Private Busy Girl, Got to Go | Experiment

[Andromeda Demir]

ANDROMEDA DEMIR

NERITH - THE OCEAN MOON

THE QUIET WATCH

LATE AFTERNOON • DAY 0

♫ MAIN THEME — TROELS BRUN FOLMANN

x

x

Shortly after returning from a short break for recuperation with Master Thule, a droid courier from the Jedi Order arrived with a box addressed to Knight Demir, care of Baron William Thule, Thule Manor, Druckenwell. Mrs. Pell, the efficient housekeeper, escorted the courier into the small library where Andromeda sometimes sat reviewing reports on the war and planned Service Corps excursions. The box contained a holoprojector disc and another, smaller box. Andromeda activated the holoprojector disc and was created with the pleasant image of Sela Basran . The matronly Jedi Master greeted Andromeda, offered her well-wishes for the recovery, and asked her to please pass along the same to Master Thule, following their injuries during the fight on Thyferra. Then, without further ado, Sela launched into the reason for her message.

A scholar friend of hers, Professor Kavil Dra, had spent his career reconstructing the routes used before navicomputers became dependable. Long story short, he came across an orbital survey conducted by the High Republic of the ocean moon of Nerith, that deserved a closer look than the survey office was willing to provide, and had asked Sela for aid. Sela, knowing Andromeda's affinity for earth and rock and being underground, thought it was a good opportunity for her. "Nerith has no permanent population and nothing in the first scan suggests a threat to navigation, so the report is low-priority. It might languish for years unless someone verifies what is on that sea stack." Andromeda's immediate question about what a sea stack was was answered immediately when Sela's image was replaced by a column of rock jutting out of an ocean, one of several in the image, but as far as Andromeda could tell, the only one with signs of sentient life.

"Please go to the coordinates attached, confirm the extent of the site, and determine whether any of its systems remain active. While you're there, assess anything you sense through the Force. Dr. Dra is particularly interested in the observatory floor and the disagreement between the gravimetric scans. Document whatever you see before moving it. Document and, if you can, recover any artifacts that might be valuable for research or preservation, for which you will be compensated, of course. If you determine it requires a full team, mark the safe approach and return with your report. Inside the box with this disc is a datacard containing the survey, Dr. Dra's initial reports, and instructions on how to use the sonograph, which is either still in the box or is the thing you are looking at in bewilderment. I don't quite understand how the gizmo works, either, but there are instructions, and Tally can help."

"Who?" Andromeda asked.

Sela had allowed just enough time for the question. "Tally is the BD-model droid that is in the box with the sonograph. He can assist with recording, offering light, and occasionally with manipulating simple objects. Dr. Dra and I thought he might come in handy. Send a check-in report before you begin and another when you return to the shuttle. The courier should have left one of the Order's shuttles for your use, which is small and light enough to land on the sea stack without structural concerns. Good luck, Andromeda, and may the Force be with you."

And so Andromeda had packed her things, including the box with the sonograph, Sela's instructions and datacard, her own datapad, her lightsaber, a few changes of clothes, and a field kit. She had discreetly kissed William Thule goodbye -- pas devant les domestiques, naturally -- and before that could lead to anything that might delay her, she boarded the shuttle, prepared for whatever the adventure would bring.

The journey took two days, during which time she reviewed the materials. The place she was going was called The Quiet Watch by Dr. Dra. It featured a central courtyard around which some small buildings were arrayed, and its main feature, an observatory tower. She also booted up Tally, who -- it turned out -- was a particularly chatty BD-unit. Andromeda synced her head-up display with the droid, so she could understand what it was saying, and found that the droid was equal parts endearing and annoying. It wanted to be wherever she was, often asked questions she didn't want to think about, and was overly solicitous about her sleeping and eating habits.

She suddenly had a small insight into what life was life for William when he had first taken her on as a Padawan, following him here and there and talking too much. Well... that had worked out better than Andromeda had had any right to hope, so she tried to think of Tally with kindness even when his persistent chittering made her want to kick him.

Andromeda set the shuttle down gently on the small, flat square the ship's computer seemed to think was a landing pad, late in the afternoon local time. Too late, she suspected, to do much adventuring, if the golden haze of the afternoon sun was any indication. But she could at least have a nose around the place, and Tally perched helpfully on her shoulder as she descended the ramp to look around. The air smelled clean and fragrant, with a slight salt to it from the surrounding ocean. Even from the top of the sea stack, some hundred or so feet up from sea level, she could hear the waves crashing at the base of the rock column. "All right," she said to Tally. "What have we got here?"

x

x

WITH

The Quiet Watch

 

[The Quiet Watch]

THE QUIET WATCH

THE WESTERN SHELF

THRESHOLD ROLL • 3

Tally answered with two questioning notes and a stream of survey data across Andromeda's display. The square beneath the shuttle had no landing beacon, mooring points or scoring from previous repulsor descents. It was a single slab of dressed stone seated within a frame of nearly black alloy, its joints concealed beneath salt, pale lichen and several centuries of accumulated grit.

ARTIFICIAL PLATFORM. PURPOSE UNKNOWN.

The droid had barely completed the assessment when a vibration passed through the soles of Andromeda's boots. It was too measured to be an earth tremor. The entire platform descended eleven-point-eight centimetres in one smooth movement, carrying the shuttle, its open ramp and everything standing upon the slab with it. The shuttle's landing struts compensated automatically, keeping the vessel level while dust lifted in a thin line around the platform's perimeter.

Seven heavy impacts followed beneath the stone. Each sounded farther east than the last, travelling through the sea stack toward the ruins. Tally locked his feet against Andromeda's shoulder and swivelled his head toward the stairway.

SUBSURFACE MASSES IN MOTION. STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE NOT DETECTED.

Twenty-six exposed steps climbed from the western shelf to a broken archway at the edge of the summit courtyard. Dust spilled from that arch as something shifted behind it. Beyond the roofless surface buildings, a narrow aperture high upon the observatory tower went dark beneath an internal shutter. At almost the same moment, part of the retaining wall three metres north of the shuttle ramp withdrew into the rock. It moved only a handspan, exposing a vertical strip of dark bronze and a narrow opening from which issued a thread of cool, blue-white light.

Then everything stopped. The repeating subsonic vibration described in Professor Dra's report had stopped with it.

Tally studied the displaced platform, the new opening and the observatory in turn. A final message appeared across Andromeda's display.

CORRECTION: NOT A LANDING PAD.

CURRENT POSITION

Western Landing Shelf — on the upper crown of the sea stack, one short flight below the summit courtyard.

The shuttle remains stable upon the lowered slab. The mechanism has stopped moving, and Tally detects no immediate danger of collapse.

VISIBLE AND KNOWN

Summit stairs: Open and passable. They lead through the broken arch into the central courtyard.

Exposed wall seam: Approximately seventeen centimetres wide. Too narrow for Andromeda or Tally, but wide enough for a scanner, recording wand or sonograph puck. Cool light and a slight current of air rise from somewhere below.

Platform: Deliberately mounted upon ancient machinery. It is not yet clear whether the shuttle's weight, its repulsors or some other stimulus activated it.

Observatory: An internal shutter has closed across one upper aperture. The tower's ground-level entrance cannot yet be seen clearly from the shelf.

Immediate pressure: None. No expedition clock is active.

AVAILABLE APPROACHES

Map the platform and exposed seam with the harmonic sonograph
Lore/Technology +1 • Tally assistance +1 • Target 9
Known risk: An active sonographic pulse could restart the mechanism. A poor result may increase site instability or trap a deployed puck inside the seam.

Trace the movement through the Force
Force +3 • Target 9
Known risk: The remaining resonance may feed back through Andromeda's concentration, producing Strain or an incomplete sense of direction.

Move the shuttle onto natural rock
Agility +2 • Target 9
Known risk: Removing the shuttle's weight will probably alter the mechanism again. A poor approach may increase instability, although the shuttle is not at risk of permanent loss.

Climb to the summit and survey the courtyard
Perception +3 • Target 7
Known risk: The platform remains depressed beneath the shuttle. A miss produces an incomplete surface survey rather than physical injury.

Proceed directly into the courtyard
No roll required. The current configuration remains unchanged.

Andromeda may investigate cautiously without rolling, use equipment in another fashion, or attempt an approach not listed here.

EXPEDITION STATE

Day/Time: Day 0, late afternoon • No active clock
Strain: 0/6
Fortune: 3/3
Site Instability: 1/6
Tally: Nominal
Equipment: Intact
Shuttle: Stable; platform depressed 11.8 cm
Open route: Western stairs → summit courtyard
Unresolved feature: Illuminated seam in northern retaining wall

For a rolled action, post Andromeda's chosen method and roll 2d6. Fortune may be spent after the roll: 1 Fortune adds +2.

THE CONTENT OF THIS POST WAS CREATED BY CHATGPT AS PART OF A COLLABORATIVE STORY EXPERIMENT.