Private My Shadow Runs With Me

[Lily Rhodes]

"Up" she responded. "If we swim, we might get caught in a currrent."

Skeevi's stumbling did not go unnoticed, Lily had been there, she felt it in her very core. She could help them climb, but she couldn't help them swim and Lily did not want to drown today.

"Lead." She gestured towards the daylight. She left the rest of the message unsaid. Skeevi had said no friends, but that didn't mean she wouldn't help her survive.

Skeevi Merrill

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Skeevi managed a tired nod. The choice seemed obvious in hindsight, and Skeevi had the unsettling realization that their judgment was not reliable. They scrambled after Lily up an increasingly tilted hall.

The source of the light proved to be a barracks in a shambles. The windows and the bulkhead around them were ripped open.

Skeevi got up there and slid through a breach into daylight and wind. The water surged against the irregular hull where it met the rocks maybe ten meters down. The ship was huge; there had to be a safer way off.

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily shifted the sack from her back once they were back on the outside, setting it down on the hull. "Sit, eat and rest. I'll find us a way down." Leaving the sack at their feet she moved away, assessing routes to climb down, each one taking them into water or across sharps and deceptively slippery rocks. They could move along the ship, towards where many of the other salvage crews were working or bickering, it was hard to tell at this distance, and back down onto the shore but, Skeevi had explicitly stated, no crowds.

If Velok was back at the ship, he could collect them...but she had no way of contacting him, an oversight she added to the top of a growing list. She doubled back to her companion.

"Ok, this way" she pointed up towards the shore "takes us past other salvagers, but the climb was easier and the shore far safer. This way" she pointed towards the rocks and the cliffside atop which the Nagai shuttle rested, "the climb is hard, the rocks uneven and most definitely slippery. " she gestured towards the sea "We can jump and swim, but we have to find the furthest point out to make sure we clear the hull, with it sinking like this, it could pull us back under, also that bags not watertight."

Lily hesitated before continuing. "I...have a ship. I know you wanted to avoid the other salvagers, I can fetch it, fly it in and get you clear and we can go fishing for the smaller vessels."

Skeevi Merrill

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

That last part took longer to sink in than the battlecruiser.

"You namba reve? You gotta ship?" Skeevi sat down hard on an irregular hull plate and pulled up their hood against the wind. And for comfort, too, certainty: they might only be part Jawa, but the hood was home. "Whatchu doin scavvin food?"

The substance and desirability of the plan percolated a little more.

"Ibana." Skeevi sucked down a second water pouch. "You getcher ship, we go fishin."

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"Its...newly acquired." she said with a wry smile. "Discounted...the five finger variety. Supplies I can scav, are supplies I don't have to find coin for, but I do have some left over amphistaff gumbo on board if you fancy something later that doesn't taste like cardboard." She rested a hand on the knapsack. "I'll leave this here. Call it insurance."

Lily set off with a bounce in her feet. It was one thing to have a ship, but to tell someone you have it? She was giddy with pride. Weaving along the ships hull with careful speed, testing her footing as she made her way back to shore, Lily passed several small groups and a few individuals scavenging close together, some bared teeth as she passed, like rabid dogs protecting their kill.

Lily ignored them, climbing down to the shore and setting off for the Pilgrim's Rest at a jog, keeping an eye out for her whiphid friend, just in case he'd come back into town.

Skeevi Merrill

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

While the phrase 'amphistaff gumbo' conjured vaguely fungal mental images, Skeevi expressed vast and nonverbal enthusiasm for this plan. Lily was, after all, leaving the knapsack — a gesture of trust that short-circuited all Skeevi's anxiety about who would hang onto the take. They pondered vanishing with it, but the prospect of fishing for better salvage, maybe dangling from Lily's ship, sparked ideas.

Skeevi remained in place, drinking water and eating rations and keeping a long Tof blaster pistol across their knees. This ship was vast enough that the nearest scavver crews were still two or three hundred meters away, and much more interested in securing their own breach points than in Skeevi. For the moment, the situation felt downright safe. That was probably the wine talking.

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily was disappointed that Velok had not yet returned, but it was momentary as the excitement of salvage sapped her focus. Catching the arm of one of the dock hands to ask them to let him know, should he return while she wasn't here, that she would be back by nightfall, Lily boarded the shuttle and started pre-flight checks. While they ran, she took the credit pouches she had for her and Velok, securing them behind along side her cot for safekeeping, along with her book.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Skeevi Merrill , it was more that well, in her shoes, she would have swiped them. That was simply the way of things, if it was unsecured and unprotected it was fair game. Content that everything that needed to be was safe, she settled into the pilot's chair and brought the ship to life, rising gently in the air and coasting over the sea towards where she'd left Skeevi. The nose, still only half painted with the name, read 'Pilgri', the hull itself wasn't quite as shiny as it was before yesterdays battle, fresh carbon scoring told its own story across the Pilgrim's body.

Moments later she was lowering the landing ramp and carefully dropping altitude, so they could climb aboard.

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Skeevi hauled themself and the loot bag aboard the very nice shuttle. One last mighty flop put Skeevi on a huge cushion that smelled of wet dog and blood. They sighed contentedly.

"Yer ship's called the Pilgri? It's Jawa for 'tasty snail.' Got any snails?"

Using the cushion and their lap, Skeevi began splitting up the take and setting Lily's half aside.

"Or maybe I just got fishin on the brain. You got grapples? Tractor beams?"

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"Pilgri?...What?" It took a moment for Skeevi's words to make any sense "Oh!" She laughed "No no, she's called Pilgrim's Rest. I was halfway through painting when...well..." she gestured at the wreckage they'd left behind. She blinked lost momentarily in just how insane they last couple of days had been. She was in another galaxy, she'd stolen a ship, helped chase off a raiding party. Velok really had turned her whole world on its head.

Skeevi's next question snapped her out of it. "Um.." she checked her systems. "Tractor beam, yes. Grapples no. But this was an exploration ship so there's probably some gear in the back we can rig together. You have a plan in mind?" she asked, setting the ships sensors to sweeping the water below them as they coasted away from the wreck.

Skeevi Merrill

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Skeevi pressed their hands and face against a side port to watch the water. The sea had been a trap less than an hour ago. To be above it, free, was exhilarating in a way that exhaustion only amplified. "Nah, tractor's plenty-plenty. Grab a reve ko lopo, grab a busted little ship, drag it out, somewhere in the rocks, can't be seen, strip it, maybe fix it, quiet-quiet."

They felt deeply that this was going to be more than they could handle without a nap, but time was of the essence with so many salvage crews around-

Sensors breewheeped: a fallen Tof dropship in no more than five meters of water. Bodies bobbed around it. It looked...how intact? Skeevi smushed their nose against the window.

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

Skeevi pounded their fist against the window in frustration. "Hkeek nkulla ko lopo ra'ti nekkel reve juuvar obwegadad! We try another, or we strip this? Whatcha say?"

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"Its really not worth it, I'll mark it. Just in case the rest of the pickings are just as slim."

Lily stayed her course, slow and steady eyes flicking between sensor readouts where she was flying. Watching out for other scavengers, though it seemed for the moment they had the first pick of these wreckages. Most were focused on the cruiser.

Another alert on the sensors, another toff drop ship and a small transport Lily didn't recognise along side it, probably one of those that tried to flee the port in the first few minutes of the attack.

"What about these two?"

Skeevi Merrill

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

"EchubadaNAya." The second Tof ship was as bad as the first, slim pickings. The transport looked better, but it clearly wasn't part of the attack force. Which meant someone around here might get pissy if...

Eh, hkeek it.

"Second one, second one. Looks like it work with some work, heh? Lotta spare parts around." Or at least it could be coerced to be mobile. A ship for Skeevi! Most exciting. But also it raised the question of what Lily Rhodes ' fair half would be.

"You wanna put some custom on this reve? Get some rigs goin? Whatchu need?"

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily had only had they ship for two days, it seemed bizzare to think about customising it. The Pilgrim's Rest had not yet had the opportunity to show her its full capabilities and limits.

"Spare Parts." She answered after a moment fiddling with the tractorbeam controls and lining them up on the transport. "I've a long journey, and it something breaks on this...reve?" Did she say that right? She shrugged. "I wanna make sure I've got something in the back up."

The ship shuddered slightly as the tractor beam made contact with the transport, heaving it from the water. "Lets find somewhere to set this down forst so you can see what you need and I'll start pulling any half decent wrecks out we can strip down."

It was a long afternoon of work, hauling wrecks out, setting them along a desserted beach, a little ways douth of the main town. Away from the hustle and bustle as per Skeevi's original request. Lily heated up the last of the gumbo to shate it with them as the sun began to set.

She should head back to town, butvthe idea of leaving Skeevi with a pule of wrecks to be stripped and an almost whole ship? Lily would likely never see them again, nor any of her cut. Velok would have to find her, or trust she'd be back.

Skeevi Merrill

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Velok limped in the next morning. He'd augmented his bandages with strips of cloth from the Tof raiders' long coats. Large local animals had donated their meat to his belly, their hearts to his rituals, and their horns to his stockpile of trade goods. He took in the situation - Lily and the shuttle in good shape; a vaguely Jawa-like little Zabrak poking around a wrecked ship with a toolbelt.

Velok introduced himself to Skeevi and weathered the resulting chatter. His impression, after many years in many ports, was that Skeevi would be unlikely to resist stealing the Pilgrim's Rest if given the chance. But the spare parts they were generating from the wreckage were admittedly useful and Skeevi proved good for a laugh or two.

Several days passed nicely. This deserted beach was no population center, so he could rest here without worrying about his curse. He and Lily could undertake errands without leaving the Pilgrim's Rest and campsite vulnerable to Skeevi or more aggressive scavengers. Their stockpiles grew to include not just spare parts but supplies, tradeables, plus a few more Tof guns and the power packs they required, all too small for Velok's hands. One more reason not to travel alone.

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily sat on the landing ramp, watching Skeevi on her own ship, the book Velok gave her resting on her lap as she wrapped her hands round a cup of caff in the early morning sun.

Something felt ...wrong. It wasn't Skeevi, she was just as unusual as Lily had come to understand as normal, there was nothing in the air, and if she closed her eyes she couldn't hear anything wrong. But she couldn't shake the sensation that something terrible was supposed to happen.

"We should go soon." She told Velok when he appeared. "The town won't have much more coin left, we could probably find better prices for things off world. Plus, we've a curse to break." She tried to smile.

Her feet were itching. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had so many days in a row with three square meals and a safe warm place to sleep. Maybe that was what was wrong? Things were good for a change and it unsettled her.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

He felt the same itch. Among his errands in Drakeport, he'd picked up a much better set of nav data for this portion of Firefist. Two sets, actually, one from a local and one scavenged from a Tof craft.

"There's Tof space," he offered. "We've got good maps...but no. No, best not, Any Tof ships that made it out of the battle might have sensor data that identifies the Pilgrim's Rest, or they might just plain have seen it. A Niathal is distinctive out here. The other direction, then? Nagai territory, their ancestral enemies? The nav database I picked up has the coordinates for a Nagai colony world called Jaibrek with a diverse bazaar. We'd have a lot more options there, as long as I only visited quickly."

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily pulled a face at the mention of Toff space. Even if they hadn't identified the Pilgrim's Rest, she'd rather not run into any of them again of she could help it. If the experiences from the attack hadn't put her off, the companions description of them most definitely had. The Nagai though? She drummed her fingers gently on the book, it was a better option by far.

"Jaibrek then." She agreed with a smile releif washing over her. Disappearing inside, she set her mug and the book on the console, and began bringing systems online for a pre flight check. A quick sweep of their collected cargo to make sure everything was secure and she descended the ramp again to say her farewells to Skeevi. Why delay, afterall? They'd been here long enough.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Skeevi Merrill]

After a few days of this, Skeevi had almost come to terms with the reality of owning a ship. It was by no stretch of the imagination a nice ship. If a light freighter were a Jawa sandcrawler, this would be it. They called it the Kiluyakka, more or less Jawaese for 'walking in the clouds.' They didn't like it's odds of even getting off the ground.

They were adorning the wings with Frangawl-derived junk talismans when Lily Rhodes came to say goodbye.

"Hey hey, moving on, can tell it soon as lookatcha." Skeevi ducked into the Kiluyakka's bay by way of a missing hull plate and emerged with a holo-tattoo gun. "You wanna inky?"

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"Yeah, I wasn't built for comfort and quiet." She grinned when Skeevi appeared with the tattoo gun, a quick glance over her should at her own ship, she had time.

"Sure, why not." She slid off her jacket to expose the inside of her left forearm. "Go nuts." As Skeevi set to work, Lily ran her eyes over the Kiluyakka there was a ways to go still, but Skeevi was resourceful. "It's weird, coming into port in the pilots chair instead of sneaking out behind cargo. People see you, y'know? It's like...you're suddenly worth noticing."

Lily pulled her eyes from the ship to watch Skeevi instead. "Listen, I know you'd steal everything from under me given the chance, but...umm...I hope to run into you out there. Maybe we'll score a job together and you can think about stealing from me then." She grinned.

Skeevi Merrill