Under the Sea [Qae]

[Judah Dashiell]

[[Missing some posts, just adding these in. I remember where we left off, dropping the items into the ocean. I say we still go from there]]

Kesh | Continent of Alanciar | Port Melephos -- @Qae Shena

Standing on an barge, Judah surmised the design of such a vessel hadn't changed in centuries. Especially on a backwater world such as Kesh, literally the end of the universe. Despite the planet being so far out, Judah had chosen it for its location and stance on the Rimma Trade Route when setting up his company.

Today he was testing out a new line of salvage and recovery droids termed AQUS. Sparky was at his side on the barge, beeping his displeasure at the fact the barge was rocking back and forth.

"Nothing I can do about it.Sorry Sparky"

Normally, Judah would have recruited Thessa in to help. His half-Galan fiancee was missing. The young salvager assumed the woman was dead in all honesty. She had headed into deep Sith territory and in an area known not to be friendly to non-humans. The prospect of never seeing her again was overwhelming. Throwing all effort into work was all he could do for now.

An effort that was going to require help from the Master at Arms.

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Posted 23 October 2013 - 08:57 PM
The back end of a Galaxy that didn't care any more. So typical for the Vagrants - things were going to Hell and they had their own things to do, no care in the world for Galactic politics or the war brewing around them. No, they had to handle their own business, and Qae Shena was all for that. Not entirely lost to the Galaxy, but certianly withdrawn from it.

And so was Judah, on second thought. Qae was close to Blue, too-- she was his flight instructor, after all-- and her being missing, possibly dead, was difficult. A million times more so for the man engaged to her. He understood. It felt like Lor was lost to hiim. It felt like everything was different, so difficult, and so tumultuous; he wasn't sure how to approach things on that matter. Especially with her in the Galactic spotlight. All in all, Qae knew how Judah was feeling.

So the first thing he did was put a reassuring blue hand on Judah's shoulder.

"It'll be okay. Promise."

There was a smile, one of solidarity and 'yeah, I'm here for you'. They were a team, as it were. All the Vagrants were. He wouldn't do any less for any of the rest of them.

"Let's drown our lady troubles in the wonderful sludge of grease and hard work. What's the plan?"

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Posted 24 October 2013 - 06:20 PM
@Qae Shena

"Problems for you as well Qae? You gonna be okay?"

Rude, he didn't have to be. Besides forgetting about 'lady troubles' was easier said than done. No amount of hard work was going to keep the thoughts from creeping in the back of his mind.He could only suspect the feeling would be mutual. Giving a half-hearted smile back, Judah was steering their borrowed wooden barge out further out into the ocean.

Sparky was never far from him, like an overly worried child. A tone of half-sorrow,half-questioning piped up from the droid. More worrying.

"As for our plan, fairly simple. I brought aboard a line of undersea salvage vehicles. Just two and one thats on the border. We're going to run the droids into the ground, see what breaks so I can fix it later. That and pray no sea creatures are big enough to pick them out as lunch."

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Synopsis : More chatting about their crappy love lives. They reach a large undersea chasm and drop in two droids from the AQUS line. Here, we begin once again.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Qae Shena"]

Both prototypes had been eased into the ocean, the bright-yellow hunks of metal and late-night musings disappearing under the waves. Judah stood watching for a moment, turning a datapad on. If all went well....a big if...the two droids would start transmitting data back very shortly. Nothing fancy at all. Location, surrounding readings, size and shape of any potential finds.

Worried electronic tones and whistles chimed at his side.

"Don't worry about the sea spray. I'll give you an oil bath when we get back. You survived living with Thessa for how many years? She keeps the place like a sauna."

Sparky tweeted out a retort.

"I am aware the humidity is different due to the environment. Relax. Go make friends with Derp."

Looking over the datapad, information was streaming in, albeit a bit slower than expected.Something to fix with the final version of the droids.

"Everything appears to be good thus far. How about we check them out up close? Just because they transmit data doesn't mean they are moving down there..."

 

[Qae Shena]

@[member="Judah Dashiell"]

While Sparky and Derp made all of the friends ever and the tanks did their thing underwater, Qae was considering what he would do. Already, Judah would see his body in the form that it was as Qae stripped down to little more than his tunic pants - high-collared sleeveless shirt gone, bracers, belt and boots, too. He needed nothing more underwater, after all. Judah would immediately notice the panoply of scar tissue on his body - scars all across his chest, arms and back, as if he had horrifically mauled by beasts and blades alike.

Qae looked, frankly, like he should have died from his wounds long ago.

"I'm not gonna say no to a swim," Qae admitted joyfully. A chance to get back in the water? Yes please. There'd be no stopping Qae underwater, fighting off whatever kinds of sea monsters that inhabited the oceans here. It'd certainly be a change of pace.

Then, in moments, he was already underwater, back where he belonged, diving in gracefully to the loving embrace of the mother ocean. Already Qae felt like he was home, back on Glee Anselm, through all the years of his youth coming back to him. Yes. Home. Where there was no land, where he could kick and swim powerfully - it was wonderful.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Qae Shena"]

Sparky warbled his concerns about the ocean, firmly stuck in the middle of the boat near the datapad. Optical sensor changed to blue with his questioning, turning his dome back and forth. Shaking his head.

"Easy Sparky. I'm not going to get eaten and leave you an orphan."

Pulling off his shirt, Judah stood clad in the bright orange swim trunks that Thessa hated. Said he was too pale to be wearing such a brightly colored item. Now the salvager purposely wore the article of clothing to annoy the Galan. Except she wasn't here to be annoyed or give him 'the Kai glare'.

Sticking the rebreather in his mouth and banishing the memory, Judah jumped off the boat and into the ocean. The water was warm and fairly clearly. Taking a minute to orient himself, Judah spotted the bright yellow submersibles and the Nautolan. With bubbles trailing from the rebreather, Judah swam towards the two devices. He was more interested in the underwater salvage droid than the other. The other device was one to mine undersea minerals. It was a project gathering steam in his head.

Resting a hand on the device, he started to look it over, pulling some kelp out of the propeller system.

 

[Qae Shena]

While Judah busied himself with the work of cleaning the detritus from one of the machines, Qae helped out by clearing the other. Barnacles, seaweed, whatever have you upon the hull of the bright yellow tank, all of it needed to be clear. Unfortunately, there was no speaking underwater for Judah. Or talking to him, for Basic tended to require lungs and only the Nautolan could speak Nautila, the strange, undersea language of his people. Needless to say, this was to be a wordless operation, conducted by feel and touch and gesture. Or the Force, but best not to rely on that.

There wasn't much for Qae to do other than clear the machine and look out for undersea critters; there wasn't anything around there, so far, even if the teeming thrum of the ocean was enough to make Qae feel right at home. It was life, motion, warmth and coldness as one. It was wonderful. He wouldn't have had it any other way.

Quietly, he looked to Judah, as if asking for their next instruction.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Qae Shena"]

They were terribly deep. At least it shouldn't be deep if Judah was using the Nautolan reasoning as judgement. With the devices now free to plunge lower, Judah made a motion with his hand. Perhaps they should follow. He was comfortable enough with the rebreather to keep going. If he didn't keep going it would be useless.

Focusing his attention to the sea floor, the salvager headed towards a deeper rocky, reef-like area that the droids were headed to.

 

[Qae Shena]

@[member="Judah Dashiell"]

Qae was following these droids interestedly. In fact, considering he swam faster than thery sunk, he was taking his sweet time swimming around them, taking this very rare opportunity to stretch his legs and swim about. It was so nice, so carefree, so lazily fun, that Qae couldn't help but relax and exercise his freedoms to swim as he chose.

Down towards the rocks, silently, Qae wondering what these machines were going to do down there - and what sort of wildlife he could interact with.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Looking out over the vehicles, Judah shook his head in the water. Things weren't quite working out as he had planned. Swimming deeper, he grabbed the mining device and looked over at the programming panel. Already corrupted. The watertight seal didn't hold as he had wished and judging by the salvaging submersible the situation was more of the same.

Leaving and breaking the surface of the water once more, Judah pulled down a section of tow cable to bring the vehicles up.

His first foray into mining wasn't exactly going as planned.

[FIN]