Ask Grocery Haul

[Ferrin Sipal]

.

Ferrin wasn’t entirely sure what to make of this assignment. Since the fall of Yavin, the Jedi Order had largely retreated to their stronghold of Brighthome - with thousands of Jedi taking residence on the mobile Space Station. Of course, this meant that the Order was increasingly reliant upon shipments of supplies - from medical goods to basic foodstuffs - from friendly planets, carried by Jedi transports with clearance to approach Brighthome.

While he wasn’t allowed to attend missions without the supervision of a Knight, overseeing a supply run from Datar didn’t meet those qualifications. Thus, he was placed with another Padawan to do exactly that.

Their transport had only just departed from Datar - hauling several thousand pounds of fruits and vegetables stocked in the cargo hold. In theory, it was a completely straight forward job - and their only obligation was to bring the supplies back to Brighthome.

Ferrin was seated within the cockpit of the ship, lazily lounging within the co-pilot’s seat. His feet were kicked up onto the dashboard, having just finished cleaning up the boots that went with his Jedi tunic and pants. His lilac hair was styled messily, while the hilt of his newly-forged saber was flipped to his belt.

“Definitely beats sitting in one of Master Oola’s lessons,” He remarked, flashing a sideways smirk. The old Bothan Master had to have been ancient, by now.. He’d been boring Padawans to death with his lectures for decades.

“Farmer was kind of a douche, though..” He glanced over to Maura. While the man didn’t seem hostile to the Jedi and certainly didn’t mind taking their credits.. He was in an awful hurry to get the transaction complete and send the pair of Padawans on their way. Naturally, Ferrin didn’t really put two-and-two together that something might’ve been amiss.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Though this wasn't the most interesting mission in the galaxy, Maura was glad to have something to do. Brighthome had been an adventure when Grandmaster Voran had brought her here a couple of years ago, but now that she'd toured every inch of it since then, it was just another Jedi temple. Except this one had no outdoor spaces for her to stretch her legs, though the gym and training facilities were quite spacious, if not a bit dated. She was starting to feel really couped up, so when the opportunity arose, she'd jumped at the chance to get off-world. Like Ferrin just said, it beat sitting through some boring lecture.

"Dude, just skip," she replied, kicking her feet out from their cross-legged position under her. "He's half blind, half deaf, half dead, and I bet he wouldn't even notice you missing." Maura was ahead of most of her peers since she'd been a Jedi since she was seven, and also since she'd been able to ditch some of the classes for one-on-one tutoring. She'd never been able to sit down long enough to pay attention to some washed-up Jedi master drone on and on about whatever anyways. The only group classes she was still in had something hands-on or physical about them.

As for the farmer, Maura hadn't paid too much attention either. "Yeah, I guess," she shrugged, running a hand through her hair to get her grown-out bangs out of her face. She'd cut most of her hair off not too long ago, and she wasn't quite used to the short length yet. Her roots were real grown out too - almost past her ears at this point. Only her padawan braid had any semblance of anything other than red or yellow.

"People don't like us. It's whatever." The padawan leaned further back in the chair, then glanced behind her. "Hate us because they ain't us or something like that, I dunno." She giggled, then glanced back at the dash. It would still be a bit before they got back to Brighthome.

"So, you have Switter? Spinstagram?"

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

"Bruh, if I skip another class, I’m pretty sure the Grandmaster herself is going to whoop my ass.” Ferrin said with a drawn out sigh, completely aware that Maura was Master Voren’s apprentice. In truth, the Pantoran didn’t know what to expect from the girl upon being paired together. He was half-expecting some snobby, entitled Padawan that thought themselves better, strictly because of who their Master was. It was hard to argue that the fellow Padawan likely had an edge, given Ferrin’s own lack of a Master. Luckily, she seemed chill so far.

Despite his sentiments, the Padawan wasn’t an awful student all around. A short attention span was more accurate, if nothing else.

Ferrin crossed his arms, letting out a huff about the farmer. While Maura barely seemed to notice, the Pantoran most certainly had. “The Order could’ve saved that whole planet, and people like that Farmer would still have a stick up their asses.” He grumbled a bit. The Pantoran could never understand the vitriol that some people assigned to the Jedi. Non-involvement with the war was one thing.. But hatred? Ferrin could only sign, shaking his head a bit.

“Yeah, probably.” He grinned, his lips tugging a bit wider at the sound of Maura’s giggles. Upon request, the Pantoran quickly whipped out his datapad. It was an older model and lacked some of the newer features, but it was impressive enough for a Jedi Padawan. “Ferrin4Real_16 is my GalaxyGram.” He said with a wide grin, leaning back in his seat.

Before much time could pass, Ferrin jumped a bit in his seat - startled by the sudden chirping of an alarm on the dashboard. He glanced around for a few seconds before his gold gaze fell upon the culprit. “..Power failure?” The Pantoran blinked a few time like a Bantha in headlines.

“Maybe it's a false alarm." He said with a straight face. The check engine light on his speeder had been blinking for months. Maybe this was similar?

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura scoffed. "I doubt it. She's too busy with- " Well, everything, really. The fall of Yavin, knights and padawans gone astray, politics, grandmaster stuff... "Well, I doubt it. Just show up for attendance and dip. E-Z."

She wished Alex wasn't quite so busy. It would be nice to have more master-apprentice time, but there wasn't much Maura could do about that. It had been easier when she was younger. Maybe after things settled down she'd be able to convince her to take her on a mission again.

As for the farmer... "...yyyeah, you'd think so right?" She rolled her eyes. "All we do for people and they still just... it sucks. A 'thank you' might be asking too much, but yeah, they could at least just not be dicks."

As soon as Ferrin began spelling out his GalaxyGram, Maura whipped out her datapad and opened the app. She tapped over to the 'add friend' tab and quickly typed his name in. Before long, Ferrin would get a notification about 'maybeitsmaura' adding him back as a friend. "Added!" She squinted at the screen, then glanced at Ferrin, then back at his page. "Damn, you've had the same haircut for a while," she commented. She pointed to her own hair and grinned. "I just cut a buncha mine off!"

Things happened, lights went off, and Ferrin wondered if maybe it was a false alarm. Maura swung out of her chair and headed for the back. "I'll go check!"

The ship had been totally fine when they left, so she bet it was just a false alarm. "I mean, what else could it be, rats?"

"UHHH, FERRIN? YOU SHOULD COME LOOK AT THIS..."

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

Ferrin rolled his eyes a bit, smirking when Maura mentioned the Grandmaster was too busy. He didn’t really doubt it - but the Pantoran was still convinced the one time he tried to pull some bullshit, Master Voren would conveniently be there to catch him in the act. He nodded a bit, pondering the logistics of slipping out of an Oola class post attendance. Maybe during those moments he put the class through meditation drills?

“It’s whatever,” He grumbled, exhaling a breath. It was all too easy to start holding a grudge against people like that, and Ferrin tried to make a point not to. “‘Least we got some people in the Republic vouching for us now.” He said. News of Senator Kalist and her political bloc had spread like wildlife across the Galaxy, and particular resonated with Jedi at Brighthome. He hadn’t seen so many Padawans and Knights alike tuning into GNN, if only to listen to her speeches.

His gaze flicked down to his datapad - smirking when Maura added him. Of course, he couldn’t help but squint when she commented about his hair. True to word, his lilac hair was styled and cut roughly the same way for the past couple years. “Well yeah,” He grinned, leaning back in his seat. “Why change what works so well?”

“Looks good,” He said after a moment, jutting a chin to her hair.

Ferrin blinked a few times when Maura volunteered to go check. There was some part of him that wondered if he should offer to go with her. And there was the fact he was pretty comfortable in his chair. Besides, she was the Grandmaster’s apprentice. What could she possibly need his help for? Psh.

And then she started shouting.

Grumbling a bit, Ferrin spun out of his chair and ran back towards the cargo hold, spotting Maura standing in the doorframe. “Alright alright,” He said, “What in the hell am I lookin at—“ He stuck his head into the door, just in time to watch as quite literally hundreds of giant rats scurried up the walls and chewed through a multitude of wires above the ceiling, sparks crackling from damaged material.

“What th—AHH!“ Before he could get the words out, Ferrin felt someone land on the top back of his head and start trying to crawl down his skirt. Letting out a scream that wasn’t at all masculine, Ferrin lurched back - grabbing the puppy-sized rat and proceeding to throw it back into the room. He landed flat on his ass, traveling a few feet away from the door. “CLOSE THE DOOR RIGHT NOW,”

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura hated rats. She didn't have too many memories from before the Jedi - even those of her time at the orphanage were fleeting - but she remembered the rats as clear as day. Fighting with them for food scraps, getting bit and biting them back... they were probably her least favorite thing in the galaxy.

"AAAHHHHWHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE RATS?!" Ferrin's shout for her to close the door sprung her back into action and the padawan pulled it shut with every once of might she could muster in a second. It slammed into place, shaking the object in its hinges, and she quickly forced the lock into position. She turned, slid down to the ground against it, and stared at Ferrin with wide eyes and slitted pupils.

"I fucking hate rats," she declared in between shallow, shaky breaths. Her expression was erased, then quickly changed to a look of concern. "How did so many get on board?" They really, really should have checked the cargo more thoroughly... how the hell did they miss this shit?

"Fuck, okay." Maura stood up, then offered her hand to Ferrin to pull him off the ground. They really didn't have any time to panic. "I'm going to go call for help. Can you figure out if there's a way to quarantine that part of the ship?"

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

Out of pure instinct, Ferrin furiously beat and swatted at himself - attempting to knock away any rodent ambusher. It took him a solid ten seconds to realize that there was no such assailant, his breath coming with heavy gasps from the ground. The Pantoran glanced up to the sealed door, disbelief still bright in his golden eyes.

“How am I supposed to know!?” He exclaimed with a hiss, his eyes flicking between Maura and the door. It clearly had to have been that farmer - selling them good infested with rats. Was that why he was in such a rush? The Pantoran shook his head, accepting her hand and forcing himself back onto his feet with a huff of growing agitation. Not only did they have to deal with the rodents aboard, but Ferrin already knew this couldn’t get swept under the rug - which meant explaining the whole situation to the first hard-ass Jedi knight who came questioning.

He considered their options, expression knitting up into a grimace. “If they are inside the walls there is no way to quarantine them. We can open the cargo-hold to get rid of most of them..” But that meant opening the cargo hold and losing all of the supplies they were suppose to be bringing to Brighthome.

“Maybe we can lure them out? Try to lock them inside the brig?”

Before the Pantoran could consider that option any further, a series of red lights began to blare throughout the ship. Warning lights that cast the hallways in sanguine hues and signified that things definitely weren’t going great with the ship. Not even a moment later, both of the Padawans would be sent hurtling through the hallway as their freighter lurched out of Hyperspace, dropping down onto some random system along the way to Brighthome.

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"Do you think the supplies are even still intact?" she questioned, recalling the sight of the rats absolutely shredding through the wiring. "'Cause if the supplies are lost, then we might as well just- "

Before she could finish, the ship's emergency lights began flashing and the ship came to a sudden halt. She was sent flying into Ferrin, who was then sandwiched between her and the wall until she tumbled away. "Ow..." Cushioned by a body or not, it still wasn't pleasant to get thrown around.

"Are you okay?" Again, Maura would help Ferrin to his feet. She looked a lot more nervous now that the damage was clearly enough to force their ship out of hyperspace.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

Ferrin paused, staring off into space like a bantha in headlights when Maura posed her question. “..Uh.” The Pantoran reached up to run his fingers through his lilac hair - something he didn’t often do unless he was nervous. “If they are eatin’ the wires then probably..” He muttered quietly. Which meant that not only did they have a rodent problem, but they also didn’t have much food in the cargo hold at this point.

“Fuck.” The Pantoran hissed, looking utterly agitated by the situation. Before Maura could finish the rest of her statement, they were both sent tumbling through the hallway - and Ferrin effectively ragdolled through the air until he collided with the closest wall. A loud thud, crunch and groan of pain filled the silence of the ship. Ferrin, meanwhile, kind of just slumped against the wall with Maura crushing him.

“Nope..” He muttered, his voice suddenly a bit nasally and funny sounding. Upon closer inspection, Maura would clearly see the stream of blood from the Pantoran’s nostrils. His nose was very clearly broken, and his eyes were already watering from the pain to his face. “Definitely not okay..”

All the same, he accepting the hand to get back on his feet - glancing down at Maura for a moment. “Are you?” He asked with a hint of concern, one hand rising to cup the blood that dripped from his nose. His other hand slipped down to his lightsaber - pulling the hilt free before igniting the blade. In an instant, the hallway was filled with the brilliant gold hue of his saber - reflecting off the metallic walls and flooring.“Okay.. We need to lure them out and somewhere we can contain them.” The Pantoran said, attempting to mask his panic. “If we open the cargo hold, we can probably get rid of most of them.. But it’ll probably make the rest flee into the walls.”

“Or.. I can try to bait all of them out. Lead them towards the brig or.. somewhere..”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura had recently broken her nose. It had just finally healed enough so that she was pretty sure she could knock her head against a wall and be fine. Seeing Ferrin with his brand new broken nose - it definitely elicited memories of the same having happened to her. They weren't happy memories either, but they didn't cause her too much of a pause. She was definitely staring, though.

"I'm okay," she confirmed. Maura was pretty sure her bones and muscles were hardened from countless times of being thrown around, running into shit, or straight-up abuse from over-exercising. She was more concerned about Ferrin and his broken nose, especially since it... didn't look too good. The girl was far from empathetic, but since she had experienced the same thing, she quite literally knew how it felt. "But your nose... can you breathe at least?" The last thing either of them needed was for him to choke on his own blood.

As long as he confirmed he could breathe - or breathe well enough - Maura would take a step back and glance warily down at the locked door at the end of the hall. Ferrin began listing off ideas, and he would know she was listening from the occasional twitch of her ear.

"If there's going to be any leading or baiting, I'll do it," she insisted, firmly. As much, as much, as she hated those damn rats, she felt like it would be better for her to take their attention. The thought of it did send a shiver down her spine. As to what the best idea was... "Shit, what would they do in a movie?" The padawan still got most of her ideas from films she'd watched, for better or for worse. "Let's uuhhhh.... the brig. Yeah."

But how would she get out after leading them in? "No time." She'd have to figure it out as they went.

"Okay, you go to the control room. Let me know before you open the doors... okay? I'll let you know once they're trapped?" Despite the artificial steadiness in her voice, Ferrin would be able to see Maura's hands shaking as she reached for her own lightsaber.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

“I ain’t dead anyway,” Ferrin mumbled with a groan, wiping away some of the blood that poured from his nostrils. The Pantoran couldn’t help the way he shifted uncomfortably - clearly not on board with leaving Maura to fend for herself against the rodents. He knew better than splitting up, especially when it was only them to deal with the mess.

All the same.. Ferrin didn’t want to really deal with the rodents himself. And knew that they couldn’t sit around and argue for very long. In the end, he merely exhaled through his nostrils and gave a curt nod. “Okay.. Okay fine.” The Pantoran glanced back over his shoulder. “I’ll call you over the loud speaker before I open the doors, and I’ll make sure the brig shields are down for you to lead the in.” How Maura planned to do that, Ferrin really didn’t know.

“Just uh.. Be careful.” He said with a small frown. All the same, the Pantoran didn’t hesitate to turn on a heel - making a break for the control room, knowing they had to move quickly. It didn’t take him very long to reach - golden eyes immediately going to the terminal at the far side of the room. There was a map of the entire ship, and he could see where Maura was located at that precise moment.

“Alright.. I’m ready when you are,” He spoke over the loud speaker, his fingers hovering over the button that would open the cargo hold. They only had one shot at this.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Ferrin left Maura, and she turned slowly to face the door. She could feel her heartbeat increasing steadily, her breaths coming fast and shallow, and there was a wet coolness to her skin. She wished there was a way she could just get over her fear of rats, but nothing was ever that simple. But like her master, Alex, as well as Taz, had told her before, it was okay to be scared. She just had to make sure it didn't consume her.

The padawan ignited her lightsabers and held each of them at a downward angle toward the ground. She began taking slow, deep breaths and waited for Ferrin to call out his signal from the speakers. When his familiar voice finally cracked over the old comm system, she activated her comm link and told him to open the doors.

Spoiler

The little creatures burst out as soon as the door had opened wide enough for them to squeeze out, which was pretty much immediately, and Maura forced herself to stay put for just a few seconds longer. They locked onto the smell and sight of her and began barreling toward her like a tidal wave of mammals. As soon as they breached 5 meters between them, Maura turned heel and booked it.

Maybe her fear helped a little bit in this case, because the padawan started zooming down the halls followed by this mass of rats. She practically drifted around the corner, her body tilted at an angle above the ground only possible with enough speed, and she immediately recovered and kept on toward the brig. Unfortunately, this was the easy part, because once she found herself in the brig, she had to find a way out without letting the rats get to her too.

Maura really hadn't thought that far, and as soon as she burst into that room, she began wildly looking around for a door to run into. She saw one all the way across the room and began running for it, praying Ferrin would shut it behind her when she passed through.

plan execution: 52/100
tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

From the control room of the freighter, Ferrin had a clear view of Maura and her rodent companions. He couldn’t help but grimace, watching as the flood of rats tore through the corridors and spilled over the top of each other - shrieking in their attempt to watch up with the Padawan. He didn’t particularly envy Maura, but wasn’t going to leave the Padawan to die by rodent, either.

“I can trap them in the brig corridors - keep going!” He shouted over the loud speaker, his hands going to a few different controls. One of the security features of the brig included ray-shielding that was set up throughout the hallways and adjacent rooms, meant to ward against potential prisoner escape.

It wasn’t until Maura had safely passed through the door that Ferrin slammed his fist down against the console, sealing the door behind her. Another button activated the red, bright ray-shielded over the entrance and hallways where the rodents funneled into - trapping the vast majority of them, while sending the rest of the rodents scattering deeper into the ship. While it wasn’t perfect, it was better than having the entire swarm lose.

“I can’t open your door without dropping the ray shield.. But there should be a vent near the ceiling where you’re at. If you can get into the ventilation shaft, I can guide you back here to the cockpit.”

He paused for a long moment, pondering their options. “We can’t bring these things back to Brighthome.”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

The loudspeakers crackled back to life as Maura continued to book it across the room, throwing Ferrin's shouting voice overtop the round of stampeding rats and into her long, pinned-back ears. She bit down on her teeth and ran quicker. Once she was close enough, she launched herself at the door and landed on the other side of the threshold before rolling and tumbling across the ground until she came to a stop. To her relief, she heard the door seal behind her, but the relief wasn't enough to slow her racing heart.

Maura's breath continued to come quick and shallow as she actively fought hyperventilation. She was two steps away from a panic attack, and it was only the interruption from Ferrin's voice on her comms that distracted her long enough for her to get her shit together. She was still shaking - "damn those rats!" - but she managed to achingly roll over onto her side and then her feet.

"Okay," came her one word response, shaky and weak. She reached her hand up toward the ceiling and then yanked it with a closed fist toward the ground, ripping the ventilation gate from its place. She then used the Force to launch herself up into it and began to slowly crawl on her forearms in a direction she felt was right. The girl was no stranger to vents like these, though Ferrin's guidance would still be welcome.

"No, we can't." They needed to try and get in contact with someone, but she was worried about comms being off. "Are you able to send out a signal, or did they eat through it?"

If that wasn't an option... well, they couldn't stay in space forever.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

Ferrin couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief - watching the swarm of rats scamper and squirm within the ray-shielded brig. The few that escaped weren’t enough to cause damage, and would likely vanish elsewhere into the ship for the time being. Knowing they weren’t a threat, the Pantoran turned his attention to Maura - watching as the girl made her way through the ventilation shaft.

“Okay..” He squinted at the maze-like structure. “Next intersection, make a left. Then another left. Then a right. Then go straight. Then made another right. Then a left. And you should be back in the cockpit.” He said quickly, fulling expecting Maura would keep up and he wouldn’t have to repeat it multiple times.

Ferrin leaned back in his seat, a frown appearing across his lips when Maura asked if he could call anyone. A quick glance at the communications terminal revealed just how unlikely that was, and left the Pantoran tinkering with it for a moment or two.

“Long range communications are down..” He muttered, stress clear in his voice. “Trying to get ahold of Brighthome is out of the question. But.. Short range I might be able to get a transmission out. Nearest planet to us is.. Iridonia.”

“Neutral, doesn’t seem particularly hostile to the Jedi. Planet isn’t very pleasant, though.” Ferrin sighed. “We may need to land.. Try to get some repairs.”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Luckily for the both of them, Maura had plenty of experience crawling around in dusty, cramped vents, and Ferrin's instructions were readily received by her attention, paranoid ears. She didn't move particularly fast though, valuing stealth over speed, as she was worried the rats might hear her and take to the vents themselves. As soon as she was sure she was past the danger zone, she quickly demanded that he seal the vents to the room too.

Not long after he finished answering her question about communications and musing about maybe needing to land, Maura fell through the vent in the cockpit and landed with a thud and a puff of dust. She sneezed twice, then coughed, then stood up and began trying to brush the layer of dust off of her. She sneezed again - violently - then all but collapsed into the co-pilot chair.

"I fucking hate rats," she mumbled, her voice a bit shaky and a little emotional. She sat there, completely still, for about thirty seconds before she opened her eyes and sat upright.

"We should land," she piped up soon after. "Better to land than crash, right?" Maura remembered crash landing with Ruzaan. The locals had been friendly, if not a bit cautious at first. Hopefully, they didn't run into the same problems on Iridonia that they did there.

"But we can't let the rats out if we do." The last thing they needed to be responsible for was introducing an invasive species to Iridonia. She didn't even want to think of the headline, or the reprimanding they would receive from their masters. "So we definitely one-hundred percent cannot crash."

She fell quiet for a few seconds, then grinned. "If we do crash, I'm totally blaming you. No pressure." She said it half in jest, but he was the one in the pilot's seat.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

While Ferrin knew Maura was crawling through the ceiling, the Pantoran wasn’t really expecting the fellow Padawan to just.. Pop out from the vent above him. As she did so, Ferrin immediately jumped in his seat, recoiling a bit - as if he was expecting one of those vengeful rats to be after him. He promptly pretended like nothing happened at all, settling back at the controls with an entirely serious expression.

“I would say that is a bit better, yeah,” Ferrin said, eyes narrowing ahead. The Pantoran wasn’t an amazing pilot - but also wasn’t outright terrible like some people. He toggled a few of the autopilot controls and gripped the console - exhaling through his nostrils. The stress was clear on his expression, but so far things went smoothly.

Ferrin paused when Maura mentioned they weren’t allowed to crash, for fear of releasing the rats. “Y’know,” The Pantoran began with a slight clip, “Releasing the rats is really low on my ‘Problem if we crash’ list. I’m gonna be real honest.”

Unfortunately for Maura, Ferrin’s flight abilities didn’t mean it would be a smooth landing. As they breached the atmosphere, the Pantoran began to harshly careen their ship towards the molten surface of Iridonia - passing through clouds of volcanic gases and other debris along the way. The storm raged all around them - proving that the home of the Zabrak species was as hostile as advertised. There were no cities or settlements nearby, and Ferrin instead spotted a small strip of land nestled between gorges - only of the only places where the ground looked stable and free from the dangerous conditions.

Maura would be left to watch as Ferrin perilously began to maneuver ship towards the ground - moving entirely too fast and into a space too narrow to be comfortable. It was only by a few feet that he avoided scraping against the sides of the canyon wall and destroying their ship, though he couldn’t avoid the small jerks that caused them to lightly graze the stone walls. Horrible screeching and metal grinding would fill the hull, but otherwise the ship remained intact.

With a jerk of the controls, Ferrin straightened their vessel just before hitting the ground - ensuring that they didn’t nose dive. The bottom of their freighter bounced across the canyon floor, carving a wide trench into the earth along the way. Their ‘landing’ took several meters of sliding before the ship eventually came to a halt, nestled within several feet of dirt that had been dug beneath them.

Ferrin, meanwhile, merely gestures a hand ahead to their surroundings. “Ta-daaaaa,”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Somehow, any remnants of panic or leftover anxiety from dealing with the rats were blown away as their ship went crashing toward Iridonia's ashen surface. Adrenaline coursed through her veins; the same which rose up in her hands as she gripped the sides of her seat. Her pupils narrowed into slits as they approached the surface, and she flinched as they knocked back and forth against the canyon walls like a really shitty game of pong.

The ship came to a grinding halt, and the padawan leapt from her seat, unable to sit still and one-hundred percent in go-go-go! mode. "We need to leave!" Her feet found purchase on the edge of her seat as it swiveled around, and she launched herself away from the console. "Wait, maybe the ship is safer?" She came to a sudden stop, turned on a dime, and squinted in the direction of the ship's health indicators. They weren't too good. "We should leave," she said, reaching up above them and yanking down two filtered, lower-face masks that would help them deal with the smoky, gassy conditions outside until they could find shelter. "The ship was already damaged by the rats. We don't wanna hang around and see what your landing did to it too." She and Ruzaan's ship had exploded and lodged a piece of debris right into the Togruta's abdomen. They'd been lucky that they'd landed in a forest and the locals were friendly. They would not be so lucky here.

Maura tossed one of the masks to Ferrin, then hurried off to grab their bags. "Maybe the ship will explode and kill the rats." That would be good. "But then we'd have no way of repairing the comm device and calling for help!" That would not be good, and would require them to find a settlement and deal with the locals.

Maybe she would hope the rats stayed contained and starved to death in their grounded prison?

"You wanna know this is the second time I've crash landed?" she piped up as she returned, still going a million miles an hour. She tossed his bag at him, not bothering to wait to see if he was ready to catch it, and placed her foot on the emergency exit window. "The main door is jammed and sparking. I don't wanna touch it."

With a violent pull, Maura lifted the lever and the door hissed as it opened.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Ferrin Sipal]

In truth, Ferrin was rather impressed with his landing skills. Sure, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience - but their ship was mostly still intact, and neither of them had suffered any landing injuries as a result of their descend from real space. That was more than could be said for most crash landings, and the Pantoran was happily going to relish that fact. He watched as Maura sprang up from her seat, going a million miles an hour at once. While Ferrin was somewhat rattled by the experience.. The Pantoran didn’t lose his cool often - or allow his panic to manifest externally when he did. It was certainly a contributor to his arrogant and overconfident demeanor, and this was no different.

“Thank you, Ferrin,” He began in a mimicking of Maura’s voice, “For making sure we didn’t die a horrible, flaming death.”

“Nooo problem.” He followed up with a clip.

The Pantoran didn’t protest as Maura made her way towards the exit to their freighter - yanking the doors open with the Force. A quick glance outside revealed that they were still several feet off the ground - and it required a brief jump for the pair to land onto the canyon floor below. They were lodged deep into the earth, with towering walls of obsidian towering on either side of them. The smell of smoke and sulfur hit their nostrils at once, a constant reminder of the hostile and volcanic environment they now walked upon.

Ferrin immediately glanced around, his gaze settling on the wall ahead of them. “We can either try to signal for help.. Or try climbing to get a better view. Might be a city nearby we can get help from - or just supplies.” He shrugged. While he presented the option, it was clear that the Pantoran favored the latter option.

Little did either of them know, a few pairs of eyes were watching the Padawan’s from deeper in the canyon - predators in search of their latest meal. The Pantoran was far too concerned with getting out of their present situation to notice.

 

[Maura Starwalk]

While Ferrin decided not to use the mask Maura had thrown his way, Maura had decided that she'd much rather not breathe a bunch of smoke and volcanic gases in. She jumped out after Ferrin, her bag slung around her chest and hanging against her back and the filtered mask in her right hand. She hit the ground, falling into her knees to reduce the impact, then immediately pressed the mask against her face and let the elastic band snap against the back of her head as she secured it in place.

Maura failed to notice their observers either, too focused on the situation at hand just like Ferrin. "It's too smoky for signals I think," Maura mumbled, voice muffled from the mask and squinting up at the hazy gray sky. "...so let's find a way up."

The walls around them were pretty sheer, so she started down the canyon, eyes wandering the walls for any place they could start scaling the walls at. Her boot caught a rock, causing her to stumble forward a step or two as she managed to not trip. Not liking this, Maura grabbed the rock with the side of her foot and sent it careening toward one of the walls, shattering it against the bedrock on impact.

"I was definitely expecting this trip to be boring," she said out of the blue, breaking the silence between the two of them. "I don't know whether I should be majorly pissed at that farmer or what." This definitely wasn't a fun situation, but it could be worse.

"This would be the perfect place to take a skimboard..." she mumbled, ears drooping. They almost immediately perked back up when her eyes spotted something interesting. "Hey, is that a cave over there?"

count: 3/100
tag: @Altaris