Living Wasteland

[Shaydae Desmaris]

The desert planet wreaked havoc with her throat and lungs, the dry air coating her esophagus and chapping her lips and tongue until Staff Sergeant DesMaris thought they’d crack and bleed. Shifting the fabric of her scarf to once again rest over her nose, settling her goggles to hopefully hold the tan fabric against her face, she scanned the horizon, searching for the tell-tale sign of a cave nestled somewhere in the dunes.

Des had travelled to the edges of First Order space searching for what would hopefully be a stash of Adegan Crystals. The elusive crystals were the last in a long list of components she was compiling in the hopes of recreating the mechanical dragon droid utilized by the Order’s enemies during the battle for Outpost Veers. The creature she’d destroyed had provided the bulk of the materials for her newest project, enough Durasteel and Duranium unaffected by the explosion to create a small prototype of a weapon she hoped would help the Order gain the upper hand in their war against the Alliance.

Taking a few tentative steps into the deeper sand, her boots sinking into the soft ground almost to her ankles, each step a struggle, she trudged on, the gazes of her small squad of troopers watching from the relative safety of the nearest trading post. Opting to leave her boys behind, she continued through the treacherous terrain alone, a tankard of water and small bag of rations to see her through the trip. She’d forgone the sandtrooper variant armour, but still carried the backpack and weapons belt on her hips, the only visible symbol of her loyalty and position as a soldier. The lighter fabrics meant faster travel time and cooler body temperature, a far better alternative to the heavy armour considering she was unlikely to meet opposition in this desolate terrain.

Unsure how much time had passed, she paused, tapping a few quick motions on her wrist datapad, the HUD screen built into her goggles springing to life in a riot of greens, red, and golds, LEDS flashing and blinking against the green tinted visor. The coordinates she’d received took a moment to recalculated to her position, a chirp alerting her to her new path, a readjustment of seven degrees West setting her back on the proper route to the crystal cave buried in the sand dunes. Satisfied her unit had enough power to see her to the location, she kept the HUD display turned on, another hour of navigating through the unending browns and tans before finally finding the sweet respite of shade within the walls of a desert canyon.

::Staff Sargent DesMaris reporting in. Location coordinates (013,07,119) from Lunascar Trading Post. Copy?::​

The crackle and static of the comm link connecting broke the whistling of the wind through the dunes, her overactive mind finding grounding in the technological babble.

::AD-1340 copy. Good to hear your voice, Des, we had bets on whether or not the sand dunes had swallowed ya up yet or not.::​

The cheery voice covered the strains of conversation in the background, her small squad of soldiers who treated her much the same as older brothers did. Their betting and joking was a way to pass the time, something that meant additional time cleaning and repairing their own armour, something that never seemed to deter them. She needed to find better punishments.

::Find something to do other than place karking bets on whether or not I can survive this poodoo of a planet or I’ll find something to keep the sorry lot of you out of trouble until your fingers fall off.::​

The immediate disconnect of the comm line left her snickering, satisfied that they’d find some clever way to drive her crazy within the hour. Stepping into the mouth of the cave, she set off in search of crystals to power her dragon unit.

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

 

[Shamira Karuto]

Heat. Uncomfortable, blazing, beating down heat. Sunlight reflected off of the sands of this forsaken planet to only increase the high temperature that Shamira felt as she trudged through the sands, a black and gold R2 unit following closely behind her.
Black booted feet sunk to the ankles as the pair trudged slowly forwards through the red sands of the planet. Bringing a hand up to tighten the bottom part of her mask in an attempt to keep herself cool, Shamira realized just how much she hated this planet, even with having only been on it for a few minutes now. She made a mental note to never visit Tatooine. Ever.
If it wasn’t a necessity, the Togruta wouldn’t be visiting a planet like this. But Halm was one of the few places in the galaxy she could find Adegan crystal. One was needed to build a new lightsaber, so that she could finally rid herself of the last memory of the jedi with her, the last thing holding her back. Rid herself of it, and perhaps she would finally stop feeling the guilt and cowardliness of leaving the Order. It was something that she had brought up to Tempest during one of the pair’s first few missions together. Her mistress had enjoyed the idea and pushed for her apprentice to follow through with the idea. She had so enjoyed the idea that she had given the Togruta a few days leave to build and find the parts for her new blade.
It was a few moments later that the pair came up near a massive stone, and the sentient motioned for the droid to come close into the shady cover the rock provided. While pulling the comm unit off of her belt, Shamira reached up to pull down her mask so that her words could be heard clearly. Tapping a few buttons to key in her channel, the image of a grey haired man in a Firemane naval uniform popped up. A small smile peaked at his lips when he saw the Togruta grinning at him, happy she got a connection out in this desert.
“Captain Porter, I hope the Vigilance isn’t getting too damaged in this heat and sand.” Shamira couldn’t help the sly smirk that crossed her face at Porter’s reaction, who was shaking his head laughing lightly. “No, the ship will be just fine. As long as you don’t take to long to find what you’re looking for, of course.” Shamira just rolled her eyes, turning and nodding at the R2 unit beside her. “Well if Bronzie didn’t take so long to get through the sand…”
The droid responded with some angry sounding droid-speak, electing laughter from both Porter and herself. Shamira turned back to the comm, raising a thumb up. “Give me a few more hours. If it starts to get too bad, bring the ship up to the atmosphere. I can call an evac if need be if you need to do that.” This seemed to satisfy the captain, who responded with a salute. “I’ll see you then, ma’am.” The comm shut off and Shamira and Bronzie were once again left alone in the desert.
The Togruta petted the top of her droid’s dome, then pulled up the bottom part of her mask and stood. Grey-blue eyes stared out into the horizon, before she motioned forward, and the pair began their journey towards the caves, to where Shamira would hopefully rid herself of her mental transgressions.

​| [member="Shaydae Desmaris"] |​

 

[Shaydae Desmaris]

The temperature within the cave was a blissful ten degrees cooler than the acrid atmosphere of the desert planet far behind her. The scarf had been pulled off her face, the wet fabric clinging to the back of her neck against sweat that had yet to dry. Des could feel the grit of sand stuck to every exposed surface, stopping to take another gulp of stale water from her canteen. It was running on empty, a water source would be needed to restock before Des made the return trip.

Twisting the cap back on, she slid the flask back into its pouch and tapped on the datapad mounted to her wrist, the lights and chirps of the HUD display waking from the idle state it had been operating in flaring to life. A map of the cavern system appeared, rotating and adjusting as she found her location, the crystal cave deep within, and a natural well spring beyond that. Smiling with satisfaction, she powered the unit down to save precious resources, memory would serve to guide her until it was time to traverse the ever-changing sands again.

The quiet of the cavern gave her mind time to once again run over the mental schematics of her droid, hears, metal skeleton, and LEDs lighting in her mind’s eye as she continued to try to optimize the mini-weapon. The crystal she hoped to retrieve would be nestled deep within the rib cage, protected by a Duranium skeleton.

Lost in thought, the sound of a second pair of footsteps pulled her from her reverie, her hand flashing down to the blaster at her waist, fingers quickly releasing it from its holster. Picturing the map in her mind’s eye, the Staff Sergeant knew each side tunnel, a total of three twisting pathways leading from different points on the planet’s surface to the crystal cave. A hundred yards in front of her, two of the paths merged, continuing for an addition kilometer or so before opening into the treasure trove of Adegan crystals. More than likely, another traveler was on the hunt for a saber crystal, their timing impeccable. She cursed beneath her breath and stepped forward, eyes and ears alert, blaster ready. The highly unguarded cache of crystals was well known to draw thieves, rogue Force users, and First Order members alike.

The red-gold walls reflected the light from the glowrod clipped to her belt, the greenish hues bouncing and reflecting off the jagged edges of the canyon, occasionally catching the corner of her vision. The glare would give her away before her voice would, one final blind curve ahead of her before the two paths merged. The footsteps had grown closer, accompanied with the faint chirping of a droid unit and the unmistakable sound of wheels on sand.

Concealing her weapon on her left side, held against her thigh, she turned the corner, coming face to face with a young Togruta and her black and gold R2 unit. A non-standard combination, especially within the First Order’s droid foundries, set the Staff Sergeant on edge. Copper eyes roamed over the taller woman, the varying shades of grey standing out against the beige shades of their surroundings. Straightening, keeping her weapon down and away from view her eyes flashed up with the Togruta’s grey-blue with a neutral smile.

”Unusual droid you have there. Do you have identification and procurement papers for it?”

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

 

[Shamira Karuto]

“I should have left this fething thing back on the ship..” Shamira mumbled lightly to herself as she walked, double edged sword heavy on her back as she trudged through the hot, red sand. Ever since Yusana had given this thing to her, it had felt like a burden on her back. But it was also powerful, that much was for certain. Multiple times she had tried to cut into the steel of the blade, even as going as far as to try with her lightsaber, yet not a scratch occurred on the blade. Whoever had made it had certainly done a job worthy of a museum. It made for a good backup weapon if need be as well.
These thoughts ran through her head as she walked through one of the entrance tunnels on the surface, sighing contently to be out of the blistering heat and into the coolness of the tunnel. Bronzie seemed to as well, as evident by his happy bleeps that resonated through the tunnel. Patting his head, the Togruta smiled as she pulled off the bottom part of her mask to allow her to breath in the cooler air.
A mixture of rocks and sand crunched underneath her feet as she walked through the tunnel, with it opening into what looked to be a larger tunnel soon after. Bronzie’s wheels sounded like they struggled a bit to get through the rougher material, making Shamira make a mental note to clean out his wheels when they got back to the ship and off this fething planet. Her train of thought was suddenly broken by the appearance of another woman, hand behind her back.
Shamira didn’t think, and certainly hoped that no one else would be in this cave. Especially not any that held any authority of this planet, which the woman looked like she did. The First Order patch on her shoulder certainly showed that off. Raising her palms in an attempt to keep everything civil and calm, hoping that the sword on her back didn’t jeopardize that, Shamira responded slowly. “I am sorry, Miss. I don’t have any identification papers for Bronzie here. We’re off worlders, and have only been on this planet for a few hours. I should have checked in at the outpost. That was..not smart of me.” The Togruta gave a nervous smile in the direction of the woman, hoping that this wouldn’t turn into a fight. Or an investigation.

​| [member="Shaydae Desmaris"] |