Crashing

[Kerri Aislinn]

*Beep! Beep! beep!*

An R9 unit spun its dome rapidly, screeching in terror. Warning signs and red glaring holographs appeared everywhere as the glass cracked under severe pressure. Fire and smoke burned around the light freighter's frame, clouds bursting apart to reveal a populated grassland. They were falling. They were crashing.

The droid disconnected itself from its port, racing towards the pilot and raging on about their situation.

The female pilot grunted as she tightly gripped the controls. "Ugh… I know, R9, I know! We're crashing! Thanks for telling me for the millionth time with your crabby attitude!"

The droid made a sound much like a human scoff, turning its dome a little to the left.

"And don't give me that look!"

As the pale skinned terrelian watched their ship fall, her senses shook her as she noticed a group of farming areas below. A willful and violent 'no' echoed across the ship; she yanked at the controls the best she could. "Can't crash into those people!"

Sheer willpower caused her to think with clarity. The girl turned harshly to the droid, messy caramel hair flying, "Wake Craze up. Get under the bunk and you two take cover. We're coming in nasty…"

The droid bopped as it turned to a slumbering white anooba that somehow was sleeping through all this. The pilot pulled at the controls, pulling the shabby freighter away from the populace and towards the ongoing green hills. She pulled the battered ship in the direction of a smoother curve between two hills. As the glass frame began to shatter, the tattooed girl squinted, pulling her alien feet against the edge of the control pad. "We're coming in hot!"

Using her physical power, she jumped out of the seat and grabbed onto a pipe at the other side of the room. Pulling a durasteel box over her thin body, she recoiled when an ear piercing noise and earthquake force shake overrode her senses. Glass shattered as the floor shook beneath them. The droid flew out of the defensive cover beneath the bed he and the dog-like creature hid under. The girl lost her grip and her hand slipped from the pipe. She slid down the floor before the ship stopped. As smoke completely blocked any vision of the outside world, the girl reached down to a wrist holopad and pulled up a scanning system, scanning herself, her droid, and her canine companion.

"I'm fine… droid's fine… Craze's fine… the ship's not fine."

…

"At least we're alive."

From the side of the ship he crashed in, the droid sputtered what sounded like gibberish out. The girl immediately lashed out at him, "It's not my fault, it's the ship!"





[member=Tempest]

 

[Tempest]

[member="Kerri Aislinn"]
The crash had not gone unnoticed. Arkas was a world with relatively small population numbers, and it was entirely under the protection/control of Firemane.
Thus, as soon as the ship had gone down on the Markhan Savannah, a message had swiftly been passed up the chain of command.

Major Tempest, who had been there to supervise the transfer of newly freed slaves to their new life, was kicking her heels at the base when an officer approached.
“Ma’am, reports that a light freighter has gone down. We’re scrambling a rescue and security team, was there anything you wanted to add?”
The officer was clearly bucking for promotion by making herself useful and helpful. Tempest grunted, but then considered that this would be much better than sitting around Freetown.
“I’ll come along, consider it a snap inspection,” she added.

Therefore, it would be less than half an hour from when the ship crashed to when two ships appeared. One set down filled with soldiers and medical staff, whilst the other stayed airborne. Its weapons were not pointed at the crashed ship…but they could be if needed!

Tempest was dressed in standard combat armour and had her lightsabre and pistol at her side as she approached the wrecked ship.
“Hello? Is anyone alive? Do you need help?” one of the medics called.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

The smoke rising from the ship's metal frame like burning marshmallow was the only thing to respond to the call immediately. It was several long, aging seconds before…

…

… an R9 Unit arose from the ashes! It floated down from it's jetpack system, landing atop the freighter's graffiti cluttered surface. It took a look around, turning its dome as it noticed all the people. It seemed to mumble to itself in its gibberish at first, then immediately activated its jets and getting back into its broken ship. As it ascended, it made a squeal that sounded only too similar to the common tongue, 'we're saved!'

A moment or so after the droid went down, the girl came up. Leaping out of the shattered glass, the terellian landed on a beam. As the wind blew, it softly rustled her dark blond hair. As orange eyes looked out, she looked at the transportation and… gunship… units with caution. Ready to jump back down any second, the lone traveler looked at the rescue unit.

"Yes, I'm alive."

As an anooba growled and started barking aggressively from inside the ship, she eyed a young woman wearing a lightsaber on her hip. Wary, she grew visibly more cautious as she turned and shouted at her canine to hush. Looking back at the "rescue party," she waited to see if this apparent force user was anything like the Sith she loathed…





[member="Tempest"]

 

[Tempest]

[member="Kerri Aislinn"]
Tempest stepped forward as the woman bounded from inside the ship to land on the beam. She knew vaguely of the natives of Terallia, but had never met one in person.

“I’m Tempest, Order of Fire. We saw your ship going down and came to investigate. If you or anyone aboard is hurt we can treat you. We’ll also be curious to know what you were doing here, your ship was not on the scheduled list of arrivals.”
The perky Lieutenant came over to her. “Ma’am, she and the animal appear to be the only life-signs aboard,” she said softly.
Tempest nodded. “Overwatch One, you may return to base,” she ordered through her commlink. Obligingly the gunship banked hard and sped off into the distance.
“Come on down and we can discuss things,” she invited the captain.

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Order of Fire?? Oh no.... Not another organization or corp!

A forced smile crossed her face as she leapt down from the top of the ship. Crossing her arms as she eyed the older woman, she tilted her head.

"We're all fine. My ship isn't fine, but droid, dog, and I are fine. We had to come out of hyperspace somewhere. Our ship was already in bad enough of a condition." She looked back into the ship for a moment to see that her puppy was getting even more aggresive, mane perked up as he noticed how close his mentor was to strangers. Rolling her eyes, she breifly com-linked her droid, "R9, please make the mutt calm down..."

Turning the com-link off, she looked back up at this Tempest, "Believe me, I hate the fact that I landed here just as much as you probably do. I could just fix my ship and get off this planet, we'd never cross paths again."

A moment of worry crossed her face, then she sighed and pointed at her ship, "If you want to search my pile of junk to see if I'm part of the Jedi or Sith or anything, go ahead. The only things in my holopad history is how-to sites, market stores, maps, and... funny tooka videos... You'lll just need me inside twith you o get my hunk of wolf under control. He's not used to strangers."


[member="Tempest"]

 

[Tempest]

[member="Kerri Aislinn"]
Tempest looked at the girl, paused, and then nodded.
“I don’t think there’s anything much to worry about. A couple of my girls will help salvage anything which might still be recoverable.”
It would also let them have a discreet look at the ship’s interior. Tempest doubted this girl was a smuggler…and if she was she was the galaxy’s worst!

Tempest and the girl were left mostly alone. “What’s your name, dear? You don’t need to worry about us. We’ll help you to the local town and give you a price for the scrap of your ship. It won’t be a huge amount, but it should let you get a shuttle back home.”

She reached out with the Force. What would she sense? Would she sense Kerri’s gift?

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

As the wind softly rustled the grassy hills surrounding them, Kerri listened to the white haired woman as she spoke in a soft, kind voice. Intuitively, Kerri though of the chance it was a front. However, the pessimistic girl refused to let it show.

Crossing her arms, the teen raised an amused eyebrow, "Sounds kind of okay… See, the scrap of my ship may be a pile of junk; but it's my pile of junk."

Proudly using her arm to direct attention to the smoldering junk ship behind her, she grinned, "Her name is Murderstroke! And she's-" The sound of the wing creaking clangingly and falling interrupted her. After wincing, she nervously chuckled, "-a work in progress…"

She mumbled to herself, "Just added a new coat of paint…"

Another chuckle later, she waved her hands in a 'no can do' fashion, "So no, I'm not selling this thing. I'm a licensed engineer. I can fix it."

As the droid came out again, it babbled in complaint.

"Yeah, it's going to take time! I know!" Kerri shouted at the droid, "Especially now!"

After kicking a piece of scrap metal, she turned back to the woman, "Also, this ship is my home-"

-It struck her. A feeling of… internal reach… What was that? Visibly put on edge, the girl squeezed her arms before lowering them. "Uh, what is that?"






[member="Tempest"]

 

[Tempest]

[member="Kerri Aislinn"]
Tempest raised an eyebrow as a large piece of the ship fell off.
“It’s going to need more than a coat of paint,” she commented dryly. She noted that the girl had once again avoided saying her name. It was getting to the point that she would start insisting.

“We can’t just leave it here in the middle of a field. We’ll move it to a hanger in Freetown and you can work on it if you think you can do something with it. You’ll need to pay for the hanger rental and somewhere to stay. Have you got the cash? Silver Jedi Credits, Tygaran Dati or Alliance Credits will work.”

Tempest frowned, thinking about what she had sensed. “Have you received any Force training? I sense…I sense it in you.”

 

[Kerri Aislinn]

Tilting her head, the girl blinked, "Have some credits, multiple kinds, in the ship." She pointed to the ship behind her, "Only really heard mentioning of those corporations in the university, so I doubt I have those. Finding an online currency exchange could fix that…"

Turning towards the direction at the ship, she frowned. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a card, "A became an engineer and pilot in a prestigious academy on Corusant. Hothvard University. Despised that planet. The moment I graduated I bailed."

She handed the woman her license, which also had her information on it. "I'll need to dig out my datapad from the rubble. Want to come and see that I'm not a criminal?"

She looked back at her, eyebrow raised, "At the academy they tested us to fish out any potential new brainwashed acolyte dummies. I found my results before they observed them and tweaked it. They never knew, but I did. If I were to use it I would be forced to fight for the same people I hated. Out of habit I never explored this force sensitivity thing… Thing is, I've had these odd moments of "hyper-intuition" and bad luck vibes here and there. Has that something to do with force?"


[member="Tempest"]

 

[Tempest]

[member="Kerri Aislinn"]
Tempest nodded to the last. “It does indeed. It’s a sign you are sensitive to the Force. You are able to feel it, even if you can’t consciously use it right now. Many great pilots do so, crediting ‘instinct’ or ‘gut feeling’ with what is really the Force.”

“Sure, lead the way,” she said, moving up towards the ship. It really was a mess. An entrance hatch had become buckled and damaged in the crash. Tempest narrowed her eyes, extended her hands and gestured.
With a grinding crunch the hatch was yanked by invisible hands and torn open. Was Tempest just showing off? Possibly, but she didn’t want to go clambering around.
The sound of suspicious barking came from within.
“Your valiant hound, huh? Best tell him I’m not the enemy,” she said.

Examining the license she nodded. “Coruscant is a dump. All fine and glittering on top, but beneath is a pestilent ruin of crime, decay and misery. No one has ever fixed it. No one can ever fix it. Still, at least you got something from it.”