Metamorphosis [Solo Thread]

[Lethia Morow]

Part I – Departure

Lethia couldn’t take it anymore. She was never the most socially aware of girls, but she knew when she wasn’t wanted. Sanctuary was a place for those attuned to the Light, for Jedi. And as much as the girl loved some of the people here – Miss Kismet and Hal were the first to come to mind – she wasn’t one of them. She never could be. The Light did not embrace her, it did not comfort her; it burned her eyes and charred her skin, sent her skittering like the vermin inhabiting the tombs she so loved to frequent.

She knew that, and her fellow Jedi knew it, too. She could feel the eyes on her when she turned away from her erstwhile brothers and sisters, hear the whispers behind her back. None of them were cruel or intentionally hurtful, but they all further cemented the niggling fear in her mind; that she did not belong, that she could never belong with these people. It would be a lie to say that the medic was happy when she finally accepted the truth of that statement, but…there was peace. Serenity.

When the night of her departure came, Lethia was ready. When night fell and the lights went out, she made her way through the halls of Sanctuary with the sort of stealth that only came from a life of poking your nose where it didn’t belong. Every step carefully calculated to distribute weight, every breath as gentle and quiet as humanly possible. Avoid getting close to other people, and if that wasn’t possible, do your best to look like you were supposed to be where you were.

Soon enough, she was in the seat of a HWK-290, punching in a set of coordinates. She might not’ve known what those coordinates led to, but in her current state, she didn’t much care. It probably wasn’t a black hole or a pirate nest, and that was good enough.

In retrospect, a black hole would've been preferable to what she found.

 

[Lethia Morow]

Part II – The Landing

Lethia wasn’t particularly happy with her life so far. She’d always thought she’d been short-changed at every turn, like the Galaxy itself was out to get her. An irrational thought, really – the Galaxy didn’t care about her, any more than it cared about an ant.

That reassurance didn’t help, however, when Lethia left Hyperspace only to be hit by the back-blast from a Solar Flare. It could’ve been worse, she supposed – she could’ve been hit by a meteor, crushed to paste in her captain’s chair or sucked into the void of space through a hull breach. According to the onboard systems, she’d just lost shields.

And the hyper drive.

And primary thrusters.

And it looked an awful lot like the ship was being sucked into the gravitational field of that planet there.

But it could always get worse. At least she had a chance – there didn’t seem to be much civilization on the planet below, but as long as she had some measure of control over the ship, she could land and potentially make repairs. Lethia wasn’t exactly a gearhead, but, well, there was that saying about necessity and invention.

Not even that little spark of optimism was allowed to last for long, however. The HWK entered the atmosphere, and everything went to chit.

First, the onboard computer warned Lethia that the UV Rays beating down on the planet’s surface were exceptionally dangerous – exposure for more than a few hours? Probably lethal in the long run. At the very least, you’d get a nasty sunburn. Still, that was bearable. Most the necessary repairs could be made from within the ship itself. Everything was still under contro-

A loud crack.

A warning, flashing in the HUD of Lethia’s cyber-eyes.

Burning, searing pain that very nearly flash-fried her eye-sockets.

A scream of pain.

Utter darkness.

And then a scream of terror.

She was blind. She was blind. What had the warning said? Something about Ion. That wasn’t good. That was very not good. The electronics in her skull must’ve been fried, and yes, that was bad, but what was worse – if the Ion Storm or EM Pulse or whatever the feth it was had affected her personally…

She jerked on the ship’s controls, pressed buttons at random, did everything she could to get a reaction out of the freighter.

No response.

She was dead in the air and hurtling towards the planet’s surface.

 

[Lethia Morow]

Part III – Cracks

It was almost enough to make Lethia laugh, if she ever, in fact, laughed. Surrounded by flaming wreckage, half-alive, deadly rays of hyper-intense light beating down on her – and in the back of her head, she was keeping inventory of her wounds. It was almost instinctual to her – there was no reason to it, no logic behind it, just pure habit, acted upon out of desperation. Rote facts, spat out by a mind in panic.

Blood pooling in the mouth. Severe pain in the jaw, feel evidence of fracture. Skin around mouth is torn.

She couldn’t just lay there. If the fire – there had to be fire after a crash like that – didn’t kill her, then the sun or blood loss would. Or starvation. Dehydration. Predation. No, if she simply laid still, she would die.

Intense pain in left arm when movement is attempted. No visual, but flesh feels as if torn. Bone likely protruding from forearm. Left leg bleeding, weak. Right leg moves, but physical feedback is stunted – likely nerve damage from burns.

She would’ve cried if she still had tear ducts. As it was, Lethia simply let out low, raspy whines of pain. Potential damage to vocal chords. Her right arm fumbled blindly, looking for purchase and something by which she could pull herself up. Nothing, nothing, then – pain. Warm, sticky blood spilled from her palm as jagged metal rent it open.

Mental state? Shock. Emotional responses deadened. Adrenaline kicking in.

Fumbling around blindly wouldn’t suffice. She needed sight. Or better yet, Sight.

But the Force, her constant companion, had abandoned her. She couldn’t deaden her pain, because she couldn’t focus through it. She couldn’t see, because she couldn’t clear her head. Pain and fear fought for control of her psyche, leaving no room for the cold reason that a Jedi relied upon.

But she wasn’t a Jedi, not anymore – not ever, really. She didn’t need to abide by their rules or cling to their traditions.

The Dark Side of the Force fed on passion, it fed on emotion and sensation. Well, she was certainly feeling a lot of both – terror and pain, desperation and agony. Her teachers had warned her that the Dark Side wasn’t powerful, it was just easy. And right now, easy was what she needed.

Lethia couldn’t have told you how she did what she did next. She couldn’t have given you a step by step guide on “How to use The Dark Side for the First Time.” All she knew was that one minute, she was screaming out her frustrations, and the next, she could see.

Well, in a sense. The images were blurry and monochrome, vague shapes without detail or intricacy. But it was something.

And if she could see, she could move.

 

[Lethia Morow]

Part IV – Survival

Crude, tattered bandages held Lethia’s jaw shut, and a splint of shrapnel and torn cloth did its best to hold together her arm. There was little the medic could do in this condition for the rest of her injuries, but at the very least, she wouldn’t die of blood loss – infection, perhaps. But there was a chance of survival.

In the hours that Lethia wandered the dunes of this accursed planet, searching for shelter, the girl had a lot of time to think – and to plan.

From what she saw from orbit and what information her computer fed her before the crash, the planet was mostly arid and dry. Bleak and unforgiving desert coated the planet, with no visible signs of settlement or civilization – so contact with any sentients was unlikely.

Her Force Sight, weak as it was, was still useful – buried beneath the sand, she saw little blobs of life. Reptiles of some sort, probably. Unless she ran across an oasis or a grocers’, that would be her main source of food. And most importantly: life, even tiny life, meant that there was water on the planet.

The last obstacle she faced was the Sun. Harsh and unforgiving, Lethia could already feel the heat draining her strength and burning her flesh. She needed shelter, and she needed it quickly. But where to find it?

In the corner of her vision, she saw one of those little blobs of light, resting contentedly.

Beneath the sand.

With a grunt, Lethia dropped to her knees, and started digging.