Private Alone Together

[Miri Nimdok]

Somewhere in space...

The Mawites had them pinned down in a narrow corridor of the ship, exchanging fire. Miri and Ara once again found themselves separated from their allies, but this time it was all the more pressing. The others were already on their way out, and the ship was set to self-destruct in a matter of minutes.

Luckily, they were close to the hangar bay. But before they could escape, they would have to deal with the last of the soldiers blocking the path to freedom and safety.

After blowing away a trooper with her pistols, Miri turned to Ara. "If you can get me over there, I can use my bazooka to finish them off," she said, pointing to a barrier that would provide them with cover. "Then we should have a straight shot out of here."

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

The mission overall seemed to be quite the success, judging from the comms chatter and overall presence in the Force. Only problem was that things were going a hell of a lot less stellar for Ara and Miri as they tried to escape the Maw's ship.

Her back burned from the wounds and the hole in her shoulder wasn't helping her mood at all, though she held her defenses up with a frown deepening by the minute. Between Panatha and this mess, she was beginning to develop a severe dislike of the Maw.

"Deal, move it!" She called out as she batted a bolt back to its shooter. She stepped into the open, her green blade whirling to and fro to provide a shield for Miri as they moved. With a blast from her palm, a group of Mawites were pushed back, at least for the moment. They were still in rather imminent danger with claxons blaring around the place. "I see a ship! You take care of 'em, I'll get the ship prepped! Let's go!" She barked with another blast of the Force, opening a gap for the two of them to get to work.

The Zabrak sprinted to the Mawite vessel and hopped in, already flipping switches to power the vessel up. The crude landing gear retracted and the vessel began to hover with the cockpit still wide open. "Move it, pointy ears!" Ara hollered as she hung over the side to keep an eye on what was happening.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Once Ara agreed, Miri took off. She did as much as she could to help, but her main focus was on reaching that barrier.

As soon as she was there, she grabbed the sonic bazooka slung across her back, took aim at the group of Mawites, and fired. The blast vaporized several of them on the spot; the rest were thrown in all directions, severely injured or dying.

In the meantime, it seemed Ara had seized control of an enemy ship, and was now yelling at her to hurry. Miri headed for the rising vessel, jumping on top of it in the nick of time. She clambered aboard, the hatch sliding shut over her head a second later. Even then, she found herself manning the turrets.

“Get us out of here,” she said, firing at the soldiers still pouring into the hangar after them.

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

The moment Miri got in, Ara closed the ship up and rotated towards the hangar door. "On it!" She called back as she slammed the throttle control forward and took off. While she didn't expect Mawite ships to have much in the way of proper technology, she was at least expecting proper inertial dampeners.

The harsh acceleration slammed her into her seat and knocked her air out. Her vision darkened for a brief moment as her body tried to adjust to the sudden force. At least they got out, that was all that mattered. The void of space spread out before them as Ara flew as quickly as possible to escape the self destructing vessel behind the two Jedi. "Jumping to hyperspace... now!" The ship rattled and groaned, but it jumped into hyperspace.

As Ara sat back in the pilot's seat, the fatigue and tension caught up with her as she let out a heavy sigh. "Kriff..." She hissed, shifting carefully to take some strain off her burnt back. The silence didn't take long to become rather thick as Ara listened to the hum of the engines and rattling of the ship.

She was alone with Miri in a ship, flying through hyperspace in a machine that could probably break up momentarily. "So, uh... any snacks or something back there? Maybe a medpack?" She asked awkwardly as she gripped her lightsaber hilt, keeping her senses open for any signs of danger. She wasn't planning on getting shot in the back.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

It took some time for Miri to catch her breath, let alone breathe easy. She disliked cramped, confined quarters—not to the point where she was stricken with terror, as being in bacta tanks tended to do to her, but enough to make her uneasy.

Ara’s presence within the tiny, rickety spacecraft didn’t help matters either.

“There’s a medpack on the wall to your right,” Miri replied. She kept one of her pistols resting on her lap, ready to be grabbed should anything go awry. She didn’t think Ara would be that stupid, but after what she did at the gala… let’s just say she wasn’t taking any chances.

“Where are we headed?”

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara couldn't help but smirk in silent amusement at the mutual distrust swirling in the cramped, sketchy vessel. She had her lightsaber and, judging from the suspicion coming off Miri, she likely had her pistol handy as well. At the mention of a medpack to her right, several winces and grunts escaped the Zabrak as she snatched up the Medpack and tried to bandage herself up to no avail. Eventually she simply gave up with a long sigh.

Asking Miri to help her out was still a bit of a stretch.

“Where are we headed?”

"I clocked in the first coordinates I could think of. So we're on our way to Hefi for the moment. I'll drop us out and adjust in a bit, just... wanted to get away. This thing ain't really comforting either, I don't wanna just hop and skip around in hyperspace with this piece of garbage." She explained as she monitored the sketchy systems for a moment. "My mom's on Hefi. She's also a mechanic, she'll be able to help us out with a ship that's at least safe to fly." She continued as she tried once again to apply some bacta and bandages to her back.

Eventually frustration beat pride and the pained Zabrak glanced over the seat to Miri. "Can you, uh... can you maybe help a sister out over here? Can't get this crap on my back." She asked with a strained voice. No matter how hard she tried to sound or look casual, even a blind or deaf person would be able to pick up on her hesitation.

She clambered past her seat towards the rear of the tiny ship and tossed her tank top aside to give Miri space to work. Her green eyes were glued to the floor panels while her thoughts swirled like a storm. "Just... a heads up... my mom knows about what happened... so if she's a bit cranky, don't take it personally." She muttered, glancing out the rear viewport. She didn't know where she was going with that. "How's... the lessons going... by the way? Heard you got taken in by Kyell's master." She finally asked in an attempt to get some common ground between them.

As long as they tried not to kill each other, things would go a lot smoother.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri had never even heard of the planet Hefi before, but as long as there was civilization to be found there, she didn’t particularly care. She could bide her time until she could get away from Ara.

On the other hand, there was safety in numbers, especially for a woman traveling alone. Maybe setting out on her own wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe she was better off taking her chances with the Zabrak and her mother.

Dark eyes tracked Ara as she rose from her seat. Miri instinctively sat up straighter, her posture stiffening as she drew close, the pistol heavy against her thighs. She almost looked away when Ara removed her top, only for her gaze to hone in on the burn and the bit of bacta and bandage that couldn’t quite reach it. Leaning forward, she cautiously reached out and dressed the wound, her movements careful and precise.

“Then I won’t stay long,” she said, lowering her hands back to her lap. Regardless of Ara’s mother’s attitude, Miri needed to return to Coruscant anyway.

Ara asked about her training. Miri wasn’t sure why she cared, but was at least willing to answer. “Master Yenna. She is… an interesting person. A good teacher, but she drinks too much.” And she doesn’t approve of Kyell and I, she almost added, but quickly thought better of it. She wasn’t willing to give Ara the satisfaction. “We’ve tried to get her to stop by replacing whatever is in her flask with water. The punishments are worth getting to see the look on her face when she takes a sip.”

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

A faint smile formed as Miri talked about her master, though it disappeared just as quickly when the girl talked about her master's bad habit. "You know that won't help at all, right?" She spoke up with a frown as she turned to look at Miri. "You shouldn't judge people with stuff like that. We all got reasons for our bad habits. She comes from the same place as me and my mom." She practically scolded the woman with a scowl.

"If you wanna help her out of a bad space, maybe you should get off your ivory tower and-" Her rant was harshly interrupted as the ship dropped out of hyperspace and sent her crashing over her seat and into the dashboard. The interior of the cramped vessel lit up through the viewport as Ara looked up with a groan. Her eyes went wide as she scrambled to get into the pilot's seat. "Strap in!" She shouted as she grabbed the controls and yanked it to the left, sending anything and everything not tied down all over the interior of the ship. She didn't have a clue where her lightsaber went, but that didn't matter.

Not when a massive star loomed ahead of them.

The interior of the ship immediately began to heat up and warning blared along the rudimentary control panel, all while Ara was trying to avoid the star by any means necessary. Sweat built along her face as the heat of the cabin grew increasingly unbearable, but eventually the ship managed to veer away in time before things began to melt. Though the trouble didn't stop there for them.

The star was replaced by a planet drawing closer and closer. The controls didn't want to respond and their engines were going. "We're going down!" She called out as they entered the atmosphere. The already battered ship began to lose bits and pieces as the friction grew in intensity around them. It finally came to an abrupt halt as the ship crashed through trees and brush, then finally dirt as it skidded along the planet's surface.

Ara was splayed over the dashboard, unmoving and unresponsive. Outside the wrecked ship, a massive jungle loomed over them with a deathly silence.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri sighed in exasperation as Ara went off on a tirade. “You assume too much,” she said, as soon as she had the opportunity to speak. “It’s not my job to rehabilitate my master’s addiction. What we did was a harmless prank.”

Of course, other matters soon claimed their attention. The ship staggered out of hyperspace too close to a star. Ara narrowly managed to get them away from the boiling hot sun, only for them to get caught in the gravity of a nearby planet.

The crash happened fast. Miri was knocked unconscious by the impact. When she awoke, she was sitting in her chair, crash webbing holding her securely in place. Sweat soaked her clothes and hair, trickling down her skin. The jungle beyond their crashed ship was hot and humid.

She released the webbing. Her body ached, though she didn’t appear to be injured. The same couldn’t be said for Ara, who was sprawled across the dashboard. Miri tried to shake her awake, but found her unresponsive. She checked the Zabrak’s pulse, not sure whether she was alive or dead.

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

While a pulse at least gave somewhat of an answer, the Zabrak remained unresponsive and unmoving for several minutes. She finally stirred awake with a heavy cough and a groan, slumping back into the pilot's seat as she reached up to her head. Blood caked her face from a split on her forehead, but the most pain came from her chest. The disoriented girl lifted her shirt to look at her body, where a purple bruise spread along her ribs. With another heavy cough, she grimaced and sat back.

"What the kriff..." she muttered with shallow breaths. "Matt?" She managed to say more clearly as she looked around. The world was foggy and distant as her glossy eyes drifted around. She finally focused on Miri as she tried to figure out what was going on. "Miri... yo, I... I think... I think the pod's fuel isn't feeding." She slumped forward once again, letting out a pained cry as she gripped her side.

"Holy kriff!" She shouted as she sat back, her heart beating in her ears. Her eyes fluttered shut for a few seconds before they opened again. "The-the... the hangar... Arek needs to get the splitter out..." Her disgruntled thoughts were interrupted by hollow giggles and coughs as her hands drifted around for some kind of grip. "I just remembered... you got pointy ears..." She giggled further, passed out for another few seconds, and resumed laughing all over again.

The girl remained in her seat, trying to adjust to the waves of pain making rounds through her body. Slowly her thoughts lined up again and she could focus on the world around her... or at least what was left of the cockpit. "What happened to the ship?" She finally asked with a serious voice, looking to Miri for some kind of explanation.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Ara was alive. Miri stumbled off in search of her medkit, which had been knocked around during the crash. When she returned a few minutes later, the Zabrak was awake and coughing.

Initially she thought Ara’s strange, garbled words were her playing some sort of joke in bad taste—it was hard to tell when the sarcastic girl was being serious or not—but it soon became apparent that she was suffering from some sort of head trauma. Not good.

Miri sighed. She didn't have the energy to deal with Ara's insults anymore. “Yes. Yes, I do have pointed ears,” she muttered, setting down what remained of the opened medkit. She had managed to retrieve some of the scattered contents, among them some bacta bandages and other gear, but the vials of liquid painkillers, stims, or other medicines had shattered with the impact.

“We crashed,” Miri replied, sinking back into a chair. “I set up a distress signal, but I have no idea where we are or how far the nearest outpost is, let alone civilization.” Presumably they were somewhere near Hefi, or at least along the way there, but for all she knew their ship might’ve been off course to begin with.

Rather than think too much about these things, Miri put them out of her mind, focusing on the more immediate issue of Ara’s injuries. “Where else are you hurt?” she asked, pointing to the Zabrak’s forehead as she unwrapped one of the bacta bandages and stuck it to the bleeding wound.

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

With foggy eyes she looked at Miri as the girl explained their current situation. She ignored the question about her injuries for the moment as she tried to switch on the ship to no avail. "You didn't manage to see what planet we're on, huh?" She asked as she carefully sat back in her seat. The ship was completely fried from the look of things and she was in no state to crawl around its guts to get it going again.

"I think I hurt my ribs, something don't feel right." She muttered with a wince. "We need to figure out where the kriff we are. Scanners, navicomputer, whatever we can get working. Just so we got a direction." She reached out and flipped the main switches again with a hopeless sigh. "Why can't we crash with something intact at least?" She remarked as she tried to raise an arm for Miri.

After a few moments of awkward silence, a light chuckle escaped her. "Heh... how long do you think we gotta hold out until we gotta wear animal skins for clothing and talk to inanimate objects?" She joked as she adjusted her shirt and bandages. After scraping some willpower together, she forced herself onto her feet and limped out of the ship to look around the place. "Um... you ever gotten around to reading up on survival situations in the archives?" She asked with a concerned look.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

“Somewhere near Hefi, I assume,” Miri said, massaging her temples in an effort to dispel the headache that was forming. “In the middle of Wild Space…”

Ara complained that her ribs hurt. Miri checked the medkit one final time—and found an intact vial of painkillers which she hadn’t noticed before. She offered it to Ara, along with a packaged syringe to administer the drug.

Regardless of whether the Zabrak took it, Miri reached for her datapad. She plugged it into the navicomputer, hoping to tap into its memory banks… success! “Gamorr,” she said. “If the navicomputer is right, we’re on Gamorr.”

Their prospects were much better than even she had dared to hope. The native Gamorreans were a spacefaring people; there should be civilization and a spaceport within reach.

"Heh... how long do you think we gotta hold out until we gotta wear animal skins for clothing and talk to inanimate objects?"

Miri shot Ara a dry look, evidently not finding the idea funny. “I have experience surviving alone in the wilderness,” she replied, remembering how she had crashed her starfighter on a swamp world when she was a teen. Then she had encountered a fugitive Dark Jedi hiding there, and things had gotten even worse. But she sorely doubted they would run into the likes of Zaavik Perl here on Gamorr. “We should have some supplies that can be salvaged from the ship. If it comes down to it, we hunt and fish for food. But first, we need to get off this ship, unless you want the smoke to kill us.” With that, she left the crashed vessel, grabbing a few items along the way.

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

"Wait... Gamorr?" She repeated with a blink. "Ah kriff... karkin' hate Gamorreans, they're a pain to deal with." She grumbled as she injected herself with the pain killers. "At least they might have a ship... if we can find a space port." She continued as she picked up her stuff. Datapad, lightsaber, anything of value they could carry. Unfortunately the previous owners of the ship weren't known for their items of value and personal effects...

Miri seemed confident in their ability to survive, a rather reassuring prospect. "Moist. I haven't gotten around to reading up all the survival stuff in the temple archives. But hey!" She flashed a faint grin as she glanced at Miri. "At least we can work on each other's nerves if we get bored." She joked with a chuckle. It was likely a rather distasteful joke considering their lingering tension, though they would have to put that aside in order to survive. The situation was also perhaps a rather excellent time to try and iron out those issues, without any distractions or other people interfering.

Looking around them, Ara had no clue on where to start looking for an escape. There weren't any smoke trails in the air apart from their crashed ship and the treeline made it impossible to look for any towers or something. "Got any idea on how we're gonna find a heading? We can probably put minds together, try and feel out a town through the Force." She suggested as she turned to face Miri.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri raised an eyebrow at Ara’s choice of words. “‘Moist’?”

Of course, the Zabrak had to go and say something nasty again. Miri just shook her head, her attention focused on their surroundings as she tried to get her bearings.

Wherever they had crashed, it looked like it was far from civilization. She couldn’t see any buildings or towers, just trees for miles around. Ara asked a question, and it took a few seconds before Miri answered, “I’m afraid I won’t be very useful in that area. But if my datapad can pick up the local Holonet…” She kept her head down, fiddling with the device.

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Ara cringed to herself when she realized that Miri didn't find her joke all that funny. Not much of a surprise, it was in bad taste with the tension between them. A tension that Ara still struggled to put aside properly. Despite the current predicament, the Zabrak was constantly mulling over the whole situation.

At her question, Miri seemed quite... hesitant... to answer. When the answer did finally come, Miri instead suggested that they use her datapad to figure out where they were. Ara wanted to ask why she didn't want to use the Force, but decided against it. She had a feeling that it could probably make things more awkward at the moment. "Okay... well... signal's kinda bust down here. We'll have to find a spot high enough to catch signal." She suggested as she looked around. It took all of a few seconds for her to notice the enormous trees around them. They weren't the gigantic marvels of Kashyyyk, but they weren't exactly short either.

"There's the easy way." She nodded her head at one of the trees as she looked at Miri. "Probably our best shot aside from finding a big hill or something." She continued as she began to make her way over to the tree. There were plenty of branches for them to use as steps or platforms to propel upwards... but only if Miri was up for taking that option. "In all fairness, climbing a tree is better than hiking up a big karkin' hill. Anything is better than hiking." She grumbled as she planned a route up the tree.

"Need a boost?" She asked as she glanced back at Miri.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Ara was right about the signal needing a boost. As the pair traipsed across the jungle floor, looking for high ground, Miri was soon faced with a dilemma: a very tall tree which Ara suggested they climb. From the Zabrak’s perspective, this was the “easy way”.

Miri compressed her lips into a thin line. Pride made her want to prove herself, to show no weakness to this woman who had once victimized her. But common sense warned that if she gave into that foolish desire, she would be putting them both in unnecessary danger.

A little humility could go a long way, as her father would say.

“I’m afraid of heights,” she admitted. Not some simpering plea for mercy, just a statement of fact. “If I fall, I can’t catch myself with the Force.”

There was an obvious solution to this issue, namely putting her trust in Ara to ensure that she didn't fall to her death, but Miri wasn't sure if she was ready to take that leap of faith.

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

The answer came rather abruptly from Miri. Ara stared at her for a moment as she tried to figure out a solution and also simply process the response. "Okay, yeah... that could be a problem..." She scratched her head as she tried to work around the obvious unspoken issue of neither of them having much trust in stock.

"What we can do... I can help you climb and stuff. Catch you if you fall. Otherwise I can make my way up there and figure it out." The big issue was that her mobility was garbage with her injuries. The bacta and painkillers were helping a lot, but it still didn't cover everything. She wasn't going to be able to climb alone. As for Miri... all doubts and concerns boiled away with one simple fact. They had a better chance at surviving together. Miri apparently wasn't good with the Force and had a fear of heights. Neither of those were a problem for Ara. But Miri was also far more familiar with survival in the wild, something Ara had a lot more trouble with.

The Zabrak let out a raspy sigh as she looked around and then back at Miri. "I know you don't trust me and I still got my doubts on you, okay... but we can't survive on our own out here. We got a better chance at gettin' out alive if we work together. I'll help you up and you can help me up. If you fall, I'll catch you. Simple as that." She finally spoke up as she looked at Miri and the tree. It was a hefty climb, especially for the two of them. But any alternatives looked like they were in short supply for the moment.

Ara made her way to the enormous tree and looked up. The lower branches weren't of much use, from the look of things. With a deep breath, Ara channelled the Force through her and leapt up, landing on a branch high above the ground. Once she recovered from the spike of pain, she looked down at Miri. "You ready?!" She called out, stretching a hand out to help her up with the Force once she was ready.

Miri Nimdok

 

[Miri Nimdok]

Miri half expected Ara to start laughing at her or something similarly obnoxious, but thankfully she did not. The Zabrak had her own issues to deal with, mainly in the form of her extensive injuries. She really shouldn’t have been trying to climb a tree to begin with.

But they had to solve this problem somehow. Ara’s suggestion was a compromise, and an admission that they needed each other to survive. Two heads were better than one. Slowly, Miri nodded her head in agreement. “Okay.”

They didn't have much choice here, but at least they had come to some kind of mutual understanding.

She watched from the ground as Ara leaped up into the trees, using the Force to propel her. Taking a few deep breaths to prepare herself, Miri jumped, trusting Ara to pull her up to where she needed to be.

Ara Sheridan​

 

[Ara Sheridan]

Focusing the Force, Ara caught Miri mid-air and shakily pulled her up to the branch above her. Usually stunts like this wouldn't be that difficult, but ignoring the lingering pain was a hell of a chore. After catching her breath, she looked up at Miri to make sure she was doing okay.

A fear of heights wasn't that big of a deal, but she could imagine how terrifying it must be for her. It was the same as picturing herself in some kind of scary situation. "Just keep looking up! I'll jump to the next one!" She called out to her.

With another deep breath, Ara jumped past Miri and landed rather roughly on the next branch. It was a pretty simple process, albeit it tiring. Jump up, lift Miri onto the next branch, then jump again. But the higher they got, the more she was beginning to feel the strain on her body and the painkillers losing punch.

When the time came for her next jump, Ara landed on the next branch with a grimace. What sent a chill down her spine, however, was a loud crack emanating from the branch beneath her feet.

She didn't even get a chance to let out a squeak as the branch gave out beneath her feet. Time slowed as she looked to Miri, instinctively reaching out to try and grab hold of something... anything. All she could feel was the rush of air around her...

Miri Nimdok