The Shifting Sands (Exploration of Jakku\Open to All)

[Beltran Rarr]

Location: Ancient chamber, inside observatory standing near @Er’in Tenel
Allies: @Er’in Tenel [member="Mirvak"]
Enemies: [member="Edric Vanyan"] [member="Zesiro"] [member="Akabane"]
Engaging: Nobody currently

Beltran nodded to the woman by way of acknowledging her compliment. It was good to have one’s skills acknowledged from time to time, if for no other reason than to have objective feedback as to whether one was as effective as one hoped.

“Beltran Rarr,” He replied simply, introducing himself.

As they entered the chamber at the end of the corridor, Beltran looked around. He knew bits and pieces of the history that the woman referenced as she spoke, but he’d never been much for schooling and much of what she spoke of had not touched Lorrd, at least as far as he knew.

As she continued to speak, he paid specific attention when she mentioned the Sith artefacts and the luxury shuttle. That sounded like it could be worth something, and Edric had been right back at the entrance, Beltran was all about the money.

“Well, seeing as you’ve already out paid my original client I can’t say I care much whether we end up with the holocron or not.” He replied, continuing his façade from before. “I guess I’m here to help you secure whatever you came here to get, and if we happened to fly off into the sunset on a nice luxury ship, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either.”

Then to her question he replied. "I know a little, but I'm far from a master hacker."

 

[Edric Vanyan]

Location: Inside the Observatory, past the blockage in the main hall.
[member="Zesiro"]


Edric had retreated into his mind and now found himself working at repairing the body he had. There were numerous marks of damage now, and he wasn't sure how completely they would heal up from his actions but there was little more that he could do in this moment and away from his ship. So Edric got to work on the ribs first, urging them back into their original place, putting the pieces back together like a three dimensional puzzles. The bones would slowly fuse back together, but such a process was not without pain and he soon found his body involuntarily shaking several times. As much as he wished he had the strength to dull the nerves during this process, it was simply not in the scope of his abilities.

So Edric sat there, shallow breaths the only sign that he wasn't actually dead along side the occasional spike of pain that ripped through his body. Every time a bone struck a nerve he found his entire body quivering and shaking, barely able to stay focused at this point. After a few more seconds those shallow breathes became faster. He had finished with the ribs and now worked on the skull and the gash in his head. At this point he had lost a great deal of blood, his face covered in a river of red and his head lulling to the side as his breath slowed. He wasn't actually in threat of dying, it was merely the final stages of his healing. One part he didn't expect was his breathing stopped.

He would be fine, almost done with the repairs to the areas and working on sealing up the skin around the gash now. Even though he was almost done, the blood would hide that fact and his body started to further slump over, his breath simply too soft to be certain if he was even doing so, and his body becoming colder to the touch. He stopped shaking as the pain was no longer causing such, and he seemed almost peaceful as he finished up.

 

[Zesiro]

Paying close attention to Edric, Zesiro watched as he went into what externally looked like a coma. However, she didn't think that was the case. It seemed to be some sort of healing trance and he twitched now and then on the ground. Eventually those tremors stopped, his breath came in shallow and fast, but he was still breathing. Even though she didn't have anything to bind his head wound, she could at least attempt to clean his face up a little.

As she was leaning over and wiping off the blood as best she could, he stopped breathing. His last words to her was to make sure he didn't stop breathing. Her minimal medical training had included CPR so she got to work on making him breathe again.

Laying him flat on his back as best she could, Zesiro plugged his nose and leaned over to place her mouth on his to provide him breath. After doing that, she moved to compress his chest and repeated the procedure until he would hopefully start breathing again on his own.

[member="Edric Vanyan"]

 

[Akabane Jarvik]

Location: Heading back towards his allies
Allies: [member="Edric Vanyan"] | [member="Alba Talatheen"] | [member="Zesiro"]
Enemies: [member="Mirvak"] | [member=Er'in Tenel] | [member="Beltran Rarr"]

Akabane had begun his run after the two that escaped. He knew his chances of winning weren't so good, stopping for a moment and looking back he saw his new allies got past the rubble. A curious look found its way on his face, he was uncertain as to how they achieved this. That was unimportant at the moment though, Edric appeared to be injured so he turned back. He still wanted him as a contact, especially after seeing the power he possessed, so his safety was the number one priority. The treasure could wait, the others would have to come out this way anyways.

Once he came all the way back he could see the situation a little better. He let out a sigh. The two were... kissing? He stopped himself immediately, a few feet away. Akabane felt like he was intruding on their funtime, but he was definitely intruding. Slowly, and attempting to be quiet, he stepped back trying not to be the guy who ruins their moment. I'll just go... he had not yet realized the woman was his acquaintance, Ava, from long ago before he joined the CIS.

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Location: Ancient chamber, inside observatory standing near [member="Beltran Rarr"]
Allies: [member="Beltran Rarr"] Mirvak
Enemies: Edric Vanyan Zesiro Akabane
Engaging: Nobody currently

"Well then, you know more than I do - and I wouldn't want to go for the brute force option straight off."

Er'in glanced behind them, squinting at the figures, then sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, there was the faintest purple sparkle to them and she seemed to have less of a furrowed brow. She watched Akabane and the two downed figures, mouthing the word 'Aka' to herself and looking confused, then shaking her head.

"If you can crack even a few of the electrolocks, I can probably brute force the rest open. But..." She raised her hands, leaving her sword sheathed. "... no lightsaber, and I'm not going to go and ask them if I can borrow one."

She shrugged and pointed to the door panel, which also still had power.

"I want a black and gold book, old, with Sith writing on the front, and a flat topped pyramid about one and a half feet on either side with glowing blue insets. If no one else follows, we take the holocron as well. If they do, we can assess the situation based on how many of them there are, and if Mivrak makes it through - that rock fall won't actually stop anyone for long. Anything else is yours, but think twice before picking up the deeply creepy stuff, we have no idea why a crazy old dead man locked it away in here."

 

[Chips Dumbo]

"What do you mean crashing?! Where are we crashing?! Are we at-least near somewhere?! Shiv, talk to me buddy!" At this, Chips would regain some nerve lurching up in his seat as several hands glide among the console going to work with series of lever pulls and button pushes. "Give me control, Shiv." his hands would grip the controls, releasing them from the Wookie, who presumably will yell at him in the time being, his eyes noticed that there was no engine control, his heart drops before he looks to his left and towards his friend "Find me somewhere." He would pull back on the controls lurching the ship upwards to start to decrease their high speed, he was going to have to put it down in the Desert and hope that it didn't pull apart. It did work to an extent, though the ship started to tear apart, after-all it was a Junker. Bits and pieces began to fly off the ship and slam into the desert. If they didn't land soon, they wouldn't last much longer to have a ship to land.

 

[Mirvak]

Location: Approaching allies
Allies: Er'in Tenel | [member="Beltran Rarr"]
Enemies: [member="Zesiro"] | [member="Edric Vanyan"] | [member="Akabane"]

Mirvak watched as [member="Akabane"] soared through the air, through the wall of fire. He paused, staring into the wall intently, before approaching it and calling on the force, shooting both of his hands outward to make a hole in the wall. As Edric was retreating and no longer focused, it was broken in half easily and began to wither away. The wolf sensed Er'in and the merc go down one way, and Akabane and the others retreat to elsewhere. He clenched his fists and extinguished his lightsaber, his head quivering as a deep growl permeated from his throat. Cowardice. He could not pursue his prey, he had to accompany Er'in if he wished to have a chance of retrieving these powerful relics. Stomping off angrily towards the pile of rubble that the merc and the witch had gone through, he channeled his anger, raising both of his nasty, clawed hands. The rubble and rocks raised up from the ground slowly, Mirvak holding it for a moment before rolling his arms forward. The rubble pile was suddenly thrown forward and dispersed evenly as a dusty, rocky pathway down the hallway his two fleeing accomplices had retreated to.

The two could hear the rocks crashing against the floor and walls up the hallway, but what appeared a few silent moments later was Mirvak, skulking out of the dark of the hall into the dimly lit room. The beast seemed to permeate darkness, whether it was simply his fur color or demeanor it wasn't clear. The wolf locked eyes with Er'in, moving in the same meticulous pattern as before, like a shark scoping out its prey. The intense gaze gave off an annoyed an angered attitude, as he turned his head away from her carelessly and walked around her to the door, running his claws against it lightly. He raised his extinguished lightsaber and curtly asked Er'in,"Are you in need of a key, witch?"

 

['Shiv']

Shiv happily gave control over to Chips as he pulled a monitor down from the ceiling. His eyes darted across the scans of the landscape before he pointed towards a section ahead of them. "Grrrrrrrrrrrh!" ["Up ahead is a flat section of desert, we can put the old girl down there! The problem is this!"] Shiv shoved the monitor in front of Chips showing him their current course. Before they could reach their safe landing zone, they'll need to fly over, or through, a series of rocky pillars that shoot high out of the sands. At their current decent, they'll need to make the best out of it. "Hggggggggggh!" ["Keep her up for just a bit longer! I'm going to go have a chat with that engine we bought from those Jawas last time we were on Tatooine!"] Shiv shoved the monitor back into the ceiling as he pushed himself out of his seat. Rushing towards the engine room. Nearly tripping over the small MSE-6 droid that scurried across the floor.

After hastily making his way to the engine room, Shiv held onto the door frame as the door opened. Creating a suction effect due to the breach in the hull. The impact that caused this in the first place. Shiv pushed through the combating air pressure, making his way towards the engines. The damage was clear, but nothing enough to warrant more panic. Shiv could fix this. Hopefully. He wasted no time in getting to work. Pulling tools from his vest before working on reconnecting and replacing the severed wires. Chips just had to buy some time. Shiv just hopes Chips wasn't hungover.

 

['Shiv']

(SORRY IT TRIPLE POSTED)

 

['Shiv']

(SORRY IT TRIPLE POSTED)

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Location: Ancient chamber, inside observatory standing near @Er’in Tenel and [member="Mirvak"]
Allies: @Er’in Tenel [member="Mirvak"]
Enemies: [member="Edric Vanyan"] [member="Zesiro"] [member="Akabane"]
Engaging: Nobody currently

Beltran followed @Er’in Tenel’s gaze back down the hall. [member="Edric Vanyan"] appeared to be injured and the other two seemed to be tending to him. That was good. Though he hadn’t intended any harm to come to the young man, the fact that he was injured would hopefully make him less effective in any future confrontations. And if he died…well then he really wouldn’t be a problem for them.

Turning his back on the scene, he took a moment to examine the door panel that Er’in was pointing at. It reminded him vaguely of a door control panel he’d once shorted out as a teenager back on Lorrd. Then, it had been to steal a few cheap electronics to sell on the black market. Now, it was to take some things he hoped were a lot more valuable.

He listened to her as she explained what she was looking for, nodding once and filing the information in his mind. He didn’t bother to ask what the book and pyramid were exactly, or why she wanted them. In truth, he didn’t care. Her reasons were her own.

“Cover me,” He said to the woman once she was done speaking. He then slung his rifle back over his shoulder and reached into his hip pouch and pulled out a datapad. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was durable and he still had a few unlocking algorithms on it. Nothing that would even touch a state-of-the-art lock by today’s standards. But a state-of-the-art lock from almost a millennia ago? That might work.

Stepping closer to the lock, he pressed a few buttons and then sighed. “No wireless interface? Surely they must have had that tech even back then…” Reaching back into his pouch, he pulled out what appeared to be a pair of wires which he attached first to his datapad and then to two ports on the door panel.

Then he ran a basic diagnostic subroutine to get a little more information about what kind of operating system he was working with. In truth, the information that popped up didn’t really make a lot of sense to the mercenary. It was true, there were some similarities between this lock’s operating system and the one’s he come into contact with before, but it was obvious that the one’s from his past had been the scaled down version.

“I can try running a cracking algorithm, but I honestly don’t know if it’ll do anything,” He told Er’in.

Yet, even as he spoke he heard a commotion at the rock pile. Leaving his work for a moment, he turned his head only to find that the wolf-like creature Er’in had entered the observatory with had arrived, brandishing a lightsaber. He didn’t speak as the creature offered to cut through the obstacle in front of them. He just gazed between the two evenly, waiting to see what happened next.

 

[Edric Vanyan]

Location: Inside the Observatory, past the blockage in the main hall.
Allies:[member="Zesiro"] [member="Akabane"]
Possible Combatants: [member="Beltran Rarr"] [member="Mirvak"] @Er'in Tenel

Edric was regaining conscious soon enough and his final repairs were being done. It was taking him a bit longer than he had intended as he realized that the damage to his chest was significant. He would need to avoid more physical opponents, and hopefully for that matter avoid fighting in general with those other three. He was certain that they would be more managable now, as he had figured out something about them and wouldn't be distracted this time. The man's rifle should also be of a lesser power supply now, though he doubted it was near emptying considering the man would not be that unprepared from what Edric had seen.

The real threat would likely be the Worgian, even though he had taken damage only from the woman. The Worgian was still the biggest danger to working together, and most likely the reason the fight would happen again. He did not discount that the woman had been the one taking the lead. It was possible that she was the one who wanted that fight but at the same time the hostility he felt was primarily the dog's.

These thoughts flowed through his mind until he suddenly had spikes of pain shoot from his chest as if someone was sitting on it. But the pain was there one moment and gone again, then quickly returned. He wasn't sure what the hell that was but then he felt something brush against his face. He had no idea what was going on as his consciousness returned. Finally though he broke his self induced coma like state, eyes slowly opening before finding a certain face infront of his. At first he thought she was just checking to make sure he was ok, that was until she leaned forward and his eyes went wide.

Instantly turning red again, his voice started to rise quietly once he could talk again and the moment Zes realized he was awake again.

"Uh... Zes, I think i'm fine..." He couldn't really say anything else as he had no way to hide himself this time, his arms and body still heavy from the trance like state. He did notice someone else standing nearby, his eyes using the force to increase his sight and realize it was not one of those who had been their enemy. He then turned even more red at the realization this man had seen that and considering that man's own expression... he had thought they were making out.

Almost instantly Edric wished he could just be knocked right back out.

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Location: Ancient chamber, inside observatory standing near [member="Beltran Rarr"] and Mirvak
Allies: [member="Beltran Rarr"] Mirvak
Enemies: Edric Vanyan Zesiro Akabane
Engaging: Nobody currently

Er'in had actually never looked more pleased to see [member="Mirvak"] in the entire of their brief association, as a consequence, any of the witty or bitchy comments she would normally have delivered were bypassed.

"Actually, yes I think we do. Beltran, it seems our universal lockpick has arrived with perfect timing."

She stepped gracefully out of the way to permit Mirvak access to the door and assumed a ready stance with her blade, as if she imagined it could parry blaster bolts. Which handily, it could.

"I imagine it will activate every single sentinel droid inside and by the time we're done with them, I imagine our friends will have caught up. So lets finish this quickly."

She pauses for a moment, then glances at Mirvak with a questioning expression for a moment.

"Was I imagining something or did you through Akabane through the rubble? Do we need to... deal with him?"

 

[Madison M. Maxwell IV]

Jakku, Ancient Imperial Ruins, Unknown Time

---

As Akabane tossed the blaster to her, Alba nearly dropped them, not expecting the 'gift', "Hold 'em..." But before he could elaborate, or she could slap him, the mysterious stranger had already bolted behind to join the fray. Rolling her eyes, the treasure hunter went to leave the Observatory -- No way was she going to stay around for that fight, she wasn't suicidal. And there had to be alternative entrances she could take. As she began to emerge from the ruins, busy fussing with the belt and the blaster, she almost missed it.

But it was hard to miss.

The small ship, skirting through the clear Jakku air, appearing to be in quite a bit of distress as it careened and wobbled, dropping fast. The words slipped from her mouth before she could contain herself, simply watching the random vessel go down in a blaze of misplaced glory with an incredulous expression.

"What the karkin' hell is that?"

---

---

Spoiler: Interacting With

[member=Akabane] | [member="Chips Dumbo"] @Shiv (Sorry for the very late reply -- Database errors...)

 

[Chips Dumbo]

Chips, was indeed, very hungover but that wouldn't stop him from landing this ship! His hands glided across in his control console "Shiv, I'm going to take her over the spires. We are to big to make it throu-" another spark shot from the console, as he covered his face. quickly back on it he yanked the controls backwards lurching the Hawk upwards as his hands threw the Engine lever to full force "This will do it!" he smirked, though his drunken mind had failed him. He forgot the Engines were destroyed, and it did nothing to save the ship. Instead, the sudden lurch caused it to slam directly into a nearby rock spire breaking off a large chunk of rock though the Hull withstood the impact, it began to violently spin in uncontrolled circles "Impact!" he screamed over the intercom, The YT-2400 was no longer in the air, but instead a beached ship as it slid through the dunes of Jakku spinning over several times before coming to a groaning stop around 800 meters from the Ruins.


Interacting With @Alba Talatheen

 

[Zesiro]

It felt like she was going through about her fifth attempt to bring Edric back to life. She was leaning over him again and about to breathe into his mouth again when his eyes opened. She didn't notice this though and her lips touched his as he opened his mouth speak. Catching her totally by surprise, she jerked away from him much like he had her when she accidently kissed him before when they first met.

Not paying much attention to what was going on around them in her quest to make sure he lived, Zesiro had not noticed Akabane heading in their direction or the look he gave them. She noticed him now, but stayed sitting next to Edric.

The look on his face was priceless, but he didn't appear able to shrink any more than he always was and she tried to hide her smile.

"That's the second one I guess? Are you sure? I mean you stopped breathing totally and I was not kissing you!"

No matter what it looked like to Akabane, she hoped at least Edric understood what happened. Letting out a sigh, she turned to look at Akabane. Having already noticed him on her way past him earlier, she didn't think he knew who she was yet.

"You're welcome to join us Akabane."

[member="Edric Vanyan"] [member="Akabane"]

 

[Mirvak]

Location: Approaching allies
Allies: Er'in Tenel | Beltran Rarr
Enemies: Zesiro | Edric Vanyan | Akabane


Mirvak at once ignited his lightsaber and sunk it into the center locking mechanism of the door. He twisted it and turned it slowly, a small molten circle forming around the lightsaber and gradually growing bigger.

He glanced down to Er'in briefly, then looked back to the door. "I care not for the weakling's escapades. If he hinders us I will strike him down."

After a minute of melting through the locking mechanisms, Mirvak pulled his lightsaber out and waved his hand over the door. It shuddered and creaked, but with some persuasion from the force, it opened. As expected, there were rusted sentinel droids in a state of disrepair, waiting on the other end. Mirvak leapt into action, swinging his lightsaber from left to right, cutting three in half from the waist up.

 

[Akabane Jarvik]

Location: By Edric and Zes
Allies: [member="Edric Vanyan"] | [member="Alba Talatheen"] | [member="Zesiro"]
Enemies: [member="Mirvak"] | [member=Er'in Tenel] | [member="Beltran Rarr"]

"Huh?" he let out due to confusion. The woman appeared to know his name and he didn't know how, since he had not yet recognized that it was Ava. My name? How does she know my name? he was really confused. Naturally, he wanted to ask her how she knew of him. He stayed where he was while asking the question, losing trust in the woman. "You know of me? I didn't know that I am famous." he began to move forward slowly.

Akabane assumed she wasn't someone that he had to be careful around. Edric and Ava were both his allies at the time anyways, fighting eachother wouldn't make sense. As he got closer, Akabane still didn't notice the woman was Ava. That might have been a little mean, she knew it was him but he couldn't say the same about her. Though, in his defense their meeting was so long ago. A few years ago if he remembered correctly. Naboo is where they met eachother, there he gave her a nickname and he wasn't expecting her to keep using that name. That'd surprise him after he realized she was Ava, whether he found out himself or was told.

He stopped walking once he was only five feet away. "Hello there, partner. I hope you're almost done with your nap." he said, forming a half grin. Akabane really did hope he was done getting fixed, even if everything happened a moment ago. The others would be coming back soon enough most likely. "My name's Akabane. My allegiance is to the Confederacy." he introduced himself, hopefully these two liked the Confederacy.

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Location: Sith Artifact Storage w/ Beltran Rarr and Mirvak
Allies: Beltran Rarr Mirvak
Enemies: Edric Vanyan Zesiro Akabane
Engaging: Droids sah! Thousands of 'em!

Er'in was almost tempted to let Mirvak deal with the droids, there was something quite artful about watching the worgen's swath of utter destruction. But ancient or not, the Emperor hadn't exactly scrimped on the defences of his personal... whatever this was... ship hanger? Storage facility? They called it an Observatory, but Observing what? Contrary to her actions, she did care. She just didn't have time, a little plundered knowledge was worth a lot more than all of it lost to treachery and fire.

A volley of blaster bolts in her direction was parried by automatic reflex, the Sith blade quite literally singing as the alchemized songsteel deflected the incoming fire. A small smile touched her lips. Two months ago - no, a month ago, she'd been unable to do that. She surged forward under force acceleration, her blade technique definitely that of someone trained with normal weapons rather than a lightsaber, but handily, that was what she was wielding. She planted the blade square in the power pack of one of the larger droids, flinching back slightly as the unstable matrix cooked off explosively.

At the same time, she reached out with her senses - the niches, of course. Probably with beautiful display lighting originally. Quite a few were empty, but the rest certainly contained... interesting artifacts, all genuine, which was no surprise. But perhaps not all terribly useful. But what she was looking for should be... there.

Fate would have it that both of her goals were through the small army of droids, she hummed cheerfully to herself in time with the singing of her blade and advanced.

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Location: Sith Artefact Storage w/ @Er’in Tenel and [member="Mirvak"] and a lot of sentinel droids
Allies: @Er’in Tenel, [member="Mirvak"]
Enemies: [member="Edric Vanyan"], [member="Zesiro"], [member="Akabane"], Sentinel droids
Engaging: Droids sah! Thousands of ‘em!

Beltran stood out of the way as the giant wolf-like creature plunged his lightsaber into the door. He had nothing to add to their conversation, so he chose to remain silent and use the brief few moments of quiet to change out the charge pack on his rifle. While he still had about half a charge on the one already inserted, he didn’t know when he would be likely to have enough time to reload again.

With that done, he stood behind [member="Mirvak"] and @Er’in Tenel and raised his rifle to the ready position. Though technically a civilian model, the LD-1 was already nearly as powerful as any military model. A few slight modifications, and it did the job superbly while still being legal for private ownership in just about all planetary systems.

Besides, it wasn’t necessarily about how powerful your blaster was, it was whether you could deliver that power to the correct spot at the correct time. That was what was important, and that was what Beltran Rarr was very, very, good at doing.

As the door was forced open, Beltran soon saw that Er’in had been correct. What appeared to be at least several dozen old model sentinel droids were waiting for them, not even bothering to hide. The first thing Beltran did, was drop to his knee and open fire.

Three carefully aimed shots in less in as many seconds each found their mark, directly through the eye and into the central processor housed in the droid’s head. In each case, the droid short-circuited and fell to the ground before even having a chance to open fire.

Next, Beltran came up to a crouch and moved forward with his rifle raised. As he moved, the mercenary remain about two steps behind both [member="Mirvak"] and [member="Er’in Tenel"], and kept himself between them. This allowed the mercenary to take full advantage of both the force users ability to deflect the droids’ blaster bolts while allowing him to take whatever shots of opportunity came to him.

As it turned out, the opportunities before him were endless.

As they advanced inside the canvernous room, Beltran allowed himself to glance around in what spare moments he could afford to. It certainly appeared as though this was a hangar of some kind, though he had yet to put on eyes on a vessel of any kind. He also took into account the various crates that littered the landscape, using them for cover when necessary and continuing his rate of fire. He downed several more droids, all the while keeping an eye out for any crates that seemed like they would house anything more valuable than the rest.

In front of him, he heard something along the sides of battle that truly surprised him. Was the woman fighting to his right actually humming?