And When I Breathed, My Breath Was Lightening

[Bethany Kismet]

When a Vision comes from the Thunder Beings of the West, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the Storm of Visions has passed, the world is greener and happier. For where ever the truth of Visions comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm.​

Sometimes, the Force was a persistent ally. Usually, Bethany appreciated it's presence, it's guidance. She listened to the subtlest of threads that wound around her, recognizing that through the Force, she was not merely connected to the galaxy around her, but that there was, in truth, no separation at all. The flaw in the idea that all living beings were connected was that it implied separation. To be connected, it was a necessary part of most being's thought processes. After half a millennia integrated with the forest of Zonama Sekot, however, Bethany Kismet knew better.

Which was why, though she viewed the expanse of clouds beneath her with some consternation, she was still going down to the planet's surface.

"Here? Really?"

Emerald eyes cast over the planet as it turned beneath her. In the distance, the star this planet- unnamed, unknown- revolved around was bright but cool. Bethany had counted at least three moons trapped in orbit around the clouded sphere. There might be more. But it was the planet itself that captured her attention. She had been circling for hours already, and she had yet to find a break in the cloud cover. Brilliant flashed of cerulean light flickered and died again- lightening in the upper most layers of clouds. How deep did it go? Was it perpetual, seasonal, or was the storm the reason she was here? The Jedi Master had no idea yet.

Small hands passed over the instrument panel, and she frowned ever so slightly. The storm with it's highly ionizing radiation in the upper atmosphere made getting any accurate readings from the ground difficult. If she went in, she'd be going in blind.

If.

No.

Beth sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she reached out with the Force.

Life abounded here. She could feel the subtle play of flora and fauna, the sensation of a balance precarious and precious. If there were cities, they were masked by the electrical activity, even within the Force. Tilting her head slightly, she sighed.

Getting down to the surface safely would be a challenge. Even for the Jedi Master.

[member="Veronika Nova"] [member="Iestyn Nova"]

 

[Iestyn Nova]

[member="Bethany Kismet"] [member="Veronika Nova"]

The Eyrie starts a slow, graceful roll. The crew watched the planetary storms above them slowly recede from view. With the world to her belly, all four engines slowly angled forwards. Even against the streaks of lightning that crossed entire continents those burned bright as they flared to life. Full burn. Shaking off that troublesome velocity they’d gained approaching the planet to enable them to land.

“Not getting anything back from the probe anymore!” Howell called from his station. All hands were required from the landing, even the postdoc who preferred to work alone at his terminal when the crew was asleep. As per GUIDE protocol they were all in their suits, prepared for a breach or emergency exit. Through the visor the deepening yellow of Iestyn’s stripes wouldn’t even be visible. Field work had always been her passion, which meant it was now his as well. Just not this bit.

They had always been accelerating towards the planet. But their velocity had been a shield preventing them from ever being drawn in. Now, as their forward momentum was arrest, they did the only they could. They fell. A loud whine ran through the ship as repulsors started to compensate.

“Don’t want to hit that atmosphere too hard,” Iestyn said. He was nervous, he turned to look towards his mate for reassurance. Whilst he was the senior researchers, family dynamic was far more important than professional to their species. The females were still the dominant gender, generally larger and more confident. One hand touched the breast of his suit, pressing the cool metal beneath to his skin.

“Dialling it back a notch,” Qualm replied in his deep tones. He didn’t have hands on flight sticks, just a keyboard and some holographic controls. A swipe of his hand and the projection showing the angle of their descent changed. The atmosphere was too turbulent, the computer would enact the landing, reacting to changing conditions and calculating corrections on the scale of nanoseconds.

Spoiler

Veronika Color Changes

Base Color

• Silver - Base color, neutral, content
• Pink / Coral - Pleasure
• Deep Scarlet - Aww yesssss
• Yellow - Base colour, neutral, content
• Brown - Depressed
• Grey - Sad
• Green - Embarrassment

Stripes

• Amber - Contemplation
• Gold - Confusion
• Ochre - interested/focused
• Pink stripes - The deeper the color the more embarrassed/ mortified one is.
• Light blue - Amusement
• Daffodil yellow - concern. Very pale could be as simple as struggling with the formatting on a document. Very bright is a sudden concern.
• Blue to Indigo - Base colours. Very subtle shifts can be determined by Lovalla only
• Red - angry, annoyed. Nuances of annoyance shown by shade. Purple tends to show mild annoyance, deep burgundy is a simmering resentment.
• White - amorous. Moving between base colours and white generally indicates current mood on red day. Bright white stripes with rippling silver spots tend to flare at moments of extreme passion. Outside of red day tends to indicate a desire for physical contact.

Mottled spots

• Turquoise - content. Typical base for Iestyn
• Teal - pleasure
• Jade green - curiousity
• Lime green - surprise, flares and glows depending on how much
• Silver - generally a positive spin on base emotion. For negative emotions this means softening, or an enhancements on positive. When it ripples it generally indicates amusement
• Yellow - generally a negative spin on base emotion.
• Cyan - Wry, facetious

Glow Highlights

• Teal - rather passionate about a particular subject
• Blue - typical, content
• Purple - happy. (blue purple fairly neutral, red purple stronger - joy
• Red - very happy

Combinations

• Pale Magenta base/light orange stripes/red spots - interest in potential mate
• Green base/ Pink stripes/ yellow spots ( The deeper the color the more embarrassed/ mortified one is.)
• Pale skin / Daffodil yellow stripes / lime green to yellow spots - sudden fear for another’s safety.
• Base shade turning pale with amber stripes - uncertainty
• A dark orange ripple over his stripes and brief flash of a blue glow. - Determination

NPCs

Ellis

• Senior Postdoc.
• Biting sarcasm.
• Most trusted of the Nova’s research team
• Efficient and hardworking

Quarm

• Tall and broad shouldered Nautolan with deep teal skin.
• Comes off as gruff at first
• Actually incredibly laid back with a good sense of humour

Howell

• Postgrad. Does computational analysis. Normally arrives midday and works through the night
• Likes to wear band t-shirts
• From a wealthy Eriadu noble family (third son)

Ryan

• Mousy brown hair, short and broad.
• Youngest postgrad, still finding his feet. Quarm and Ellis mostly take care of him and try to shield him from Iestyn’s brutally honest review comments
• Tends to let his eyes linger on Ellis

Kyck

• PA droid

 

[Veronika Nova]

[member="Iestyn Nova"] [member="Bethany Kismet"]

Veronika didn't need to hear the anxiety in Iesytn's voice, she could feel it washing over like the bite of the chill of a wintry morning. The thick bulky suits were their for their protection, but for the Lovalla, it hindered the intense need for physical contact that the pair used to comfort each other. Instead her gloved hand immediately went reaching over to claim Iesytn's own, holding it tight and lending him strength. It followed through with the gentle contact of her helm against his own, as if she could press her forehead against his through that visor. Through the egg-shaped visor, one could barely catch the rippling amber stripes over her silver skin. They instantly shifted from uncertainty, to concern, and finally a reassuring white that simply said, it will be okay.

The storm lashed at the Eyrie, bringing another shudder across the length of the ship. Yet Veronika did not alter her grip or position. Instead she focused her attention on her mate. The rest of the crew were already well used to their extreme gestures of personal displays of affection, but this time around they were also equally rattled by the severity of the storm.

It was a new world; CZ-734. At least that was the scientific number given to the planet. It wasn't under any current starmap in both current versions and in the archives. It was only through a probe that they managed to even locate it, a ping that bounced back out of the hundred that had been sent out in the nearby sectors. This particular one had been sent into a rather tumultuous nebula. Likely it was the very reason why this world had not been found yet.

At the ping's discovery Veronika had been estatic, her colors once again a vibrant hue that dazzled the senses and had given a noticable perk to the formally dull colors that had taken over since the razing of Togoria. Iestyn, unable to dampen his mate's cheer agreed to give notice to GUIDE that they would change course and investigate.

Now they were here, Qualm struggling to guide them through the maelstrom. The Nautolan was a shade paler, but the determination in his expression along with his focus spoke volumes.

"Just strap yourselves in!" he warned, moving the holographic controls as the computer automatically adjusted and did its best to keep them level.

 

[Bethany Kismet]

The Eshajōri plunged into the thick, roiling cloud cover just a heartbeat after something blipped on her screen. Another ship? A sensor's artifact caused by the storm? She wasn't sure, and immediately understood that she didn't have the luxury of time to concern herself with it.

The wind sheered sharply across the surface of the small ship, buffeting it violently as Bethany reached out into the Force. Without that connection, there was no way she could have piloted the small vessel through the Maelstrom- Eshajōri wasn't equipped with the technology needed to navigate through the storm safely- why bother when there was a Jedi at the helm? Fortunately, it was equipped for the descent itself, but Bethany suspected that a ship like a tie-fighter or even an X-wing would be torn apart.

Side slipping carefully, Bethany followed the winds, her eyes half closed. Sometimes, she only had half a breath's notice to a sudden change in the air. At times, even with the Force, the ship was slammed between two snarling gusts, and in those moments she merely gritted her teeth, the sound of groaning metal impossible to ignore.

She was just wondering if she should turn back and try to find a better entry vector when she felt a lightening of air beneath her. Angling down, Eshajōri ​sliced through the lowest layer of clouds and into a fine raining mist. Despite it being slightly less traumatic beneath the planet-wide thunder heads, Bethany suspected it was still nearly hurricane force winds here above the surface.

The ship had burst through the cloud cover over the edge of an ocean. Angling lower, Bethany skimmed just above the junction where the sea met the jet black sand. Phosphorescence glowed from the water- algae? Phytoplankton? No way to be sure from this distance. But it cast a cool, blue glow in to the air. Craning her neck up, she peered out of the port view screen. The light was just strong enough to illuminate the underbelly of the storm.

It was absolutely stunning.

[member="Veronika Nova"] [member="Iestyn Nova"]

 

[Iestyn Nova]

She always leant him her strength. Whether it was in the small hours and he was finishing a paper, or they were plunging through dangerous storms and he genuinely feared for their lives. But that was what they were, the commitment they had made. He'd skimmed several papers on the biology behind the bond between Lovalla mates. They'd never quite worked everything out, especially the empathic bond that worked regardless of chemical interchange. He liked that. As a scientist he was interested in how it could work, but his more religious side would prefer it to be a mystery. The bond between mates was said to be anchored to the very Ensit of the Galaxy. When they were connected they were, in essence, closer to their pantheon or Garn.

Engines flared and even the inertial dampeners struggled to keep those external forces at bay. The ground was covered with a thick layer of jet black shingle and dust that was scattered by the drives. The Eyrie hovered there a few metres above the ground.

Iestyn relinquished his hold on Vero's hand and brought up a display. He swiped his fingers across it and an image came up of the ground beneath them. In several waves the region beneath the ground was shaded in as scans revealed it's composition.

"Should take our weight, bring us down Quarm."

With a judder the landing struts flexed as she settled down. Iestyn had another display up and started reading off numbers. He didn't notice Veronika turn off the internal lights.

"Wind speed will give the drones problems. There's some breathable atmosphere but we'll need to keep suited in these conditions. Organic particles in the air and..."

"Elyr," she sighed a Varnesh word, an affectionate term for mate. He felt her take a grip of his helmet and turn his gaze upwards. The bridge of the ship afforded a panoramic view of their surroundings.

"Oh."

His colouring shifted very quickly as his eyes scanned the view. But in a very human gesture, the corners of his lips tilted upwards.