Healing Waters - SJO Dominion of the Manaan Hex

[Ciana Teigra]

Surly Science Man (she hadn't caught his name if he had given it) was still full of questions, but she noticed just a little edge out of his tone. It appeared she had been successful in putting him in his place for the time being.

He started asking about the Progenitor, the supposed legendary origin of Kolto, but she was already shaking her head before he finished speaking.

"Believe me, I've already asked. The Selkath government won't let us near the Hrakert Rift. Which is fine, as long as they continue to supply us with steady Kolto. Production isn't really the issue so much as quality. We're trying to bring Kolto on par with Bacta in this experiment."

Inside her lab, she led them to the far wall, lined dozens of jars of Kolto held in storage racks. There were jars of other substances - Bacta of various grades produced by the SJO itself.

"Our experiments so far have been testing the effectiveness of normal Kolto against our enhanced samples."

She led them to a workstation, where she brought up some holograms of previous tests. It was racks of synthetically grown tissue, all possessing freshly inflicted lacerations to simulate wounds. In the hologram, each meatrack was submerged in different vats of kolto and bacta, then the video accelerated to show the flesh healing. All of them did, but some better than others. On one end, there were wild uncontrolled growths - cancer - and then on the other, there wasn't even a hint of scar tissue.

"As you can see, we've been seeing some promising results with our enhanced kolto, matching or exceeding the performance of even high-grade bacta, but our results have been inconsistent, related to the imbuement process itself. By nature, it's all usually been done by hand through direct induction of energy, which results in huge differences in quality. At this point, we've proven that we can boost the performance of Kolto, but the next step is standardizing the process, which involves crafting new automata to replace individual craftsman."

She looked at Prince Caeyden, who had indicated earlier that he had some skill with imbuement, then back to the stranger. "Any ideas that you or anyone may possess would be greatly appreciated. We have workshops on site for fabrication."

[member="Ye Hyonu"] [member="Caedyn Arenais"] [member="Rachel Taff"]

 

[Ye Hyonu]

[SIZE=10pt]Hyonu wandered following the woman along with his assistant and the boy. He listened and was silent for probably the longest time Rachel had ever heard him. The explanation was interesting and it seemed that the research was coming along nicely for the most part. She explained that the government wasn’t letting them near the rift. The lack of smile only made a longer frown, he looked for a moment like a child that was just told that he couldn’t have candy for dessert. Hyonu stopped frowning and looked towards Rachel – who seemed upset. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Emotions were torn as he wanted to focus whole-heartedly on the experiments, but he knew his responsibilities and the girl was earning a soft spot from the man. He moved towards her and stood beside her and his forced awkward smile spread across his face. “Your skills will grow here and be beneficial for the experiments. Come here.” He patted her shoulder awkwardly and then waved her over towards the meatrack that had the odd growths on it. Pointing he looked to his apprentice. “Ms. Taff as you can see there is a rapid growth of cells here, which has caused these tumors on the flesh. These can be bad for the cells, but could this also be beneficial?” He asks the question, to help the girl think and focus what they needed to be doing. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Dr. Teigra. Do you know what is triggering the rapid multiplying of the cells in this specimen? I’m quite curious to see where along mitosis that things change or begin to work rapidly.” Social skills weren’t Hyonu’s strongest skills, but he did remember he forgot to introduce himself to the woman. It could have been that he expected everyone in the room to know who he was, but if his mother knew he didn’t introduce himself to a woman she would turn in her grave. “One more thing Dr. Teigra. My name is Ye Hyonu, or Dr. Ye.” Something pulled at the back of his head and then mentally smacked him. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Moment’s like this made him believe in ghosts knowing that the head smack was something his mother was fond of doing. A soft groan under his breath he adjusted his Winsor knot once more and his throat cleared. “If you wish, you may call me Hyonu.” Turning away he quickly busied his attention with the specimens. [/SIZE]

[member="Ciana Teigra"] [member="Rachel Taff"] [member="Caedyn Arenais"]

 

[Althea Becket]

Althea continued to sip her slush drink, barely staving off a brain-freeze. Her eyes darted towards the swoop track, watching as the swoops passed by at an alarmingly fast pace. The sheer speed of the small crafts made her mouth drop open; the straw fell away, making room for a wide smile. Thea’s gaze returned swiftly to the blonde man, brows arching.

“M-Me… hired?” she could only stammer in response, until he explained.

It really was strange how things worked out, Thea thought to herself. Happy coincidences aside, this seemed like a good chance to make a few credits. Narrowing her gaze at the image projected, she recognized their current location and where the man wanted to go.

“I was half-joking before,” She chuckled, but quickly added, “Oh! But I wasn’t joking about the shuttle, of course. It does go underwater,” Thea gave him a reassuring nod. “I’ll take you there.”

When he mentioned pay, she waved her hand. She’d truly have done it for free, had she not been in such a dire need at the moment. Scooting to the edge of her seat, she extended a hand that was clad in a fingerless glove.

“We can go now, if you want. My ship’s not far. I’m Althea Becket, but you can call me Thea,” She canted her head politely, “What would a fellow like you want to see out…there?” Thea nodded back towards the exit, as though they could see the watery surface of Manaan right there.

Waiting for them back in the spaceport was the Stargazer, Thea’s trusty transport ship. It certainly wasn’t the prettiest ship parked there today, but it was certainly the best in Thea’s eyes. However, she silently wondered at the state of the ship’s interior… she hadn’t been expecting to bring anyone through, after all.

But, Murphy would be happy to see a new person. How that cat did like people.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Samael Snowsong]

Rachel pouted as much as her master [member="Ye Hyonu"] when they were told they couldn't go to the harken rift. She felt like she was just told she couldn't ride the best roller coaster in the world but she had been told about it in great detail. She followed her master and the woman [member="Ciana Teigra"] further in. She watched as holograms were shown to her. She pondered each quietly.

Then her master asked her about the tumour and asked how it could be beneficial. She thought about it before answering. "It could be beneficial to regrow organs without cloning them. Just as long as we cut it off soon enough to allow it to become it's own organ or amount of cells?" She thought that might be the correct answer. She wasn't entirely confident still off balanced from the idea of a boy younger than her knowing more.

Rachel nodded "Standardising the process makes sense, some people pour more energy in than normal, hence the cancerous growths, or at least that's my assumption. Might I ask how you are planing to standardise the input of force energy and how do we know what level is required to make the kolto work faster and not create growths?" She would be interested to hear what this woman responded with.

[member="Caedyn Arenais"]

 

[Ugohr Poof]

Objective: Renovating Ahto
Location: Manaan

And now that the dietary components of the project were taken care of, the Gungan could sit back and relax while other aspects of the project were being discussed, such as other living quarters and transportation requirements. And, with that, there were implications for the platform's powerplant and other utilities, which needed not concern him. The Selkath saw fit to invite all invited parties regardless of what their stake will be, no matter the stake's size. He accepted going in that he was a minor participant, as would any restaurant franchisor in any given project of that nature. As a result, he spent hours listening in to various engineering discussions in which he had no clue whatsoever about, with financing being much more familiar to him, but he did not intervene about financing until spoken to. On the other hand, many of the engineering-related parties had very limited knowledge of financing, so the Selkath had to ensure that they would be talking about financing in terms these stakeholders would understand, and they assumed most stakeholders only knew the very basic.

 

[Caedyn Arenais]

The Lambent Strain (Science).​

Location: Hospital Cruiser Boram.​

Appearance & Gear: Jedi Attire, Lightsaber.​

Companion: LK-EX1000 "Lexas" (Droid).​

[member="Ciana Teigra"] | [member="Ye Hyonu"] | [member="Rachel Taff"]​

​

​

​

Ciana Teigra seemed nice for a Scientist compared to the other male, though Caedyn couldn't decide whether that was because he was so focused on the work they were supposed to be doing there or if it was something wrong that he might have said. Either way, the Woman glanced at Caedyn in passing as she spoke of fabrication workshops and he smiled in return, grateful to simply be included in part of the discussion. Being a young adult with such little experience in such matters did little to distance his emotions from the immediate environment that he found himself in and given his general lack of confidence, the feeling of being left on the outside of things had put him in something of an awkward feeling where he otherwise was left to look around the place in search of something that might stick out to him as familiar or an opportunity to prove useful to the crew of the 'Boram'.

"Excuse me Ms. Teigra" Caedyn spoke up politely, hoping to steal her attention for but a moment. "If you would like me to try to use the Force on this stuff, I could give that a shot somewhere?" his choice of words was terribly casual given his surrounding peers, though Caedyn wasn't accustomed to having to portray himself with a certain level of influence or etiquette, he didn't much like having to pretend to be someone he wasn't and at his age, it was rarely a priority on a young man's mind to want to act all uptight and such. At-least, that was in his experience and living, thus far.

Despite his informal choice of language, his eyes left the woman to search for these fabrication station's that she had suggested. His gaze carrying his attention momentarily over towards Rachel Taff and her Master (though Caedyn knew this not), seeing that they were busying themselves already. At his side, his Droid stood in silent observation of the specimens upon each table, never wandering far from the lad's position as if in fear of losing him. The ever watchful and loyal droid was quickly becoming a likable presence in Caedyn's life, given he'd bought the thing cheap off of the Holo-net.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Thankfully, the woman had immediately taken him up on his offer. The Force did work in mysterious ways. Before his training on Ando Prime, Cassius would have rarely had such a chance encounter. His stronger connection to the Force must have helped in steering him in the right direction, and perhaps the woman too. She had that spark, that energy inside of her that so many people had these days. It was raw, untamed… perhaps she didn’t even know.

“Cassius,” he introduced himself, taking her hand and giving it a firm shake. It was strange, but Cassius suddenly felt very at home with that interaction. Bowing amongst Jedi had always been weird for him. His days as a fighter pilot were still with him, when people shook hands and were more casual.

He hopped up out of his seat, eager to get going. As much as he liked to watch swoop races, he had work to do. Not to mention the fact that he was an A-wing pilot – speeds like that were like walking in the park for him.

When inquired as to what he was so interested in out there, Cassius explained, “Hopefully, there’s an old Rakatan Infinite Empire outpost. Not sure if you’ve ever heard of them, but they used to rule pretty much the whole galaxy tens of thousands of years ago. I’m an archaeologist, see… studying history is my niche.”

Soon enough, they were in the hangar and standing before Thea’s ship. Cassius raised an eyebrow. He had to admit, it was of an… interesting design. His mind wandered to that of an Endorian chicken… and quickly chided himself for it. If this was her personal ship, he was sure she loved it as much as he loved his Stardust Melody.

“Whew… you fly this thing all by yourself?” Cassius wondered out loud, mildly impressed if it was true. It had to be at least fifty meters long – ships like that usually had at least a crew of three.

[member="Althea Becket"]

 

[Thal Mantis]

BYOO
Waters of Manaan
Swimming Platform

He stood at the edge. The pale blue water reflected his weathered, bulky frame. He curled his fists at his sides. The ocean's edge lapped at the platform he was standing on. His clothes stood neatly piled by his side, and the waters below beckoned him. Healing waters, one of the locals had told him. Huttese was more accepted around here than other languages. The Jedi had been teaching him to read, somewhat- but it was still a mystery to him.

He leaned forward, his toes escaping the edge of the water. He fell forward, a gentle splash overtaking his body. Truth be told, Nej had never seen an ocean. Never seen so much water. So much of life's creation laid out in front of him, and he was enveloped in it.

It felt...refreshing. Weightless. He wasn't fearful of the creatures around him. He was soothed, relaxed. His presence in the force, wasn't as dark as it usually was. He opened his eyes, to see. Such clarity, such purity in the waters below him. He rolled his body, falling deeper into the waters. He had never been so...relaxed. So at peace with it all.

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Location: Manaan
Objective: King of Fighters: Slice and dice

Any showdown, any standoff could only last so long before something happened and the two fighters circling one another on the platform in the middle of the arena were no different. Every breath, every twitch of muscle was noted, catalogued and reacted to as the Padawan and Nova guard fought an entire battle without ever crossing swords. They were both jockeying for supremacy, a small advantage in position and reaction, a contest that seemed to drag out for an eternity during what could only have been a few moments. And then without warning the two of them threw themselves at one another, the metallic clang of weapons meeting against and again rang out. Feet shuffled as the danced in and out of one another's reach, movements faster than the mind could comprehend. Asaraa was reacting on pure instinct now, sword and shield catching a blade and knocking it away time after time as she span and leapt, pressing her opponent as he returned the favour. It was a feeling much like meditation as if you were floating away from your body, observing the battle from outside but she knew that was just her imagination. She knew she was...if not in complete control then aware enough to guide herself as she ducked low, sword held above her head, wincing as she felt the impact of her opponent's weapon falling onto her head with almost enough force to drive her prone...almost. As it was, her crouched position gave her the support she needed, gave her the opportunity to throw her weight forward, shield colliding with the Nova guard's gut, the air rushing out of his lungs as she straightened, the muscles of her back screaming in protest as she almost threw the man back, watching in stumble off the platform to fall onto the sandy arena floor as her eyes cut around looking for a new opponent.

 

[Ugohr Poof]

Objective: Renovating Ahto
Location: Manaan

"And now for the bidding process. Please be warned that you will have to specify a time frame in your portion of the bid"

Just because the engineering presentation was rather lengthy, didn't mean the Selkath were through it all. They definitely weren't, but sometimes specifying long time frames was to the contractor's advantage, while short time frames were to the client's. He was all too familiar with penalties incurred for construction projects: sometimes they could be rather hefty, and even force the contractor to take on unwanted debt. And cost/time overruns were nightmares of just about any project manager running a large-scale project, and the most publicized cases are either military projects (especially naval) or large-scale public works like the kolto platform. But trying to secure a leasehold on the platform was also with its own supply of fixtures; he would need to be clear about the cost of those fixtures and their layout since he would be getting the Selkath to finance the costs of leasehold improvement. And also about the timeframe and at what stage can their part of the work begin. Also he knew from experience that he'd better get the layout right on the first try or else he'd be in for an expensive nightmare.

 

[Althea Becket]

Althea was interested to learn that her new companion, [member="Cassius Droma"], was an archaeologist. That sounded like a fun profession, if it was anything like she imagined. She thought for a moment when he mentioned the Rakatan Infinite Empire, but shook her head. “Can’t say I’ve heard of it,” she answered.

Thea’s ship stuck out like a very sore thumb, contrasting harshly with the sleek, modern designs present in Ahto’s space port. But her hazel eyes did light up upon seeing it, glowing with pride.

“This is the Stargazer, my very own ship.” She said… it was still hard to believe. “She’s old, but she’s still got lots of spunk.”

With a grin, she lowered the ramp and led the way inside. They were met with what would normally have been s cargo bay, which was something like a rec-room now. There was a ratty sofa and a few handmade blankets, Thea spent a lot of time here when she wasn’t flying. It wasn’t the tidiest space either, with clothing and wrappers strewn about, and a large ginger cat sprawled out on a floor pillow. It would become clear that this was, in fact, her current living situation.

“You’re, right — this ship isn’t exactly made to fly solo, but I make it work all right.” She left out exactly how much she needed to flap about the ship to keep it running. “It’s a good ship, and what can I say… it’s home.”

Bringing Cassius up the stairs and across the catwalk, they would enter the shuttle bay. The open doors would reveal a small, but decent sized craft – perhaps large enough to comfortably fit three. Just like the Stargazer, the shuttle seemed to match the shabby but charming aesthetic. Taking a seat in the pilot’s chair, she motioned for Cassius to take a seat as well as she started up the engine and prepared to disengage from the ship.

“You wanna punch in the coordinates for me?” She asked, “Well, it’ll be fun to go down underwater… never done it before.” Thea flashed Cassius a lopsided grin that said she wasn’t even worried about it.

Her hands seemed to work the controls of the shuttle with a skill that could only be described as… happy go lucky. There wasn’t any kind of formal training to back her up, only the instinct and the knack for winging it. And then, they took the plunge…

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Objective: BYOO
Goal: Stop the efforts of a gang
Location: Rendevous Point
Partner: [member="Jyoti Nooran"]

Due to how crowded the objective he had been on had become, Josh had been re-assigned to look into something about a swoop gang or something like that. He couldn't recall if they were planning to steal something or if they had been raiding, but he had been assigned with Master Nooran, who he was sure would ensure that he was properly informed about the mission before they went on. On the way there, Josh had taken in a second chance to really get to admire the sights of beautiful Manaan. Brown eyes scanned the waters as he found himself able to appreciate what he could see.

Before long though, he would head to the rendevous point, knowing if he dawdled too long, she'd be waiting.

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius kept his judgments to himself as they climbed the ramp to board the ship. It certainly had a “lived-in” look to it. The young pilot wouldn’t deny that the Stardust got that way every now and then, but he always made a point to clean it every now and then… or at least get someone on Kashyyyk to do it for him. There was just something about seeing the obsidian floor paneling reflecting the light, the pure white of the padding… gave him chills every time.

“You know, you should think about getting yourself a droid to help you out,” Cassius said, as he took a good look around the cargo bay/living area. “I’ve got a K-X series that is a good co-pilot and medic. He can be a pretty decent mechanic too, when he feels like it.” Droids were cheap these days… Thea could just make a couple of cargo runs and she’d have more than enough for at least a protocol droid.

They eventually made their way to the shuttle bay, where he got a good look at their vessel for the day. It looked nice and complex… he made a mental note to get the specs for it later – having something like that could be useful for any future subterranean voyage he would have to make. Clambering inside, Cassius clicked in his crash-webbing as his pilot asked him for the coordinates. “Sure thing,” he nodded, and he pulled out a panel from the wall on his right and tapped in where they needed to go. “Should come up on your navigational display now.”

Wait, she’d never done this before? He gave her a slightly quizzical yet incredulous look as she glanced back at him with a smile. Before he had much chance to address her inexperience with nautical operations, they hit the water and he was jerked forward in his seat somewhat. They stabilized though, and dove deeper in.

The light from the surface dissipated more and more as they went further down. Soon enough, there was nothing but inky blackness before them. It was like space… but it felt way different. Cassius had flown in space countless times… this was somehow more ominous, more mysterious.

“It should be pretty close around here…” Cassius said, looking at the map. They were far from any sort of settlement, Selkath or otherwise. It was an area mostly hidden between two underwater mountain ridges, so easily passed over by other survey crews. While the lights from their shuttle led the way, Cassius suddenly saw a very large blip on his map read-out, but then vanished.

“What was that?” he asked, only the slightest hint of apprehension in his voice.

[member="Althea Becket"]

 

[Althea Becket]

Focused solely on getting the shuttle into the deep, without making too much of a fuss, Althea watched as the water crashed against the viewport. Giving the systems a quick glance, everything seemed to be… ship shape. Looking at the navigational display, she could see the coordinates that Cassius had entered for her.

“Alright, good deal.” She said, nodding. “We should be there in a jiffy.”

This business of operating a submersible wasn’t unlike flying, but Thea had to admit that it was odd. The ride was smooth though, so she couldn’t complain. However, the deeper their craft ventured, the darker the water was all around them. These were depths that the sun couldn’t reach. The lights did their work to illuminate their surroundings, but there was a rather large trench that seemed to suck away any and all light.
Fixing Cassius in a sidelong glance, she shrugged slightly when he inquired about a blip on their read-out.

“Hmm,” Thea leaned forward and tapped on the surface of the screen with her index finger, just to make sure it wasn’t malfunctioning. “I’m not too sure, but I doubt it’s anything to worry about.”

Her tone was a bit unsure, but she threw on a smile for good measure. Was there something out here that she ought to have been worried about? A flutter of nerves told her to be careful.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to mention that the blip hadn’t returned – there it was again. It was much closer this time, but it faded away once more. Swallowing, she stole a glance over at her passenger.

“That’s just about the weirdest – ”

CRASH.

Thea let out a startled cry as something rammed the shuttle, her body jerked to the side slightly, but held tight to the seat by the crash webbing. The lights on the read-out lit up again, indicating that something was now right on top of them (or rather, right below them)… and then a shadowy form passed by the viewport.

“Good grief, what was that!” Athea asked, wide-eyed.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

A dark feeling of foreboding crept up Cassius’s spine, the kind that always warned him of impending danger. He’d had it many times before, but it didn’t bother him as much as it did right now. They were in a completely vulnerable environment. This deep underwater, they wouldn’t be able to swim to the surface in time, much less get there without nitrogen bubbles exploding inside of their veins. Even in the cold vacuum of space, Cassius felt safer. At least out there, he could go into hyperspace.

From his station, he tried to scan the water again, and saw that the blip had gotten closer… it was heading towards them.

Althea was mid-sentence when their craft was struck. Cassius’s body strained against the crash-webbing, but he managed to keep his cool as he reached for his panel once again. The inevitable question came from their pilot, and Cassius responded, “We’re not alone down here!” He gritted his teeth as he tapped furiously at the controls to try and get a sense of what they were dealing with. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the shadow move past the viewport.

It was slower, organic… like a creature.

Cassius silently chided himself for not looking into the marine life of the planet and whether there were any large predators to have to contend with. “I hope this thing has blasters!” Cassius exclaimed. Or, at the very least, some sort of sonic disruptor that would help scare away whatever it was.

A sensor readout came back to him. “It’s… massive,” Cassius said, tapping through the information. “Looks like at least sixty meters... with… fins.” That was it. That was all the computer would give him. Heck of a sensor suite. If anything, Cassius tried to have faith that their pilot could perhaps navigate them into a place where the hungry monster couldn’t go.

[member="Althea Becket"]

 

[Althea Becket]

They weren’t alone; her passenger was quite right in his assessment. Thea’s eyes followed the shadow briefly as it passed, but then shifted back out the main viewport. Though her mouth had already gone dry as a bone in the middle of the desert, she tried to keep her nerves as steady as possible. After all, she didn’t want to take her new friend to a very watery grave. Hands gripping the controls, she continued to guide the transport through the ominous waters of Manaan.

While their readouts indicated they were close to the coordinates now, Thea’s attention just wasn’t there. Instead, she listened as Cassius spoke about the mysterious creature of the deep – possibly a fish.

“Uh,” Thea tried to answer, while also wrapping her brain around the idea of something that large swimming just outside their ship. “There’s… there’s some, uh, sonic-somethin’-or-other” She stammered, unable to grasp just the right words. But her finger pointed at the weapons controls, near Cassius’ spot.

Regaining some of her focus, she took a glance at their map again. The trench beneath them stretched out and down – cutting through the ocean floor. That was their ticket. Suddenly, she took the shuttle into a steep dive. “Hold on, there,” She said, taking them down sharply towards the gaping opening of the trench.

“We’ll make it,” She said, a nervous smile caused the edges of her mouth to twitch. “Oh, yeah. We’re good…”
But were they good?

The darkness seemed to close in on them, folding around the shuttle completely. However, the ship settled smoothly into the trench. But, Thea was careful not to venture too deep… there was just no telling what kind of other creatures were living down at these depths. There was surely something even more terrifying, she was sure, they just needed to make it back out without disturbing anything.

“Did it follow us?” She asked, turning a wide-eyed glance in Cassius’ direction. “You know,” Thea squinted over at the map once more. “It looks like we’ve arrived…Well, nearly, that is.”

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

A deep roar emanated from the creature, causing the hull plating around them to rattle… or maybe it was just the shoddy construction. Either way, this big fish didn’t seem to appreciate the two of them in its domain, no matter how small they were. Even the passing of the massive hulk was enough to rock their submersible. They’d probably get flung away if the large creature did so much as flap it their direction.

Thea indicated to some sort of sonic-based device. Cassius nodded, understanding what she meant. It more than likely a sonic pulse weapon that helped scare aquatic wildlife away. With a flick of a few switches and a few button pushes, a high-pitched whine sounded – the weapon was charging. Once a green bar filled up on his readout, Cassius hit the fire button, and a thunderous clap erupted from their ship. The large shark-type creature roared once more, but seemed to give them space.

With their watery visitor distracted, their pilot had taken them down into a narrow trench that would be difficult for it to fit into. Smart move – with any luck, they’d be able to completely avoid the shark.

Cassius let out a sigh of relief. The sense of danger and foreboding faded away, and they seemed to be safe for the time being. Tapping at his display, Cassius checked a few systems. “Shields are still up, hull integrity is solid…” Not bad for such a small craft. It wasn’t the wildlife that concerned him at this depth, it was the pressure. If anything happened to the ship, or if they tried to get out… they’d more than likely be crushed.

Looking up, Cassius peered through the viewport and out into the dark depths. He squinted as he thought he saw something. “What’s that?” he asked, unclipping his crash webbing and standing. He leaned over Thea’s shoulder and pointed out of the front viewport. Despite the plant life, sand, and sheer darkness, the lights from their sub seemed to be illuminating some sort of concrete surface… maybe a pillar?

[member="Althea Becket"]

 

[Althea Becket]

“Phew,” Althea let out a great sigh of relief. At least the shuttle hadn’t taken damage. She had a feeling they were lucky, things could have taken a very different turn. And there was always the dark possibility of the two of them and their broken ship sinking to the bottom of the very trench that they were currently hiding in.

Shaking the thought away, she blinked and turned her attention out the viewport.

Squinting, Thea tried to make out a shape in the dim, deep waters outside their ship. “Hmm,” She worked to try and swivel the lights just a touch, trying to illuminate the object. Between long drifts of seaweed, there was a rather large silhouette. It could easily be part of the lost civilization that Cassius was after; Thea took a glance at him as he stood over her shoulder.

“Lemme see if I can get us a bit closer,” She said, nodding and returning her eyes to the front.

Thea glanced over at the sensor panel; there was no sign of the big fish. Maneuvering the shuttle carefully, she brought them up to the edge of the trench. Watching as the area lit up, Thea’s eyes grew wide. Was this really a piece of history here? Oh goodness, she could be witness to a huge discovery. The seaweed flowed peacefully, and even seemed to part for them to see past.

But, as they got closer… the shape in the water became much less interesting.

“Oh,” Althea started, “It’s… a rock,” She said, a bit deflated.

The sensors concurred, noting nothing remarkable about the location. Offering Cassius an almost apologetic glance, she gave him a small shrug.

“Better luck next time, I suppose?”

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Objective: Too Much Water
Partner: [member="Jyoti Nooran"]

After the short-lived tour of Manaan, Josh would make his way to the meeting place within the city. It would be interesting, this would be the first pairs mission he'd ever had with Master Nooran. Considering their varying capabilities, he was curious about what kind of team the duo would make. He knew Jyoti well, but he didn't know her exact capabilities as well as he could. An intellectual curiosity plagued him here, as he was eager to see what the Master Of The Order could do on a legitimate mission.

It appeared that they would be going after a group of gang members who had stolen reserves of kolto as well. Swoop bike gang, if he remembered the briefing. Considering the whole point of their trip, it would be a show of good faith for them to retrieve it, and thus the two of them had been assigned to this after the Assembly had volunteered. It seemed that thieves were ever lurking here on Manaan. And the ones that had gone down to the bottom of the sea weren't the only ones that were snagging it...

Once he had made his way to the meeting spot, he would look to see if Jyoti had already arrived. While he knew that the two of them alone were likely enough for this, he was already game-planning in his head. They couldn't underestimate their competition.