Sand and Sun

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin woke up not long after she did, one arm wrapped around the small of her back and the other resting above his head. The cold air pressed against his skin as Spark shifted slightly on top of him, the sleeping back half slipping off to let in the cold.

The tent had kept above freezing thankfully, and likely the fact that they were within the Lucrehulks own skeletal structure contributed to that as well. His eyes slowly opened, and he caught sight of a few rays of early sunlight piercing through the rusted metal of the great capital ship. The liner of the tent was thin enough to allow him to perceive several strands of light breaking down throughout the ship.

A deep breath left him, hand at his side curling into a fist.

“Morning.” The word was half a yawn, Munin seeing Spark squirm about on top of him as she woke.

They had a long day ahead of them, quite a bit of travel that would likely end with searching. The object was here on Jakku, and Munin was determined to find it. That meant they had a job to do here, and with everything they...or rather he had learned last night that search would be weighed down by heavy thoughts of what would come after.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Morning," sleep still edged her voice but she gave a small smile when her blue eyes met his. For a second longer, she enjoyed the warmth he provided. Then she finally moved, gently slipping free.

#brrrrr #Ihavetopee #needmyjacket

Digging out a gray hoodie, she slipped it on and zipped it up over her clothes. The jacket was the same one she had since leaving #gettingkickedout of the boarding schools. The same one when she was a Jedi and the same one when she used the darkside. She was surprised Darth Carach hadn't made her throw the well-worn garment away.

She was glad he hadn't. Funny how a piece of clothing could mean so much. Fingers unzipped the tent opening and she began to crawl out, holding her bag. "I'll be right back."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Don't take too long." Munin said, eyes closing for a moment as he began to think of the day ahead.

Munin was already mapping out the area of the planet they would be searching. He and Huginn's contact here had scouted the area before, or rather had sent scouting droids there, so Munin had a rough idea of what the place looked like and where everything was. The sector of the planet was unsurprisingly a massive starship graveyard. Unlike this area that held only the one Lucrehulk, that particular sight of the planet was home to dozens, if not hundreds of capital ships that had once flown above Jakku.

Now they simply sat there, buried within the sands.

There were all types too. Ancient Sith Cruisers, Republic Hammerheads, even another Star Destroyer like the one Imperator City had been crafted out of. It was a valuable spot on a planet that didn't really have any value. That all of course begged the question as to why it wasn't being harvested twenty four seven for all of its resources. The answer to that was simple, Jakku wasn't very cooperative. The valley was a hot bed of sandstorms.

There was a storm nearly every single day within the valley, sometimes twice a day. Couple that with activity from mysterious creatures and the occasional raiding tribe...well no one wanted to stay there for longer than they had to. The day ahead would not be a serene and pleasant one, instead he suspected it would be much the opposite. Lips thinned as the thought came to him, eyes folding closed for just a minute more as he waited for Spark to return.

They didn't have to go just yet.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

The tousled blonde haired slicer wandered further and further away from Munin. She ducked between starfighter leftovers. Fingers clutched the strap of her bag a little tighter as her alert-level went high.

#andIhavetopee #pottydance

But they were still alone. At least, from what she could tell. She had never been good at sensing things or others in the force. #lopsidedforceuser A bit further down and around a curve in the ship's structure, there were a series of open doors to much smaller rooms. She squeezed inside of one, surprised to see the light blazing through from a blown out ceiling above. It was already hot.

And there was a sandy floor - just what she wanted.

It wasn't long and she was able to take care of business, making sure to use hand sanitizer. #Imnotananimal She freshened up a bit too with some newer clothes before making her way back to their campsite.

Something tech caught her attention in one of the old x-wing cockpits. She began to scramble up one of the rickety ladders and called to Munin. "I'm back. Let's pack up and go before it gets blazing." Foot slipped on a broken ladder rung but she caught herself and continued to climb.

#nocoordination

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin was already in the process of doing just what she had said when she returned. The sleeping bags had already been rolled up and the tent was already half broken down, the small metal snaps that held it together having to be undone from the inside. Eventually he crawled out from the tent, tossing the sleeping bags to the side and pulling his shirt out after him. He threw the cloth to the ground for now, continuing to break down the tent as he looked towards her. "Careful."

The broker told her as he saw her nearly fall off the small ladder.

His attention returned to the tent and it quickly folded back into the impossibly small square that it had originally been contained in. The piece of equipment had been amazingly expensive, costing in the tens of thousands of credits. Munin hadn't paid that much of course, he'd gotten it for free, but the thought was still there. The thing would have been worth it if he had paid for it, being nearly automatic in every aspect and capable of surviving temperatures far below freezing.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he scooped up the tent and wandered towards the speeder.

Everything was quickly returned to where it belonged, sleeping bags, tent, and his own backpack quickly being strapped into place.

When everything was packed away Munin began to wander towards Spark, fanning his shirt out to get some of the sand off of it.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

With a tug and a heave, she disappeared into the cockpit. Converse-shoes stuck out for a moment. "I thought I sensed something." She frowned, face first in the small space meant for one pilot. Glasses tipped upwards, against her forehead. The instrument panel was well picked through.

#typical

Feet gave a wild kick in the air as she adjusted her position to peek beneath the seat. Bony-fingers reached into the small, dark space between the flooring and the underside of the seat. It was said that space trolls lived there and ate spare creds that fell from pockets.

#spacertales

Fingers enclosed around a small, round disc, taped to the top. "Ahha!" Muffled voice filtered down to Munin. With a kick and a heave, she righted herself and swayed slightly as the blood rushed back out of her head. Hand held up the small disc.

"I'm not sure what's on here but there might be some old access codes or something more that the..."she paused. Had she told him yet? One of the places she worked for. "Outback could use."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

His ears twitched slightly, as if he were a cat that had heard a tuna can being opened. "Ah."

The Outback? Is that who she worked for? Spark hadn't actually mentioned whom she worked with, and he'd never pressed her on it either. They were getting to know each other better now...but both of them knew that pressing the other for details wasn't the right thing to do. They had done an odd little dance around their respective secrets so far, each one keeping what they thought was right and divulging other things. It was strange, but so far it had worked out pretty well.

"Maps maybe." He suggested. "This ship has probably been here for hundreds of years."

He stopped a few meters away from the x-wing. "Maybe longer. No telling who it belonged to and what they knew. Lucrehulks were spread all over after the Trade Federation fell."

Munin had always liked history.

Though information that was up to date was important, and how he did his work, the past was just demonstrably more interesting. It was how he had learned about The Star Cabal and the object they were trying to find here. When he'd been in the orphanages reading about history and the past had been one of the few escapes he'd actually had. He recalled reading stories of the Clone Wars, the Cold War, even the days of the Galactic Empire. It had been an escape, but a useful one.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She pocketed the disc inside her skinny jeans pocket. "Yeah, maybe," but she didn't say anything more. The force definitely nudged her on this. That didn't always happen with tech. In fact, it rarely did - especially with something not active. Unless souls were enteched.

She shivered as she climbed back down the ladder, even though it wasn't cold.

"You never said you were a history nerd," she observed, feet finally landing safely on the floor of the wrecked lucrehulk. #saidanerdtoanerd #lolol She eyed his exposed chest warily, then ducked her head and went to get into the passenger seat of the speeder. "Need any sunblock?"

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"There wasn't a lot to read back in the orphanages." He shook out the shirt a few more times to get bits of stray sand off it, not wanting to be itchy later in the day. "No that's alright."

For a few more moments he tussled with the garment and then slipped it back over his head. "I don't plant on having the sun touch any part of me."

To say that he burned easily was an understatement. Munin had grown up on a planet where the sun ever touched the lower levels, and when he'd been moved to more pleasant worlds he'd not often been given permission to go outside. The only time it had been unavoidable had been on Spira, and there most of the time he'd gotten burned almost near constantly. He was better off just wrapping himself in loose desert clothes than trying to mess with sunblock.

He quickly made his way back over towards the speeder, this time he pulled the door open and slipped inside.

The scarf that he'd tossed into the backseat was quickly wrapped around his head once again, finding it's place around his face so that only his eyes were exposed. He smiled at her for a moment before quickly turning on the speeder.

"We've got a long day." He said quietly. "Ready?"

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Hat came on. Scarf was wrapped around her slender neck and tugged up over her mouth. "I'm ready," eyes crinkled at the edges as she smiled. She caught the same twinkle in his when he smiled. That observation surprised her. She was already getting used to reading little twitches in his face and what that meant. Getting used to his expressions.

#scaryrelationshipstuff #butalsoexciting? #TBD

Fingers pulled out the nav system from the box and hooked it up again. She also switched on some tunes #radio. She kept the volume low, not wanting anything to give away their exit from the Lucrehulk in case there were invaders nearby.

She didn't think there were though.

"How long do you think it'll take us?"

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Most of the day to get to the canyon." He shifted slightly in his seat, digging himself in so that he was a bit more comfortable. Part of him thought that he should have gotten a closed speeder, if only because it would have made more sense with the wind and the heat, but that wouldn't have offered the same amount of versatility either. He frowned slightly and flipped the speeder into drive, slowly creeping out into the dark hangar of the Lucrehulk.

"We'll need to find shelter when we get there." Munin continued quietly. "Then we can search the next day."

There was danger there. "I don't want to take any risks, the area is known for sandstorms. That's why we couldn't take a ship there, sand clogs up the engines and causes them to crash. There's dozens of capital ships crashed there, but hundreds of smaller vessels. Everything from TIE Fighters to freighters."

On any other day Munin would have been excited to go to the canyon just for all the history that was there. From reports that he'd gathered the place was filled to the absolute brim with everything that you could imagine. Supposedly there were vessels within the canyon that dated back to the Cold War era, literally thousands upon thousands of years ago. That was why The Star Cabal had set up a base there, even then it had been known as a graveyard, a place where people simply didn't go.

Perhaps in another life he would have been an archaeologist.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She gulped. #sandstorms Gangly-form scrunched down a little lower in the speeder seat. Booted-feet kicked up on the dash. Fingers came up to tuck loose strands of blonde hair beneath her hat. They were already getting unruly.

"Sounds like a technopath's dream," she mused. "Minus the sandstorms." The ships? She could spend days exploring them with her mind and even then, years more.

"Wouldn't the sand clog up the engines of this speeder, too?" Blonde-brows furrowed in thought. Head tilted to gaze out the passenger side. She was more than a little nervous. Wilderness and her didn't get along. But she had done okay so far. And with all these ships around, maybe it wouldn't feel like such a wilderness. Shoulders relaxed. Just slightly.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He shook his head. "The Speeder works on Repulsor lift tech, doesn't take in any air just pushes off the ground."

"No engine to clog up." Munin said as they pushed forward. Up ahead he could see the small drifts of sunlight get brighter and brighter, they were nearing the engine. "A few ships use repulsor lifts too, but...well imagine flying into a sandstorm with something that has wings. The air catches beneath them and...woosh."

The same thing would happen to the speeder if they tried using it during a sandstorm. The wind would catch beneath the vehicle, flip them, and then send them flying into a bunch of rocks. That was why when it was deactivated the speeder sat flush against the ground and actually pulled itself against the earth with small tractors. The Vehicle was designed for traversing the desert, another expensive piece of equipment that Munin had...acquired before the trip.

He'd thought of everything really.

This trip was a long time coming, and he wasn't about to be caught unaware by something like a storm. There was of course, things that he couldn't predict, but Munin was as prepared as he possibly could be. Plus with Spark around he figured that they were prepared for mostly everything that they could come across.

Perhaps maybe a giant sand worm. "We'll be alright, I've thought of most things. Haven't let you down, remember?"

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Yeah, whoosh and splat," freckled nose crinkled beneath her glasses. Blue-eyes panned from the landscape. They were just about to break into the blazing sunlight. She switched to her prescription shades. Gaze finally settled on Munin's profile.

"No you haven't," she frowned. And that's what worried her. He was human. So was she. They'd hurt eachother even without meaning to. Coren happened like that. Maybe all relationships were like that? Regardless, she didn't want to live in a fantasy world. That wasn't real. This trip would be a good way to figure out how well they worked together. #petpeeves

She took a sip of water and would stay quiet for most of the ride. She was thinking. #introverting And keeping her eyes on the horizon. #stayingalert

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He didn't speak either, there wasn't really need to and in all honesty...well he wasn't the best conversationalist when he wasn't taking on one alias or another. Instead he simply steered them in the right direction, heading towards the distant canyon and slowly following the map coordinates that were displayed on the screen. The day went by surprisingly quickly for what was around them. Sand, sand, and more sand. The occasional mass of metal would stick out from beneath the dunes a fallen AT-AT or a crashed capital ship. Once Munin thought that he saw a Sand Crawler, but he was quickly reminded that Jakku wasn't home to as many Jawa as Tatooine and the mirage quickly faded.

Eventually, as half a day passed Munin began to slow the speeder. The ground became flatter, the desert smoothing out to be naught but dust and rubble. There were a few boulders, but in the distance one could see a shallow dip within the air. They were still miles away, but with the flat plain of the ground they could just begin to see where the canyon was. In particular one thing marked it out, the massive fin of a starship that was half buried at the canyons edge.

"There it is." Munin said quietly as he began to slow the speeder.

He half stood up in his seat as they came to a stop, though his eyes didn't actually lock onto the canyon itself, instead they drifted towards the left, slowly settling on the southern horizon. "And there that is."

Munin pointed in the direction he was looking. There, within the sky, loomed a mass of black cloud, swirling beneath them one could see a hazy wall of beige and red, whirling sand tinted by the distant sun. His lips thinned, eyes casting towards Spark. He had half expected this, but he'd thought they would have more time before seeing their first sandstorm but this...this would hit them just as they arrived in the canyon.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Lips thinned as she saw the dark, swirling mass in the distance. Feet pushed up, stealing a moment to stretch, too. Fingers gripped the edge of the windshield glass for balance. Hat tipped back and her shades were adjusted.

#gulp

"That's....massive. If we stayed here would it still hit us? Should we stay and let it pass?" Finally, she was able to tear her gaze away to look at Mun.

Only one line of warning kept running through her head. It'll tear flesh from bone. These sandstorms were like hurricanes on land.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He slowly shook his head, frowning. “I think…”

Munin wasn’t a meteorologist, he wasn’t an expert in sandstorms, but from the way that Storm looked on the horizon...it would cover everything from the canyon to everything around it. In order to miss the storm they would have to double back at least a few hours, and even then there was no telling whether or not the thing would turn towards them. Guessing was dangerous with something like this.

”We have the tent.” Munin didn’t sound too sure of that option, his lips thinning as he said it, face going slightly more pale than it had any right to be. ”It has repulsors in it that will keep up pinned to the ground, the Speeder should be okay too but…”

He trailed off again as a gust of wind pressed against them, just a fraction of what was about to hit them. ”I think we’d do better with more.

That was the least of it.

”A ship, like the lucrehulk.” That was preferred. ”At least a cave...something.”

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

The same breeze snagged the hat on her head and flipped it off. The chin strap saved it from being lost. "Okay." Thin-shoulders rounded in determination.

"You said that canyon was littered with ships. Mostly starfighters but we might get lucky. That's our only option."

It was. They weren't guaranteed to make it back to the lucre hulk. There hadn't been much all day besides endless sand and rocks. They had to go forward. #racethestorm

"I say we gun it and stop at the first shelter we see. Or stop and prepare camp in the...tent."

That flimsy thing would protect them from...that?

#anothergulp

"I can help. If we get in a pinch. But there's no guarantee for how long..." voice trailed off. Even masters has their limits. Just as suddenly, she sat down. Or maybe she collapsed because her legs were trembling.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin let out a breath. They had to make a break for it. Settling down here was too dangerous, they were right out in the open and the wind would cut them apart, even with the thick canvas of the tent. It occurred to him in that moment that perhaps he could have brought a shield generator, but there was no guarantee that even that wouldn’t have worked out for long. He frowned for a moment more and then threw himself back down in the seat.

”We go as fast as we can and break for the first capital ship we can get inside of.” He made the decision, it was really the only logical one. If they hid out here the speeder could get damaged, or worse they could get hurt. It was better to get into the canyon and at least find some protection, even if it wasn’t a lot. His fingers wrapped around the controls and quickly he pressed the ignition.

”Hang on.” Munin said as he shot her one last look. ”Can you make us go faster? With the force I mean?

It was a good question, though Munin didn’t stop to hear the answer. He pushed them forward, pressing them into the air and sending them swooping over the desert. If she could boost their speed more it would improve their chances of outrunning the storm, even if it was only just a few seconds it would buy them enough time to find a place to hold up for the night.

Even if it was just a tiny hangar bay.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Wind and sand whipped at her face as they shot forward. She hunkered down in the seat, one hand fiercely gripping the top of the passenger door. Any sudden turns and she felt like she'd get launched from her seat. #craydriving #speedracer Still, she was able to speak to Munin without shouting.

"Maybe." She could tap into the machinery and tech of the speeder. The risk was, he was already pushing it to the limit. It could blow them out. The alternative was dying in a sandstorm. #riskyoptions She was prepared to force bubble them for as long as she could. Luckily for Munin, Spark was a super force-bubble master.

#can'tswingalightsaberbutIcanalwaysBUBBLE #eatthatAdekos #eaththatsith #booyah

Eyes squeezed closed and her mind dipped into the force. Blonde-brows scrunched as she pushed her mind into the speeder itself - temporarily rewiring and coding. With a sudden jolt, they zipped forward enough to make the small of her back snap back into the seat. It would only last for a few seconds because any longer and it could short-out the speeder itself.

Then they'd be stranded.