Log:Starlight Vanguard: Homecoming pt 3
Aria takes Cailyn to check on the status of the Stellar Windrunner...
OOC Date: May 2, 2023
Location: Stellar Windrunner
Participants: Aria Voss, Cailyn Dean
Xyndarra.
A remote jungle world on the out rim, Aria explained that she was leading a team of Rebels that had located and were in the process of recovering the CR-90 /Stellar Windrunner/, a ship that had been thought destroyed, but that had in fact been ditched in the jungle -- landed, apparently, if in some amount of haste, and forgotten for fifteen years.
The /Storm Caller/ sets down on a rocky plateau that overlooks the jungle where the Corellian Corvette is nearly buried in the trees. There are other ships around -- light freighters with stacks of crates of supplies piled up on the makeshift landing pad.
Along the way, Aria had changed, and when she descended the boarding ramp of her assault shuttle, a few of the people there in Rebel Field Gear -- the armored uniform that Aria had given Cailyn earlier in the day -- look up and offer a wave, not a solute.
Cailyn looks about the plateau with those eyes of hazel, ever piercing, ever intimidating. Maybe the Rebels had been told of an Echani accompanying Aria, but when the taller-than-average, dark-skinned woman follows closely behind wearing that form-fitting sportsuit styled in shades of purple and bronze, there's be no doubt that she'd get some stares.
Cailyn's lips thin, her eyes running over the various rebels as if searching them for some 'intent'. She wasn't as trusting with these individuals as she has been with Aria, and because of this, she nearly manages to bump into her employer on the way down. Finally, satisfied neither of them were in danger at the moment, those hazel orbs are placed upon the pink-skinned Zeltron and she clears her throat in a manner to grab attention.
It was easy enough, for the 'regular Rebellion' soldiers that were already there to recognize both the ship landing and the pink-skinned woman descending. Aria had pulled her hair back into a braid, and she wore a blaster pistol strapped to her hip. Cailyn wasn't /nearly/ as recognizable, but then.. she was arriving /with/ Aria, so she gets barely a raised eyebrow. A good portion of the force that had helped them cut through the jungle to get to the /Stellar Windrunner/ in the first place had been Aria's personal guard.
Her personal guar, the Jedi, and others.
"How are we doing?" Aria asks once she's reached the ground.
"Communications have restored," one of them pipes up, a man maybe in his early thirties. "They're still working on the engines, but they think another day or so at most."
Aria nods. "What about the... /scarring/ on the inside?"
"Superficial," the man responds. "Nothing's breeched the hull. They already pulled everyone out and did a pressure test on the inside. She'll hold."
"They got the new airlock door put in, then?"
"Just this morning."
"Good work, gentlemen. Take an extra shot of whiskey out of petty cash."
"Urra!" one of the men yells, bringing a smile to Aria's lips as she looks back at Cailyn. "Come on. I'll show you to the ship." She's already walking towards a path that leads to the jungle, glancing over her shoulder to yell into the ship. "Zed! Pick up the pace. We're walking."
Gloved hands find their way to pockets as Cailyn silently falls in behind Aria. Her gaze flicks back and forth between the rebel and the Zeltron while they speak. Typically, Cailyn simply has to rely on her appearance- The way her short hair is styled, the way she's built, her piercing gaze, and of course the scar across her throat- to be intimidating, and sometimes it just 'happens'.
However, this time all of those qualities are simply tossed out the window as she stumbles along, a internal need to look like a badass in front of the rebels overloading the poor woman's circuits. She pulls gently at the tighter spots of her clothing, a cough into her sleeve as she looks back after the the droid named Zed.
"Ma'am!" one of the soldiers calls over.
A repulsorlift can be heard whining up behind him from inside one of the freighters, and in the next moment, an RGL-18 Speeder Truck is being backed down the ramp and spun around. The man pulls the truck right up to where the 501-Z droid had finally joined up with their little party and jumps out, offering Aria a hand up first, then Cailyn after, if she wants it. The droid is ignored and left to climb into the back of the truck on his own.
"Garik, you are a gift," Aria croons. "Why haven't you been promoted to General, again?"
"Because we're not part of the rank structure, yet, ma'am," the man response, grinning. "Do you two need a driver down to the 'Vette?" Once more, the droid is ignored.
Aria, pleased as a peach to sit in the passenger seat, regardless, just looks over at Cailyn.
Cailyn blinks, a bit of a thankful and frazzled smile given to the soldier as she takes the hand for assistance into the speeder. Those hazel eyes lid for a moment, a glance given back to Zed before she turns to face Aria. A silent shrug is given, a glance back to the soldier, and then she looks back to Aria, those eyes studying the Zeltron just like always.
Aria seems to wait for Cailyn to make a decision. "Your call, Cailyn. Can you drive or do you need him to? /I'm/ not driving us."
Another blink before Cailyn silently gestures to the soldier, body turning to properly settle into her seat.
The soldier nods and climbs up into the driver's seat of the speeder truck, looking around to make sure everyone was settled before he pulled away.
Slow and steady, the hover-truck makes its way down the now well-worn jungle path. It would have been slow going on foot. Though it was worn down, the underbrush was still thick and there were places roped off that were, apparently, warnings of areas not to venture into.
Only about ten minutes later, the sight of the CR-90 can be seen, leaves and vines lying in piles where they had obviously been pulled away from the hull and thrown into piles. There's more activity here, too, with several dozen troops ambling around, accompanied by various astromechs and repair droids that stop to perform some task in an access panel. Even on top, there are crews poking at and fixing things.
The midship airlock is open, and the speeder truck pulls up next to it to allow the group out. Once more, Garik exits and offers a hand to help Aria and Cailyn back out again. And Zed is left to find for himself, which he manages fairly well.
"Just give me a shout on comms when you're ready to come back up, Aria," the man says.
"Thanks, Garik."
And then Aria is left to look back at Cailyn with a glint of excitement in her eyes.
"Come on in," she says. "Home Sweet Home."
Inside the airlock, power is supplied to the CR-90 through an external generator, and the lights have been turned on so that all of the crews can see to work. There's even a dull him of the air recyclers working, though a few of the vents still have vines and spiderwebs hanging from them where the jungle had obviously grown into the ship at one point. The walls, too, are clean -- other than the sheer number of narrow burn scars, deep gashes cut into the walls with scorch marks and meted metal.
The first thing that Cailyn does when inside the ship is motion to all of the scars on the metal before placing her fingers to her head and expanding in a soft explosion-like gesture. Not waiting on Aria's answer though, she steps forwards and runs a hand along the surface of one of the walls, a thumb gracing one of the gashes. After, she turns back to Aria and taps at her own heart before motioning to the cuts in the corridor and them to the scar upon her neck. An amused brow is raised to make it seem like her pointing is a question.
"You both have your scars," Aria admits as she watches Cailyn, stepping out of the way of a couple of technicians that hurry down the corridor from fore to aft. "Hers, though, an accident."
The Zeltron's smile thins as she, too, moves to the wall and runs her fingers along the scarred surface. A cut. A cut by something hot and narrow.
"Saito.. used the Force to see.." She sighs softly. "It wasn't even something I was aware that he could do. But it.. affected him. It still /is/ affecting him." She draws in a breath and lets it out slowly.
"This ship was carrying a Sith prisoner. A prisoner that twisted the minds of the crew... turned them against each other and escaped. The scars are from his lightsaber," Aria explains. "They were already in the process of an emergency landing, just trying to get free so they weren't trapped in space with him. But... there were no survivors. The Sith... escaped." She gestures vaguely towards the airlock. "Out that hatch."
She sighs softly.
"We have no idea if he's still here on this planet. The place is under constant guard, however. Some are hoping he left the planet.. picked up or ambushed some freighter trying to salvage the ship. Others hope he's still trapped on-world somewhere and we can get this ship off the ground before he figures out what we're doing."
One corner of her lips twists into a little grin.
"Regret signing up, yet?"
But then she's motioning forward, towards the bridge.
