Private Cryptum

[Mykel Dawson]

Continued from Stumble to Refuge

Robes

Following the initial deployment of aid within the refugee settlement, Mykel took some time for himself to relax, simply looking upwards as he enjoyed a light dinner beside his speeder bike just outside the village of Respite. He had been so caught up in his work that it was only now that he could appreciate the ancient installation under his feet, a ring-shaped station that encircled the watery world below like a halo. A lasting testament to the technological prowess of the Rakata at their peak, who still dogwalked much of the modern galaxy several millennia later.

It was tempting to jump on his bike and speed away to explore for a while, but the Jedi could scarcely spare an hour to himself before a new problem cropped up. A busted generator, a mynock infestation on fuel cells, a construction accident with a faulty lifter. New issues were endless and mounting as the settlement was in the teething stage, communicator abuzz with new notifications.

For now, they were blissfully left on read.

Aethelwulf Bergen

 

[Aethelwulf Bergen]

They had been at the village all day long, and Aethelwulf was now bored. She'd spent most of the last few hours playing with her little brother, Wulfric, but he tired long before she did and was already fast asleep. Aethelwulf had managed to slink away from the watchful eye of her mother and wanted to go find something adventurous to experience.

The settlement wasn't large, but it was noisy, full of generators, hissing valves, and the occasional frustrated shout when someone dropped a crate on their foot. It all blended together into a kind of dull hum that made her feel trapped, like being inside a jar full of bees. She wanted out.

So she walked. Past the last row of tents, past the flickering perimeter lights, until the noise began to fade and the sound of her own boots against the dirt took over. Above, the night sky wasn't really a sky at all, but the gleam of the station's great ring. She wasn't yet sure how she felt about that. It wasn't Coruscant, or Spira, or any of the other party destinations where even a teenager from a backwater planet could find somewhere to just hang.

And then she spotted him.

A lone figure sitting beside a speeder ( Mykel Dawson ), a dim lamp marking the spot. For a heartbeat, she considered turning back. Her mother had made her promise she wouldn't wander off, much less approach strangers. But was he a stranger? She'd seen him fixing things around the camp earlier, always surrounded by people asking questions, never stopping long enough to look tired. She thought she'd even seen her exchange words with her mother, but she wasn't totally sure about that.

Now he just sat there, still and quiet.

Aethelwulf hesitated at the edge of the light, curiosity tugging at her stronger than caution. The mud streak on her cheek was beginning to dry, and her boots were scuffed from the walk, but she straightened up anyway and took a few steps closer.

"Hey," she said, voice cutting through the hum of the generator., "you wouldn't happen to know how to stop a survey drone from screaming, would you?"

The blush rose to her cheeks before the question was done. She had no actual reason to ask it, but it had been the first thing that popped to mind. And now she was going to either flourish in conversation, or walk away completely humiliated. She really hoped it wouldn't be the latter.

 

[Mykel Dawson]

For a time, the Jedi managed to shirk his responsibilities, but eventually they grew legs.

Mykel sensed her before he saw her, head tilting toward the direction of the grubby teen just she as stepped into the periphery of his lamp light. Almost immediately, he recognized her as one of Alwine Bergen 's children. That woman had left quite the impression upon him, their first encounter initially marked by a (mercifully) brief case of...exhibition of her part, stirring a small commotion among onlookers. Later, he would learn she was some flavor of shifter.

He could only wonder what the girl wanted from him, but in the end her question managed elicit a small chuckle. Around the village, the technopath was quicky becoming known as the resident handyman.

Still, something about the faint rose tinge now blossoming over her cheeks made him wonder if there was another motive behind the question.

"A ion bolt or two usually does the trick," he replied with a playful tone, "But it also might just be trying to get your attention. We can check. Is it nearby....or is this more of a hypothetical exercise?"

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Aethelwulf Bergen​

 

[Aethelwulf Bergen]

Mykel Dawson

---

For half a breath, Aethelwulf froze.

She hadn't expected him to actually laugh. Or answer. Or… look at her like he'd already figured out she was up to something. The blush on her cheeks flared hotter, and she was suddenly very aware of how dirty her boots were and how the dried mud on her face probably made her look like she'd lost a fight with a ditch. It didn't help that he was also ridiculously hot by any standard she could think of.

But he wasn't annoyed. Or dismissive. If anything, he seemed amused.

"I…" she blinked, caught by the question, "…I mean, it's not that hypothetical."

Her hand lifted to scratch at her cheek, then dropped when she remembered the mud streak. Great. Smooth. Very graceful.

"It was supposed to do a loop around the outer ridge," she continued, shifting her weight. "It's been doing that for days without a problem. But tonight it started making this…" she waved a hand vaguely in front of her face, "…angry dying-animal noise at me. Which, for the record, is not my fault. At least I don't think so."

Her eyes flicked toward the darkness beyond the tents, where the faint electronic beeping still echoed somewhere in the distance. It sounded farther away than she remembered. That wasn't encouraging.

"I might've waved at it," she admitted under her breath. "Just a little. And then it sort of… spiralled? And yelled at me? And flew off really fast."

She paused, lips pressing together as she weighed how stupid that sounded now that she'd said it out loud.

"So…" she finally finished, planting her hands onto her hips in an attempt to look more confident than she felt, "if ion bolts are plan A, should we maybe start with plan B? The one where it doesn't explode? Mother will absolutely murder me if I ruin camp equipment, even if she can easily afford to replace it all. I think."

Her voice dipped lower, more conspiratorial.

"And also because I don't want to get yelled at by a drone again. It was embarrassing."

 

[Mykel Dawson]

As it turned out, the girl wasn't just pulling his leg, there appeared to be a legitimate malfunction with at least one of the probe droids at the settlement's perimeter. He nodded along, listening intently to her recollection to begin diagnosing the issue.

"Hmm, I'll take your word that there was no foul play on your end." He gave her a wink. "So much about this station remains a mystery to us. The environment itself may causing issues for our equipment. That definitely warrants an investigation. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

While he had just been trying to hide away, now the Jedi was back on his feet ready to solve another problem with his new acquaintance in tow. The work could actually be enjoyable when he had willing company.

"You're Aethelwulf, right?" He asked as he started to store away the remnants of his dinner in his bike's satchel. "Miss Bergen's daughter? I thought I saw you and your brother running around earlier today."

Amid the drudgery of refugee resettlement, the Bergens brought some much needed levity to the downtrodden inhabitants. There actually didn't seem to be much difference between the two teens in age, but the girl budded with the lightness of innocence. A certain softness long robbed from Mykel after enduring several gruesome military campaigns so early into his service as a Jedi.

Lastly he gathered his lantern, extinguishing its light so that they were left swathed in the soft azure glow of reflected illumination from the aquatic planet wreathed by the ring station.

"Come on, we can take my bike." He mounted the speeder and then reached an arm backwards to give the tail a couple knocks. "Just point me to where you last saw the droid."

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Aethelwulf Bergen​