Private Bird of Paradise

[Mirah Mackali]

​

Mirah sat at the controls of the Green Thunder, a carton of three-day-old Atrisian noodles in hand. Presently, she was in orbit of Kattada, and her ship's AI had just completed preliminary scans. She glared at the screen, reading over the results:

“A typical mix of tropical vegetation. Tropical rainforest present, but most accounted for is seasonal forest – averaging 1000 mm rainfail per year. with a distinct dry season. Year-round warm temperatures and seasonal droughts, may have an impact on plant life.”

A slight frown tugged the corners of her lips down. This information looked rather unremarkable. However, worlds like this were known to have significant biodiversity. She just hoped Jared Starchaser wasn't lying when he'd told her there were man-eating plants here.

The scientist had reluctantly accepted the call from Starchaser. It'd been a while since they'd last talked, and that might have been (or definitely was) on purpose. Months ago, she'd sent him a holo-message about a strange occurrence – she'd fallen asleep next to a row of newly planted seeds. And she'd woken up to seedlings that had exhibited over 2 weeks of growth. Weird stuff, right? And Mirah had seen some weird stuff with Jared on a desert world, where they'd first met. So, naturally, she'd thought to call him. But the reply he'd returned had only mixed her up.

Force sensitive. That's what he'd called her.

In other words: weird. Mirah had poured herself into research, and even then, she still felt skeptical.

“Uh, hey – Starchaser,” she said into the comm. “I'm on my way down.”

After receiving clearance, she descended to the planet – and to the designated coordinates. She gathered up a backpack of supplies, and a couple suitcases of equipment. Mirah was prepared for a night in the jungle if it came to that. As the ramp lowered to reveal the beach landscape of Kattada: endless shores of sand, hot sun, and humidity.

She hated it already.

 

[Jared Starchaser]

He wasn’t sure what his feelings were on the settlement on Kattada. The world was nice, and his father had big plans. But the Dawn Treader was always Jared’s home. That and Corellia. Sullust and Kattada? They were places where his father helped lead a new generation of Jedi, from the wayfinding kind to the crusading kind. But the world of Kattada? It was a nice world. And well, it had a few neat things.

Which meant he had to reach out to one of his contacts, that awesomely weird girl he hadn’t seen in a hot minute. She was a biologist? Maybe a botanist? Anyway, he had found a few islands with interesting flora and gave her a quick call up with the coordinates. Hopefully she could find her way out to where he was. Having landed his Starcutter off at the temple, he actually had taken a small sailing skiff out to this island. A few people were here but it wasn’t one of the places that was too easy to land. If he had his TIE, maybe.

“I’m down here already. World’s a bit more humid than you’d expect. Beacon’s on.” He had said as he awaited. He had a few different crates of gear, some ready for any camping, and others to help with mapping the island. Some of them were mapped, but not totally cataloged. And while being here, his father said it would be smart to assist the ExplorCorps by logging whats on the planet their HQ is on.

Smiling as he saw the ship land, he made his way to where the boarding ramp would and greeted Mirah with a smile. “Welcome to Kattada!” He may be a Hunter on the Rim, but that didn't mean he had to be all business. Clear by his outfit's lack of any sense of decorum and bright colors.

Mirah Mackali

 

[Mirah Mackali]

Lugging her stuff down the ramp, she almost recoiled at the sight of Jared Starchaser dressed in such bright colors. Why did such hues even exist? In contrast, Mirah was dressed in a drab pair of gray sweatpants, a black tank top, and a black hoodie. It wasn't exactly island wear, but the sun was only good for things that could photosynthesize – and she couldn't do that. Pausing to pull her hood up, she probably looked just as frumpy as she had on the desert world where they'd met.

“Ugh,” Mirah started, hunching slightly as she walked. “Why is it so sunny here?”

It wasn't much of a greeting, but it was probably as good as he was going to get from her. Down the way, she spotted a few more crates of gear and supplies. It looked like he was ready to go, too. And judging by their remote location, she guessed there wasn't going to be any pizza around here. Luckily, she'd brought a couple cups of instant noodles along for the trek.

She set her stuff down and shoved her hands in her pockets.

“So, like, what's the deal with this place?” she asked, eyes finding Jared and darting away just as fast.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Jared traveled light, like his family, he had a few gifts with the Force. Navigating being one of his big ones, on top of that, it was barriers, cryokinesis, and most importantly for his line of work Force Sense. Jared was on vacation, of sorts. But still, he worked on being a more chipper version of himself, even if it didn’t work out well. Jared eyed Mirah and shook his head. “Here to not get any sun? Just for the plants?” The Jensaarai smirked as he looked over the scientist. He called her up for a certain plant. Still, he didn’t suspect that she’d look so… not cut out for it.

“Well, the tropics, for starters.” Jared grinned as he surveyed Mirah for a minute or two. “Whole planet is like this. Warm, inviting. My father started a Temple here. Working with the Explorers Corp of the Jedi. A nice training ground for the scienstist on the go.” That was a big part of why he invited here here. But the second part?

“Plus, you were looking for weird plants, right? This planet is a treasure trove of weird flora, and fauna.” Tropics and large oceans, obviously would do that.

Mirah Mackali

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Let's pretend that was this account

 

[Mirah Mackali]

“Tropics,” she echoed, glumly. How about installing world-wide climate control and lower the temperature just a touch? And though her expression remained unchanged, she was thinking. A place for scientists on the go? She definitely fit that category. Her ship, the Green Thunder, was something of a mobile laboratory. She did her research there, with little need to ever check in at the lab. But it would be nice to have a place to go to ground, so to speak.

But her grumpy expression dropped away when he mentioned weird plants.

Her sensor scans hadn't indicated anything out of the norm, but she did know that these types of environments had quite a lot of 'wiggle-room.' Plants, like any life, adapted to even the minor changes. And sometimes, that meant some really wild mutations.

“Weird plants?” Her eyes were wide. “Yeah. Have you seen anything unusual?”

Jared Starchaser

 

[Jared Starchaser]

The tropics were nice, Jared didn’t mind it. He remembered Corellia, it’d eben a while since any sort of family trip, but he was one who would make his way to the estate, where some other Starchasers remained. Not any from his line, but from one of the other four lines did remain on the homeworld. He was a Hunter and a Jensaarai, an heir to a Jedi line, but much more than that. Watching as Mirah seemed to absolutely detest the world, he just laughed.

The island he requested she land at, and prepped for her landing clearance was a bit off the beaten path, Kattada was a world with a small population. The limits of the world have been semi-catalogued, but for a Colony World, it was still very unknown, as far as its counterparts went. It was interesting, though, from a flora and a fauna standpoint. “There are a few interesting species on this world. I’ve been told from some of the Mon Cal refugees there are odd ones beneath the water too.

“But on this island, there is something one group of long time locals calls a Strangler.” He looked at her and tipped its head. “Apparently it will hunt boars and the like with vines?” It was a reason he brought his lightsaber. He had a padded torso piece to help with any kinetic issues from the plant, and was stepping closer to one of the crates, opening it, there were a number of drone-droids, miniature probe droids for scanning.

“These are going to start mapping the island and cataloguing vegetation at a greater rate too.”

Mirah Mackali

 

[Mirah Mackali]

Mirah listened to Jared, trying to contain her excitement – and hiding it behind a deadpan expression. “My ship can go underwater,” she motioned to the Green Thunder, and back Jared, suddenly feeling a bit awkward about the name.

But she visibly brightened when he mentioned a vine-like plant.

“Strangler?” she asked, and then nodded. “Cool.”

A vine that was capable of taking out boars and probably people, too? Now, that was something she wanted to see for herself. As Jared opened a crate, she busied herself putting on a pair of gloves and taking out a few sample containers and a scanner.

“Alright, so...” she said, sheepish for sounding so eager before. “Let's go, I guess.”

And as they started off, she looked over at him. “Remember that blossom from the desert?” she asked. “It died.”

Ever the downer. But Mirah had a theory – it died because she'd taken it, not Jared. If memory served, the blossom had first responded to him, not her. And that specific variety had been rumored to make a connection with force-sensitives. By taking it back to her lab, she'd deprived it of something vital to its survival. But, she supposed it didn't really matter now.

“What have you been doing since... then?”

It was an attempt at conversation, even if she hated small talk.

Jared Starchaser

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Jared watched her for a second, smiling and just generally enjoying a day he wasn’t out hunting. He didn’t always a business face, like many hunters, Bounty or Monster alike, and really did relish the days he could be enjoying the galaxy, and the worlds, the way the Force worked. Today was one of those. A nod came from him and he smiled at her. “I’ve seen a few that do that, mostly Mon Cal in construction. I think one of the Witches around here has one. Who made yours?”

Ships were a big turn on for Starchasers, so he liked to see the various ones out there. Nodding when she said cool to the name, he smirked. “Yeah, they’re something different, I guess. Have seen a few others on the Outer Rim, but the worlds were… less than welcoming to outsiders.” So, he invited her here, where the Jedi were, and where he could feel welcome.

He made sure he had his lightsaber on his hip, incase they needed it, he did not plan on being lunch today. “Did it? Do you know what happened?” He watched her, and took a deeper breath to look at her in the Force. She really needed to be here, even if she was in the AgriCorps and not going full warrior training, she could benefit.

“A little of this, a little of that. Keeping the peace along the Rim, mostly. Not with people, but with… creatures out there. Wrangling them, basically.” He shrugged as he walked under a low branch. Small talk was tricky, but he did want to impress people, and not just be some sword-jockey.

Or worse, fighter jockey.

Even if he totally was both.

Mirah Mackali