Kale and Jorin hiked through the terrain for a bit before Kale called and Jorin took another reading and frowned at the results,
"Buir, these results are confusing."
Kale linked the tracer readings to his helmet and frowned,
"We do appear to be closing on the known source of the distress call, but the angle of deflection is all wrong. What does that mean?" Kale asked Jorin always ready to turn a problem into a training lesson.
Jorin rechecked the angle of deflection and the answer came to him,
"It's a downward deflection. The source of the distress call must be underground."
Kale nodded his approval,
"So what's our next course of action adiik?" He asked.
Jorin turned thoughtful again and then activated his holomap,
"Use the topography to predict the most likely place or places that has an entrance or underground path to the source of the distress signal or the structure that would be housing it." Kale smiled under his helmet as Jorin began plotting possible location points.
"Ok it looks like two immediate possibilities. One here at this reasonably flat area where we could possibly find ventilation shafts to use. Second could be somewhere along this rockface here where the main entrance could be concealed by terrain or possibly holographic generator."
"Very good." Kale agreed,
"Which one do you think would be best to pursue first?"
Jorin pointed to the flatter area,
"We would have a tough time finding the main entrance and it's more likely to be guarded with sensors or surveillance. So trying to find a vent shaft would be the better option." When Kale nodded and gestured for Jorin to take point. As they made their way toward the plateau, Kale began switching his vision modes toward the infrared spectrum. If Jorin was right about vent shafts, then perhaps they could pick up some thermal ejections or at least air density fluctuations. After ten minutes of scanning, nothing. Not a trace of thermal or air density changes. It wasn't until Jorin's foot smacked into something metallic that they found it. Not knowing what he hit, both Mandalorians froze. Kale ever so slowly moved toward Jorin and checked to see what his foot had contacted. Kale sighed in relief and gave the all clear hand signal. Jorin swallowed and sighed,
"Sorry Buir."
Kale waved it off,
"It happens to everyone every so often. Just pay more attention next time, ok?" When Jorin nodded, they went around what appeared to be the end of a large vertical tube. On top was metal grating that appeared to be one big piece.
"Well it looks like we're going to have to cut through this if we want to proceed. You start there, I'll start over here and we'll meet in the middle. I want a very good sized hole that we can fly through if we're coming out hot." Jorin nodded and they both went to work. With the two of them working together, it didn't take long to cut through the metal grid. They both watched the big piece of metal fall into the shaft to see how far it was to the bottom. Finally when it made a dull clang at the bottom, Jorin looked at Kale,
"I'd say a good 30 meters down?"
Kale nodded and then drew his modified twin DH-17 blaster pistols as he got ready to head down. He didn't want to use his primary weapon, the legendary
Brumal Dawn, unless absolutely necessary.
"I'll take point on this part." Kale stated before he stepped off the ledge and began falling down the shaft. He used his jetpack to control his descent and switched his vision to low light when the light from above began to fade. When he landed, he found himself on another metal grid and a large inactive vent fan underneath. He signaled Jorin to come down as he saw a hatch nearby. Kale was examining the control panel when Jorin made his say down.
"Looks like it's been powered down. See if we can't cut our way into the hatch or blow it while I can see what I can do with control console."
Jorin shook his head,
"It's a heavy hatch Buir. Looks like reinforced Durasteel. Take quite a bit to blow through it and it might collapse the vent shaft if we did." Kale nodded as he played with the innards of the control panel he got open,
"Alright. Let me see if I can hotwire the power...there..." The front of the control panel lit up,
"Great now we just need it to open."
He had just the tool for that. He pulled out what looked like an old Imperial code cylinder which was in fact a custom made data spike. He installed it in the port and sent a coded signal to Rascal who was maintaining low orbit in the Iron Sword.
"Rascal, I got a hatch here I need you to slice into." Kale almost laughed at hearing Rascal grumbling bleeps and tones as he replied, "
Just do it you pile of bolts or next time I see you, I'm going to put salt water in your oil bath." That got Rascal's attention because not 30 seconds later, the hatch slid politely open,
"Thank you Rascal and make sure it stays open incase we need to leave in a hurry. Out." Jorin unslung his modified A280C blaster rifle and the two Mandalorians made their way out of the vent shaft into what looked to be a maintenance hall.
After going about 10 meters in, a warning beep sounded indicating that their comms with their ship had been lost.
"Must be too deep or their is shielding around." He considered the situation and saw how close they were getting to the source of the distress beacon,
"Well, let's see if anyone is around..." Kale activated his commlink and began sending out a signal on all common Mandalorian frequencies,
"To anyone hearing this transmission, this is Karjr Kale Onara answering the distress call of my vod. If anyone is receiving this, respond immediately." Both of them then waited to see if there any responses as the message played and replayed over and over again. He'd give anyone about five minutes to reply before proceeding.
TAG: Fenn Stag, Romul Saxon, OPEN