"Hmnnn I think we could float our way towards the ship.." She mused, holding one hand outstretched to keep the gun steady. "Onto the ship! Yaaay!" She cheered, pointing and readjusting herself, to push up and away from the reiling, deciding to take the 'float towards the ship' option. True, that left her more open to counterfire.. but the liked the floating, flying bit. Plus, the storm-troopers seemed occupied by the pitfighter. She could try to help out once she was at the ship and could peek out from it without being blasted!
(short transitionary post.. floating by, sry. ^^)
Reya, Maevri, Senna and Lyne all kicked out off the railing and launched themselves toward the open ramp, but as they did so, the entire ship began to fishtail, and the star streams beyond the hangar bay shielding faded once more. To everyone's shock and awe, it seemed as if the ship had entered into a storm of electrical activity as a lattice work of lightning was encompassing the ship. Violent energy struck the ship and all four escapees tumbled slightly off course, hurling and tumbling towards the top of the light freighter, rather than the bottom.
This new shaking and shifting of the ship's orientation was creating a nauseating disorientation for nearly everyone. The storm troopers' shots were going wildly off target. Paadesh lost his grip on one trooper, but managed to kick off of him and send his body heading downwards on an interception course with the freighter.
The Aqualish landed on the loading ramp while the others scraped along the top of the freighter and had to find grip on the top of the ship, which fortunately was easy enough for all of them.
There was the sudden flash of light and the ship shook more violently than before. It may be that the shields on this barge were failing dramatically.
"Let's move!" Senna said, thumping on the emergency airlock hatch on the top of the freighter. A moment later it opened an the four people on top were able to begin entering the freighter.
Unfortunately, by the time this occurred, all four of the remaining storm troopers in the bay had righted themselves and were floating towards the ship from both the left and right, shooting with their blaster rifles, and the tiny airlock could only allow one person down at a time.
Reya! What order will you try to enter the airlock? You, Maevri and Senna all have injuries, but nothing that won't be bad if treated properly with rest. Lyne is unscathed, but also not a particularly eager combatant. With a good coordination skill roll, the first person who enters on a round can slip through in enough time to let a second person enter cover before receiving stormtrooper fire. Please choose the order in which Reya and the others (Maevri, Lyne and Senna) will try to enter the airlock hatch.
------
Meanwhile on the bridge...
Vorn had punched the emergency override. It was necessary. Something was wrong and every warning light on the sensors had gone off. His course had led them into some sort of ion field and now they were caught in it. The ship, if not piloted safely through, was going to be torn to pieces.
Across the floor of the bridge, Captain Yond and his remaining naval officer knew this as well. His only hope was to run for it, try to get onto an escape ship and pray the imperials were going to be too busy saving their own hides to follow him. He left off a few final departing shots and then pushed his way down the ramp as fast as he could towards the hangar bay.
Captain Yond grunted and shuffled towards the command panel, shouting to the ensign to keep the ship steady and reinforce power to shields. He needed to get this ship right again.
"Strange..." he noticed through the pain of his blaster wound as he looked at the long range sensors. "There's a planet here beyond the ion storm. But it isn't on any of our star charts..."
A particularly large ion strike shook the ship. The ensign shouted out a warning damage report automatically. "Shields are failing, Captain Yond. Another hit like that could knock out key systems and threaten hull stability!"
"I'm on it, set a course for 22.3.-55 and drain all power from weapon systems into our thrusters. We can clear the storm and assess damage from there. If the rebels do escape, we'll either destroy them when they emerge, or let them flee to certain destruction through the storm."
"Woaaah.. space is scary.. at least its not boring." Reya mused, clumsily bonking up against the upper ships hull. "Alright, lets go in uh.. Senna and the viscountess go ahead." They needed Senna as pilot, which she'd be no good at if the Viscountess died. Lyne wasn't ininjured and she hoped she could hold her own.. somehow, reaching into the force to try and push away her enemies. She was not a fan of dying at all, but it still beat seeing her friends die.
"Why all you meanie troopers shouting at us anyway?" She inquired, complainingly.
Senna jumped down into the airlock first, her tight lithe body fitting in delicately down the ladder, but not moving fast enough for the Viscountess to shimmy down in time before the storm trooper crossfire started. Maevri ducked and rolled on top of the freighter. A scorching blast sparked angrily next to Lyne, who yelped and stepped back, again firing wildly, and again, as though some sort of strange luck followed him around, allowed him to connect with an incoming stormtrooper, whose own fire went off target and struck another of his fellows.
[Lyne resolves a successful attack, then spends a Destiny point to upgrade his defense. The next storm trooper's attack rolls a DESPAIR result! causing him to take out one of his own allies.]
Maevri comes up firing, seeming to prove that she is something quite more than a prim and proper noble. She knows how to handle herself in a fire fight. Watching her, Reya recalls that the Echani nobility were obliged to take martial training on Kithaan, with each member attending the Royal Military Academy in the world capital. The viscountess was calm and collected even during the intensity of a life and death situation. It was beautiful, but unnerving to the country girl, who was not used to, nor comfortable with the horrors of combat yet.
Then the last storm trooper's blasts were coming in Reya's direction, and he was closing in. There was little chance of him missing now and she had no cover to stop him. On instinct, she raised her hands and trusted in the strange force that seemed to flow through her in that moment, surging to protect her.
[Reya rolls a force power check, getting a double light result]
With her hands extended, a surge of movement flows outward from her, and first the trooper's rifle is flung out of his grip, followed by the trooper himself being tossed backward in the zero G environment, yelling as he's hurled towards the far wall. It probably won't hurt him, Reya thinks positively, and he's now at least taken out of the fight.
With no more immediate enemies to delay them, the rest of the party entered through the upper airlock and closed the hatch behind them. They were now inside the Firebird, and Senna quickly joined Evee in the cockpit. Paadesh had settled into the light laser turrent, and Reya and Maevri followed Lyne into the passenger seating of what he had called a light freighter, but was probably more accurately called a small transport ship.
"We have to get out of here!" Lyne said, as suddenly there was sudden pull,, and gravity systems were restored. The ship settled down on the hanger floor with a loud thud, and cargo crates smashed down with a metal scraping and clanging.
"What about Vorn? He's still coming!" Evee yelled over her shoulder.
A renewed amount of blaster fire could be heard as fresh squads of storm troopers and imperial naval officers in their black uniforms and blast helmets emptied into the hangar bay and began to shoot at the Firebird.
"Shields are up," Senna said. "Those blast rifles shouldn't do too much damage, but we can't sit around all day waiting for the bounty hunter."
"thwap thwap!*
some light laser cannon blasts smashed into the walls of the hangar bay, causing paneling to explode away from its moorings.
"No! Stop!" Maevri called up to Paadesh, who had begun to fire.
"If you destroy the ship from the inside, you could harm the remaining prisoners!"
The Aqualish stopped his firing at this, seemingly willing to listen to the Viscountess' commands, for the moment.
Then a crackling male voice could be heard on the ship's communication receiver.
"Firebird. Come in. This is Vorn. There's too many imperials between me and you. I'll never be able to make it. But if you can leave and distract them, I might be able to hijack their remaining shuttle or fighters. It's my only chance. Just get out of here. There's a planet just on the otherside of the ion storm. Head there and we'll rendezvous."
Senna flicked on the communicator.
"We read you Vorn. Heading out now. Good luck."
"May the Force be with you," Maevri added, before the communication was switched off.
---
The Firebird's thrusters thrummed to life amid the blaster rifle fire that was pinging harmlessly off of the ship's hull. Senna edge the ship through the hangar bay opening and into the violent ion storm, from which the prison barge itself was only just emerging.
"As soon as they clear the storm, they'll either disable or destroy us with their superior firepower, and we won't be able to get a good hyperspace calculation until we're well away from this storm." Senna explained.
"We need to go through it and get to the other side. Find that planet that Vorn told us about."
Lyne wailed. "You can't take my ship through the storm! It's not built to withstand the ionic blasts. One direct hit and our systems will be fried!"
Maevri held up a hand. "If anyone can pilot us through the storm safely, Senna can."
The pilot smiled and looked warmly up at the Viscountess. Reya couldn't be certain, but there seemed to be a small amount of adoration in the pilot's eyes for the Echani woman. But that could just be Reya's imagination.
"It's not about skill with an ion storm!" Lyne objected, growing indignant. "It's just blind luck whether a bolt hits us or not! The odds of successfully navigating it are next to impossible!"
---
With no other choice the pilot ignored the complaints of the merchant and put the ship into max speed as it blasted off into the ion storm. Huge bolts of purple and blue lightning crackled in a chaotic display of destructive beauty all around the ship. Even near misses could be deadly to a ship in this environment.
Amid the chaos, Reya's mind felt something. A large, mysterious presence, the likes of which she had never before felt. It was as though the ion storm itself was a living thing, with a baleful spirit of its own. She could feel it... or something like it... reaching out to her mind, filling it with destructive visions.
The energy.
The power.
This storm was made of raw, destructive force. Dark energies that were tied to something nearby. Something close. Something... there... she felt it. Somehow, she could feel it too.
There was a planet down there, beyond the edge of this storm. She could feel life down there, and something powerful. Something immense. Something... malevolent, yet beautiful and seductive.
Her eyes flickered, and she saw Maevri looking in the same direction she was, then their minds somehow seemed to connect. Her and the Viscountess, without knowing how or why, seemed to know that each one was sensing the same thing.
They were connected. Everything was connected. And then something dark seemed to awaken, and the great presence of which they had both just perceived, became aware of them as well.
"I think we've just about cleared the storm!" Senna said.
"Damn. You are a good pilot!" Evee the Twi'lek technician cheered, beaming and seemingly ignorant of the malevolence that Reya was sensing.
"Something's wrong..." Maevri whispered, and glanced towards Reya.
*CRACK!*
A great purple bolt of ionized energy zig zagged and arced across their viewscreen, and then everything went haywire. The ship's inner lighting failed, the paneling on both sides of the cockpit sparked. Screams and shouts of surprise filled the transport from every occupant, and then the ship was spinning out of control.
"What happened?! Are we dead? Are we going to die?!" Lyne cried out.
Senna gripped the controls desperately. The ship was spiraling down... down... towards a planet of blue oceans and red earth, with a sprinkling of green on its land surface as well, and a swirl of clouds across its atmosphere.
The next minutes were confusion as Evee scrambled to try to bring systems back online. Everything seemed broken, but somehow as they entered the atmosphere, she managed to restore some of the basic systems, and Senna was able to regain some control of the Firebird, but only enough to realize just how badly off the vessel was.
"Yeah... we're not so much flying as we are falling with some small hope of a non-fatal crash landing," she muttered. "Okay, strap yourselves in with whatever you can find. It's going to be bumpy!"
----------
From the surface of the planet, a pair of eyes watched curiously as a falling, smoking object hurtled in from the sky above, leaving behind it a jetstream of dark exhaust.
The metal object was coming down very fast, but appeared to be trying to level off, as though it were coming in for a landing. It was headed for the thickest part of the nearby jungle valley, and when it finally did make contact with the ground, it left a wake of snapped trees behind it. Flocks of Jubba birds scattered as it continued to rip through the foliage, until finally it came to a smoking halt.
The pair of watching eyes blinked, and then the mind behind them pondered if it should investigate this curious falling object from the heavens.
-----
Reya woke up with a bad headache and some bruises, but for the most part, she was all right. Certainly she was still alive. She could hear the sounds of wildlife - birds and insects and howls of distant beasts, none of which were familiar to her. She saw sunlight, filtering in through a giant rent in the cracked hull of the Firebird. Around her, the unconscious forms of her companions were strewn around her.
Alive. They were all alive.
She didn't know how she knew it, but she felt confident that they were. At least for the moment. She was the first to regain consciousness, however.
The ship was not in a good way, but aside from the big crack in the ceiling, the inside looked to be functional as a shelter at least.
Currently, she and Maevri, Paadesh and Lyne were in the passenger seating area, having taken shelter here during the crash landing. Evee and Senna were in the cockpit. There was a lot of debris everywhere. Being the first to wake, Reya could try to help the others wake up. She could search the ship to see what she could find. She could try to exit the ship and gain her bearings. Or she might even try to turn her thoughts inwards, as that approach through the ion storm, and the presence that she had felt had certainly been something new and exciting... if a bit terrifying as well.
Decided to speed things up to get it to a point where Reya can sort've be herself and do what she was meant to do, which was explore and discover stuff. Hope you don't mind the quick summary of the escape sequence.
Introduction encounter is over. Reya gets 15 xp, plus a narrative bonus force power for free:
Reya learns "Sense" base power.
May use a force power action to roll force die. Spend one light side result to sense all living things within short range of you. (roughly 20-25 meters, narratively speaking).
You may also spend 1 light side result to sense the emotional state of a person who is at engaged range (within melee striking distance).
Upgrading this Force Talent can extend the ranges for the above powers, allow you to detect surface thoughts, or to gain ongoing defensive abilities as you are able to sense the intentions of your attackers. At high levels of control, you can gain offensive advantages as well.
With your 15 xp, you can do the following:
Gain Animal Empathy - this allows you to use your force rating to add successes to animal taming and handling checks (and gets you closer to increased Force Rating)
You can skill up. (choose some career or non-career skills that would be appropriate given the recent events to skill up)
You could increase your Force Move Talent, gaining the ability to lift two objects at once, and/or lifting objects the size of a car with the Force.
Reya sighed inwardly, watching all the fiering, and looking at her own, unused gun uncertainly, before shirking back from the impact of a blaster shot and deciding that Lyne was clearly a master assasine in disguise. "Can we put all the shooty killing on hold?" She meekly suggested, only to eep when another trooper was aiming at her, only to have her throw him back in reflex, her expression switching from innocently-worried to calmly determined for the moment she needed to channel the energy, exhaling briefly. It seemed being in mortal danger only encouraged her abilities..
"Uh, yep what about Vorn?" She asked, descending, worriedly also noting that more trouble was coming...
"Oh hey, its Vorn. Hello!" She cheered, glad he seemed fine. "Overall this was quite the sucessful prison escape. Let's be distracting uh..
Question, whats an ion storm?" She looked outside, scratching the back of her head in concern. "It's like a rainstorm but worse eh?" She mused, for now quite happy to take a passengers position.
"Well, we seem pretty lucky so far." Reya shrugged at Lyne. "Little bit further wont hurt." Reya nodded, peering out of the window as they advanced into the storm, crackling of energy that, frankly, it was quite beautiful. Perhaps not all too up close.
She kept staring out at the storm, thoughtful, staring ahead into the cascading light, but somehow not at it, beyond, feeling the planet beyond.. She didn't even think anything of it, at first, the ion storm doing enough to distract her.., but there was something more, something beyond the normal life of animals and plants and sentient lifeforms, something powerful yet.. "Uhmnn.." She said, indubitably wanting to follow it up with something intellectual as she glanced over to Maevri, only to hear Senna announce the good news.
"Are you sure we are past the storm, it feels like theres somethi-" Something worse still ahead, she wanted to say, before the cracking that was. Reya blinked, looking around.. which was.. not overly smart considering the sudden lack of light, but it was just a natural reflex. "Oooh we are spinning." She mused, holding onto her chair. It took a moment for her to come to the next conclusion. "Which.. means we wont land as smoothly as planned right?" Reya worried, looking down at her own hands whilest the pilot and their impromptu technician worked to undo the circuit disabling ion blast.
If only she had more control of her ability. If only she was more powerful. If she could lift rocks and people, why not larger things like this small spaceship too? People could train their bodies to lift impossible seeming weights, and with her mind.. and this feeling of .. energy surrounding her, she had already lifted heavier things than her body should be able to. She could help/impress her newfound friends and none would get injured and people would like her. It first occured to her then that her ability was not just .. fun, but it was also something that could save lifes, if she properly developed herself.. though she had no idea how to. As it was, she could only trust in Sennas ability. And strap in.
~~~
"Ughh." She opened her eyes. Well, things hurt, which she judged as her being still alive. Still, if anyone had told her about the ability to heal with the force, she'd certainly wish for it right now.
"Yay, everyone is well." She cheered, pretty certain of it, even if she couldn't have explained why if anyone had asked her. She looked up at the ceiling. "Well, this'll need some repairing." She unstrapped, wincing slightly and poking a bent piece of metal. "A lot of fixing. So hopefully someone lives here, or the imperial guys come and we can steal some of their stuff, or we're stuck here for a while... I should really send everyone a letter in that case.. wait, theres no one that'd deliver it.. damn." Plus they were propably far away. Even if Reya tried to sense them, she was concerned that.. the presense she had felt earlier would overshadow whatever she could sense as it were.
Reya looked at everyone, a bit uncertain as to how she would go about waking them, well.. other than poke them, so instead, she decided to let them awaken on their own, after a short glance over everyone, to make sure there were no severe injuries, she'd try making her way out of the ship, looking around in the undergrowth, only to sit down, if there was no immediate.. visitors. Just sit down, and feel the .. life around her.
I dun mind. Reya didn't have much to do at some parts there.. heh, seems to have a talent for double light side in a pinch though.
I figure the highest mastery of force-sense looks something
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So I figure animal empathy is a pathfinder skill and would cost 5 xp, while the force move.. is that a rank 3 of the base and costs 15?
If I have to pick one of the three, it'd be increasing the force move, alternatively animal empathy plus an increased vigilance to demonstrate her being less naive and more aware of the force(s) around her.
Reya looked around the interior of the crashed ship, her keen eyes picking out information to pocket away for later and to use in the present.
In the passenger area, directly across from her and completely unconscious, was the Viscountess. Debris, and a structural beam that had snapped under the stress of the crash impact, had falled down on the rear section of the passenger section and it had covered Lyne and Paadesh, who were groaning and beginning to wake up and discover that they were trapped underneath. This proved to not be too big a problem, as Paadesh gripped the beam and used his strength to shove it up and aside, soon freeing himself and the Neimoidian.
Stumbling in from the cockpit, a ragged looking Senna in her ripped imperial uniform, still sporting a blast wound in her side looked at the others.
"Evee's still out. Maevri too it seems. Let's get them put into the passenger bunks. I'll sort out what kind of medical supplies are still on the ship. Reya, can you pop up top and take a look around us? Thanks."
The pilot then tenderly moved toward the port side of the ship and began assessing supplies. She would wait for the twi'lek to wake up before she made an attempt to diagnose the extent of the damage, but the giant rent in the top of the ship made the most obvious and salient point quite clear: the ship was not space worthy.
Reya was able to climb out of the top airlock hatch, as something was obstructing the normal loading ramp from opening. Once on top of the ship, she was able to look out upon a verdant, jungle landscape, with beams of sunlight cascading through the foliage. It was difficult to get full bearings while on the forest floor, but this planet was certainly full of life, she needed only to look out upon it to see.
The dark presence that had overwhelmed her senses up in space at the edge of the ion storm had gone away, leaving only a feeling of tranquility in this serene alien place. She could spot unfamiliar leaves, and hear the calls of unfamiliar birds and insects and amphibians and who knew what else.
It occurred to her that there did not seem to be any immediate signs of civilization, and that one of the first things her group would need to find would be a source of water and some foraged food.
--- Exploration: Reya is at the Crash Sight. Obvious exits are North, West, South and East. Reya can also return to the Wrecked Firebird from this location.
[Survival Check: 4 successes, 2 threat (to be assessed on next skill check)]
Reya believes that although everyway she looks is forest, the elevation seems to get gradually higher to the East, and she can hear the very distant sound of rushing water to the distant South. A flock of bird creatures is visiblly circling around an area to the north. The West seems to head into more densely packed trees.
"Taking a look around, yes, wanted to do that anyway." She nodded, unusually thoughtful.
Despite their dire situation, Reya felt almost overwhelmed by the impressions of a new, unusual world, just as alive as hers, if not moreso her own, more untamed certainly. She closed her eyes and basked in the rays of the sun for a few moments before returning back inside, commenting.:
"My shoulder hurts but its not too bad. We are lucky, the ship will do as gathering point and shelter, until that ion storm has passed and people search after us, but more importantly, this planet is full of life." Crossing her arms, she went on, with a lack of her usual naivity:
"If you get lost in the wildernis, water is the most important thing and there is a pond to the south. You can do days without food, but not without water, no matter what we have on supplies we should stock up on this with so many people, luckily, there is a river to the south. The next concern is food, which I believe to the north, where the birds gather. To the east seems to be a mountain range, which could mean caves, to the west, the forest grows thicker. Both directions could make for a better hideout from the empire than the ship, but both likely hold danger too. I would like to head south, with Paadesh heading north, he most could handle.. threats around the potential food sources. Lyne should stay here and properly stock things.. I dunno about the rest. Uh.. " She cleared her throat, seeming to grow nervous again, looking at the Viscountess as natural default-leader. She then less loudly added: "I.. I'll try and grab food for myself. I'll be fine with berries and such." She nodded, alluding to being vegetarian.
Senna came back with an open crate with the words "first aid" printed on the side and set it down on the bench where it wouldn't slide too much despite the slight tilt that the whole ship was on.
"Yeah, water would be good. I don't suppose a bath would go amiss," the pilot remarked.
Paadesh said something garbled in his own language, and without Evee around to translate, it was left for Lyne to give it a go.
"Uh, I think he said something about fish. And peanut butter. Eh, no? Oh that wasn't it. Erm... sorry, I picked up Evee as part of my crew because of her ability to communicate with my bodyguard." The Neimoidian shrugged, and Reya perceived a slight consternation in the dark eyes of Paadesh.
The Aqualish straightened itself upright, and then spoke in Galactic Basic. However, due to his vocal cords, which were not the best for replicating the humanocentric speech, the sound was, in a word, monstrous.
"I. Said. We. Go together. To the river. New world. New dangers. Fools to go alone." Paadesh rasped-hissed-growled.
Senna nodded. "That's a fair assessment. But we shouldn't leave the Viscountess and the only person with technical know-how alone. One of us sh--"
"I'll stay!" Lyne said, waving his hands amicably and chuckling. "It's my ship after all, I should keep an eye on it. Why don't you three go exploring. Bring back some food for us all if you can. And water of course."
Senna took out a small needle with some blue-green liquid in the syringe and pressed it into her side, depressing the button and sighing as she did so.
"Stimpacks," she said. "A soldier's best friend. Basic cocktail of anti infectives, painkillers and bacta. It'll keep you going and heal you, but there's a law of diminishing returns. Keep using it within a 24 hour period and you'll oversaturate. Most effective if used once a day, and we have a limited supply... here...."
Senna moved over to Lyne and injected him. Followed by putting a comforting hand on Reya's shoulder and injecting her with separate auto-injectors, if Reya allowed her to do so.
As soon as the stimpack was used, Reya felt instantly better. The relentless burning sensation of the blast wound felt numbed by a brisk, slightly icy feeling, and moving the tender area didn't hurt as much.
Paadesh, who aside from some minor bumps and bruises had not suffered any blaster fire, declined the use of the stimpack.
"With Evee and Maevri getting doses, that leaves us with 15 stimpacks in our supply. We also have two cases of bacta, but we should save that just in case any of us gets seriously injured," Senna said, packing the rest of the medicine away.
Reya gains 5 Wounds back from the use of the Stimpack, and is back to her maximum Wound Threshold (13/13).
--- Going South, the Pond.
Senna and Paadesh would set out with Reya to explore the southern route, stopping every once in a while as Reya found a new plant that reminded her of something similar on Kithaan, and she would taste and harvest things that were good and didn't seem foul.
Senna was armed with a blaster pistol and Paadesh had taken a blaster rifle with him, while the Viscountess' dagger was given to Reya to harvest plantlife with mainly. If she desired to take one of the weapons of war with her, she could.
After perhaps ten minutes, Reya had found a tributary stream of clean water, and with another 20 minutes journey south, she reached the bank of a small pond which was fed by a cascade of rushing water that had been the sound she had perceived from the crash site.
"Oh good. This looks fresh," Senna said, approaching the water and dipping her hand in to cup some crystal clear liquid and drink it.
Paadesh grunted and looked around, scanning the other side of the water, until eventually he seemed satisfied too and leaned back against a rocky outcropping covered in vines.
"We have a few ration canteens we can fill for the others, but perhaps we should eat here," Senna said. "And possibly bathe, if Paadesh were to find his way elsewhere."
In response to this, the Aqualish pit fighter snorted and proceeded to take off his long sleeved shirt, revealing a mass of sculpted green muscle underneath that was decorated in a litany of tattoos and scars of all sorts.
Most of the deliberate markings were tribal, but there were also brands of strange patterns that would likely have hurt when they were applied, judging by the scarring. There was also, on his shoulders and the sides of his back and rib cage, colourful faces of various people, which were not tattoos but rather, electoos - electric circuits that were implanted underneath the skin, resulting in body art that could change color, and even disappear, if given a correct signal from a transmitter.
The Aqualish then proceeded to remove his boots, and maybe shockingly, was stripping off his trousers in front of the two human women, without so much as a care about modesty or indeed, what effect it might have on their sensibilities. Senna appeared to be left in questioning silence by this action.
"It sounded like a positive not a disagreeing growl. I think." She pondered at Paadesh. "Is Evee still out of things?" She asked, slightly concerned. "Oooh.. all together to the river. The problem with that is that we will take longer to get one task done, meaning we shouldn't stay at the ship for long.. err.. perhaps. Because it has this.. big burning landing arrow pointing directly at it..." And I'm not strong enough to just move something of this size about..
Reya meeped a bit, even with the comforting hand, not a friend of pain or needles apparently, though afterwards the beamed, flexing he shoulder. "Hey, thats a lot better, yay!" She cheered, then would scuttle along to the pond, as third of the three unless prodded otherwise, though with her stopping with happy-curious explorations, that even made up for her emberassment for holding the others back along the way.
"Hey, those berries are good!" ... "Hey, these leaves look like the Chamula-plant, bit bitter but make for a nurishing salad, lets take some." She said, picking up some leaves, before adding in a random: "Whats a bacta? Bacteria sound bad.." She just had thought of. She seemed content just using the dagger, and a bit shy about taking some nobles stuff.
Reya peered at Paadeshs stripping, pondering. "Ooh. So many scars.. and tatoos.. don't those hurt?" She said, a bit out of place empathetic.
"Uhmuhm.." Reya blushed as the pitfighter went on, looking, averting her eyes, and.. peeking a bit again, clearing her throat, with just a hint of a blush on her cheeks, and slapping her hands together. Waking up to notice your blanket was floating a little above you even after the dream had ended was a surefire way to get you to re-evaluate being suprised and thus, she slapped her hands together. "-Welp! Seems he wont mind we going skinny dipping." She scratched the back of her head, leaning forward and poking a finger into the water to test its warmth.. and while at it, peering into it to make sure there weren't any small, bitey fishes in it, before lifting up her covering, simple handmade cloak, with an, admittedly, slightly naughty feeling of shame as she pulle back her cloak and allowed herself to relax a little after the whole.. adventure, a cheerful smile on her lips.
"Eh, prison escape was a sucess, we shouldn't bother worrying about asides now." She nodded.
Reya also recieved 1 strain earlier, that didn't heal?
Evee the Twi'lek was unfortunately still unconscious, along with the Viscountess, and the pair of them were deposited in the extremely damaged yet still serviceable sleeping quarters, and would stay there until they regained consciousness. Lyne was given the responsibility of keeping them safe while the other three explored the surface.
Senna looked thoughtful as Reya explained her concerns about all three of them going to the same place.
"You're right about that, we will take a bit longer, but considering we have no clue what is out there on the surface, I'd rather we not all go get lost and killed one by one. There's safety in numbers, and we're going to need to rely on each other to get through this mess, right?"
Senna smiled reassuringly as the redhead meeped at her comforting hand. The pilot had glanced up and down Reya's form and nodded approvingly before treating her with the stimpack, rubbing the area around the injection point to ease the discomfort of the slight pinch.
As the two women walked through the jungle, Paadesh loomed behind them, squinting suspiciously from side to side in the terrain, occassionally slapping at his own neck as the occasional insect landed on his green hide. Senna meanwhile chuckled at Reya's flighty nature, going hither and thither to collect berries and leaves and scented barks and herbs that looked and smelled edible.
"Looks like we'll be relying on you to give us something to eat that won't poison us all. I guess between that and your erm... I don't know exactly what to call it - your power I guess. We're lucky to have you, is what I'm getting at. Oh... um, Bacta is a good thing. Do you really not know about it? Gosh, I mean... the galaxy has been using it for at least a thousand years. I'm not a doctor, so I couldn't tell you what it is exactly, only that its a thick gelatenous fluid that promotes nerve, muscle and skin tissue regrowth in nearly every organic species in the galaxy. Everyone uses bacta."
The pilot seemed uncomfortable, not wanting to put Reya down for not knowing it, but at the same time, wanting to set the record straight as she knew it.
Soon enough the party reached the pool and within a short amount of time, Paadesh decided that bathing in just his birthday suit wasn't a problem for him, even if it were a problem for the girls, so he simply discarded his clothes and settled himself into the water, his girthy green alien manhood flopping impressively between his legs, putting most human men's sizes to shame.
He turned to Reya once he was waist deep in the water, then observed the scars and tattoos on his body and shrugged.
"The scars. Honorable combat. I wear them. With pride. The tattoos..."
His hand went up to touch the face of a female togruta on his shoulder, almost reverently, Reya noticed.
"Defeated champions in the pits," he explained, then turned away, showing that while the togruta's face was the only one on his front, there were at least six other fearsome faces emblazoned in electoos across his back, in between various markings and scarring.
Senna had been looking away, trying to avoid her eyes meeting the pit fighter's junk, when Reya's comment about skinny dipping caught her off guard.
"W-wow, really?"
The water was slightly cooler than the surrounding temperature, but not uncomfortably so. It was also clear, so as far as she could see, that there was no immediate danger.
"I suppose we could go for a dip, but just quickly now. And remember, we're here to gather water too, for everyone," she added, then shimmied out of her borrowed and now slightly ripped imperial uniform, discarding the greys without care, leaving only her red bodysuit, which hugged her form closely, as was Kithaanian city fashion.
She then peeled away the hidden zip,and slipped out of the suit, to reveal that she wore nothing underneath. Her body was athletic, without being overly muscled. She nodded to Reya, as if a bit expectantly, before she tested the water with her toes, and stepped into it.
"Oohh... it's actually quite nice," she murmured, and then settled further in, with the cute curve of her butt touching the surface and then beginning to submerge.
Paadesh splashed some water on himself, then dunked his head for a moment, then rising up and shaking off the excess water. His dark eyes scanned across the two women, as though sizing them up. It was hard to read his expression, being so different from a human's visage, but he seemed to do the Aqualish equivalent of a pleased grunt when he looked at them. He kept his distance however, for whatever reason. Perhaps not wanting to scare them off.
As they cleaned themselves and refreshed, Reya would notice that there was an abundance of native wildlife in addition to natural flora. Wild, colorful birds gathered in the canopy of the jungle ceiling, and small rodents skittered along the tree branches. Small simian creatures swung or climbed the occasional vine, and her green eyes also noticed the movement or the occassional slithering snake creature in the tree branches.
Eventually, in a spare moment, and with enough concentration, she would be able to feel out with the Force and sense these closest creatures without using her eyes, and the feeling was odd yet pleasurable. She sensed the normal simple emotions that all animals would typically be expected to feel: hunger, finding shelter, avoidance of being eaten... but collectively she also noticed a universal trait in all the animals about her... and that was a sense of anticipation. Anticipation of the dark.
"Hey~"
There was a small splash of water as Reya's senses were interrupted by Senna.
"Mind washing my back? I'll do you if you do me. And hey, if you've got any other questions you want to ask me, don't be shy. I'm quite an open person, really."
"While there is great danger on this planet, I don't sense any troubles coming near us right now." she had mused, crytpically.
Reya went so far as to collect a nicely shiny stone, because.. why not.
"Oh, I got no clue if its poisonous.. Like I think most things aren't, but pretty sure this one.." she held out a slightly purplel-sprinkled leaf "Is going to make you see noises and hear colors. But thats pretty neat too. My power? oh the mind moving stuff. Is pretty neat huh? At first I thought everyone could do it, but mother told me not to show it off in public ever, buuuut this isn't quite the normal public you are used to so.. eh." She shrugged.
"I don't use bacta! I use berry soup. Nice warm soup made out of healthy berries, cures all ills... but bacta will have to do..." She shrugnodded.
~~ "Uh.. I see.. I'd rather get autographs personally, but... hey if it makes you happy.." She smiled, sincerely.
"Good point. gathering water first, then bathing in it, that'd leave an odd taste, I bet." Reya nodded, and proceeded to fill the water cannisters first.. a little bit away from Paadesh too, whilest at it.
Which also gave her interesting insights into the stripping Sennas physique. It was definitly.. distracting, on top of Paadesh there as well.
"Alright then!" She grinned, stripping out of her outfit and stretching, her body youtfhul and, despite her naive and uruly exerior, coute calm and beautiful by constrast, feeling.. sensing the connection of ... everything around her even better as she nudely descended into the water she smiled, eyes half closed, as.. a hey awakened her out of her fantasies.
".. ERr, yes?" She looked over to Senna, chuckling, gathering a handful of water, and shily starting at the womans shoulders, nodding, before working on, feeling that warm, smooth skin below her as she mused... "Lets not dawdle too long, nightfall will be soon." She glanced to the sun briefly.. but those animalistic senses wouldn't decieve her..
Paadesh did what was maybe the equivalent of an Aqualish snort at the idea of autographs. Instead he dunked his hulking, muscle-bound body into the clear pool.
Senna and Reya took turns washing one another's backs. The pilot was particularly good with her hands, scratching in the right places and even massaging the tension out of Reya's muscles. The water and pilot were both pleasant on her bare skin and despite the hostilities of the past couple of hours, Reya found herself at peace.
The odd feeling of anticipation from the animal life around her did prove to be a curiosity, but not one that would easily shake her out of this nice reprieve from the concerns of pursuit.
The bathing was finished without any of the parties getting too frisky, unless it was Reya's intention to make more of their skinny dipping than what it was already. Paadesh did not approach the two beautiful women, though this did not mean he did not peek in their direction from time to time.
"You're right about getting back to the ship. And if the imperials are coming after us, as they probably will, then we will want to be gone before they send out their searching party. We're fortunate that their barge isn't that big. They won't be able to send many troops after us. We can evade them and look for shelter tonight."
The group exited the pool and dried off, shaking water from their bodies and using some of Senna's borrowed imperial uniform as towels. The pilot chose to redress in only her bodysuit. The group filled their canteens with as much water as would fit, and then would head back to the ship.
All the while, Reya got the sense of being watched, but there was no discernible source for this, just the a weird feeling. Unless she objected or suggested a different course of action, they reached the ship while the afternoon sun was still out, and she would find that all three remaining occupants, including the twi'lek and the viscountess, were conscious and waiting for them.
There would be a general consensus that they should try to get some shelter away from the ship before nightfall if possible, so as to avoid Imperial trackers. There were some emergency rations that would last the group a day, but after that, they would need to forage to keep themselves fed.
Reya giggled mirthfully at the pilots skillfull hands, not all that emberassed to be nude and glad to brush the water to her clear, red hair. She purred a bit when Senna tried adding in a bit of a massage and paid back the favour.
It even felt kind of nice to be curiously .. watched by the animal life. The experience of a new, unknown world. "Evading and looking for shelter, got it." She nodded, whilest trying to repay the backwash-massaging favour and stretching a little afterwards. It wasn't like Reya to ... start anything special there, though she wouldn't deny enjoying the sight of the strong male. ... and finding herself oddly intrigued by the now fully revealed soft curves of Senna.
Reya did get somewhat slowed down by her carrying of water and berries, letting Paadesh do the h heavy duty, her physical frame not all that impressive, though above average, due to many advances into the wildernis. Whilest trailing behind the other two.. and redressed in her old outfit, she couldn't help but glance left and right, well, the place was interesting, full of life, of course things would watch her..
She said little of the feeling, trying to shake it off as she reached the ship, shrugging and saying: "The more secluded places are basically the deeper forest, or potentially a cave in the mountains. I vote for the forest. I like forests more. They are green and foresty." She nodded.
Senna seemed to enjoy the short, calm time they had together in the pool, and on the journey back towards the downed ship, Reya could sense that she was more open and positive in her demeanor towards the redhead than she had been, and she did see that the blonde pilot was admiring her body from time to time out of the corner of her eyes.
As for Paadesh, when he exited the pool to put his clothes back on, the scary hulking form was overshadowed by his thick, olive green member which was unashamedly erect. Perhaps he had been watching the two human women touching each other with curiosity as well. However, he was good enough - or shy enough - to not mention it before redressing. He picked up the bulk of the heavy lifting without complaint - as if it were only natural that he, as the strongest of them, should take care of the water weight, though Reya's physique was certainly above average from her wilderness upbringing. Senna, as a more lithe build, had lean muscle that complimented her heightened dexterity.
---
"Welcome back," the Viscountess said from the slightly tilted bunk bed, where she was sitting with minor bandages over her body. Evee was next to her, the yellow-skinned twi-lek mechanic having a bandage wrapped around her left lekku (headtail) and some bacta salve applied to some deep scratches on her shoulder.
"The Imperial search team will be on this place soon enough," Maevri said. "I doubt they'd risk sending the barge through the ion storm, but they could have easily gone around it and if they did, they'll arrive at any time now. Much as I don't like it, I think to be safe, we're going to need to leave the ship now, with everything we can carry, and hope we find a settlement of some sort."
"Most of what we had on this ship is torn up, but strangely," Evee added. "The long-range sensors still work, and they're picking up a surprising amount of activity in the general area. Seems there's a concentration of life and electromagnetic activity in that mountain range, and there's also an energy pulse coming from deeper in the forest. Either energy output would suggest some form of artificial technology."
Senna nodded to Reya.
"Her instincts say the forest, and I think I agree. If we have to go, let's go now."
The rest of the party seemed to more or less agree with the assessment, even the normally nervous Lyne. The Imperials were not likely to let them be, and having a storm trooper strike team find them was likely to be certain death. Trusting in Reya's tracking and survival abilities, the group swiftly decided to place themselves under the redhead's guidance. The Viscountess was one of the first to encourage this, perhaps suggesting that while she was a noble, she was at least not foolish enough to lead in an environment where she had no expertise.
--- Deep Forest, West of Crash Site
[Destiny Balance: 1 Dark, 3 Light]
[Reya survival check, 2 successes and 1 advantage]
The deep amber sun that shown in the sky was setting in the west, and the forest grew dark and shadowy as they explored further. To an untrained eye, this wilderness might have been just a maze of trees and exotic plant life without rhyme or reason, but to Reya, there were tales to be told in the earth and in the leaves.
She saw natural migratory paths made by wildlife. She saw broken branches nearly four meters high, suggesting that in these woods there was LARGE fauna - beasts that big were likely to be predators, unless... She scanned the trees and saw some hope in what she saw. The foliage up to midway along the trunks was eaten here and there, so maybe there were large herbivores or omnivores that were responsible.
She saw claw marks however on some of the lower trees and in the occasional pawprint. Claws that made such deep imprints were likely from predators, so there was still reason to take care.
Then she noticed one other thing: a marking in a tree. A crossed etching that seemed calculated, and sentient. It didn't appear to mean anything to her, but the fact that it was there meant that someone intelligent had been here at some point.
As the sun set firmly beyond the horizon, she sensed the feeling of anticipation in the small birds and rodents give way to tension, and there was a stillness in the air. They kept going, using glow orbs and other lighting from the emergency kits onboard the ship to see in the darkness. The low-hanging wisps of a cloud started to fill the upper boughs of the jungle canopy. And then, loudly, they heard a roar that reverberated through the woods.
"I've got a bad feeling about that," Evee grumbled, bringing her pistol up. The fog began to grow thicker and thicker, until it got to the point that they were having trouble seeing in front of them.
"What should we do?" Senna asked, seemingly in Reya's direction.
They'd been traveling for a good couple of hours, and had remained at a relatively stable elevation. Evee had said that they were on course to get to the energy pulse in about 5 more hours of travel, but with visibility this poor, Reya would be concerned about injury and people getting lost or separated. The idea of nighttime predators was also looming in her mind.
Reya noticed the pilot.. observing her, but tried not to make it awkward.. which she was certain she could, so she.. just kind of let it happen, perhaps she could speak to Senna a little later in private.. She also tried to banish any thoughts of Paadesh erections out of her mind.. mainly out of concerns for her health after seeing him in action...
She did not mind him doing the heavy lifting though. It was nice having someone that could take care of.. any physical issues, in the group. Thinking about it, they had a luckily diverse rag tag group of people..
"Heya! Hope you are fine.. I dun like the idea of imperial search teams.. though, haven't we dealt a bit of a blow to their numbers? I didn't count but... just what are we dealing with?" She asked shily.
"It's just, if I had to fight, I'd rather do it with a bunch of trees around for cover, without climbing." Reya was really uncertain about, once more, slipping into the shoes of the leader, but when Maevri herself suggested it, the one she'd have expected to replace her in calling the shots, she shrugged and took up the task.. she did kind of look forward to exploring this strange new planet, she couldn't lie!
"Oooh this planet is awesome, look! Theres really large beasties.. luckily they wont be hostile, make sure to not attack them just because they are big.. Ooh this way looks interesting, yay!" Reya cheered, always a bit of a wild child, she seemed to be perfectly in her element here, staring at some of the claw-marks and following, as far as possible, a trail lacking those.
"Wait, hold on, that ones not made by an animal... theres others sentients here.." She stared at the mark. "My hope is it says 'come on strangers, we have berries' but it could also mean stay out..." She mused continuing on, looking just a bit nervous as the forest quieted down over night..
Reya rubbed her chin when asked what to do. "Let's continue on a little, try and find a secluded position, something like a few large trees glowing close enough by another to form a solid corner for example, there we can rest for the night, we had quite the adventure... anyone up for guardings? I'd guess this fog is not going to get better and if we try to force our way through, not only might we stumble into trouble, we'll also be making more of a fuss, easy to track.. I didn't like turning on the lamps in the first place, Large, slow herbivores live on this planet, which means they have thick hides, and the creatures that hunt them have sharp claws to go with that." She nodded, looking about for a semi-secure resting place.
[Reya rolls a survival check to find shelter. 4 successes and 1 threat.]
Led both by her keen knowledge and insight of the natural world as well as an inexplicable pull of the Living Force - as yet unknown to the redhead - Reya takes the group in a straightforward direction to the west and slightly south, passing into deeper and deeper woods, following small, hidden animal trails that she is able to discover by noticing the telltale signs of animal tracks.
In just under an hour, they came to a small clearing beside a naturally flowing brook. A mighty tree, with an enormous trunk the breadth of a house, dominates the surrounding area, with its gnarled roots gathered and pushed up above the earth. A hollowed out part of the tree trunk provides a natural shelter that can fit all the members of the party inside of it.
With broad leaves growing on the tree and nearby foliage, it would not take long to create a makeshift curtain that could hide the group from sight and potential night hunters.
The dying sun rays turn the sky red, and a far off roar of some large, potential predator reminds Reya and the others that they are in the wilderness and that the law of the jungle will apply here. The others, primarily Senna and Viscountess Maevri, give Reya their thanks for leading them to such an ideal spot, and get to work making a cover for themselves.
As the evening settles in, Reya feels that amid the howls in the growing dark, there is still a watchful presence, though not necessarily a malicious one, observing her. An inkling, small but oddly compelling, suggests that if she were to go a bit further to the west, alone, she would find something.
"Hey, Reya? We were going to divide up the rations. Did you want to split some of this bean paste and have some of those berries you found?" Senna strode up beside the redhead and offered her a spare ration pack that didn't appear to have any meat products in it.
"Oh, look, cutesy tiny footprints, this way this way.. Oooh.. and the moss is growing higher on this side of the trees, soooo we should go over there." Reya enthused, seeming to be.. quite in her element. "Look over there, a big tree, that'll do fine.. though we might have to tear some of its leafes off to make proper coverage.. poor thing. Eh, will regrow." she nodded, beaming, perhaps not taking this quite as serious as it was to some.
She scratched the back of her head and blushsmiled nervously when thanked by the noble viscountess and the pretty pilot, though there was a bit of shy pride without doubt. who didn't like praise, after all. Whereas she let others build the foliage, she made sure no small tiny crawly things where trying to share their hiding spot, taking a branch of her own and shooing any potential bugs for the time being.. in a nonlethal way, of course.
"Hmnn.." She looked out, orienting herself to the west curiously, before Senna approached her. "Huh? Oh! Err.. beans?.. but.. I like my berries. Then again, only berries and you can't appreciate the taste berry much."
... "Get it.. berry-much.. ah.. ahem." She coughed. "Err.. I mean.. I'll take some beans, but not too much. How'd you guess I was a vegetarian? Anyway! I guess everyone is settled and ready for a nap, though I want to do a bit of wandering perhaps. I'm not good at campfire stories, plus! Can't make a campfire anyway.. err. Not that I dun like any of you people.. " She looked over to Paadesh, considering the brutal pitfighter.. though rather than trying to be concerned about him she was distracted by memories of the.. sights he had displayed priorly.
"But you know.. long day, lotsa stuff to take in! We escaped a spaceship and these creepy guys in white armor, what did you call them, storming troopers, and I used my super move powers and .. its hard to describe, this planet, its.. uhmnn.. really alive.. its quite fascinating! I made lotsa new friends.. though I hope no one at home is worried." She pondered, looking at the sky. "I wish I could send them a letter or something, mom propably made too much soup with me not there.. at least they wont be worried for a long while, I liked doing long trips into the wildernis. What about you? Miss Maevri seems super important to you, but she's not your family, right?" Reya pondered, speaking half loud at best, though more to not attract any nightly prowling creatures. There was a chance others could hear her if they wanted to.
Reya chatted to Senna at length with the pilot listening with a quirky smile on her lips. Her brows raised a little at the mention of 'storming troopers' and she opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something in earnest, but stopped herself, and let Reya continue with her banter until eventually she asked her questions.
Lyne was busy chatting with Evee, almost as loudly as Reya was talking to Senna. He had been mentioning something about needing to rebase his assets in the Outer Rim, now that he was officially a fugitive. Evee was saying how she knew a few places that might be friendly to people on the wrong side of galactic law. Paadesh sat with his muscular olive green arms folded across his broad chest, listening to the twi'lek and neimodian speak, but his eyes crossed over to Reya almost a second after she was casting a glance his way, thinking about what he'd showed off to her earlier.
The Viscountess appeared to be sleeping while sitting up... or maybe she was just resting her eyes. Her legs were crossed and she was resting her hands palm up on either knee. She looked rather peaceful and serene.
"Lucky guess," Senna said, letting Reya pick through the vegetarian rations. "You seem to have an elevated respect for life. That's a good thing I suppose, but I guess I've had bigger things to worry about."
She poked at her own food and then looked up at the sky and the trees as Reya pointed out all the life.
"It's a fairly green world. I wonder why I haven't heard of it before, if it's this full of life."
She turned then to regard the Viscountess at Reya's question.
"No, I'm not related to her. But I fight for her. I'm a pilot in the Kathan homefleet - or what used to be the homefleet anyway. Now that the Empire has taken over our world and installed a puppet governor, she's the only legitimate sign of resistance to the oppression we're under. I was trying to help her escape. We were going to head to the edge of the Empire's reach and try to link up with the Rebellion movement. But well... we got caught."
She shrugged.
"But we're on the loose again now. If we can figure out how to get off this planet, we can keep on going. You're welcome to join us when we do. It'll be better for you to do that then to try to get back to Kathan. The Empire won't like any known associates of the Viscountess..."
"Well.. I like being alive so.. I figure other folks like it too, even animals.. so.. I don't like eating them. I know, I know, plants are kinda alive too, but you know.. they just kinda stand about anyway." She shrugged.
"Well, we are far away from.. stuff, that could be why you hadn't heard of this place, right?" Reya shrugged. "I got caught too! And I didn't even do any rebelleling, unless they are really stingy about people eating berries.." she mused, munching one more on that note, out of principle.
"But.. but I wanna go home to my folks eventually and.. I mean.. well, I guess now I -am- a known associate.. though I doubt the storming troopers even know my name." She seemed a bit dejected at the idea of becoming a fugitive and leaving her home world behind, seemingly not having realized the gravity of her situation until now. "This stinks. .. hrmnn.. I think I'll do a bit of wandering to get my mind off of things. Walking about in the wilderness helps me focus!" She nodded, at least glad the planet she had landed upon was quite interesting. Unless Senna disagreed Reya would reach out to step outside the foliage disguised tree, exhaling, focusing her senses, rather doing something than confront the troublesome truth.
Senna shrugged, still hesitant to come around to Reya's point of view on the matter, but not wanting to argue the point, as she believed that it was everyone's personal choice as to what they did and why the did it. Perhaps she sensed the appropriate idealism and morality of that notion, but for her own reasons, could not buy into it herself.
"Yeah, there's thousands of inhabited worlds that don't appear on our star charts. Explorers and colonists are pushing the edge of the empire outwards all the time. There's always someone trying to find a new astrogation route through wild space... and the Empire won't be too far behind trying to regulate it - but hey, the white bucket heads can't be everywhere, all the time. At least not yet, and not as long as we keep resisting."
She looked sympathetically at Reya and placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder.
"Look, you were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know it wasn't your fault. But think of it this way. Our entire planet wasn't doing anything wrong. We were just trying to live out here, under our own rule and mind our own business. We were happy to contribute a tax to the Senate in return for it being appropriately used to keep our trade open and protected... but the Empire isn't using that money to protect the Galaxy anymore. It's just taking those resources so it can build even more weapons and armies and fleets, so it can better control everything. Entire populations are being enslaved into a work force. Any world with a valuable resource is having its local rulers jailed and Imperial governors installed. That's what happened with Kithan - our world."
Senna shook her head.
"The Emperor doesn't care about mercy or the needs of the many. Anyone who doesn't do what the Empire wants, for nothing in return, is branded a traitor and imprisoned, or worse, executed. To do nothing... to sit by and allow it to happen... it makes it acceptable. There needs to be a Rebellion. Otherwise there will be no hope whatsoever, and there will be no true home to return to."
Senna frowned as Reya told her that she needed time to consider and focus this on her own, but eventually nodded.
"Okay. I understand. Just don't wander too far. We can't afford to lose you. You seem to know the wilderness better than any of us."
~~~
The young woman had left the safety of the great tree and her pack of companions. She had drawn her cloak about her, and taken down an animal trail in low light of the disappearing sun. It would be night soon. This would leave all prey vulnerable to the predators of the jungle.
The double pair of eyes narrowed, and followed closely behind the redheaded wanderer.
~~~
Reya walked for about 10 minutes. She believed she had a good idea of her relation to the tree camp, and didn't doubt that she could return, but she needed to keep moving so that she could avoid having to confront the harsh dawning truth. It seemed this unexpected journey was not going to be over anytime soon, and much as she'd like the simple life of berry picking that she enjoyed, now she'd need to find a new direction.
She reached out with her senses, exploring her limits, and found them to be many, unfortunately. She could only sense what was in her very immediate surroundings, and even then, not to the edge of her vision. She figured that she could perhaps reliably detect life accurately, and with concentration, to about a range of 20 meters or so. It wasn't absolute - the power ebbed and flowed, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker. As night stretched out over the jungle, she felt as if her senses were slightly dulled, as though some dark force were strengthening... clouding her vision.
Still, she seemed to be guided by instinct, and if she trusted in her senses, she followed them to where they deposited her in a less dense area, where the trees parted and the ground went flat and muddy, and she saw some deep track - claw marks, going this way and that in front of a dark opening in the earth, like a large mole-hill, if a mole were the size of a blurg or a large bear.
She reached out with her senses again and did not feel anything 20 meters down the opening just yet, but she did sense something behind her. Turning, she would see an alien beast, the size of a very large dog, crossing the jungle glade, moving towards her.
[Sense check- Double Light!]
Rovana could sense that the beast was strong and growing, possibly a juvenile, which was scary to think about how it might grow even bigger. It was an obvious predator by its claws and teeth, built for hunting and rending meat. It was approaching her slowly, and she felt that if it came within reach, she would be able to sense its emotions and intent - but of course, if she concentrated on that rather than running, she would be opening herself up to an attack - and this creature, juvenile though it might be, looked perfectly capable of making her lunch, if it were hungry...
