Sand and Sun

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

"Makes sense in a way." Munin said as they drew closer to the bow of the ship, the great vessel looming over them as they approached.

The Astral Bride lay half buried beneath the sound, but the back of the vessel seemed to remain mostly untouched by the sandstorms that regularly swept through the valley. There were multiple hangars that remained open, though Munin guessed that they were probably filled with sand. He pulled up a small holo-pad and opened the map that his drones had created, pointing towards the southern end of the ship where they would find a hangar at nearly ground level.

"Is there some sort of technology that can stop you from using the force?" Munin asked as they walked, genuinely curious, but also concerned. "I really don't know much...well anything at all about the Force."

That was tough for him to admit, like saying he was bad at his job. "There isn't really a lot of stuff to find about it."

At least not from any of the sources that he had. Jedi and Sith were both rather secretive about their abilities, and trying to find out from a third party was a mix of legends, myths, truths, and outright lies. Munin and Huginn had both tried finding out more in the past, but it had proven fruitless in the end.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She studied the map for a moment in the glaring sunlight, then nodded. Neck craned up, looking at the exposed ship's metal. Blue-eyes flitted back to Munin's face, noticing how the sun caught his blond hair. Her own blonde-brows scrunched together.

"Yes," she spoke slowly, fingers coming up to the exposed flesh of her neck once more. "But it usually has to make physical contact. It's via injection." She shivered in the heat of the sun.

"There are other ways too. Have you heard of yslamiri?" The hangar was up ahead. She hesitated at the edge of where sun met shade.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He watched her for a moment, frowning slightly as he saw how uncomfortable she was about the subject. Perhaps it was the idea of telling him about the force? No, not that. Munin wasn't the best at reading people, but doubted Spark would be too concerned about sharing something like that with him now. More so...more so it was talking about being injected with something, the force taken from her. Was that it? Had she experienced that in the past?

Munin said nothing for a second, then snapped out of it. "The lizards?"

Huginn had always liked animals, she'd had a book on different species when they had been in the orphanage. Most of it had been on mammals and large space monsters like the Colossus Wasp, but there had been a section on rare and exotic species from around the galaxy. The book had never detailed why anything was in that section, just given a short blurb about the animals name and what planet it lived on.

"What about them?" He asked as he finally stepped into the shade.

The hangar sat just up ahead, and Munin slowly wandered towards it, stopping to offer Spark a smile of encouragement.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She watched Munin for a moment longer, letting the distance expand. Thin-fingers squeezed into fists at her sides. Taking a breath, she stepped forward, into the darkness.

"You really don't know?"

Feet dragged a bit in the sand. One hand finally left her neck. "They mostly live on the planet Myrkr. They repel the force within a certain radius to their forms. Bounty hunters use them. A lot. They need nutrient boards to survive, though, outside of their habitats."

She paused, trying to keep the squeal of panic from leaving her throat.

"And we're definitely in some sort of anti-force bubble now." Blue-eyes flitted around nervously.

#DON'TPANIC

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin shrugged. "I think you forget that for a lot of people the force is still a pretty big mystery."

That was an understatement really.

Sure the Jedi and Sith were constantly wreaking havoc all around the galaxy, but most people didnt see that. They didn't see force gods, they didn't see a single man or eoman lift a tank, they saw the armies. Soldiers, gunships, star destroyers. That was the threat to most people, not crazy monks wielding glow sticks. That was a simple reality.

"I'd never even met a force user before you." He stopped as she mentioned some sort of bubble, looking around as if he were trying to spot some sort of change. "Is it just...gone?"

He really didn't know how this worked, and that made him more nervous than anything.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"It's still a mystery to me sometimes," she whispered quietly, catching up to his side. What the force did to people, particularly the darkside, was devastating. If Sage Bane and Darth Carach never had the force would they still have done what they did?

She had no idea.

Arms wrapped tightly around herself in a hug. Without the force, she was significantly more vulnerable. And she knew it. She knew her limitations. A chill crept slowly down her spine. "It's hard to explain. It's like I can feel it still there. It's like hearing a holo in another room. I know it's there but I can't see it or touch it through the wall."

Hands rubbed up and down her arms.

"I hope you brought your blaster because this time I won't be able to save you." A small smile whispered across her thin lips.

#duh #peowpeow

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin stopped for a second, then fished around his bag to pull out the blaster. It was a WESTAR-35, ancient really, but it would do the job well enough. He smiled slightly. "Loaded this time too."

He wasn't sure if Spark knew how to use a blaster, he imagined that she knew how to fight well enough, but using a blaster wasn't exactly easy. Sure anyone could point and shoot, but it took a certain type of knowledge what to shoot at. Either way, he was determined to see them through this, especially considering that he had brought her here in the first place. She always claimed that she could defend herself just fine, but now...well not her primary method of doing so was gone.

"Don't worry." He said with a smile as he began to walk towards the end of the hangar. "We'll be alright."

Munin was pretty sure of that.

The door at the edge of the hangar sat closed for the moment, though as he slowly wandered towards it there was a flash of light just above it. Munin looked up and saw a small scanning device, a pinhole camera that seemed to be watching them as they moved closer. Almost out of reaction he pulled out his datapad, taking a two step quick rush over towards the wall panel to begin slicing the lock.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She forced a smile and finally let her arms slowly unwrap from around her form. "I hope you're right. You know," she caught up to him, following his gaze. She placed herself at his side, back turned a little to him as she watched their backs while he worked.

She could do that stuff too. The manual slicing. It's what she had been before the Jedi on Zeltros changed her life forever.

#resumeskills

"If we were back at the Senator's house. In this situation. You probably would've gotten away with that data card by yourself. No awkward air vent climbing involved."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

The screen flickered for half a second, turning and then shifting to run lines of code. After a few seconds, there was a slight beep and a flash of green.

The scanner at the top of the door shut off, the panel clicked, and then a hydraulic noise whirred within the walls. The door slid open, Munin smiling slightly as it did so. Beyond the door sat a dark hallway, the only light within being from the hangar door behind them. Munin pulled out one of the smaller drones from his pack and once again threw it in the air. "Oh I know."

He said as the drone buzzed off into the dark hallway, looking up at Spark with a sly grin.

"Sometimes though." The Information Broker reached up and gently grasped Spark's hand. "A pretty girl falls into your lap instead and you just have to deal with it."

The smirk did not go away.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

Pale-cheeks betrayed her every time. She looked down at her hand, entwined in his. "I can't believe you fell for the nerdy tech-support girl." She smiled and gave his hand a squeeze.

Blue eyes shifted down the darkened corridor. Her grip tightened for another reason. Maybe apprehension? Nerves. And she missed that steady buzz of input she usually got from tech through the force. Funny how things seemed so quiet now. A little too silent.

It was eerie.

"Let's go." The slicer began to step away from the other slicer's side.

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

”Well she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Munin said with a sly grin as she moved away from him, heading for the darkness of the tunnel in front of them.

Before he could object she was already three steps inside, the Information Broker letting out a sight as he stood from where he had been crouching and pulled a flashlight from his backpack. He wasn’t entirely sure what was down there, but until they were able to find a light switch he wasn’t about to go running around in the dark.

”Hang on.” He said switching the torch on, moving a step ahead of Spark so she didn’t get herself killed. ”Let’s try to remember that these people weren’t exactly friendly to Force Users.”

It was clear he was still concerned for her safety.

As they traveled down the hall however it seemed that concern was misplaced, they moved unabated through the halls of the ship, no one stopping them, no droids springing to life, nothing greeting them save for silence.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She switched on the headlamp that was tangled around blonde strands of hair. The light bounced off the bare walls and the shadow of Munin's back. "This is strange," she whispered. Even whispering, her voice seemed loud in the mostly silent space.

Quickening her pace, she walked next to the lanky form of the information broker. "Wouldn't you expect some kind of trap? What if we aren't the first ones here?" Pack shifted on her shoulders. Glasses were adjusted.

#IndianaSpark

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He followed Spark with the beam of his flashlight, keeping it low to the ground so he didn’t end up blinding her. She was right, this was strange. He had expected some kind of trap, an alarm, perhaps even a few droid defenders, but instead they had encountered nothing at all except for a few odd piles of sand.

”The door was still locked.” He pointed out quietly, though he didn’t quite sound like that was enough to make him believe no one had been here before. ”Maybe we’ll run into some trouble the deeper we go.”

He pulled out the flat-panel datapad from his pocket and motioned for Spark to come over to him. The drone that he had sent down the hall was still making its way around the ship. It still had a few hundred meters of vessel to explore. ”We’ve only come a few hundred feet, I think we’re near one of the power cores now.”

An important piece, but not where he’d keep a secret lab.

”Let’s head here.” Munin pointed to the base of the ship, a piece of the vessel that was thoroughly buried beneath the sands of Jakku.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

She peered at the datapad and gulped. "We're going deeper down...there?" Head lamp pointed to the right as she turned her head. Being underground freaked her out. Add not having the force to that.

#doublegulp

"Looks like there's a chasm with the way the ship crashed and buried, through another landing bay. I have some rope in my bag. Have you ever repelled before?"

She'd watched a lot of space tube holos on it. That counted, right?

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

His mind flashed back to an event in his childhood, him and Huginn jumping down the side of the orphanage in order to reach the blocked off computer room. They had used bedsheets, but...same difference. ”Yeah.”

Munin confirmed.

”We should be alright as long as we go slowly.” Of course, that left another question...how had the Star Cabal gotten down there? He doubted they repelled each time they reached their little hideout, and that meant...he frowned slightly for a moment, was there another entrance to the ship? ”Come on.”

Munin gently poked Spark’s side. ”Let’s go.”

The flashlight shot towards where they needed to head, a guiding beam that Munin followed after as he thought about the idea he’d just had. It made sense in a way, a second exit nearer to the base that they had built underground.

They would have to look when they were down there.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Heyhey, I'm going," she stuck her tongue out at Munin's retreating form and took one last glance over her shoulder, wondering if they'd ever see daylight again. #dramatic

She walked next to Munin in relative silence. Blue eyes flitted behind them every once and awhile. Just to make sure they weren't being followed. Or...other things. Up ahead was a massive opened set of blast doors. Peeking over the edge, she saw the drop. Sand had claimed a lot of the hangar, making natural hard-packed tunnels and rifts. It wasn't far off to think sand worms had been using this section as an underground highway.

She backed away from the edge and plopped her pack off, rummaging around for a moment until her hands enclosed around the rope. "Do you see a good anchor that we can tie this off to?"

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

He wasn't exactly an expert in any of this. Half of him wondered if he would get himself killed just to impress a girl that clearly already liked him. Perhaps he should just convince Spark to leave with him, head towards Cloud Nine and stay at a nice hotel for a few weeks.

That wouldn't be so bad.

"That?" Munin asked as he pointed towards what seemed to be a broken down starship. The vessel was very much worse off than anything capable of flight, but it likely weighed several dozen tons. More than enough for him and Spark to hang onto.

They just had to tie the rope right.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Okay," scurrying over, she looped the rope around a base of the fighter. Fingers tugged and tightened the rope into knots. #lolwhichknots? #closeenough?! #gulp Putting one foot on the base of the wheel, she leaned back and gripped the rope with both hands, testing her handiwork with her weight.

Lean, lean, lean....

Foot slipped and she landed on her back, hard.

"I think the rope will hold," a breath, "Owwwww...."

 

[Munin]

[member="Spark Finn"]

Munin slowly wandered over to Spark and looked down at her, there was a slight hint of a smile on his lips, but he tried to keep it hidden as best as he could. There was no doubt that she was a little bit of a...klutz, but well they couldn't help that now. He leaned down and gently took her hand, scooping her up off the floor and making sure that she ended up on her feet. "Why don't I go first?"

He stated more than asking.

It wasn't like he didn't trust her or anything, but he figured this way if she fell off the rope he would at the very least be able to catch her. Munin double checked the rope, making sure that everything was set and tied off properly. Then he glanced towards Spark and offered a smile. The end of the rope was quickly tossed into the chasm, and Munin tied and odd sort of knot within an extra piece that came from his own pack, he did the same with another small length and offered it to Spark.

"Tie that onto the Rope." He instructed, showing her what he did with his. "You can loop it then use it to slowly lower yourself."

Stopped the rope burn. "Saw it in a book once."

He grinned at her, and then slowly lowered himself over the edge of the chasm.

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Munin"]

"Thanks," she squeaked, frazzled blonde hair falling over her speckled gaze. She was a klutz with the force. Without the force it was times ten. Mouth hinged open as he checked and tied the ropes then went over the edge. "You're full of secrets, aren't you?" Face peeked over the edge. His lanky form was already a good ways down.

Sweaty and nervous palms rubbed against her skinny jeans. Fingers meant for datapad-only typing tied off the rope section. She slipped on some leather gloves. #prepared

Limbs trembled. She tried to keep her mind logical. She couldn't think about heights. This wasn't like that one time with Coren and those flying beasts on Cloud City. This was different. This was less scary.

Taking a breath, she stepped to the edge.

"I'm coming down!" She yelled without turning around.

"I'm coming down." This time, the whisper was repeated to herself. Gripping the rope tightly, she took a step of faith and entered the void.