Escape From Thule (Open)

[Corrax Talrus]

Spoiler

In the thread The Silver Jedi Come (Dominion of Malachor V + Sith Order Rebellion), Corrax' fighter was shot down over Thule.

This thread takes place after the events of Omega, as well as after the events of Ghosts and Glass [Commonwealth Dominion of Cerea].

[member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Horus"] | [member="Mia Conner"]

​TL;DR - Corrax is alive, pieced together a comms unit and sent a message in morse code on Commonwealth emergency channels.

Location: ​Thule, Middle of nowhere
Objective: ​Stay alive until rescue arrives, or an opportunity to escape presents itself


​How long had it been? A week? A month? Three months? How could you even tell? Given no time to research Thule before leaving to assist the Silver Jedi; don't even know how long the daily rotation period is. Chrono broken in the crash, unable to calculate hours or minutes. How long is a day? It was several day/night cycles before the arrival of the thought to start counting. Not sure how many were missed; seventeen since then - marking them with igneous rock on the cave wall in the shattered cliffs. A shelter after those first few nights; those nights when death was certain.

​​Corrax huddled in on himself against the far back wall of the small cave as lightning illuminated the area around him. A smoky haze filled the temporary shelter, remnants of the fire he'd built earlier that evening to cook the coney-like creature he'd trapped in the outlying savannahs that morning. A small structure stood over the firepit he'd used, built from pieces of the wreckage from his X-22 Drexl​-class fighter, lashed together with coils of fried wire from the ejection pod's circuitry. He'd been fortunate that the wreckage of his downed fighter had landed so far from any major cities on Thule, given that it was now under control of Darth Carnifex and the Black Empire. Of course, there was no way that Corrax could have known that. He just knew that basic survival training was to stay in the area of the crash for as long as possible, unless it was unsafe. He was pretty certain this entire planet was unsafe, however.

The nearby grasslands were rife with game, so long as he could manage to trap it, as well as crisscrossed with streams of fresh water. It was a veritable paradise if one could forget the black, sooty rock that lanced from the pristine savannah's. Charred from the near-nightly lightning storms that seemed to roam the planet, the area reeked of sulfur and smoke, mock imitation of every culture's mythos regarding fire-breathing serpents.

Corrax pulled the emergency thermal blanket tighter around himself, doing his best to block out the sharp cracks of thunder that echoed off the blackened teeth of the prairie; not that he feared the sound, no he'd long gotten past the terror of the storms. He just needed sleep, and with the deafening roar of continual thunder it was difficult to come by, and more necessary with every passing day. He was exhausted.

Over time, the storm passed overhead, exchanging the overpowering auditory assaults with dull, rumbling quakes that sounded for all the world like music to Corrax' ears. Slipping quickly into unconsciousness, he forgot all the horrors of being trapped alone on Thule. Until his dreams came.

Light crept into Corrax' awareness slowly, followed by other senses telling his body that he was awake. The smell of acrid smoke confused him at first, as it did every morning. His back once again reminded him that he was to old to sleep on a cave floor, and a dull ache in his left calf muscle reminded him of the injury he'd received on arrival. He wasn't sure how it had happened, but the first thing he'd noticed on exiting what was left of his fighter was an eighteen inch piece of conduit entering one side of his calf and exiting the other. Finding the emergency med kit and taking care of that had been the first order of business. He'd been fortunate that it hadn't severed anything important. It was healing nicely, but he still had reminders of the damage everyday.

Standing, he folded the thermal blanket neatly and laid it in the back of the cave before moving up beside the remnants of last night's fire. Using the conduit he'd removed from his leg on arrival, he stoked the coals under his makeshift cooking apparatus and watched as a bit of smoke rose from the pit. Using the emergency water pouch (which he'd refilled many times now), he drank his fill before leaving the temporary shelter to check on his project.

In a hollow outcropping across from him, under another of the jagged, lightning-attracting cliffs, was a mess of equipment from the downed fighter. Walking over to it, he removed a second thermal blanket, relieved to see that it hadn't been damaged in the storm. It was the communications array from his X-22 Drexl​, a powerful transmitter made for recon missions. He'd almost lost it when he'd first arrived, before he'd known about the storms. Fortunately, he'd only had to throw away a few ruined components and about six meters of wiring that had been fried from the massive amounts of electricity. He'd thought the project was over then, but several days later had stumbled across a downed TIE-fighter, its pilot still strapped into the harness. Glazed eyes stared at him accusingly as he'd scavenged the parts he could use. Contorted muscles and a jaw wrenched open at unnatural angles indicated that the pilot had been alive until the first night, when the lightning storm came. Corrax shivered at the memory, for the hundredth time asking himself if he should have given the pilot a respectful burial instead of leaving him there, a grotesque monument to the rule of nature on Thule.

Pulling a loop of wiring from under the comms device, Corrax' heart picked up a beat or two. Yesterday, he'd managed to repair what he thought was the last component he'd need to get the comms unit up and running. Racing against the storm, he'd finished and then tucked it away inside his tattered flight suit pocket, unwilling to risk the precious piece in what he estimated would be a long night. He'd been correct in his weather assessment, and was glad he'd decided to keep the piece with him. Now, he only had to wire it into the unit and power it up.

An hour later, the piece was tucked neatly into the housing, connected in all of the requisite places. It was time. Flipping a toggle, he watched as the array lit up. He was unable to receive messages, he knew, but he hoped he could send them out. Best case scenario, any message he sent would have to be in code, as the sensitive auditory inputs had been utterly fried by the uncaring electrical storms. Everything lit up green on the small monitor in front of him, and his heart raced as he began to click out a message on emergency Commonwealth channels.

C.A.G. stop T.H.U.L.E. stop ​S.O.S.​

Having sent the message, he set the comms unit to repeat until the power cells were drained. It would probably last a day, two at the best. With that done, he set out for the streams about two kliks out to refill his water bags and try to find dinner. The message would only help if he managed to stay alive.

 

[Areiana_Slayer]

Areiana "Areia" Slayer had been a smuggler most of her life, most would call her...well they would call her many things that wont all that nice but this what she grow up knowing. Her father had been a Jedi but left when he fall in love with her mother. Her mother she was told died when she was very young and unable to return the Jedi temple her father became a smuggler and she was carrying on where he left off when he died. She was Alone all but the crazy little R2 unit she had picked up at some dump years ago and repaired. He had a wire or something loose and she had been meaning to repair it but she grow use to the droid so decide not to fix him. He was good little co-pilot if nothing else.

She took a deep breath letting it slowly out. She was sitting in the pilot seat of the YT-1300 freighter as it floated in space. She had time to spare so she was taking the time to meditate before she had to meet up with the buyer. Her father had taught her everything he could about the force before he died. If she had been in the academy she would have gone through the trials to become a Jedi but that was long past a distant memory now. Areia for the the most part hide the fact she could use the force even hiding her father's lightsaber in to pieces on her belt right beside her blaster. She hadn't had to use it yet the blaster had yet to let her down.

She took another breath when a loud beep filled the cockpit. Her R2 unit beeped at her and she opened her right green eye looking at the droid. He beeped again at her and she now opened the other which was blue and frowned at the droid. "Yeah yeah i hear it Snips I'm not deaf."
She leaned over and hit a button on the com before sitting back.

C.A.G. stop T.H.U.L.E. stop ​S.O.S.

She brushed a strain of red hair behind her ear turning off the com before closing her eyes again. Snips ran into her chair beeping and chirping at her. She sighed "We're not a recuse ship Snip."
He beeped again at her.
"Snip we cant just stop our own delivery to recuse some random person beside that's not a good planet to go to if you get my drift, were not on the the welcome list with most people."
She laid her hands in her lap her eyes still closed, Snip made a small sound and watched a moment before going over and taping into the system from a port near the cockpit door and the ship turned and headed towards the planet. She opened her eyes turning in her seat.
"Snip what the hell are you doing!?"
The little droid beeped again at her but didn't move from the port.
"I told you were not goin..." The droid beeped at her again and she frowned at him again. "Leave him out of this...."
The droids dark purple and sliver top moved as he beeped as a person would move their hands as they talked. She sighed again rubbing her eyes.
"By the force Snip you will be the death of me....Fine..but if i die its your fault."
The droid made a nose that sounded almost like laughing.

It took a few hours to get the planet they had been fairly close. "Lets be careful we don't want anyone to know what were doing." The droid let Areia take control back of the ship and she brought the YT-1300 freighter called "golden Dragon" into the atmosphere. She turned the coms back on. She had want to wait till she got close to landing before replying to the sos in case anyone else was listening it would take time for them to find them. The ships shook slightly as it hit some bad storms. The ship was old but it wont let her down she had to trust it would get them there safely. As the ship broke through the storms the ship groin and shook and alarms sounded. Snip made a loud alarmed noise "Damn it I think one of the lightening bolts hit us the ship is overheating we need to land..find a place where we can land without being spotted.

She called through the cam using the force to try to calm herself as she spoke. "This is The golden Dragon to T.H.U.L.E. are you still in need of a recuse?"

Snip beeped loudly and she gritted her teeth cussing in almost every language she knew as the ship hit the ground hard . "Nice landing there snip.. " the droid made a long set of beeps and whisles at her as if to cuss her out. She flipped a switch turning off the alarms. "Lets just hope we can get take off and get out of here and we don't need saved our self..."

[member="Corrax Talrus"]

 

[Alleycat]

Alexandria, Fort Abenaki
CAG's Office, Main Hangar

Seriously?! How the frak did [member="Corrax Talrus"] ever find anything in his office? And what was growing in his caf mug? Mia grabbed a tissue before picking up the cup by the handle and carefully putting it into the trash receptacle for now, then setting the can outside the office door and shutting it. No that was a bad idea too… No fresh air. The door slide open once again, then the golden blonde sat down at the messy desk.

Mia had been made acting CAG ever since the Captain had been shot down over Thule while the Commonwealth was aiding the Silver Jedi in the Sith rebellion in the corresponding hex. After the order to retreat had been given by the Lord of Admirals due to the Silver Jedi glassing innocents on Korriban, Corrax's Drexl had been hit, sending the recon starfighter spinning out of control towards the surface of the planet. With the Black Empire's forces on their tails, "Raven" was unable to follow him down All she got was the initial trajectory and vector. Red Leader had been listed as MIA/KIA. It pained her to no end to lose a comrade, but more so a friend. Yeah the laid back Cassanderian was starting to grow on the former stiff Imperial.

The Commander pulled out the multiple datapads that cuttered the top of the desk and began to organize them so she could go through them. Some were just old after action reports that needed signing off, other's were requisitions for supplies that needed to get the okay too, and then there were ones she had no idea what they were about.

"Curse you Talrus… I hate your lack of organization!" Mia exclaimed to the ceiling with a fist raised in mock anger, though it wasn't really as this was going to take all night to sort out, then she let out a heavy sigh after a moment of fussing with the datapad in hand.

"What I really miss most though is nagging you on a daily basis. And I think you like it actually," the blonde mused out loud at a framed holopic of a young Corrax on the wall with some other pilots as a lone tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her free hand, then refocused on the task at hand.

[member="Horus"]

 

[Corrax Talrus]

​Thule, Shattered Plains

Cool water splashed over his face, sending chills over his body as the sun beat down on him from its highest point in the sky. Dipping his hands into the stream again, he splashed more water over his shoulders. His tattered flight suit was unzipped to his waist, shrugged off his torso with the arms tied over his hips to keep it from falling the rest of his way off. Propriety seemed a foolish concern at the moment, yet he simply couldn't bring himself to lounge by the stream in his small clothes. It was weird. The cool water felt good on his aching muscles, and relieved him from some of the heat of the noonday sun. After finding the stream, it had become a part of his daily routine to hike across the two-kilometer prairie land in order to get fresh water and clean up a bit. The cave he'd made his home in wasn't exactly a five-star resort, and washing in the crystal clear water of the prairie stream returned some semblance of normalcy to the downed pilot.

Leaning back on his haunches, he sighed deeply as he rubbed his eyes with cool, wet palms. He was tired. The nightmares had returned again, last night; visions of the crash, the lightning, the fever and chills of the first few days with his injuries, none of them new by themselves. Together, however, they were a perfect storm to create a hellish memory he wouldn't soon forget. He knew he'd been delusional for the first couple of days, which certainly added to the other-worldliness of the experience, but it certainly wouldn't be something he'd wish on any man. Not even an enemy. There was also the stabbing guilt that came with losing pilots in the engagement that had come before. Many of those pilots may well have gone EV and been picked up before Commonwealth forces left the system. If he'd returned to the ​No Land Beyond​ he'd know the count. Here, however, he was simply stuck being haunted by the display in his Drexl​ showing too many missing friendlies.

​Nothing I can do about that now,​ he thought to himself. Standing, he grabbed his makeshift fishing spear and waded knee deep into the stream. Watching as the aquatic life swam upstream around his legs, a grin passed over his face. ​One thing's for sure, since crashing here I've become a frakking barbarian ...​ The thought gave him a slight moment of mirth, as he hilariously jabbed the jury-rigged barbed point of the one-and-a-half meter conduit pole into the water repeatedly, and to no avail. He may have become a barbarian, but he still sucked at it.

As he laughed at himself, and his inability to catch himself some supper, a familiar sound drew his attention: a ship breaking atmosphere. Not a fighter, a freighter or transport by the sound of it - small to medium size. Corellian by the high-pitched whine of the engines, unless he missed his guess - which he rarely did when it came to engine components. Hurriedly, he slogged out of the stream and sat down long enough to pull his flight boots onto his feet, then grabbed his newly-filled water bags and any other equipment and made off at a quick jog toward what he'd dubbed as his base camp.

He couldn't tell where the ship had broken atmosphere, or where it was heading, but it was too much of a coincidence that it would happen to enter just hours after he'd started his distress signal ... that was assuming the signal had actually worked, however - he had no real way of knowing. He also had no way of knowing who was in the craft that he'd just heard. His hope was that it was a Commonwealth S&R team that had received the message. His fear was that it was a Black Empire craft coming to finish the job they'd started ...

He'd probably know soon enough.

[member="Mia Conner"] | [member="Areiana Slayer"]​

 

[Areiana_Slayer]

She cussed in several different lauguages as her little droid made a loud whining noise.
"YOUR THE ONE WHO WANTED TO COME!"
She growled flipping a switched shutting off the blaring alarms, before looking down at the panel "Well were going to be late for the delivery thanks snip." The droid seemed to cuss at her in beeps and whistles and she turned to look at him "Oh don't you start with me you Hunk of Junk I'll take you back to that space junk yard were I found you and this time I WILL leave you there." The droid beeped and rolled over to her shocking her in her leg she jumped.
"Oh that's how its going to be huh...well you can repair the damaged you cause while i find this person you wanted to save so bad." The droid beeped at her again and rolled into the back. Areia rolled her eyes and stood following him she went to the small armory.
She put on a what armored chest piece that looked like a thinner version of the stormtroopers chest piece but was colored black to match her robe and shirt. she slide two blasters on each hip which hide the two parts of her lightsaber well but still made it easy to get to both if she really needed them. She slide two light daggers in holsters on her wrist, sliding a smaller gun in her boot. She slide on a black hooded cloak which hide her weapons and armor and the last thing was the E-11 blaster rifle which she strapped onto her back. It had a custom paint job with strips of leather over the handles and some beads hanging off it. Sometimes she did weird stuff when she was alone in space for so long. She prob didn't need all these weapons but her father had taught her better to be safe then dead. She strapped a bag around her waist with food, water, medical supples and whatever else she would need and pulled the hood over her her hair opening the ramp.

"Im going Snips stay here watch the ship and try to get her ready to take off in case we have to leave in a hurry...And for force sake try not to brake anything." The droid made some beeps and clicks and Areia laughed walking down the ramp locking up the ship behind her. She had no idea where to even start looking for this guy. She didn't want to use the force in case someone felt it but it was looking like she had no choose.
Her father had taught her to hide that she could use the force whenever on a planet where there was other people, He feared the empire or sith finding them.
She took a deep breath and streached out with the force feeling all the trees and animals searching for a person. She could feel all the animals big and small all around them and she had to really reach out to feel him it was going to be a walk but he didn't seem hurt or in distress so that was good. She sighed opening her eyes and headed towards him*

((Sorry for the long delay on replying Iv had some internet problems))

[member="Corrax Talrus"] [member="Mia Conner"]

 

[Aro]

Arott Kaan cursed loudly as he burnt himself during an attempt to repair some of the mechanics of his dwindling, stolen speeder.

Arott had arrived to Thule a number of long days before. He had hitchhiked his way, arriving on a small cargo ship that he had planned to steal and take for his own as soon as viable. He was soon discovered and kicked off the ship - but not before having his unwanted face kicked in. Since the first altercation, he had managed to steal himself an old slug thrower rifle and a speeder. Upon a second attempt at stealing the same ship, he was ran out of town. It had taken him this long to finally escape his pursuers, and now sat alone with his broken speeder in the middle of the arid wilderness that was Thule.

He sighed and collapsed to the ground, sitting in the dirt as he analysed his situation. I need off this planet, he thought, nursing his burnt hand. He looked up at the planets sky, noting that another lightning storm was chasing him. He cursed again. He often felt the galaxy was against him - and the constant lightning storms on this planet only reassured those feelings. While considering his next move, he decided to take inventory.

Half a canteen of some highly volatile booze, a pair of macro binoculars and a handful of slugs for his weapon. He suddenly heard the high pitch whirring of engines in the passing wind. He wasn't experienced enough to know anything more than the fact it was a vehicle of some sort. He immediately thought the worst, and in a panic began to look around the area, worried his pursuers had caught up to him. Where the hell are they. They can't still be on me.. he told himself. Over and over again. He couldn't see anything or anyone. He pulled out his macro binoculars, keeping his rifle close, and had a quick scan of the horizon. Again, no-one.

He changed his gaze to upwards, scanning the sky with a grimace on his face when he saw it. It wasn't close enough for him to really identify it, and was even harder to see against a backdrop of a violent, overcast lightning storm but there was no mistaking it - a ship. He put down the binoculars, and gauged the distance. A days trek. Maybe less if I up the pace. He turned back to the speeder, giving up on fixing it. He slung his rifle over his back, his canteen by his side, and pocketed what slugs he had, and set off towards the landing ship.

"I'm getting off this ----ing rock.." he grumbled aloud "..one way or another".

[member="Areiana Slayer"] [member="Corrax Talrus"] [member="Mia Conner"]

 

[Areiana_Slayer]

((so sorry it took so long to reply I had a death in the family))

Areia tracked through the trees holding a little device that showed where the transmission came from She was hoping it would be close enough that she could get the guy and be back before dark and they had Lucky crashed Very close to where it came from. She had used her ability to hide herself from the force as she walked not sure if this was a trap or not.

It didn't take long to get to the place she brushed some red hair from her eyes pulling the hood from her face and looked around calling out
"Hello anyone out there?" She could see where someone had been walking, Lucky her father had trained her in many things and basic tracking had been one. She followed the tracks her hand on her blaster on her belt now ready to grab it if she needed it. She could only hope that her ship was repaired when she got back. She didnt like being in one place for to long. She had heard that there was a bounty out on her head, lucky it was for her alive but she wasn't going to let them have her if she could help it so she wouldn't stay in one place for too long.

She followed the tracks to a cave. Hidding behind a rock she pulled one of her blasters from her hip hostler reading it just in case she needed it.
"Hello is anyone in there, I mean no harm I got a radio transmission of someone needing help."

[member="Aro"] [member="Corrax Talrus"]