

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]


Whoops.


Delila watched the equipment fizzle out. If she had to guess the power was un-modulated and it blew their sensors to bits internally. Part of her briefly wondered if she could have somehow prevented such a thing. Probably not. Rusty skills mixed with a lack of proper equipment and tools left them with broken equipment. At least they had a location of....well....something. Downed ship?Facility? Whatever it was had a considerable amount of power being generated. The signal had been strong.


"There's not much of a choice.Looks like we're going on a hike."


Even if there was a choice for her to stay behind, Scars still had to get off planet. She looked about, wondering when the best time to hit the road so to speak was.


"Pre-dawn tomorrow morning? Gives us time to pack up what we'll need for the trip."

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

Locke thought about it for a moment, before nodding along.

If they wanted to take a long hike through the jungle then they would need proper preparations. After all, they couldn't just walk back again, if they decided to give up on it. No, they would need to make sure that everything would be safe and prepared. Besides, he was feeling peckish again... for more than one thing.

"Yeah, besides..." Locke started to grin. "Give us another night of... rest."

Not that Elly was planning for either of them to get much of that.

It might kill her, might kill him, but there wouldn't be any time for that on the road. No place or comfort either, so better to just enjoy the comforts of the ship while they could.

"Gonna go see about food, you wanna go look for the tools we will need on the road?"

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]



"I know how rest is important to you."


Eyes did their best not to roll. Did Locke have some type of drought of women where he was from? Mind was already busy figuring out what exactly they would need on said trip. There was no turning around to just grab something. It was almost like a special forces trip. Delila hadn't been in special forces in ages. What was all that bullchit during basic training, about coming to rely on it? Hopefully it was more than just talk.


"Food and sex, think about anything else?" There was a playful grin, a nudge against him. "I suppose. I'll see what I can rustle up."


Delila left him to his own devices, off to dig through what little supplies they had on hand.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

"Yeah, don't forget the alcohol." Elly retorted while playfully swatting at her back. "Functional alcoholic remember?"

Once Dells was off to figure out the equipment angle, Elliot went to figure out the logistics of food. They only had a few clues on how long the trip would be. Which meant that Locke would have to improvise a little bit here and there. They had a lot of dried and salted goods, but they needed fresh as well. How to transport it and keep it good in the heat of the jungle though?

That was the number one question.

In the end he managed to jury-rig a repulsor-craft with some cooling boxes. The little reactor inside would probably keep working for about a week or more, which would get them decently along.

Also meant they wouldn't have to carry around everything.

Yeah, this was the best he could do right now. Now it was time to start sorting the food.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]


When thinking about gathering equipment, first on her mind was making sure they could actually carry everything. This led her on a maze through the vessel to the supply room, crates stacked high. Most were items that they wouldn't find particularly useful. Still she dug around, looking for anything of value. Tucked away was a small one person tent. It was useless to pitch and repitch everyday. However, it would make for two great backpacks. Stretching it out on the floor, Delila began to patch together two bags, using the included flimsy poles are rough support.


It wasn't pretty but would work well enough. Maybe.


Handiwork aside, head was poked back into various crates, tossing things she suspected they needed. Ropes. Various bits of first aid equipment she could scavenge. Firestarters, although the wet and humid jungle often made it difficult..

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

In the meantime he got the rigged tug out of the hangar and out in the open.

It floated patiently in the air. Seemed to work fine. He looked at it with a skeptical look, trying to figure out how long it would hold - but without any good tools or scanning equipment, it was basically just taking guesses here. It might hold for a month or a day, half a year or maybe twenty minutes. Not that he could test the later out, the longer it stayed on, the more stress was put into the system.

Stress they might need in the future.

"Wish I had some qualified SIS engineers here." Elly mumbled to himself, before powering it down.

With a hissing sound it disengaged and landed chiefly on the ground. Next up was getting the food on it, but that was a trivial matter. Though he'd probably break his back with at least one of those crates.

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]


"Engineers huh? I don't know, seemed to do a bang-up job yourself." Eyes narrowed slightly. "I think you could fix this ship, just don't want to. Having too much fun with some hot redhead."


Joking tone entered her voice. Make shift packs had been drug up into the main lounge area before she had drifted over to check on Scars. A little pile of supplies had begun to accumulate in the lounge next to her packs. Delila was going to have to check outside in crates and outside panels. It sounded odd but what if they needed a hydrospanner to break into whatever they were walking towards?


The sled was impressive, her gaze remaining on it for a long moment.


"Who knew I was in the presence of a genius?"

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

Locke snorted.

"Should meet some guys I know." He stretched, letting the muscles and bones expand, give them some room to move and twist to let go of the pressure. "Lads who can make an anti-matter bomb out of kitchen appliances and crap, they are geniuses."

All Elly had done was ramp-up the miniature reactors, link them up and make sure everything was stable. Wasn't as difficult as it looked... but that was probably also what the geniuses said in the backroom. He shrugged. "Okay, so maybe it's a little bit difficult. But, yeah, you caught me red-handed." Walking over his head tilted to the side while a smirk was playing.

"Clearly I am having too much fun 'round here to ever wanna leave."

Locke brushed past her, the ghost of his lips touching her neck before he entered the ship again. "How was your homework assignment?"

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]


"Clearly."


Her assignment was a bit harder and still not complete. Fingers were silently crossed that Scars' makeshift lift would last at least half the trip. Trouble was neither of them knew how long 'half the trip' was. Could be a week. A couple days. A month or more. It was the same issue gathering enough supplies, weighing them down would do no good.


"Uh...coming long.Still working at it. Bit difficult to pack for something when I don't have an estimate of how long it will take."


There was a ghost of a smile.


"Not like we can turn around."

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

Well, they could.

But that was an exercise in defeat. Because there wasn't anything else for them here - either they got to this facility (or whatever it was) and figure out a way off this planet... or they wouldn't. Then it was just a matter of making themselves comfortable, spending the rest of their days on this force-forsaken world. Though, better with Dahlia here than to be alone. A man could go insane not talking to anyone for a long time.

Isolation could be a real schutta.

Didn't even bring up the dry spill complications that would ensue.

"Yeah, we will have to assume for the worst- I got a gun or two somewhere, hopefully not broken... so hunting shouldn't be much of a problem for a week or two." Until his ammunition was gone and they would have to use other things. "Might have a couple of vibro-blades as well, but how long they gonna last is anyone's guess."

"Assume we will be traveling for a month or two, hope for a week or two at most, is my creed."

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]


'Hunting shouldn't be a problem for a week or two.'


Delila slowly blinked. Hunting? What did Scars think she did for food, comm up some take out from the local restaurant? She had various tools and implements but they were back in her little rock ruin home. Didn't mean she couldn't make them again. Scars had more than enough spare parts laying around. Considering he didn't have much in the way of weapons -- well, so he said -- it would be up to her to gather supplies to make such things on the road. There wouldn't be enough time this evening but when they stopped to rest it would be good to fiddle.


"Interesting creed, you must travel on foot often...." Curious. "Best get back to work."


Disappearing back into the jungle heat and humidity, Delila was focused on her task. Well, the end of her task. Sooner she got done the sooner she could enjoy one last evening of lounging and relative comfort.

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

It were a couple of long and grueling hours later that that they found themselves back in the ruined starship, hanging on the couch of the lounge with some music on.

The portable jukebox had seen better days - sputtering in and out of existence every few minutes or so, but it was better than nothing and right now Locke could use all the relaxation in the world. His muscles were burning, shoulders twitched, but that was to be expected after carrying and lugging around heavy machinery the entire day.

"Why don't you come with me, once we leave here?" Locke suddenly asked. They hadn't opened the whiskey yet, but that would come soon enough as far as he was concerned.

"Could use a co-pilot, we can have some fun out there."

Always had to stay positive when in a situation like this.

They would get out of here and that was the end of it. There was no other option left for them, if they kept that in mind there wasn't anything they couldn't do.

Probably.

 

[Delila Castillon]

Unlike [member="Elliot Locke"] , Delila found the music to be quite annoying. It wasn't the jukebox going in and out or the static.Having been drenched in overall silence beyond the average jungle noises, there was a simple sensory overload. The redhead did her best to tune out the noise, focusing instead on what was in her hands rather than anything else around her.


Fashioning a blade, durasteel turned over in her hands, molding it with various tools and a rock. Wouldn't be the prettiest but it would be a sharp instrument. One ready to hunt with or to use as protection. Personally she used it to skin game...


Something reached her ears. Scars? He was talking....Something about coming with him. Eyes drifted away from her task and she dumbly looked the man, waiting for the words to register.


"You could use a co-pilot or someone to keep your bed occupied?"


After being away for so long she couldn't picture being tied down to one thing. At least not in the short term. There were things she wanted to do. Places she had to visit for one reason or another. Scars was well and fine but part of her knew she was going to be completely lost once she left the planet. Sheltering under Scars wing would only prolong the inevitable.


"I...I don't think that is wise, coming along with you.I would like to but...No." A pause. "I appreciate it....I would like to travel with you from time to time, help you out with whatever you need. Not on a permanent basis however."

 

[Kenth Typho]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

Locke snorted.

"Why not both?" Corner of the mouth tugged upwards to indicate a joke, because he had seen her in action. Somewhat. Her edges were dulled, sure, that's what you got for being stranded in the middle of nowhere for so long, but there was still fight in here. Still that competence you get from being a veteran of several wars. She was a soldier, operative maybe, but military enough that she would be a good companion to have around.

A shrug followed, before he lit up a cigarette again.

The smoke poured smoothly in the void left by her words.

"Ain't no pressure, Dahl, I get you got other things to do." Well, he had no real idea, but it was obvious that there was unfinished business for her out in the Galaxy. It usually did when you crash-landed and disappeared for a decade.

"Always welcome on my ship." Smirk became more pronounced around the cigarette. "Or in my bed for that part."

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Elliot Locke"]


"Both huh? I should have guessed."


Blade turned over in her hands. She wasn't sure what she had to do once she got off this rock. Part of her hoped her ex-husband still had some of her items, if she remembered right he was in her last will and testament, never bothering to change the document. Then again, how badly did she even need a few things? If she made it out there was going to have to be a further mental debate.


"I got a few folks I imagine I need to see...." Shoulders shrugged. "...Or not. Its highly doubtful I was missed."


There was a pause, clearly thinking. Thoughts remained her own, mulling over things. She wasn't getting overly excited yet. They would have to get off the planet first. Then she would actually have to decide if she wanted to leave or not. A good portion of her was still on the fence about the entire situation.


Blade was set down, scooting closer to Scars. Hand moved along the base of his neck, gently massaging tired muscles. Playful grin struck her despite her reflective mood.


"I'll be sure to join you in the future. Give you a few months to clear out the stables, let the other girls have their turn with you. I can't wear you out too much.Think of the uprising that would occur."