Log:Jedi: Ax-cation

Ax-cation

OOC Date: September 3rd, 2018
Location: Arisnar, Illum
Participants: Jedi: Ax, Jonn Drayson, Zandra naMuriel, Yuun, Mara Jade, Elrych Cometburn

~ Ax was standing outside the Black Sands, the doors open. The ship had been configured for extreme cold climates to deal with the icy wasteland that was their destination.

As others begin to draw near, Ax calls out. "Hope you brought your thermal underwear. Where we're going, it's going to be cold as hell." The Echani was dressed in his usual attire, but as everyone was going to be flying in his ship, it's likely he had cold-weather attire aboard. ~

Jonn Drayson , Action Hero, already had a lightsaber and the mad skills to use it as fitting the only Jedi Guardian currently in the Order. That and he was ripped like paper through a shredder. Dem muscles. He didn't need cold weather gear. He was too busy /smouldering/. "Cahm-ahn, boys and gyurls!" he said, as excited as a father taking the kids on a field trip. "We ah goiyng to goh and get some crystahls!"

Elrych Cometburn is bundled up so tight with his robes over what ever lower insulation he's decided to wear that his arms stick out a bit and he has slight trouble moving them. They bounce a bit as he attempts to extend them downwards, the force of the insulation simply springing them back to their new at rest position. "I should have waited until we got closer the the planet." He says, a bit of sweat running down his forehead and under his shades to sting his eye. He reaches up to rub the stinging away with a slight his. "I go like... five pairs of thermal socks on and I feel like I'm on coronet's beach during the warm period of the cycle..."

Yuun is packed with some cold weather gear, with a bit of a job he does have, he's been saving credits for a while. He stretches out as he makes his way to the hangar, he only has a few things with him, still as he comes within the hangar he notices the others, "Hey everyone." he waves.

Zan has her pilot armour suit on, but she definitely has thermal underwear underneath her jumpsuit. She arrives quietly, smiling at Jonn and nodding to Elrych. After a moment, she says, "Gentlemen," to let everyone know she's there. They probably should already, but just in case. She has the helmet to her suit in hand at the moment, so her face and purple hair are definitely visible. No light saber here, but she's willing to come along anyway. She's slowly working on it, after all.

~ Ax looks about, shaking his head. "Jonn, the temperatures are colder than anything you've likely ever experienced. Any exposed skin is likely going to turn black with extreme frostbite within minutes."

Ax looks between Yuun, Elrych, Jonn, and Zandra. "Stow your gear on the Sands. I'm just topping off with fuel. There's emergency gear onboard but I'm very serious about the cold weather gear. I've been all over the galaxy, and never have I been anywhere colder than Ilum. Also, make sure you have some tinted goggles. The snow will blind you. We'll have to trek a couple of klicks from landing area to the caverns."

Ax looks towards Jonn, "Big guy, you get to carry the mining laser that we'll use to carving the crystals out." ~

Mara Jade emerged from one of the corridors. She glances up at the gorup gathering with a light smile. Making her way toward the group she looks to Ax, joking, "heading for a camp out? I always wanted to go on one of those." She looks around offering a nod in greeting to the others present.

Jonn Drayson didn't have time to freeze. "Shyuah," he said in response to Ax. "I can carreh der layser." He was a tank. That was easy. But maybe it would be a good idea to suit up for the cold. Suspenders and camo paint might in fact result in him freezing to death. He boarded the ship first, heading for Ax's stash of ice-protection, and started looking through the gear for something that would fit him. Hint: Not much fit him.

Elrych Cometburn smolders himself a bit giving a simple nod to Jonn, Yuun, and Zan. He needed to shed some of these layers before he could chipper up a bit. He nods towards Mara as she approaches, looking over his shoulder as he wadles behind Jonn on the way to the Sands, "Yeah... like... going to go get some crystals on and ice world. Pretty Wizzard if ya ask me."

Times like this, Zan may be glad she has that armour suit from Ebon Guard, she might. She turns at Mara's approach, offering a smile. "Hi Mara. Are you coming with us?" she asks, curiously. She glances at Ax and nods her head, willing to go stuff the bag she's got aboard the Sands. In case. "Are we going to need things like lights and rope?" she asks thoughtfully.

~ There was plenty of survival gear on the Sands for Jonn to sift through, but none of it was clothing. Mostly shelters, blankets, rations, portable heaters. There was a reason the Echani said bring your cold-weather attire.

As Mara enters, Ax gives her a smile. "Going to Ilum to get some lightsaber crystals for these chumps. Should be fun, and cold. If you want to come, please, feel free to tag along. Maybe you can keep one or two of them from dying from exposure," or save Ax from abandoning them there.

"Even the ship has to be outfitted for the cold to keep from freezing over while on planet. Yes, the vacuum of space is colder, but there is no moisture in space to cling to every square milimeter." Ax pauses a moment, looking over the others. "Alright, board the Sands if you're ready to go. If you don't have cold weather attire, you'll not be allowed off ship when we land."

"I have everything aside from clothing that we'll need for the trip, Zandra. I've been there a few times," Ax adds in response to Zan. ~

Looking to Mara as she comes to join them, he gives a nod to her, but looks to Elrych and Zan, "You two ready?" he asks as he looks at them. There is some excitement racing through Yuun as this is the second place he's going to be going to thats related to the Jedi. "Alright." he says as he heads onto the Sands.

"I tink I'll be a mihnute," said Jonn, popping out the hatch and disappearing somewhere in the ship complex. When he returned, he was carrying a box on his shoulder like it ain't no thang. "I tink dis will do," he said, and dropped the box on the deck. There was a loud THUMP. He opened it, revealing the entire contents of his wardrobe. "Hyeah," he said, pulling a Resistance Uniform on over his fiber jumpsuit. "A good staht." Next up was a Resistance Trooper Uniform plus armor. He almost looked wider than he was tall, now. Finally, over the top went a flowing Jedi cloak. There. Now he was a brown roly-poly advertisement for repulsorlifts (does Star Wars have a Michelin Man?). Over the top he put his full helmet and wrapped a scarf around his face. "I think I'm rehdeh!" was his muffled voice!

~ Ax nods, looking to the others. "Alright, let's get moving." Another glance is given to Mara. "You don't know what you're missing out on," he says with a weak smile before boarding the Sands. ~

Mara Jade looked at Ax with a nod. "That sounds like an interesting trip. Not the best for camping though." She smiles. "I can go with you, sure. But I can't make any promises about the other..." A wink. "Let me go grab my severe weather gear." She turns and walk toward the other section of the spaceport where the Termagant is currently resting. Returning in about ten minutes she has a cold weather suit in hand as well as some safety and survival gear in a shoulder slung satchel. "Alright. Time to go make some icecubes."

~ Ax pilots the ship out of Arisnar space and after a series of computations into the nav-computer, he punches the ship into hyperspace and they're off to Ilum. "Alright, here's what you need to know about Ilum. It's cold, it's covered in ice and snow, if you get seperated stay where you are and we'll find you. Do not remove your cold weather attire until we get into the caves. It's not warm there, but it's not instant frostbite."

Ax reaches under the seat and pulls out a flask, popping the cap off and taking a sip. The smell is of a high-end Corellian whiskey. We'll rope off to each other and walk with a few meters apart. If there's any seismic activity, that will help keep any one of us from falling to our deaths. Instead, we'll either keep each other up or we all die together." ~

"Seysmehk activiteh," repeated Jonn, mulling over the phrase. That didn't sound good. He was standing in the back of the cockpit, near one of the operation panels. "Just how unstayble is dis place?" Yeah, he sounded concerned. He could fight a Sith, but he couldn't fight an earthquake.

Zan takes up one of the chairs, because she wants to see everything, mostly. "Roger that," she says. "I do have some other gear, but I think this helmet should be okay." She hopes. Hey, it's vacuum proof, among other things, nice set of pilot armour. Certainly doesn't say Jedi in any way, shape or form. She arches a brow at the talk of earthquakes - shivering a little. Though she can't help but grin at the follow on comments from Ax and Yuun. "Sounds like this is a terrible place to visit. I wonder how anyone ever found these crystals in the first place. Certainly wasn't by visiting grandmother."

Elrych Cometburn nods slowly, having stripped some of the layers as to be more maneuverable, though of course now her was covered head to toe under his robes by some sort of thermal wrap. He was just brown cloth and sunglasses at the moment. "Got it..." Come his muffled voice from behind the scarf. Ax uses the navigation controls to steady the ship for landing. From outside the vessel spouts of exhaust fire out of the underside as the ship makes its final moves and gently sets down onto the ground, the rumbling of the engines and its many other systems begins to wind down...

Yuun has been quiet just enjoying the ride. He does listen toe the conversations, though at the mention of making sure not to take off any of their gear once on the planet he gives a nod of his head. "I will make sure not to do that." he smiles.

~ "I came here in a scout ship once, and there are actual life signs on planet, just small rodent-sized ones," Ax says as he brings the ship into atmosphere and towards a designated landing pad that was flashing on his sensor display. "Once we land, we're going to leave Buster here on the ship to keep it running. If we shut it down for any length of time, it will take us hours to be able to take off again." Ax looks to Jonn. "Well, I've only been here once where there was some moving and shaking, but it's not unheard of."

Once he brings the ship in for a landing, Ax gets up from the pilot's seat. "I'm going to go get changed into more fitting attire. While I'm doing that, get the rope from the survival kit. I'd bring my speeder, but it won't operate in these conditions," he says likely talking about the QH-7 Chariot LAV in the cargo hold. ~

As the ship gets close to Ilum, Mara returns to the hold for the space to bundle up for the adventure ahead. Warm parka and pants and rugged boots. She even has a cozy fur lined hood with goggles. Just in case the snows get to blowing. She begins to attach her survival and safety gear to the outfit.

And given the forewarning, Zan also gets ready, settling her helmet atop her head and then sealing it, the additional gear on the suit providing her with quite a bit of protection. That is done with the ease of practice, showing that she certainly does practice with certain things. She also gets the rope from the survival kit, if nobody beats her to it, and works towards getting herself connected to the rope, and then passing it over to others for their own connecting, helping where she can. "should we leave the rest of the droids here as well?" She has Risky with her, as she usually does.

~ Ax comes back dressed in Waywards scout gear along with a heavy cloak over that and a scarf wrapped around his face and goggles over his eyes. "Let's get moving," Ax says. "Yeah, probably best, Zan. Droids will freeze up out there pretty quickly."

And, with that, Ax opens the ramp to the outside. A blast of cold air enters the ship, and even in proper attire it's cold. Snow blows in along with some ice. For as far as the eyes can see, it's white, just pure white. And, the Echani is stepping down the ramp.

Fortunately, there's no seismic activity and Ax leads the group from the landing area to the cavern entrance. With the lighting of a few glowrods, Ax ventures deep into the caves. Ice formations turn into crystal formations in the matter of an hour's walk.

"Watch your step," Ax says. "Jonn, set the mining gear down there, I'll start putting it together," he says. "Meanwhile, look around. Meditate if you feel it will help. If there's a crystal for you in the galaxy, it's here. All you have to do is find it, we'll use the mining laser to cut it from the formation. It's already programmed to make it the right size and shape for a typical crystal." ~

Elrych Cometburn looks at all the sights and sounds of the new world, not bothered too much by the cold. They have to tug at his rope a couple times t oget him moving again as he gets distracted by something shiney. As they reach the main area, Elrych takes in the sights. He manages to take off his goggles as they arrive and starts to meander about, nothing standing out to him just yet.

Jonn Drayson was the heavy lifter of the operation. Having not had to find a special crystal and instead using a plain old one from the Academy storeroom, he wasn't here to pilfer the place. Instead, over his shoulder, he carried the assembly for the portable mining laser. Normally a three-person job, Jonn did it as though it were a girder or a tree trunk or something. Watch your heads.

Heavy Lifting Construction Man set the assembly down where Ax pointed out, and rubbed his shoulder as though he'd strained it, a feat which is anatomically impossible. "It's byeautifuhl in hyeah," he murmured to himself, taking in the wonder of the crystal surrounding them. Kyber. So much Kyber. He felt the Force flowing through this room, embracing him, comforting him, reminding him that all was right in the world. He mentally shook hands with it, giving his acknowledgement, and letting his own wonder and amazement be added to the collection of memories floating around in this ancient mental library.

Mara Jade clipped onto the safety rope as the party set out. She currently brought up the end of the group. How lucky. As they entered the cave and the winds died down, she lifted her goggles and looked around, her breath filthering through the warm neck wrap also covering her mouth to rise in a misty swirl of steam.

Her gaze swept around the cavern with interst and curiosity. Taking steps toward Ax, she asked, "Need help? Or should I make sure no one falls into an abyss..." her tone playful.

Zan makes her way along with the others, and once down where the crystal is, she stops for a moment. She turns in a full 360, and then removes her helmet to do it again. It is cold in here, but definitely not so much as to freeze her to pieces. Which she is quite pleased with. She looks over at Ax, listening to what he says, and then she nods. "It is beautiful," she says to JOnn, agreeing with him. She reaches to touch the force, closing her eyes and really just stands there motionless for a few moments, sinking into the feeling here.

This is amazing to Yuun, as he looks around the biting cold does hit him hard, but he's dressed for the weather and his scanner goggles cover his eyes. As they walk off and begin making their way to the cave he moves up to where Elrych and Zan are. Smiling at the others reactions, still Yuun looks around trying to figure out how he will go about finding his crystal. He sighs and does what he was taught by his sensei, he sits down and begins meditates.

Elrych Cometburn wanders around for just a bit longer until he slides down a bit of an embankment. He was open to the force sure and maybe it had been leading him that way but he didn't expect the tumble. He recovers after a moment, checking himself to make sure he's not hurt. Instead he's landed him self in a bit of a snow pile covered in a large neon blue crystal formation. "Woah..." He says looking around. "Yeah this is it..."

~ Ax chuckles at Mara. "Feel free to help," he says, leaving it open to interpretation as to whether to help someone fall down a shaft, keep from falling, or to simply help set up the laser. Ax liked to live dangerously, after all. "Once you've found the one you want, mark it with some tape I brought in the bag here. We'll cut them in order. Takes about ten minutes per crystal. At this time, only one per customer. If you're replacing one in an existing lightsaber or whatever, the spare goes into the box at the academy, no hoarding." ~

Mara Jade nods to Ax, then looks over as Elyrch is the first to find that gravity and drop offs don't mix. "Maybe I'll stay over here. It seems to be more safe." She begins to assist in the assembly of the laser systems.

Elrych Cometburn raises his hand, "Toss me some tape..." he says before repsonding to Mara. "Hey, don't you want to come live a little in the DAnger Zone? It's fun!"

Jonn Drayson heard the thump of an individual falling into a snowdrift. It sounded uncannily like it did in the holomovies. "I will go and check on it," he said to Ax, tightening up the leg of the laser tripod before straightening up and walking towards the embankment. As he expected, down the bottom was young Elrych, clumsy but endearing. "Good wyerk, young man!" he exclaimed down the drop, pride and fatherly warmth filling his voice. He pulled tape from his pocket and tossed it into the snowdrift next to the man. "Make syure your cold protecshen hasn't come loose!"

Zan stays where she is for a long moment, the thunk of Elrych's fall catching her attention. She smiles as she hears Jonn's comment and realizes that everyone is okay. Then she heads to where she can feel the force calling her, watching her step as she goes. And then a sparkle catches her eye, like a gemstone. She nods her head once smiling. "Here it is," she says softly, reaching a hand but stopping short of touching the crystal just at the moment.

~ Ax just shakes his head, connecting power cables to the mining laser and linking a datapad to it. He'd removed his hood and scarf, but still kept his cloak on. The mining laser starts humming as its capacitors begin to charge. "Watch for any loose formations as well. One of my own crystals I actually found on the ground under some rubble.

Looking about, the young Jedi notice that the predominant formations are varying shades of blue. Green seems to be a rarity on Ilum, and becoming more rare with each crystal plucked for a lightsaber. Adegan crystals seemed predominantly to drift more into the blue than green spectrums of color. "Alright, looks like we have Zan and Elrych finding theirs. Yuun? You alright over there?"

Ax looks towards Mara, "Thanks for coming along. I don't expect any problems, but it's nice to know I have some backup if it does happen." Then he looks to Jonn, "He alright over there?" he asks.

With Zan having picked hers out, and it being the closest, Ax aims the laser at it, letting the datapad configure the cut. "Step back," he says and engages the tool. A burst of high-intensity light pours out of the machine and begins cutting the crystal to a perfect shape, seperating it from the rest of the formation. ~

Sitting there quietly, taking his time allowing the force to flow through him. About ten minutes late he stands up and begins walking into the caves, "I hope everyone is doing well." he says as he begins moving into the cave. Taking his time as he wanders through a smaller cavern, it's tight but Yuun continues into he finds himself in a tight quarter, snow was built up, and ice. He sees a blue haze and as he begins digging through the snow, he finds a crystal and quickly puts tape there identifying his crystal.

"Yeah, just a liddle tahmble," said Jonn back to Ax, amused by the turn of events. He went back to the mining laser area where they'd set up and got some rope, running out the length back to the embankment. "Now I know you are nahd a fan of chyhm class," he was saying as he worked the rope out to its full length, "but you are going to haf to yuse yoah mahscles," he continued, looking down at Elrych down the embankment. Then, he tossed the rope over. "Cahm-ahn, you gahd dis, you can do eht!"

Mara Jade straightens up and nods to Ax. "Happy to. One more place in the galaxy I can say I've been to, now.." She smiles and looks at the others as they begin locating sympathetic crystals quickly. "Seems like they're learning fast." She looks back toward Ax. "maybe?" A hopeful sound in her voice. If only for Ax's sake?

"Muscles? MUSCLES. Papa Jonn, do I look like I got muscles?" Elrych does but he really barely passed basic back in the military. He of course tries his best, using his raw strength. His feet slip as he climbs up the rope, he's clearly lacking any type of proper climbing training but some how he shuffles up back to the top where everyone else his. Then he brushes himself off of snow. "Man..." He gasps out of breath.

~ It takes about an hour to get the three crystals cut, Ax having to get Jonn to help him move the equipment to the harder to reach places where Yuun and Elrych picked theirs. With the crystals cut, Ax makes sure they're wrapped up and ready for travelling.

Ax nods to Mara. "Not as fast as we need, but faster than I expected," he says as he finishes packing up the gear. "Let's get moving. I'll take point. Jonn, you're behind me. Make sure the ropes are secure." He looks back to Mara. "Mara, you take rear, make sure there aren't any stragglers if you don't mind." And like that, they're heading back to the ship.

• • Two Hours Later**

The weather had gotten worse, wind had picked up and the snow made the trip back a bit rough, but with luck, they make it. Ax did seem to have no problems carrying as much weight as Big Jonn did. The ship had a nice bunch of snow on top of it, but there wasn't much ice forming as the droids aboard had kept it warm enough for ice not to form. ~

"HAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAA!" was Jonn Drayson's guffaw of pride in his student. "You see!" he exclaimed, slapping Elrych's back hard enough to send him into a snowdrift, "you cahn do eht!" Jonn should probably check his own strength once in a while.

After the timeskip, Jonn got the heavy gear back to the ship with minimal fuss, and maybe a slight indentation in his shoulder. Who knew? "Everehbodeh got deyre crystals? Nahbahdy lost anyting?"