Log:Retracing The Steps: Beneath The Waves of Sunny Kaal
From the deep space monitoring station, and the mysterious routing devices found there, the group moves under the sea to a 'retired' Imperial Listening Station.
OOC Date: October 10, 2021
Location: Kaal
Participants: Zelo Parrai as GM, Vhe Tenara, Nerys Greystorm, and Hadrix Kora
Galactic Mid Rim. Yushan Sector. Kaal. Far below the waves.
TAS Inky Harvest. A Trident-class assault ship on loan to Zelo by an old contact from his time before Chandrila. Before Nar Shaddaa. After Glee Anselm. The contact was not the most... Friendly, but she was willing to make some thousands of credits for the loan of a proper aquatic vessel befitting a Mandalorian and his colleagues on a search. The Inky Harvest sinks through the depths, seeking out a far-down installation long forgotten and left behind when the Empire withrew from Kaal after Endor. Yes, the resort world with its bountiful oceans and every tropical amenity fed Imperial furloughs and housed those Imperial getaways. Now, in the protective grip of Tirgee Benyalle, Kaal thrives and is welcoming to all with deals to make or vacations to take. But that's all above the surface. Below, the blue ocean does not care who rules above.
Zelo has been tracing the path of the Dauntless Courier. Paths. The data gleaned from the deep space monitoring station had narrowed the search away from the whole Galaxy, but there were hundreds of leads. Hundreds of crossing paths left behind by the courier and writ on old magnetic drives. Following each led only to more substations. More jamming devices mounted outside. Jamming devices with one clear intention: obscuring the passing of a single ship. Taking a different approach, Zelo started plotting all of the courses on a chart, and Kaal was the result. A great many intersections here. And some digging found this abandoned deep-sea spying station, with sensor technology vast in range even by the most modern standards. If anywhere would have a complete record and be hardest to tamper with, it would be the base slowly illuminating below.
<"There it is,"> comes the tenor voice of Zelo Parrai, at the helm of a ship as amphibious as he. The rear bay has been cleaned out of the aquatic assault drones, refitted with benches and seating, but there is room enough in the cockpit for those who want to see where they're headed. A layout is pulled up on a viewing screen to the side and Zelo glances at it while lining up the approach. <"There are two docking bays on the underside, which is where I will set us. Let me know when you are all prepared, it's going to be..."> An arm clad in gleaming blue beskar points generally to the fore of the ship, towards the viewscreen and the tentacle-like blaster and mounting arms that lead the ship. <"That way is up. The bay below has handholds to help accomodate, so let me know when you're all set. Readings show power is normal - probably tapped into a hydro plant or geothermal sources below. No life signs inside."> Zelo looks to those gathered, but his H-visor lingers on Vhe, black pools watching her from behind the beskar mask.
Vhe is in the front, watching as they descend into the water. This is somewhere inhospitable for those who breathe air and her attention is for their hull integrity at first. All seems well when Zelo points out where they are going, leaving the initiate to hesitate as she studies their goal.
"I think I am ready...and the Force..." her voice trails as she reaches out, fastened in place with a hand bracing her as they draw closer and closer. "I think..I think its safe to board. I do not feel anything out of place...simple misgivings about our location in general." she remarks.
Nerys, who had been prepping her gear for most of the journey down, and that included Bitty, who had been herself touched up to ensure that she could continue to function under the water, had risen once they had begun the descent. And while she had not moved into the cockpit entirely, she had poked her head in far enough to get a good look at the surrounding underwater seascape, eyes unnaturally keen behind the face plate of her helmet. She did offer her report, for what it was worth, once they were close enough to get a good sense of the scope of the station they were heading to. "I'm not seeing any signs of the droid incursion we encountered at the crater. Not any heat signatures, or disturbance on the seabed around the location, but I won't know for sure until I have a chance to look at it from all sides." Once Nerys had judged that she had seen all there was to see, she stepped back, moving to wait by the ramp which would eventually allow them to depart the ship.
<"Staabi lo haraan..."> right into hell. Hadrix's grumble rolls from the vocalizer of his helmet and he shifts to re-balance how his equipment is hanging from his webbing. Swords, knives, blasters and ordinance. <"I expect we are going to run into unfriendly greetings. At least it's Imperial. Older tech, stormtroopers won't have the same training they had at Corulag or Carida if we see anyone suited up in old gear."> but the location is still alien to him for the moment. No recollection of reading about this place.
Head lowering a moment with a click from the vocalizer disengaging; there is still movement, slow and subtle, the sort from someone saying something to themselves and a tremble running past as his body begins to churn out the natural chemicals it had been conditioned to make at the suggestion of upcoming conflict. A roiling maelstrom of building rage being heated and prepared to be focused into a blade tip rather than a mallet.
Zelo guides the ship downwards, listening to the information the rest of the crew is gleaning from their own methods. <"It's just like swimming on Naboo. Just... Much, much further down. On second thought, we'll avoid the swimming if we can. Everyone has a rebreather, but I hope you don't need them."> The tools of survival had been purchased off-hand and in bulk, in case there had been last-minute arrivals. <"There may be... Larger things down here, or something new. Different ocean, different life."> He looks to the scan as Nerys points out what she sees.
<"Good. Still is good, as far as I'm concerned. Could still be something inside, but if Vhe senses nothing with ill will, I'm hoping this is a quiet one."> He said quiet. That's... Not wise. But the Nautolan is an optimist most days. <"I think it's probably best to keep the search inside, though. Perhaps we can scan the hull on our way out though.">
'Staabi lo haraan...' Apt.
<"Prepare for the worst, hope for the best, right vod? If there's opposition, I've little doubt we can handle it. But for now, everyone in the bay and in place. Get a hold because the floor's going to be the wall in a minute."> Zelo maneuvers beneath the raised base, using the arms of the Trident to 'pull' the ship into place. When he's certain that everyone is ready, the ship tips up vertical, and the arms latch onto the docking port, above the surface of the water in the aquatic bay. Rising up out of the water, the dock is initiated, and a puff of air carrying decades of wear belies the interchange of old air and new. The docking port opens downward, revealing ladder grips to climb up into the base. Zelo detaches his harness and stars climbing down the cockpit to catch up the rest after they've made their way inside.
Grabbing hold to keep from spilling about the back end of the ship, Vhe looks to the others just as they begin to upend and surface. Its rather disorienting at first, causing Vhe to adjust her footing or lose hold at an inopportune time. "This does not feel natural," she remarks as her stomach turns with her briefly and she looks a little white. But once all has settled she waits her turn and joins the others in exiting. There is and adjustment of her sleeveless tunic and then her belt as her eyes scan the area. Her head tilts to gaze up and around, a furrow gathering her brow together.
"Do you both notice how...its clean. No dust....droids?" She suspposes - because thats always an answer. But something has her attention that draws her down the left hallway. "What..." she begins.
The Ysannan heads towards something hanginging and reaches up touches it, her fingers brushing the object before she pulls it free of the filament it was hanging from. Resting back on her heels she holds it in her hands. "I have not seen one of these in some time..."
Nerys was not the first out of the gate, as it were, but she and Bitty made their way up in good time, smol droid detaching herself as soon as it was safe to do so. She took the time to remove her weapon from the waterproof case which served as Nerys' backpack for the adventure, settling herself up and to the right of Nerys as the pair made it to 'land' as it were. As for Nerys herself, she took the time to adjust the blaster which she had removed from the case as well, securing it on her thigh. As she worked, her helmet tilted this way and that, "The base certainly seems to be under power, and I can hear nothing that seems to indicate that there is anything amiss with its workings. Nor any sound of movement consistent with droids or sentient life." Vhe's movement, and her comment as she took some object into hand brought her attention around. "What is it?"
Climbing up, resisting the urge to use his jets to ascend into the base. Checking out his equipment just before with the beskar forged blade in one fist. Levering himself up to flat 'ground' at the very last and drawing the crystalline blade that had rested in the hangar opposite of where the Mandalorian iron weapon had been drawn.
Helmet slow turning, with the black T-visor seeping steadily. The red glow just behind the tinted transparisteel flashing, <"Aye, too clean... If it's droids they're malfunctioning."> pointing one blade tip to the right and starting to slowly stroll that direction, <"Hatch left open. Sloppy work, or concern about the hatch not opening if it latches and seals.">
The big man's wrists roll and the lengths of iron and durasteel like crystal whirl in glittering pinwheels, one ending its circuit up and horizontally before his chest and the crystal blade angled to be quickly dropped to build momentum into a slashing swing.
Zelo finishes his ascent, using the ladders along the Trident's walls to make his way to ceiling where the hatch leads up into the underwater base. <"It sounds like the place is in immaculate working order... Which is perfact. We need any and all monitoring data for passing ships, if we can..."> The Nautolan looks around, seeing with his eyes what the others had made plain. How does a long-abandoned base stay this clean, but for droids? The ship below Crater Caye had been this kind of spotless... It's Vhe's finding that pulls at him first, as he moves to look over the item in her hands. <"Some kind of leaf? Where is it from?"> Something she had seen before, clearly, but this was not a park or a garden. Hadrix's finding causes Zelo to put a hand on his E-11, pulling the sling forward, in case...
<"You checking it out, or you think it's a trap - some kind of invitation?"> Not that those two things are exclusive. Zelo looks back to Hadrix, but he waits by Vhe to find out what's going on. This hunt has not yet felt perfectly normal, and he has little doubt what element is the cause.
Vhe shifts the item in her hand, moving it back around, shifting it to and fro. "A leaf of the Kingood tree...from Ossus. My homeworld." She shakes her head, "Why and how is it here." The rest are making their observations as Vhe gives a look to the visor belonging to Zelo and then up at the other two before finally reaching up to pluck at the filament it was attached to. "So strange."
The Force answers her as she spreads the web of it outwards, seeking living forces within. "There is nothing alive in here but us, nothing organic anyways...outside. Many, many things...but nothing within." She holds onto that resin leaf, not wanting to toss it aside it finds a place in the deep pockets of her tunic.
Leaving aside the exploration of the room immediately around them, in regards to danger, such as it was, for was there not always something dangerous in old, dark places such as these? Bitty and Nerys began a circuit of the room, seeking for a terminal through which they could access the station's maps and systems. Nerys, finding such a panel was soon at work, Bitty plugging in along with her, perhaps some part of what she had been before she had become an explorer's better half assisting, as the pair were soon deep into the ship's systems, "I have located a schematic of the station, which I am sending to your systems. If it's data we are looking for, that segment of the station there will be our best bet." Bitty, retrieving a datapad from a pocket on Nerys' thigh, drifted away to offer it to Vhe, if she wanted it, as the Jedi had no HUD to which Nerys could beam the information, "It looks as though the way forward is through that doorway Hadrix identified."
<"Aye."> mind working with the variety of traps and other denial methods, Hadrix makes his way steadily - moving on the balls of his feet to near the hatch. Shaking again a moment, anticipation building now. Lowering himself as he goes while Gripper disengage from her socket on his back to begin hovering, central eye sweeping as he begins a long scan as well.
<"Zelo, rearguard, keep sight for exit points or egress for defensive fallback."> head ticking to one side when the wireframe begins building itself on a section of his HUD, extrapolated and expanded by Gripper with his own academic knowledge of Imperial strongholds. Looming back up to his full height as one hand comes forward, two fingers unfurling from the grip of his blade to hover over something <"Looks like someone with a powersuit or a droid tried to stop it closing.">
Proceeding further into an old barracks, slipping around the old bunks and locker banks, sending info from his HUD to Gripper to disburse. <"Lightsaber work."> assumptions; but he's had a lot of experience.
<"What is it doing down here?"> Zelo takes the datapad offered by Bitty and holds it out for Vhe to glance at, his own HUD updating with the schematic. <"Are they common on other worlds?"> Zelo does possess some botanical knowledge, but much more in flowers than arboreal pursuits. He looks to Hadrix and nods. <"I have a good sight on it here, and I'll see what I can dig up with this map. Why don't you and Nerys operate as a team, and I'll stick with Vhe?"> The Mandalorian of gleaming blue draws his E-11 fully, but there is none yet to shoot.
On the other side of the door - lightsaber work indeed - a corridor leads to the left and right, with doors all along the far wall. The map leads to the right, where the corridor terminates in a durasteel door with access panel. The panel is hanging slightly off its moorings, but the door stands closed.
Hadrix is off on a trail, Vhe listening to him but absently so as her hand slips into the pocket with the leaf. She frowns and then focuses her attention as she follows after him - it distracts her enough that her usually quiet footfalls are not quite so. She has to catch herself a few times but something stops her all together when he says lightsaber.
Her honeyed gaze goes distant and she parts her lips. Seeing beyond seeing, she hesitates. "Setis was here...she hung the leaf and there are three more..somewhere. She was accompanied by the perimeter droid we found and a man...once more upon the ceiling - mag boots. But she had a box with a clasped lid...I wonder if that is still here too."
Distracted so she misses Bitty but now sees the droid with the datapad. "Thank you...this will be handy but now...there is a reason these leaves are here. She was on Ossus, but why...why on Ossus?" She glances to Zelo and then Nerys before her gaze slips past to Hadrix' back.
As Nerys moved out, she offered no comment to the division of labour, though, with her helmet on, it was impossible to see what expression, if any, crossed her face. She only moved ahead, both she and Bitty drawing their weapons. As they moved, their attention shifted to the surround, the rest of the team trusted to follow, either with her or in their own direction. "I am seeing scraping on the deckplating, signs that something heavy was moved, but the markings lead away from the location of the databanks and not towards it. Bitty and I will go to see what we can find. The markings end three doors down the corridor from where I am now." And then she and Bitty were off, heading towards the end of the trail. The databanks were certainly not going anywhere. One hoped.
<"Trails... trails. This isn't an expedition right now, it's a history study."> Following the path along it's given course up and to the panel hanging open, studying quietly with Gripper at his shoulder.
Leaning slightly and looking to Gripper then back to the panel, the pair moving as if speaking - though clearly privately to one another now. <"More strikes. Combat droid or power armor. Wires spliced to likely keep the hatchway closed.">> standing up straight and turning to look to the others. <<"This place is a tomb.">> looking back to Gripper whose four limbs move to a shrug in response to Hadrix.
Something stirs in the ink-black void of the deep Kaal sea. It does not move with too much purpose, but it holds still once in a while, as though listening. It has been some time since it has had a surprising meal in these parts, but... One doesn't forget a favorite.
Within, Zelo follows, carbine ready as he pauses to open a side door and finding... A mess hall. That would explain the long shape on the layout. <"Be careful, Nerys. You and Bitty call out if there's some kind of surprise in there..."> He'd been wondering about another barracks, but perhaps the contingent was not large enough for a second bunkroom. Zelo spots something in the room that gives him pause and he stops in the middle of pulling the mess hall door shut, looking to Vhe. <"I think you need to look in here, Vhe...">
The Nautolan steps back, looking to Hadrix. <"Nothing is stirring in here, what are the odds that there's something to worry about? The place has been out of commission for decades now, right?"> That is, assuming the Empire left in more than name... <"If the computers are in there, we need to go in."> He looks to Vhe, then back to Hadrix. <"Can you get it open?"> One look at the larger Mandalorian says as much what Zelo believes the answer to be.
Being called by Zelo draws her attention away from the others only to have her slip into the room with him. A curious narrowing of her gaze as she sweeps the room for something peculiar, her hand idly smoothing against the resin surface of the preserved leaf. But what she finds causes her to delve deeper into the room, step after step leaving the machinations of her companions behind. One leaf. She reaches up for it, brushing her fingers before finally the second.
The third is reached and there is a glance back before she turns her attention fully forward. She makes a sound, surprised mixed with dismay as she quickly quiets and the colorful Ysanna reaches out towards the item at the end of the trail of preserved leaves.
She picks up the carved object and reaches out through the Force. It fails her, that connection as her fingers smooth down over the carved wood mask. "Darth Setis.." she murmurs.
"This may be a tomb, but take it from someone with experience in such things," offered the space tomb raider, as Nerys and Bitty proceeded down towards the door where the scrapings ended, "Tombs are rarely silent. Or empty." Once they made it to the door, the took a few seconds to study the lock, before they nodded, as much to themselves as to each other, before Nerys reached out to spin the wheel and push the door open with her free hand, the other keeping her weapon aimed and ready, as did smol droid. As the pair moved, they reported back, "Droid storage area, I make....' a few seconds as Nerys calculated what she could see, "Somewhere in the order of 150 perimeter droids, give or take a dozen. There are also several imperial protocol droids and some service drones in here." Nerys looked down, keen eyes scanning, "Looks like I found half of a door. Probably the other half of the door from the barracks. But the scraps here are recent. This wasn't done long enough ago to have gathered dust." And then, as if relaying information from smol droid, "Bitty reports that none of the droids are online, nor are they scheduled to be powered up."
Using the beskar blade to lever, forcing the hatch open enough to let Hadrix force in a shoulder to brace and push. Heaving it back enough for someone to pass through without twisting - halting to look point to point. Long years training playing up as he surveys, <"Fourteen dead, would be fifteen - one is only half a cadaver.">
The doorway having been parted to reveal server and monitor banks. The dead arrayed there, clean but dead, and Hadrix remains just barely outside of the charnel room.
<"No. It's a tomb, pure and simple..."> nodding towards the dead.
A massive complement of droids... A massacre. But Zelo watches Vhe follow a path that seems to be laid out for her. Even though the mission is to get those flight logs, Zelo follows Vhe back, The sound has him moving quickly to her side, to see a mask, a little familiar, but not in as much meaning to him as it was to the Jedi. <"Setis put this here? What exactly is it, Vhe?"> He triggers his comms, relaying on the channel for the others. <<"I think we need to get out of here, fast... If the computers are running, can you start scanning for flight paths for the Dauntless Courier? We need to sort through them, to find what Setis missed.">>
While the droids are silent, the monitoring lab is not. There is a beeping sound almost emitting a constant note as screens flash and disks hum and churn. There is a clanking sound and a server bank slips back and lowers into the ground, replaced a moment later by one rising up and sliding forward into the same location. On the right wall, near the opposite end of the room, a large dent has pounded the hull inward. It's a shock it didn't actually breach, honestly.
Further out, in the black ocean far below the blue, a massive shape approaches where the lights had lead. Something... Tasty? There was a new sound. New enough to seek out...
The Force is eluding her at every turn and Vhe reaches for the box. Her fingers touch it and again everything seems so far out of reach. When Zelo speaks she is quick to wrap around both and pull them to her chest as she turns about to look at him. "I will explain later, but not here. THe leaves....can you help me gather them? What sort of creature was she...this sith...like a dark shadow who knows all," she whispers and then, hugging the box and mask to her chest she reaches up to grab at the next leaf in progression, tucking it quickly away as her pockets begin to bulge with her found treasures.
Then the next is taken hold of and finally the last but she is juggling them all as she tries to desperately hold onto the. So distracted is she that she does not think to keep herself open to the Force. One of the leaves clatters to the ground and tumbles end over end before she reaches down for it.
Something is wrong. Every fiber of her being feels it. "We need to go...something is coming from outside..." she grabs the leaf and manages to hold onto everything. "WE NEED TO GO!"
Nerys, once she and Bitty had locked away the droids, poor droids, made it double time to the databanks room, moving to the first terminal they could find, and getting to work, Nerys downloading as much information as she could, Bitty assisting as she could to eliminate any firewalls between the information they needed and the meatdroid trying to access them. Even if Nerys could not process everything that was being given to them, she could at least store it. She worked at lightning speed, that verbobrain working for all it was worth as she tried to pluck the most relevant and useful info that she could in the time they had allotted to them. "if you need to go, then go," came her measured tones, a shar contract to Vhe's distress, "I'm not finished here. I can get back without the ship." She did, however, beam the information to the datapad the Vhe still had, at least the most relevant data, just in case the group was separated.
Sweeping through to survey the bodies, half and whole alike, Hadrix's gaze surveys in relative silence while he investigates. <"Lightsaber cuts. Broken necks and spines... I've seen Ren do similar... they barely fought back, those that did."> which Ren is he referring to though? <"Either there will be information in the banks or they were killed to keep things from being logged and re-"> then Vhe is screaming for them to go and he is standing tall again.
Blades slipped over his shoulders to their hangars and the big man turning, hearing Nerys telling Vhe to go and canting his head to one side. <<"Zelo, tsikador muu'ba'slanar.">> Zelo, prepare for a hard exit. the blades exchanged for the massive bronzium cannon on its swing strap.
Zelo does his best to help with the gathering, but Vhe is working quickly enough that soon all are gathered. He opens up the pack at his hip and offers it to Vhe. <"Put what you can in here, we can pack it away better when we're in the li-"> But the change on her face and the distress in her voice leave all thoughts of reclaiming things behind. A hand reaches out and he begins to help guide Vhe out, not wanting to lose her in the flight back to ship. When they get to the barracks, Zelo pauses, turning back to her. <"Wait for me, I will not be long."> He strides down the hall on urgent feet and squeezes through the bent door.
<"Nerys, that is no good. I don't leave anyone behind. Whatever you have, we can work with it. We can come back again when whatever it is is gone. We don't know if it's worth dying for!"> They don't. Through all of this, it's only been a notion. A weapon, a secret, something. Something powerful. But what if it's only a phantom. The Nautolan knows that life is precious, and he brought three lives down here with him. He looks to Hadrix, wielding up and replies on their own channel.
<"Vod, if something's coming through, shooting that thing without a grip will launch you a hundred meters. Maglocks if you have them. But much better we get out now. If Vhe says it's danger, it's danger. I'm asking you to come. Better to face the unknown in a ship.">
Outside, the black figure swims closer. Rows of razor-sharp fins glisten in the low light cast by the aquatic dock's interior lighting. Black fins that glint, and glisten, and move along. Something is waiting.
"And we don't know that it isn't, Zelo." Was Nerys' voice angry? Possibly. "The Sith certainly seemed to believe it was worth giving her life for. And when have you ever heard of a Sith caring about anything that wasn't worthwhile?" Nerys, and Bitty both, stayed at the terminal until a beep came from the datapad, and the pair turned, almost as a single unit and began the trek back to the ship, finding that balance between moving quietly and moving at speed. They made use of the previous path that the group had forged on the way back to the ship.
Vhe takes advantage of that pouch, and shoves a few of the leaves inside which frees up her hands to hold the more important objects. The mask and the box. She keesp her arms around them and then nods to Zelo as he ushers them on. "No one is leaving anyone else," she echoes Zelo's views on that matter as she stays where he left her, listening, trying to find a hint of what lies outside that comes for them. The hairs of the back of her neck stand on end as Vhe slowly turns about and eyes the stations bulkheads. Surely something that could render the station useless would be easy to detect.
"I suggest all due haste," she says but not beyond her immediate vicinity. Her gaze narrows as she closes her eyes and focuses on what is going on, reaching out through the force. Its like trying to connect a line, throwing her consciousness out through the Force. What she finds sends a shiver down her back as she takes a step and then another after Zelo until she can see them all.
"It comes to feed...perhaps play with its food before it does so. But we need to go."
<"No maglocks on these boots. I assume you mean if water starts flooding this place."> adjusting the settings on the massive bolt thrower, Hadrix nods to himself and then looks to Vhe when she starts speaking like a laser sword swinging hooboo jooboo slinger. Turning to begin stalking the way they had came.
<"Zelo you lead the way, I have rear guard."> turning to fall in pace behind the others with the weapon of choice still out. No maglocks... No problem?
Gripper is eying him though, as she ever does - staying close.
Zelo looks back to Vhe in the corridor, a nod to show the grim smile hidden beneath his beskar. No one is left behind. <"I'll second that. I've been across the galaxy dozens of times in the last week, I'm sure this will help, even if it's not the a silver slug."> He looks back to Nerys. <"My time is worth less than your life, Nerys."> He looks back to Vhe as she speaks of the thing outside. <"A predator. Apex, and probably very large this far down,"> he adds, looking to the dented in hull.
Zelo nods to his Al'Verde. <"That dent? Looks like one shot. Something like that... Might want to make its own way in. If this gets wet, I think that gun might throw even you, Vod."> Zelo takes the lead, an arm out for Vhe if she needs the guidance - the Force can have a mighty pull... On tender bootfalls, they make their way to the barracks, until the bay is before them. <"Climb in... Strap in... Hadrix, Nerys, can you run turrets? We have two stations, and we may need to fight this thing off. If it's small enough."> Zelo watches Vhe, offering to take the box and mask so she can use both of her hands. The Pilot will be the last to enter the Trident ship.
The Maw of Kaal, often spoken of but almost never seen, circles the metal cave - that's what it calls it. Sometimes things hide. Sometimes they come out. Sometimes they have hard shells... Sometimes they have none. But now it is silent again. Could it be a mistake?
Vhe's eyes are tracking across the hull, as if searching for lies outside and the mind she just read. Only when the others begin to move does she, turning without need of guidance but a nod given to the Nautolan before she joins the rest, their return quick enough so that when she moves to enter the submersible she shakes her head, "Not right now..." she tells him. The carved wood mask and box are held with the Force as she descends back in and hurries to take a seat with a rough view of what is outside. The items come hovering down in after her while she secures herself into place.
One strap and then the next as she tightens herself into place and then secures the mask and box at her side with one hand. Fingers splay over it, pressing it firmly into the seats beside her. "Ready. I will do what I can to help..."
Nerys, having gotten what she came for, put away her blaster, hands tucking away the datapad she had stored everything she carried from the ship, bitty securing herself back into her maglocked harness, though she, one might note, did not release her blaster, evne if it made her look a bit comical. Nerys made no comment as they made their way back to the ship, save for a single word, "Left," as she headed towards the port side turret control, sliding into the seat and strapping herself in as she dialed up the control system and prepped it for use.
<"Aye, I can man turrets."> making for the ladders to get to one while speaking to Gripper, <"Should've brought the dreadfinder.">
"You're kidding."> <"It'd be a helluva story."> "You're crazy."
Swinging up and getting himself strapped into the gunner seat, Hadrix begins checking systems, trying to follow standard arming positions as he taps a display and smacks another. <"If it's that big being smaller has advantages."> "What kind of advantages could you possible have if it's that big?" <"If I'm too close, I'm hard to see."> "You're an idiot." <"I helped kill a Krayt Dragon."> "It punched you across a city with it's face!" <"After I blew a chunk out of the side of it's neck."> "That is besides the point." the droid is shaking as if in rage now as the argument proceeds. <"How many Wampa have I hunted?"> "I'm going to kill you..."
Zelo follows the rest of the crew inside, Vhe strapping in and Nerys and Hadrix taking up their own spots at the turret stations. The Mandalorian drops down into the cargo bay, snagging the ladder at the last moment and... Just missing it. Zelo scrabbles in the air for a moment before somehow his hands find purchase and - with a little wrench to his shoulders - he is safely hanging from the ladder. There is a small clanking sound though, beskar on durasteel... Probably fine, right?
A moment later, he's up in the cockpit, dropping into the pilot seat and initiating power-up. A button seals the 'beak' of the ship, the hatch pressure shifting as the ship comes unsealed. The arms slowly lower the Trident into the water, then Zelo looks to the two gunners. <"You each have your tentacles now. Left top and bottom, right top and bottom. They're labeled as such, but you can also lock them together."> The ship's engines fire up, and... They make a break for it.
Meanwhile, a new light source has the Maw's attention. That... Looks promising.
Vhe leans forward, looking towards the cockpit where Zelo takes up position and as they fall away and invert back into the ocean, she strains against the harness. Her wild hair shifts forward and back as they come about and finally she sees something. Did she see something? There is a glint in the water and the sense of something coming closer - depth perception being what it is underwater.
"I think it is on its way...." Her voice loud enough for even those on the turrets. She reaches out her hand and once more calls to the Force, connecting with it as she throws her will through it like a ripple and what occurs causes her to see more clearly its mass...and size as its whirled about and disoriented with that one move.
"I won't keep it for long."
Nerys settled into the seat, the frown that was on her face hidden by her helmet, thankfully, as she familiarized herself with the controls for the weapons of the ship. "Wouldn't firing at it now just make it more likely to attack us?" I mean, that would be the logical question to ask. But, well, in for a pound and all, and Nerys opened fire, though it was not likely that she hit anything, as the turret system seemed particularly disinclined to follow her commands.
<<"I think movement is going to be drawing it's attention as is.">> Noted as he looks to see what the nautolan is doing.
<<"Zelo.">> Hadrix's rasp over internal comms <<"If you can't scale a kriffing ladder I'm coming to Chandrila again, and the only time I won't be allowed to hunt you is while you're airborne with your pack.">> Advanced Skill Training with Hadrix Kora. Reclining his gunner seat and grabbing a wire meant for combat computers or droids and plugging it into a port on the right hand sensor bulge of his helmet. The red glow of his eye suddenly winking out.
"Suppose that didn't feel good." <"Look, if I could get an improved interface I would."> "As opposed to that little jack going into your eye eh?" <"Shut up, Gripper.">
Swinging in the seat as the gun is moved, checking visual and sensors - the bionic eyes view being meshed with the organic. <"This thing controls ridiculously."> the tentacles assigned to his controls flailing some as they begin to fire on the offending beast, creating one hell of a light show.
The Maw is closing in on the prey - something shiny, and light, but with arms. Should be delicious, or a different kind of hardshell. Still, it's sport. But then it's blown back and around as something unseen knocks it back. Something much much bigger than itself, though it never saw the Force act. Lasers fire out while it's still rattled, and all its energy goes into avoiding this crackling light beam as it senses the danger in all of this. No, it doesn't want a fight, it wants play. As the hardshell begins to speed up, the maw slinks back down, intent to take another look at the metal cave...
Seeing the figure get knocked back on the radar, Zelo looks over his shoulder to Vhe, calling over the fire and engines, <"Thank you!"> He pours on the thrusters and looks to Nerys. <"Some will attack, others will find it too much effort. I don't know what that thing is, and I don't want to know."> As the ship climbs near-vertical, he looks last to Hadrix.
<"The one time I miss a jump..."> The Trident ascends, leaving the monitoring station and the Maw behind. As the light of day cuts through the waters and black fades to blue, Zelo asks what maybe all are thinking.
<"Where do we go from here?">
