A Place to Crash

[ness]

Don't mind if I crash here do ya? @rugs words: 529

A swirl of purple and blue light reflected off of Laika's skin, his eyes entranced by their limitless wonders. He had never seen such a thing before, and it was almost as though his mind was being taken away, to a place far away from himself. His mind quickly came back into him as the ship he oh so carefully pieced back together from it's old decrepit state ached as it soared through the nothingness of Hyperspace. A cranking could be heard for a brief moment before he was jerked back to reality, a barely audible blast to his right, then to his left as a planet came into view. "That's off." He said aloud. The ship should have been in Hyperspace for a bit longer, as the estimated time given to him by the screen in front of him had not quite run to zero just yet. His master had told him of Coruscant, and this planet did not seem the hustle bustle type. No, very little civilization seemed to be here, and with the now rumbling he felt in his seat, he could only assume what he had scrambled to recreate into a Hyperdrive was not quite lasting as long as he hoped. In fact, it looked like he was quite a ways away from the System he had been meant to go to. Oh how he wished his master, or even better, his sister were here to help. He never was the mechanic of the family. As his ship continued forward, it was made abundantly clear he was going to have to make a pit stop at this planet. Looking around he was attempting to put the ship back into its manual mode before it barreled straight into the ground however the old Jedi Starfighter was not agreeing with him. Smoke plumed form the back as he raced quite quickly pushed the correct sequence of buttons. Refusing to respond to his commands the ship continued its suicide course. Beginning to panic Laika attempted to restart the ship completely, clouds now passing by the ship seemed to respond to this quite angrily, shaking a bit more than normal, all lights flickering on and off before power was returned to its thrusters, and he had manual control. Pulling his controls all the way back, he rotated his weight backwards as if it would help rock the ship into a more... stable course. Avoiding spires of rock before his wing was caught flicking the ship and sending it straight into the earth below. Awaking some time after, he pushed the hatch open, his lungs immediately being met with smoke. Making his way out of the wreckage of his masters once beloved ship, coughing all the way he finally made it clear and leaned against a large rock formation, turning to look at what he had done. The ship was mostly in good repair actually. Where he hit the wing was merely dented, however he could see the signs of a once burning fire where his engine sat. Sitting down with his back to the rock, Laika sighed before resting his head. "Of course I crash before I make it." multiply life by the power of two

Made by Sifr @ THQ.

[Rugs]

Stupid damn ship.

Karn stood, hands on hips and sleeves rolled up to his elbows, glaring at the side of his silver courier. The ship, which had to this point, faithfully ferried him all over Imperial space, had decided to throw a temper tantrum. Looking back, he should’ve seen the signs. The shuddering that rocked the ship after entering the system had been troubling, but he chalked that up to some strain from navigating around Iego’s countless moons. It’d faded once Karn punched into the planet’s hazy atmosphere and set off toward a small, empty Sith waystation.

That was when the trouble set in.

After getting his bearings, Karn departed the waystation to search for signs of Maelibi, the ancient, legendary inhabitants of the isolated world. The shuddering returned, violently, about a half-hour into his flight, and Karn was forced to set down among a forest of rocky spires. A casual inspection revealed the ship’s power converter was faltering, and faltering soon gave way to failure as Karn’s ill-fated repair attempt ended with a blast of blue flame and snaking black smoke that curled toward the empty sky.

And now I’m stuck here, he groused to himself. In the middle of nowhere.

So angry he could burst, Karn rock about the size of his hand as he stomped back up the ship’s loading ramp. He’d sent a message back to the waystation, which would be relayed offworld to get a repair team dispatched.

The good news was that he had more than enough food and supplies on his ship to survive in relative comfort for a few days. The bad news was that he was stuck. On Iego. With nothing to do.

For a few days.

Karn slumped dejectedly into the pilot’s seat after stalking to the cockpit. He flipped a switch and the boarding ramp closed up behind him with a whirr and hiss of hydraulics. Another button press and a holographic map of the surrounding terrain flashed to life before him. His resting point wasn’t far from an area called The Scatter, supposedly full of starships that’d crashed on Iego over the millennia. The world had something of a graveyard reputation — of being a place from which marooned travelers never returned.

Karn snorted loudly. Those lost spaces were all nobodies. He was Karn Albrecht, apprentice to Darth Viren. One way or another, he’d get off this Force-forsaken rock. The Scatter was a few hours’ trek away by foot. The terrain was rugged, but Karn suspected he could make it there and back in less than half a standard day, assuming no further inconveniences cropped up along the way.

The ship used a pretty regular power converter; if he could find one among the ruins, he could get his own way off the planet.

He was a few minutes into mulling his next choice of action when screaming engines tore his attention skyward. A fighter, trailing fire and black smoke, tore through the sunless sky like a comet burning through the atmosphere.

Karn stood, following the ship as it plummeted into the ground a short ways away in a shower of dust and more smoke. “The hell?” Another lost soul, falling victim to Iego’s grasp? But that looked like a Jedi ship. What would a Jedi be doing so deep in Sith space? Karn hesitated, immediately reminded of Khar Delba, of Kath. His throat tightened.

The crash site wasn’t far. Karn hurried to tbe back of his ship, gathered his lightsaber and some supplies, and went to investigate.

---

He arrived a short while later to find the ship, worse for wear but in decent enough condition for having fallen out of the sky. From his vantage point — a perch on a raised lip of rock looking down on the fighter — Karn could also make out a person seated with his back to a rock near the fighter. Whoever he was, he looked young.

More interestingly, though Karn could feel the Force within this stranger, he didn’t feel like a Jedi. At least, he didn’t feel like Kath had.

“Who are you?” he called, standing to reveal himself on his ledge as he looked down at the stranger. “Why do you fly a Jedi’s ship in the Empire?”

[ness]

Don't mind if I crash here do ya? @rugs words: 249

Just as he was about to get back onto his feet to look at the damage done, Laika felt a twinge in the back of his neck. The force, it made its way into his mind and he felt the presence of someone above. Normally he wouldn't even notice, however something felt different about this person. When he spoke Laika was already turning towards the boy, moving to his feet and already waving warmly. "Hello-!" Was what his mouth had begun to say before the last of the words managed to cut themselves off. The Empire? Laika had been told many grand tales of the Republic. Their war heroes, their politics, and the grandeur and splendor they were able to spread. Yes. He knew even as someone who'd never travelled past his own moon that these were more than likely tales to tell children. As a child he was enamored, but as he grew the tales lost their shine. The Empire.. Well all he was given was a warning. Don't go near. And now he was being told he was in their territory. With a barely functioning ship, and a man he couldn't quite tell if he should interact with or not. What a great start to his grand adventure. "I uh, well. I'm Laika. The ships just a hand-me-down, not super well kept as you can see. I've tried to fix it but you can see how that turned out." multiply life by the power of two

Made by Sifr @ THQ.

[Rugs]

Karn watched the stranger for his reaction. Some action, some thought, flitted across his face. Confusion, or maybe surprise? Karn, on his rocky perch, was too distant to tell for sure. Regardless, he didn’t need to see every detail of the boy’s face to know that this was a fish who’d wandered out of his pond and into the ocean’s depths without realizing the dangers arrayed before him.

Was his harmless prey, or a threat? Karn’s ivory eyes narrowed as the stranger, the interloper, answered his question. We’ll find that out. One way or another.

“Is that so?” Amusement, nearly mocking, rode heavy on Karn’s voice. “That’s too bad.” Karn could sense no malice from this stranger--he couldn’t sense much noteworthy beyond a lingering wariness. Understandable, he told himself with a self-satisfied smirk. He’d be wary too, were in the stranger’s position.

Karn hopped down from his perch and landed gracefully on the hard, rocky ground below. He brushed a bit of dust from his jacket — grey with white, diagonal slashes at the ends of his sleeves — and studied his newfound company. He was taller than the other, and he guessed they possessed more or less similar builds.

The boy, whoever he was, possessed golden eyes unlike any Karn had ever seen. Plenty of Sith bore yellow irises, transformed from their original color by prolonged delving into the rigors of the Dark Side. But these were different, somehow. They didn’t seem sickly, tainted. They were arresting, in a way that reminded Karn of Kath’s vivid green eyes.

“You’ve picked the worst possible planet to get stranded on, you know,” he said as he began to approach the stranded traveler. “Surely you’ve heard the legends of Iego. Those who crash here never leave.” Karn made no overt hostile moves toward the stranger — sensing no threat, he saw no need — though he made no effort to hide the long-hilted lightsaber hanging at his waist. He stopped a few paces away from the smoking ship wreckage.

“Though I can’t help but wonder, where you, a Force user, were going in a ‘hand-me-down’ Jedi ship.” A warmthless smile cracked Karn’s face. “What, did you steal it from them? You’re a long way from any Jedi holdings.”