Salvaging a Wreck: Blenjeel

[John Ash]

Several planets were known for sands and wreckage. Tatooine and Jakku were just two examples of such planets, but there was one that stood out as the most dangerous one of them all. This planet was the one known as Blenjeel. Ships that strayed too far from the hyperlanes sometimes found themselves crashing onto the sands of the planet with little chance for help, if at all. And so it was the case that several old Techno Union ships had crashed following the collapse of the faction years ago.

John had heard about the wrecks on the planet and saw an opportunity to make some credits. Ashhearth Industries had an advantage over other salvage crews for this job that the rest did not, salvage ships. He had four Scrapper class frigates readied for the job, but had a bit of a hard time manning them. The mission was dangerous, as everyone knew, and so he was only taking those who volunteered. He had enough to pilot his ships from his company take up the job offer, but not enough for the job itself. So he hired on some temporary members from around the galaxy. One such temp was [member="Ari J'ast"] whom he was working with for the first time.

The ships came out of hyperspace over the sand planet and slowed themselves down for their descent. As they came close to the location of the newest wreck of carrier and destroyer class ships, John got onto the com systems. He linked up the sound systems within each of the ships and said over it, " We have arrived on Blenjeel. Remember that this job is very dangerous. All that are on the salvage portion make sure you have your magnetic lock boots on and jetpacks on your backs. If you fall onto the sand then we will not be able to save you before the worms get you. Remember safety first and lets get this job done as effectively as possible." He then ended the message and waited as the final preparations were made.

 

[Ari J'ast]

Staring down at the shifting sands below, Ari pulled on her goggles as she prepared to tag locations and hook in valuable material. While a good portion of ships would be lost to the sands as well as the predators within, the a good profitable sum could be made from what could actually be salvageable.

Kicking her legs over her speeder, making sure her jetpack was strapped in as the ships neared the wreckage, she flipped on the general power switch of the speeder, feeling it left itself, and her, off the floor of the scavenger ship. She had mutilated and repaired the speeder time and time again, and now it sat with more dials than usual, and missing more than one panel. As they were given reign over the situation, she pulled the thruster of the speeder, sending it, and her, plummeting below.

Slowed by the thrusters and anti-grav, she turned a dial connected to the engine, adjusting the height at which the speeder would hover. Useful to avoid traffic lanes in planets like Coruscant, it would be even more useful in avoiding the treacherous sands below. As she slowed to a stop, the wreckage a short ride away, she took a deep breath, pulling a bandana up over her mouth and nose to protect her from the sand.

 

[John Ash]

As they approached the wrecked ships, John kept an eye on how everyone was doing with their prep. The various salvagers were all working on adjusting their equipment around to being in more secure or more comfortable positions. They double checked straps on their jetpacks, tightened their boots straps and laces, and made sure their masks were fitting right over their mouths. It was all going smoothly until they were almost to the wreckage and someone opened up a hack. One of the recruits took off on a speeder out onto the sands. He frowned deeply and got onto the com system.

" What are you doing? Why did you leave the ship?" John said over it as he motioned for the ships to continue to their targets. " Get to the first ship we are salvaging. Get inside of it and then start salvaging what you can. I will not be responsible for your death."

John ended the message there and hoped that [member="Ari J'ast"] had listened. As he looked out at the sands, he could already see some of the dangerous worms tunneling their way towards the young woman. He frowned, but there was nothing they could do right now for her. The ships were outfitted for salvage not for shooting at the ground. As they came to the first ship for salvage, one of the ships went to the fore of the wreck while another went to the rear. They got into position and then launched their magnetic cables at it. As the flattened magnet tips hit the metal of the wrecked ship, they activated and went taunt. The two salvage ships then pulled up to keep the wreck from sinking further into the sands of the planet to never be seen again. As this happened, the other two ships repeated the process on another wrecked ship near by.

 

[Ari J'ast]

Before she was questioned by the main comms operator, [member="John Ash"] she had already seen a number of the worms, or at least their path in the shifting sands. A large number, more than she anticipated. Balanced well above the sands, she would have time to react to any leaps or attacks by the worms before they would strike her.

"See what I just stirred up? If I can do that, imagine what your stunt with the ships will do." She replied through the comms, her voice muffled by screaming winds rushing past her. "I'm keeping as many as I can away from the ship. That's what I'm doing."

As she finished speaking, one of the worms leapt from the sand, on a course to collide with her. Jerking her speeder in the direction that it had come from, the blind creature passed harmlessly by, vanishing once more into the sands below.

 

[John Ash]

A collective groan went through the ships that John was on as everyone caught the com message sent by [member="Ari J'ast"] in response to an order. They understood you did as you were told on these kinds of jobs because it was up to the boss man to think through things and they just needed to focus on their jobs and safety. This young woman had not done this and now everyone was at risk. They didn't like being put at risk, especially on such a dangerous job as this one happened to be. They just waited around questioning her actions as his salvage ships lifted the wrecked one higher out of the sand.

John put his face in his palm as he listened to what the young woman had to say. She claimed she was helping things out but that was far from the truth. He was tempted to leave her down in the sand with the worms right now. It was what she deserved after making so many bad decisions already, but he couldn't do that. She might be stupid, but she was also only a young woman. So he was going to need to do something about her taking a little joy ride out in the sand for no reason. Why anyone would bail out of a moving ship to land in the one place they were told not to go because of certain death was beyond him. He had heard about those who liked the thrill of danger, but this was just suicidal.

As the wrecked ship that was being picked up by the salvage ship John was, he said to the pilot, " Stop raising this wreckage. The other ships can continue raising up into the atmosphere." He got a confirmation from his pilot and the pilot of the other ship working with his. He then got on the com channel with the new girl. He said over it, " Get to the first wrecked ship now. I gave you an order once to do this and you ignored it. That is a dock to your pay. You ignore this next order and I am leaving you here. It is your choice. Do not make the wrong one." He left it off there. It was up to her now what she was going to do. If she didn't follow orders then he was going to do as he said and leave her on the planet with the worms.

 

[Ari J'ast]

Realizing she was misinformed, what Ari did next was quite simple. She did as she was told. Flying her speeder to the ship, she boarded it, avoiding the hateful glares of the others as she parked her speeder. Even as dire words were thrown at her back she simply held back her humiliation and went to go do her job, without another word.

 

[John Ash]

John waited for the newly hired girl, [member="Ari J'ast"] , to make up her mind on what she wanted to do. It seemed she had decided to head for the wrecked ship. John let out a soft sigh as he saw her speeder heading their way. He would have left her and he really had no reason to stick around for her after everything. That is what he should have and could have done, yet he didn't want to abandon a young woman like her. She had made a few stupid moves, but everyone did when they were her age. There wouldn't be a next time this trip for her however, but hopefully she had realized enough of what she was doing wrong to avoid that.

As she got into the ship, John turned to his pilot and said, " Raise us up. We are leaving those worms in their sand." He then headed towards the cargo hold of the frigate as he got confirmation of his order. The pair of frigates began to lift the wrecked ship up out of the sand and into the atmosphere. Worms from the sand struck the bottom of the wreckage as it lifted up, but did little more than dent already dented metal. As they lift up higher and higher, the image of the earlier ships already in orbit with their wrecked ship. They continued rising until they were in orbit not far from the other ships. As they got set, John began to issue orders to begin the salvage operation.