Log:Tatooine: Waff'mla Salvagiee
Tatooine holds many, many secrets. Most of them are swallowed by the desert never to be seen again. Others are known but too dangerous to explore. And yet others are somewhere in between. Uutkit knows of a half-buried GR-75 medium transport freighter far to the west with a shield generator ripe for the harvesting. But getting to it... well. That's where the clever Jawa has struck a deal with would-be traders and merchants.
Waff'mla Salvagiee
OOC Date: July 24, 2022
Location: Dune Sea, Tatooine
Participants: Maelstrom (GM), Cora Das, Tamsin Cas, Uutkit, Tovana, Fshmaw, Kye Keraz, Shemar
---< Open Desert - Tatooine >-------------------------------------------------
The open desert lands of Tatooine vary in content but basically it boils down to being mostly all just sand and more sand. Here and there one will find spatterings of rocks and small cliff faces, and if you're lucky, even a cave or crevice to hide in to avoid the sunlight, or perhaps to avoid a caravan of Tusken Raiders. But what you will find in the open desert is a whole lot of nothing. The suns literally boil everything in the open desert during the daytime hours and it gets down to near freezing at night. The occassional mesa rises up in the sky as one nears the canyon areas.
-- Maelstrom --
Tucked in the vast Dune Sea are many secrets only known to locals. Little caverns and grottos that house underground trails for spice runners and black market trade. There are unknown, unexplored regions so hostile even the widlife and some semi-sentient plants avoid it. Sinkholes pepper the sands awaiting for the unwary to fall into the maw of an unmoving horror to be slowly digested. Tatooine is no place for the uninitiated and sometimes wholly unwelcoming even to the souls born and raised here.
There is one notorious race that calls this planet home. In fact, they are as synonymous to Tatooine as Tusken Raiders: the Jawas. Etching trails over the planet in their Sandcrawlers, entire tribes make a lucrative, infamous living off plundering the planet of its juiciest secrets. Often in the form of valuable salvage as well as 'legitimately found opportunities.' Which is to say mind your vehicles whenever Jawas are about or you might find your more precious of parts pilfered and profited before you get back from the fresher. But there are plunders even the Jawa cannot get to. Treasures so well-guarded, so well-buried, so well-hidden that they require outside help. For a mutual trade, of course.
The GR-75 medium transport freighter "Guardian" is that kind of job. Having crashed decades ago, the ship had been blasted in half in orbit and crashed into the planet. The back half crashed several miles away and remains wedged in a canyon. The front half crashed into the sands nose-first; the ripped open fuselage looking much akin to a man-made cave that leads down into the depths.
It is at this jagged, wide opening that the group stands in front of now.
-- Uutkit --
The diminutive form of Uutkit stands at the bottom of the ramp of his tribe's Sandcrawler, arms folded across his chest. 'Hmph' he sighs, looking up at the massive freighter. The same vessel that brought the rebels off Hoth! Of course, Uutkit doesn't know what the rebellion is.. or was... let alone Hoth. Though Tatooine is very similar to Hoth, being a desert planet. Trudging down the last few steps of the ramp, Uutkit plods out onto the shifting sands, getting a closer look at the freighter. "The bit we want is in the front..." he jabbers, his hand disappearing beneath his cloak as he strokes his 'chin'.
"Too big to move out.. too much sand to plow.. better to go inside and get from within, yes?" he glances over his shoulder at his compatriots. Jawas.. like most residents of Tatooine, never travel alone! Swarms of little hooded figures can be seen roaming around, carrying out their duties and gathering whatever salvaging supplies might be needed! [Language: Jawa_Trade]
-- Cora --
Cora Das is a little wary around Jawas. There's a perfectly fine reason for a human replica droid to be wary around a race of people notorious for pawning, scrapping, and pedaling stolen and salvaged droids. Is it a bit prejudiced? It might be. But mostly it's a logic loop feeding into a self preservation instinct that sees Cora Das positioned far enough away from Utkit and the others that the Jawa might not... smell her? That's ridiculous. Still, she keeps her distance, one hand resting on her hip and the other idly resting on the holster of her blaster pistol. Not a lot of things live this far out in the desert of Tatooine, and the only things that do?
Not friendly.
She peers into the dark, gaping maw of the ruined GR-75. Wedged into the canyon like that, it really does almost look like it's part of the landscape. The erosion through sand and time has further aided to that, peeling off paint and coating the surface in motes of dust and atomized glass.
"Salvagers, medics and scientists to the back. Let security in first. We don't know who, or what, may have sought refuge in here from the suns," Cora says Her fair skin is exposed to those harsh rays, but it's only resulted in a subtle pinking of her cheeks and nose. She folds her arms and watches Utkit and the other Jawa stream to and fro, waiting for others who might be better equipped to fight to join her towards the front.
-- Tamsin --
Why the Good Doctor Cas had made the journey from Mos Espa here into the Dune Sea was, actually, almost immediately clear. As it was with all medical personnel. The doctor was here to make certain that whomever had decided to walk out into the desert had the ability to walk back again. Most of the gathered scavengers were known to her, and so Tamsin moved with casual ease as she stepped out of the sandcrawler, pulling up the light cover she had over her hair, "Uutkit, what precisely is it that we're looking for inside?" The more she knew, the better able to identify what they wanted when they came across it.
-- Fshmaw --
Fshmaw, although known to Uutkit, might not rate a ridealong in the tribe's mobile home. Perhaps he'd simply offered to transfer himself and Dr. Cas to the job-site? It appears she'd chosen to ride in the protective safety of the implacable Jawa tank! Ah well, he probably counted as a 'salvager,' unless you knew what he did for a living. He doesn't seem to mind milling in the back of the assembled crowd, rather used to waiting for his moment to strike. Or strike paydirt.
-- Kye --
To be fair, a certain Corellian by the name of Kye Keraz is not a scavenger, he's not security, either, but he's somewhere between. He's good with a gun, that's for sure, and he can probably help talk someone down from a ledge or barter a hostage negotiation. So these are good skills to have in a place like this. The deserts of Tatooine offer a whole lot of dangerous elements to the unwary traveler, and so it's good he's coming in with a group. Even if it's one he's likely to be in an excess of cautious around.
He inspects his gloves, flexing them for a moment before he's falling in lockstep with the rest of the group, listening to the translator droid after the Jawa offers an explanation of their salvage parameters. Given he's silent, there is probably some contemplation as to what some ancient wreck might hold in terms of salvaged goods.
-- Shemar --
How in the heck he got himself a wild hair and wanted to get to know more about Jawas, and maybe pick up a bit more of their language, wound him up here. Curiosity drew him into trying to have a conversation with a few of them and next thing he knew, they wanted him to come along on an adventure into the open desert. Great. For some reason the Tatooine native agreed but preferred to fly his own airspeeder out rather than ride inside of the Sandcrawler. Not /that/ adventureous yet - even if he had been invited.
So it is that a man hops out of the Corporate Sector airspeeder wearing well used Trooper armor and carrying a Resistance rifle slung over his back. A black and white keffiya cloth is wrapped loosely around his neck and balistic shades help protect his eyes.
Shemar Eisley stops and has a good look as one of the Jawas, Uut, start giving directions. Shem looks also looks over the people gathered here, makes sure his water canteen is full after he drank most of it on the way over. Yep, good to go.
Oh, wait. Eisley pauses to take a second look at the strange Fshmaw.
-- Tovani --
It had been a long time since Tovana had been involved in any salvaging efforts. Nar Shaddaa didn't really have many opportunities in that department. Or at least, none that weren't either illegal or likely to upset someone. She happened to be on world though when she heard about the salvaging expedition and decided it sounded like fun. The Tatooine-raised twi'lek had some odd ideas of what was 'fun'. Accompanying the twi'lek to provide some protection and make up for the twi'lek mechanic's lack of combat ability was a dog-shaped droid bearing a stun rifle. She was wearing some traditional desert robes over her usual attire to protect her from Tatooine's suns.
"Big ship... wonder if there's anything else worthwhile hiding in there?" the twi'lek muses, a small grin crossing her lips. If there was still a shield generator to be salvaged, maybe the wreck hadn't been touched much? She gives a nod in agreement to the assessment by the leader of the Jawas. "Probably won't be easy to get out but, well, many hands make light work, right?" she notes while glancing back toward the rest of the Jawas gathered there.
-- Maelstrom --
The gaping maw of the ship's front half has been sand-blasted smooth at the edges from decades of exposure. A medium-sized dune has formed at the entrance, half-covering the group's way in and blocking their view to the interior. It isn't until they crest the dune and slide down the other side one by one that they get a good look at their surroundings.
Or what's left of them.
A large portion of the freighter's goods were likely lost in the explosion -- cargo pods likely peppering the miles of land between this half and the other half. Yet also likely buried so deep into the sands, nothing short of industrial equipment could dig them out even if they could be found. What does remain inside has all slid towards the front of the ship. Which is to say that it is a varitable maze of huge crates and metal trailers all piled upon one another all but blocking the way further inside.
Or so it would seem. Many cracks, holes, and crawlspaces give hope to navigating the web of metal, rust, and jagged edges. And scattered among this mess are unmissable droppings. A lot of them. And further into the depths, those with keen hearing can catch the sound of something... somethings skittering. Claws scraping and high-pitched and faint squeaks.
-- Uutkit --
Uutkit goes through the motions of rolling up his sleeves, without actually rolling up his sleeves. His clumsy attire and general small size makes it difficult for the Jawa to be all that.. acrobatic! He wobbles and slips, cursing as his tiny feet get stuck here and there.. or a bit of his robes gets snagged on a loose piece of metal! Spelunking inside a crashed freighter is in his veins though, it runs in his DNA! Uutkit quickly wiggles forward, climbing and twisting, wiggling and squeezing through the tiniest of spaces, making good progress!
The other Jawas, lugging equipment and supplies, follow the path blazed by Uutkit, their leader. Some carry masses of rope over their shoulders, everyone needs rope.. as well as other bits of scavenging gear, lights, torches and other supplies they might need.
-- Cora --
Cora Das watches with curious eyes as Uutkit rolls up his proverbial sleeves and begins to... well. Wobble and shimmy his way up and over the various crates that have created a makeshift obstacle course for the salvage team to traverse. "Maybe you should be carefu--" she begins as he makes his ascent, but it's too late! Uutkit is off, and Cora gives a worried little sigh before stooping down to look beneath.
"There does appear to be a... faster way beneath, but it would be a squeeze," she offers. A shake of her head, and then a hop up towards a nearby crate. It groans beneath her weight, and Cora Das staggers back a little bit. After testing the terrain beneath her feet, she sets out up and through. Slowly, incrementally... dare I say... robotically?
-- Tamsin --
Tamsin was no cavalier explorer, nor a gung-ho scavenger. She was, as with all things, logical and methodical. And as some members of the team began to move forward, Tamsin looked about, trying to find a crate with enough leverage to allow her to climb up onto it's top. Or perhaps it was its side. Who could tell at this late stage? Regardless, Tamsin reached out, beginning a slow and careful, and terribly complicated climb up to a better vantage point. "As we move, if anyone is in need of medical, call out and I will come to you. I don't know what is going to crawl out under our feet." or, perhaps, in the case of tamsin who was now //on// a crate, fall down on her head.
-- Fshmaw --
Fshmaw was armored in case of trouble, but the protective blubber that rings him like a spare tire is not always an aid. Blaster-bolts, yes, he wears those puckered scars with pride! Small spaces? Oh, no. No no nooo. There is much heaving and huffing, and all the enforcer manages to do is tear a large hole in the leg of his temperature-control bodyglove. "Well, krif..."
-- Kye --
Attempting to climb this thing is like asking to get tetanus or whatever the Galaxy equivalency is. Kye looks dubiously as his 'colleagues' mostly get stuck in a way or another, but he knows he is no better, and must undergo the same gauntlet. So he climbs, oh, he does, and then he gets stuck, and he feels his shoulder pull in just the nastiest, worst way ever. There's a gruff sound coming from deep within his throat before he makes his landing on his feet.
He wishes he could kick up some dust, but it all seems to be... ingrained. In every nook of his body where said dust could get ingrained. He looks around carefully and marches on.
-- Shemar --
Walking up and over the dune and into the opening of the wrecked ship, Shemar Eisley wrinkles his brown skinned nose, "Ewww. I bet it's full of womp rats. Anything worth salvaging that's lasted this long would have to be sealed up against all this sand."
People he doesn't even know go on into the darker murk of the interior and start trying to make their way through the huge cargo containers. Shemar eyes some of them, "I wonder if any of these still have anything of value in them?" Is he talking to himself? Why yes, probably he is. With a sigh, his rifle still shouldered, the Tatooine native resigns himself to seeing if he too can get stuck between some cargo containers.
He mutters to himself, "Whatever it was I smoked last night must have affected my brain this morning..."
-- Tovani --
Tovana comes up to the pile of cargo pods and furrows her brow, setting her hands on her hips. "Guess this is why no one's raided this place yet... what a pain!" The twi'lek lets out a sigh. Desert robes weren't exactly made for climbing or acrobatics either. Still, Tovana gives it her best shot, trying to navigate around and over some of the stacked cargo pods only to get herself wedged in between the corners of two in a space she -thought- she could squeeze to. "Kriff... Bolt, try to find another path," she instructs her droid. The dog-like droid proves much more nimble than her, and also a bit smaller, so it manages to find a small hole to squeeze through and comes up on the other side of Tovana. It then grabs at her robes in its mouth and starts trying to pull her through.
-- Maelstrom --
The group begin their attempt to scale this tangle of broken boxes; some ducking under a warped arch or slipping between two trailers. Others move upwards in the hope that there is more room between the ceiling and the top of the pile. There isn't much hope there, either. The impact of the freighter smashed all of these loose crates into an amalgamation. There is evidence some of them fused together by the heat of re-entry making it all the more perilous.
Yet progress they make with the Jawas pulling expertly ahead of the group. So apt are they at navigating the inner workings of many a'ship, the remaining group find their trek slightly easier if they decide to follow the little guys.
Halfway through, the tight squeezes and sharp angles opens up to a pocket clear of obstruction. It is a rather wide space considering and tall enough for them to stand up straight with a little bit of head room.
One by one, the group reconvene there; waiting for the last of the stragglers to join them. Just as Tamsin, Tovana, and her droid Bolt bring up the rear that the sound of movement grows louder. Claws are scraping against metal and approaching fast from deeper in the freighter.
Headed right for them.
-- Uutkit --
Uutkit.. as well as every other Jawa's heads perk up as they hear something amiss. 'Babloo?' They chitter, looking antsy. And then they see it!
'Aieeee-Ahhhh!' The shrill cry of panic from the Jawas as they scatter about! "Run away!" Uutkit calls, bravely jogging behind Bolt. With a rolling dive, Uutkit takes cover behind the four-legged guard-puppy, quivering as his hands move up to cover his head, protecting himself from whatever fallout there might be from the ensuing battle. [Language: Jawa_Trade]
-- Cora --
Cora continues up through the obstacle course of shipping crates and stops when she hears the sound of skittering claws and wiggling whiskers. It doesn't take a keen sense of survival at all, really, to draw the logical conclusion here. Uutkit is already diving for cover (quite poorly) and Cora presses the outside of her right legplate. A hiss sees a hidden panel pop open and slide out a vibrodagger. She lifts it from her leg and activates it with a tap to the panel, closing it in one stroke. She can feel it hum pleasantly through her wrist.
"Womp rats. A good amount. Harmless on their own but potentially lethal in high numbers," she says. She glances over her shoulder to those beginning to take cover and those preparing to defend, and then turns her head forward towards the location of the sound that's growing louder and louder.
-- Tamsin --
Tamsin, high above the floor, such as it was, had enough of an angle on the group to make out one of their member, whom she did not know (did she? Tamsin met so many people) struggling to free herself, with the aid of a droid. "Let me see if I can help." Tamsin managed to get herself into position and free up the obstruction, before she continued on, ending up, as the rest of the team came into the clear space. Soon to be anything but clear, if the sound of claws on durasteel were any indication. Casting her eyes around the area, she found a crumpled piece of what had been part of a deck plating to give her some protection from the incoming swarm. No weapon was drawn, but then, doctor. Generally a non-combatant.
-- Kye --
Kye can't quite see them coming yet, but since Cora pointed out there are womp rats, he draws his gun, the one he has more ammo for and that shoots more rounds. After all, it's better to shoot more often when it comes to a ... pack? ... of rats than it is to be more devastating with each shot.
He trains it down the hallway, glancing at the others unsurely.
-- Shemar --
Ugh, Shemar also got stuck. Lucky him! He manages to get himself free but stumbles and strains his leg as he twisted free. When they all make their way through and into the small open space beyound, Eisley is limping faintly.
"Oh, bugger." Listening to the gathering sounds, Shemar pulls his rifle off of his back and wraps his left arm through the strap to help steady his aim when he uses it.
A moment is taken to look around and make sure /all/ of them got through the cargo pods to rejoin the group. Just in time to see one of the Jawas scurry back and hide behind Tovana's droid dog. "It's all right. We got this."
All the same, some of them are seeking cover and while it's probably animals - it's still not a bad idea. So Shemar backs up a few steps and gets behind the corner edge of a large cargo pod. Just in case, raising his rifle up as the Jawas have enough sense to scurry back.
-- Tovani --
Tovana is pulled through that gap and straightens out her robes once she's through. "Thanks for the help," she says to Tamsin, then moves forward with her droid until she hears the sound of something approaching them from deeper inside the freighter. "Uh... that doesn't sound good. Bolt?" The dog-like droid emits a noise like a growl as it moves forward and trains its stun rifle in the general direction of the droid. Tovana meanwhile reaches into her robes for a cylindrical, metal object, preparing a CryoBan grenade just incase things come to that.
-- Maelstrom --
The dead, empty freight is not quite either of those things. Pouring from the cracks and holes, a literal swarm decends upon the gathered group. Or, to the womp rats, a calorie-rich meal filled with fats, sugars, and hydration. All things sorely needed for the survival on Tatooine.
The cluster of ravenous rodents undulate as one cohesive whole until suddenly breaking apart and scattering; each little pair of bucked teeth leaping upwards to try to nip at ankles and gnaw at kneecaps.
The sound is a terrible din of nails on thick, hollow metal and the piercing squeaks of what must be almost two dozen of a horde.
-- Uutkit --
Womp rats! They gnaw on cables! They get into the Sandcrawler's engines and wreck havoc! Jawas dislike them with a fervor! Uutkit, being one of the slightly less cowardly of the Jawas, raises his stubby ion blaster. His aim is terrible, his quivering hands making the barrel wobble about as the Jawa pulls the trigger with three fingers. The recoil is enough to pitch his shoulder back, the barrel jerking up as shot after shot of bluish ion-energy goes wild of the mark! It would probably be slightly more comical if the little scavenger wasn't spinning about slightly, that barrel coming dangerously close to pointing at some of the non-rodent creatures around him!
-- Tamsin --
Tamsin, who could both hear, and, if she lifted her head a little, see the incoming swarm, drew no weapon, as she had none, but only tried to remain still so as not to attract the eyes of those tiny predators. A swarm past her, scattering as they crested the wave, some handful skittering off into the passage back the way the group had come. She seemed, for the moment, to be both uninjured and unafraid. They were just rats, right? Surely she had seen worse in the Undercity.
-- Fshmaw --
Fshmaw, observed to (what some may suggest is cower) "strategically take cover" from the onrushing horde of womp rats, snakes his pistol out from the selfsame cover or protective shadows and fires! Each time the walrus took aim, the result was an overcooked rodent in a flash of energy! [Language: aqualish]
-- Kye --
As the rat swarm comes at them, Kye readies his gun, shooting at one of the womp rats before whipping his pistol up and firing another blast at a second target, considering his fellow explorers and seeing where they might be heading in terms of cover. It pays to be strategic at these times, and so he's going to try to shoot as many as he can, as precisely as possible.
-- Shemar --
Rats! This isn't like the fun of shooting womp rats on a pretty day in the canyon! These are /attacking/ them, a swarm in a confined space, and there's nothing fun about it. Shemar grimaces at it not being a good place for using grenades and having no flamer on him, so he has to do the best he can with this slow arse rifle!
Aiming for a knot of the oncoming beasties, Eisley fires a bolt into their midst - one is vaporized and two others scatter! There's no quick second shot follow up as the cell has to cycle for a second or two for the next shot.
It's not well lit in here! It's murky and kind of dark. Womp rats are heaving everywhere like a living wave of horror that looks a lot scarier than it really is! Joy.
-- Tovani --
With the swarm suddenly upon them Tovana finds herself dodging around the little buggers as they try to bite at her legs, teeth clipping at her desert robes. She manages to pull the hem of them out of one of the womp rat's mouths while trying to push it back with her foot. Her droid meanwhile fires a shot from its back-mounted stun rifle into the swarm, but the bolt only impacts the deck of the ship narrowly missing hitting any of the rats. When this was over she was definitely going to be taking her T-16 out for a flight.
-- Maelstrom --
They had numbers. They had the element of surprise. They had the homefield advantage. But they're also rats and their tiny, collective brains could not withstand the barrage they scrambled into. Some are shot at by scary bolts of ionized pressure. Some are swiped at by vibrating blades or 'barked' at by a droid dog in the form of rifle fire. Others are shot dead in bursts of fried fur and smoke. And one womp rat in particular is turned into Rat Mist by a powerful blast that sends a few more skittering for their lives.
Precious few manage to escape as the Jawas of Uutkit's Sandcrawler wield their various tools and wallop a few. Stomping on tails and bonking heads.
With the danger passed, the group makes their way into the second part of the gauntlet. By and large, it goes smoother than the first half. The jawas lead the way and aside from a snag here or there, everyone makes it out the other side. Articles of clothing may be torn in places or armour scraped, but they make it to a half-collapsed corridor that leaks bits of sand with every movement.
There is only one obstacle left in their path to the cockpit and that is a gaping hole in the floor the drops down into the darkness of more cargo hold.
-- Uutkit --
Ooooooh, Uutkit does NOT like this! All the other Jawas can smell his fear, and so they know just how brave he is being! He tip-toes to the edge, peering down. Yes, it's only a few feet down.. he might get a little bumped but not dead! Still, it is a long way down for a Jawa! Walking back, he gets himself psyched up. Holding his hands up, he spits onto the palms of his gloves, rubbing them together before grasping hold of the line.
'Aieeee-AAhhhh AHHHHH!!' he squeals, that blood-curdling cry of a terrified Jawa as he flies across the gap, zipping along until he hits the otherside and tumbles down the corridor a few feet, landing with a thud. 'Oooohh... owww...' he whines, rising up, dusting himself off, turning back across. All the Jawas erupt with cheers! 'Aieee-Yaaaahh!' they cry, so glad that their leader has been so brave in showing them the way across!
-- Cora --
Poor Uutkit. Even Cora Das can smell his fear and hesitation. She watches that little creature tip-toe up towards the edge and peer off the edge. Cora steps behind him a moment or two later and crouches down to offer a word or two of encouragement before he goes. "You are going to be okay. If you fall, I will catch you," Cora says. Is it true, or a white lie? It doesn't matter in the end, because the little mans manages to make it across the gap and Cora joins him soon after. She gets a running start and taps her vibrodagger off before she leaps. The blunted edge of it catches the top of that zip-line and off she goes.
Wzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
That's the sound of the zipline.
THNKTHNK. That is the sound of both of Cora's boots hitting the ground, one after the other. "We made it!" she declares triumphantly.
-- Tamsin --
Ah. A zipline. Not something Tamsin was entirely accustomed to using, outside of possibly recreation, but she understood the concept, and she had a few examples ahead of her to see how it was done. She moved with care, as she attached the lead, and then swung across the gap, managing to keep her feet once she made it to the other side, before she sent the pulley back down to the person or persons behind her. Stable on her feet, her attention shifted to the rest of the group as they made the attempt across. Just like a doctor. Always ready to handle any injuries which might come up.
-- Fshmaw --
Fshmaw, despite his chunky physique preventing moving through tight spaces, can still hustle when it counts. Counting in Aqualish, on 'probably three!' he hurls himself across the gap with the momentum he can generate with a jog, and slides to safety on the other side of the hole! Safe at home!
-- Kye --
Kye usually carries two pistols: one that he modified without the cable attachment and with the quick-draw grip, and the one with the zip-line, the Theed Classic, which certainly helps matters in this case, since it gets people across. He takes aim, shoots at a place he thinks will make decent mooring without bringing the already fragile structure down on them, and then ziplines to show the others how it's done. Once he's on the other side, he helps the others get across, until they have found their objective here. Maybe this cargo might be interesting to look at, later, but they came for a singular purpose, so why not.
-- Tovani --
With the threat driven off, Tovana tucks that cylindrical object away and motions for her droid to continue forward while she followed along behind it and stuck close by. When they come upon that hole in the floor, Tovana stares at it for a moment while rubbing the base of her lekku and pondering how to get across. She wasn't exactly the most athletic person around and didn't have a portable bridge on hand either. Fortunately, a zipline was provided by Kye, so that made things simpler. "Bolt, you stay here and guard our rear. Bark if anything tries to sneak up on us." The droid barks in acknowledgment and takes up a defensive posture at the edge of the hole, facing back into the rest of the ship, while Tovana carefully shimmies across that zipline to the other side.
-- Maelstrom --
With the help of a zipline -- how handy are those things, right? -- everyone manages to get across the hole without much fuss. Most of the Jawa tribe remains behind with Shemar looking to make an easier path to getting the prize carried out of the freighter. The hole itself could be an issue, but that is why they brought the Big People with them. Meanwhile, the clan are doing their best to cut their way around certain tight corners and mapping out a means for extraction.
And they have the time to do it because locating and assessing the shield generator is one thing. Getting it out is another. Locked behind mangled metal and fused wiring, thee retrieval of the generator takes an extra bit of time. Made a bit more swift with the aid of the Big People who came along. The extra sets of hands prove quite useful indeed.
Plus someone has to keep the rats at bay. Of those who were scared off, some are dumb enough to forget and come back to their nests to try again.
It is another hour before the group emerges from within with the shield generator and a few extra finds that Uutkit's jawa companions found in a few of the busted cargo pods. Everything else is just corroded scrap not worth the fuel to power a blowtorch to cut it out.
Their haul is loaded up on the Sandcrawler with many an excited chirping amongst them. They share their black melons for the journey back to Mos Espa and many stories to tell as translated by the accompanying droid. And let's not forget the negotiated future discounts for all those who helped! A Jawa keeps their word.
