Noble Commonality

[Doyle]

It had been a while since Lucinda had traveled on this personal quest of hers. Maybe it was some kind of addiction, but she was looking for answers, answers that her Father [member="Tobias Larr"] had never given. Or at the very least, he never gave truthful answers when she did manage to get the old man to speak about any subject that he'd rather avoid.

Throughout her life she had been given little hints on what had happened to tear apart her family. And from what she had been able to discover, the culprit was one person; a Force User. Growing up, she was taught to hate them and dustrust them, a trait formed with the guidance of her Father more than her mother. And it made perfect sense! Force Users were lying cheats, able to make good people do things and control their minds. That was why so many held powerful positions. Such a thing was dangerous. Force Users had their place in the Galaxy, but it wasn't in leadership. They were tools. Tools for war and tools for secret operations. Some were even superb medics that could handle difficult surgeries far better than the perfectly programmed AI.

But most Force Users didn't know their place. And that disrupted the proper order of things. Lucinda planned to help correct that. At least, during her vacation time...

Sitting in a transport vessel that was travelling through one of the many hyperspace lanes, the woman mostly kept to herself, drinking tea, lots of tea, and reading the holo news feeds. There were other passengers on board, each looking shadier than the others. It made her glad that she was armed. With a dagger's hilt seen sticking out of her boot and a blaster holstered at her hip, she was left well alone.

The boredom of the passengers was suddenly broken. A fight could be heard within the cockpit. Seconds later the vessel jerked as it was dropped out of hyperspace. Lucinda quickly fastened the harness in her chair, her instincts kicking in. Another lurch, though it felt more like a gravity well trap than anything else. A look outside of a transparisteel window showed an ominous planet with a debris field that hung around it like a run. Another sudden jerk followed by sparks and the sounds of the engines straining made her blood run cold.

Yelling could be heard in the cockpit, "The engines are too small! We'll never make it!"

"Shut up! I know what I'm doing! I got this!"

"No you don't! You're going to get us all killed!"

"I said SHUT UP!!"

The sound of a blaster bolt rang out and the argument stopped. There was a few seconds of calmness where it seemed as though everything was under control. That ended quickly with what felt like a collision that preceded the main power supply being cut off. Gravity felt as though it was lost as the vessel began to hurtle down towards the atmosphere.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!!"

Lucinda just shut her eyes and held onto the straps of her harness.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Doyle]

With her eyes shut, all that Lucinda could hear was the sounds of screaming, of metal bending and breaking. Then came the weightlessness of the sudden fall. Lights were flashing, warning sirens rang out and still she kept her eyes shut as she held on as best she could, her body almost curled up into a protective ball in her seat.

The fall seemed to last forever, every second that passed she waited for that final crash that would end the lives of her and everyone else on board. It was bound to be what everyone else was thinking too. In those spare moments, she thought back on her life and all of the hate and anger that she had for someone that she hadn't even met. Was it all worth it? Oh yes, it was justified.

How fitting that she ended up crashing on a planet known as The Graveyard. The ship was her tomb, as it was for many others. Soon they would be bound together in eternity.

As Lucinda was contemplating that, with the weight of her own mortality on her shoulders and on her mind, the hard crash came, jolting her seat out of the bolts that held it to the floor. Her head was struck on something that she wasn't aware of. But it didn't matter anyways. She lost consciousness then. Perhaps forever.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Why Connor was trekking through the Mushroom Jungle, he couldn't say. Well, he COULD, but it made no sense to anyone but him.

'Graveyard' had been a planet only heard through whisper and rumour; about crashed ships, long-forgotten beasts and old temples and ruins. It was the sort of place Connor was drawn to, that of myth and legend. It had been easy enough to find, but tricky enough to navigate through the debris field and land in the best place he could.

There was no timescale for his trip, but he wasn't looking to hang-around too long. Hopping onto a large mushroom, but still dwarfed by the giant core 'shroom itself, the former Jedi dabbed his brow and looked around at the colours surrounding him. Blues, greens, pinks, browns, b....

His peace was shattered by an almighty rumble and roar. The jungle shook and birds flew urgently away. Wobbling to keep his balance as the roar became louder, the shadow of a ship passed over, spewing a trial of fire and smoke across the sky as it plummeted down. Seconds later, there was silence, then a soft rumble, and a horrid sound of crashing, twisting metal and heavy impacts upon the soil.

Wasting no time, Connor jumped down and ran through the jungle towards the stench of burning metal and the emergence of flame.

Eventually he made it to the wreck, out on a clearing.

The ship was 70% intact. The front, however, looked mangled and burnt out, flames lapping into the sky. The rear engine smoldered and burnt, but those survivors were trying to flee or help others out of the wreckage.

Debris painted the improvised landing strip that had torn up the soil, knocked down trees and scorched the land. Where to start? Connor shook his head and ran across to see what he could do, looking around for any people to help or aid to give. With parts of the ship torn open along the middle section, Connor wasted no time to fight the heat and get into help those trapped. There was no time to waste, and the first being he saw was a woman, slumped over in her seat, buckled in with part of the chair twisted.

He clambered up and knelt by the chair, unclipping the belt which was twisted and allowed the woman to slip out onto his arm. Lifting her into both arms, Connor let out a sharp breath as he walked the awkward way down to the burnt grass and carried the unconcious woman away from the craft and out to the side clearing away from danger. Laid down, the woman was going nowhere. Connor placed his hand on her brow; she was alive, but in pain. He could feel her aura strongly via his Force connection, but she was weak. He made sure to fuel her body with strength to at least be able to open her eyes and combat the pain.

Hopefully he would have time to help others, but not after he made sure this one was ok.

This was NOT the expedition he had in mind.

[member="Lucinda Larr"]

 

[Doyle]

Lucina was unaware of being lifted out of the wreckage. She wasn't aware of anything but blackness. No passage of time, nothing.

And then the spark came, or rather it was some kind of urge that made her consciousness wake itself. Whether it was [member="Connor Harrison"] 's doing or her own, no one could be sure. But it happened. Her hearing came back first, followed by her sense of smell and touch. Her eyes slowly opened but they did not see. It took a moment for her vision to move from a tiny pinprick of light into what it should be. As her consciousness grew, she almost felt as though she was moving through a tunnel and coming out of the other side.

A brow was raised as she saw Conner's face, the man seeming to be hovering over her and looking concerned. A wave of pain from her head came through and she weakly lifted her hand to gingerly touch the lump on the top of it. "Am I dead?" For all she knew, this could have been the afterlife.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Well at least there wasn’t an unfortunate death on his hands.

”Thankfully, no, you’re not dead. But if you are, then that makes two of us."

Connor helped the girl sit up a little; last thing he needed was for her to slip into some semi-coma or unconsciousness.

”Can you tell me your name, and what happened?"

The smouldering ship behind them seemed to be free from raging fire, which was good, but there was little evidence of surrounding help coming in and it was down to those in the immediate area to help.

[member="Lucinda Larr"]

 

[Doyle]

Lucinda had to smirk at the mention of both [member="Connor Harrison"] and herself being dead. Wouldn't that be a hoot? Stuck in all of eternity here with....well, a perfect stranger. At least he was a good looking one.

She sat up, albeit slowly and drew up one of her knees so that she could be more supported. "My name is...Lucinda...I was on passage to the Graveyard and something happened in the cockpit; a fight I think. Next thing I knew we were crashing here. This is the Graveyard, isn't it?" Her head still throbbed. For how long that would last, she wasn't sure. Lucinda looked down at herself. There was some tears in her clothing and what looked like a bit of blood. Hopefully the cuts weren't too deep.