Private Footprints in the sand

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

He nodded to that. "Can be done, we have enough room now. I checked the sap seals and it is working so we can stat sealing some of the rooms and pathways. Enclosing them with mirrors for light would be effective and with the framework of the ship and recovered scrap making walls and roofs. We can have levels. A level for different purposes here as well as reinforcing in other areas will allow us to have redundancies and safety measures in place to try and keep the serious injuries as a non-issue. Though it might also be inviting them so we'll have to be a lot safer but not so safe we stagnate and become fearful of what we might be able to make and do."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened as Mugen continued outlining the expansion plans, her glowing amber eyes following the motion of his hands as he mentally assembled the camp into something larger than survival alone. What had once been scattered efforts and improvised shelters was slowly becoming infrastructure, layered and intentional.

"Redundancy is sensible," she said thoughtfully, her tone calm as she glanced toward the reinforced pathways and partially enclosed spaces they had already completed. "If one section fails, the others remain functional. That alone reduces risk considerably."

She rested her hands lightly around the skewer while considering the rest of what he said, the firelight catching faintly in her eyes.

"And I do not think caution necessarily leads to stagnation," she continued after a moment. "Fear does. Those are not the same thing."

Her gaze shifted briefly toward the camp around them, toward the evidence of all the work already accomplished despite the circumstances.

"Most of what we have built here exists because none of you allowed fear to become an excuse for inaction." A faint trace of dry warmth touched her expression then. "Though admittedly some of your methods appear to operate dangerously close to 'reckless optimism.'"

Her eyes flicked briefly toward the bottle again before returning to Mugen. "Still…you are not wrong. If we intend to remain functional long enough to leave this planet, then surviving cannot be our only objective. We need sustainability, security, and eventually something resembling permanence, even if temporary."

Then, more lightly: "Preferably permanence with fewer chemically aggressive beverages."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"I prefer that... optimism is better in most cases if only to keep things going. Morale can do more damage or inspiration then anything else in most situations." Jesse said it with a look but she was glad about a few things. "Though yes less aggressive drinks." She said it with a nod of her head though while sitting back and finishing up. There was a small lid with water to put the skewer in to clean before she finished up getting just some water. At least she was able to get some more now until she stretched out. THe sub coming down. "We'll be able to do a lot more though, Mugen... your plans are good but lets get what we can from the shallows tomorrow and maybe some more of those urchins. THe spines are helpful in threading some new clothing."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren gave a small nod at Jesse's assessment, her glowing amber eyes following the slow winding down of the evening as the group gradually shifted from planning and debate into the quieter exhaustion that followed a long day of work.

"Optimism is easier to sustain when people can see progress," she said thoughtfully, her tone calm as she set her cleaned skewer aside. "Even small improvements matter. Better shelter, safer pathways, cleaner water, functioning tools… they give people something tangible to believe in."

Her gaze drifted briefly toward the partially enclosed tunnels and reinforced structures surrounding the camp before returning to Jesse and Mugen.

"Fear narrows perspective," she continued more quietly. "But visible progress reminds people that circumstances can still change."

At the mention of the shallows and the urchins, she inclined her head slightly in acknowledgment.

"That seems reasonable," she agreed. "The shallows are safer than pushing farther outward before we are prepared, and additional clothing supplies would be useful sooner rather than later."

A faint trace of dry humor returned then as her eyes flicked briefly toward the now-infamous bottle.

"Particularly if we intend to continue experimenting with homemade chemistry."

The warmth from the fire softened her expression slightly as she leaned back a fraction, visibly more relaxed than she had been earlier in the evening.

"Though I admit," she added after a moment, quieter now, "it is somewhat remarkable what all of you have managed to build already from wreckage and stubbornness alone."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Mugen was proud with a little puff of his chest. "Only way you can build stuff and we still have entire sections of starship that we can haul in and breakdown. The damaged droids did a lot to give us an early warning system but we will be able to do a lot more if we can find an astromech or some of the other utility equipment. Tourism ships should have had some trams and some more." He said it with a look though and Ru spoke. "There was but they were some of the first things destroyed in whatever happened. We thought they were just malfunctioning and instead someone had sabotaged the illerium packs. It was why once the seals were open to check the air set off the initial reaction."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened as the explanation unfolded, her expression gradually losing some of its earlier warmth as the details surrounding the crash resurfaced. The fire still crackled softly nearby, but the mention of sabotaged illerium packs and destroyed utility systems shifted the conversation back toward the reality none of them had entirely escaped.

"…So it was intentional," she said quietly, more to herself than anyone else at first.

Her glowing amber eyes settled briefly on Ru as she considered the implications, her posture straightening slightly as the analytical part of her mind immediately began reconstructing the sequence.

"Destroy the utility systems first, disable the droids, compromise the emergency response, then trigger the reaction once the maintenance seals are opened," she murmured thoughtfully. "That was not random sabotage. Someone understood exactly how the ship functioned."

A faint tension settled into her expression then, subtle but unmistakable.

"Which means whoever caused this likely expected the initial failures to appear accidental long enough for the damage to become irreversible."

Her gaze drifted briefly toward the darkness beyond the firelight before returning to the group.

"The fact that any of us survived at all may not have been part of the original calculation."

The thought settled heavily for a moment before she exhaled softly and looked back toward Mugen.

"Still, recovering additional systems would help considerably," she continued, deliberately pulling the discussion back toward something actionable. "An astromech alone could simplify diagnostics, power routing, environmental management, and possibly even communications if enough infrastructure survives."

Then, quieter, with the faintest thread of dry realism returning:

"And preferably any future repairs will involve fewer explosive surprises."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Ru looked over. "It was both, all ships have mechanical failures eventually. We have machine shops for that and storage rooms, widescale it entirely possible. Rare, improbable but never impossible. Normally we would have adjusted a few things or had the engineers cannibalize the parts but we didn't get that far. The illerium was something we had no way to know. It is largely undetected for a reason. So your ships don't set off explosive scans... but once it touches oxygen it suddenly explodes enough to send those escape pods hurtling to a safe distance within second. It ignites the air and in an oxygen burst that is fine.. small pop. An oxygen rich ship, it is a cascade."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened carefully as Ru explained the mechanics behind the sabotage, her glowing amber eyes narrowing slightly as the scale of it became clearer. The firelight flickered across her features as she mentally reconstructed the sequence piece by piece, the explanation fitting together with an unsettling precision.

"…So the initial failures created the illusion of a survivable engineering problem," she said slowly, her tone thoughtful rather than emotional. "Something frustrating but manageable. Enough to encourage standard repair procedures rather than emergency evacuation."

Her gaze shifted briefly toward the dark shoreline beyond the camp.

"Then the illerium ensured the moment anyone attempted to correct the issue, the ship itself became the trigger."

The realization settled heavily in the quiet after she spoke.

There was something particularly cruel about its design. Not simply destruction, but the weaponization of trust in ordinary procedure, the certainty that trained people would do exactly what they had always been taught to do.

"That means the sabotage relied on predictability," she continued more quietly. "Someone understood both the engineering systems and the human response to system failure."

Her fingers rested lightly against her cup while she considered the implications.

"And because the initial explosion would resemble a catastrophic malfunction, most investigations would likely stop there unless someone specifically knew what to search for."

A faint tension settled into her posture then. "Whoever did this was not simply trying to destroy a ship." Her eyes lifted back toward Ru. "They were trying to ensure nobody realized it was murder."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Jesse gave Seren a look and. "Well that puts my fears at ease. Nick was skilled in a lot of things but he wouldn't be so... subtle. If he was the one doing it he would want us to know he did it, in big bold strokes and letters he would make sure everyone knew it." She shrugged at least and Mari nodded. "My husband wouldn't want to draw the heat even to get back the respect. a ship of women and children he would be the laughingstock.... more then he really is already most likely." SHe said it and Etain spoke. "Bah it isn't going to be anything grand insurance now that is how you get the credits. Tragic accident, no survivors get the banking clans appraisers to pay out big as they backed the projects or the planet."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened quietly as the theories shifted from personal vendettas to financial sabotage, her glowing amber eyes moving between the others while the fire crackled softly in the background. Unlike earlier, there was less tension in her posture now; the conversation had moved away from immediate danger and into speculation, unpleasant perhaps, but easier to examine rationally.

"Jesse may be right about one thing," she said thoughtfully after a moment. "Someone driven by ego usually wants recognition attached to the act. Fear loses much of its value if nobody knows who caused it."

Her fingers rested lightly against her cup as she considered the alternative Etain suggested.

"Financial motivation is unfortunately more difficult to dismiss," she admitted quietly. "Large projects fail all the time mysteriously when enough money is involved, especially if the people responsible believe there will be no survivors left to question the official explanation."

A faint shadow crossed her expression then.

"And if the sabotage was designed specifically to resemble catastrophic mechanical failure…"

She let the implication settle on its own before continuing.

"Then insurance fraud, corporate sabotage, political targeting, or simple asset liquidation all become plausible."

Her gaze drifted briefly toward the darkness beyond the firelight.

"Though I suspect the most disturbing part is not the motive."

She looked back toward the group.

"It is how easy it apparently was for someone to assume nobody aboard mattered enough for the truth to be investigated too closely afterward."

The words came calmly, but there was unmistakable disapproval beneath them.

Then, after a brief pause, the faintest thread of dry humor returned.

"On the positive side, however, our collective survival has likely complicated someone's accounting considerably."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Mugen looked at Seren and spoke. "You are guessing on it if there is mechanical failure then the blame can be shifted into other places. Few companies aside from Correllia machine their own components. Generally most shipyards outsource different materials, components. So if something failed in the ejection system, that caused the explosions. The looks are on the company that made it, the owners who bought it might get looks but if the track record iss solid enough it adds to the cover and the shock. We have the benefit of two people who worked on the ship surviving with us." He said it and had moved with his hand as he was using the sand. "Not perfect but it can be a triple dip. THey get the insurance for the ship, they can sue the manufacturer for damages and lose of life on behalf of the crew, a class action lawsuit from the families of the victims. Massive payouts on all fronts."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren's expression darkened as the broader implications of Mugen's explanation settled in, transforming what had seemed like mindless destruction into something far more calculated and cold.

"You're right," she admitted, her gaze fixed on the fractured chain of liability he had traced in the sand. "By hiding sabotage within a believable systems failure, the responsibility dissolves into a tangle of bureaucracy and mutual blame, allowing the original crime to vanish entirely while the orchestrators profit from the chaos."

She looked back at him, the realization tightening her posture as she considered the insurance payouts and political leverage built upon the deaths of the crew.

"The frightening part is that the lives lost have become secondary to the financial architecture surrounding them, which makes your survival a significant problem for whoever planned this. You weren't just meant to die; you were meant to take the evidence of a deliberate failure pattern to the grave with you."

Exhaling softly, she met the eyes of both men with a grave intensity.

"Someone expected this story to end at the crash site—and now, you are the only ones left to prove it didn't."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Jesse gave a nod of her head. "Us being alive can bring a lot of attention or a lot more risk. Politically a smart move would be to claim us all dead. If we come back it means that you can scapegoat something else and if they leave us as missing it means someone can constantly adjust the resources. So it will be a credit pit for some or eating up a lot of resources that can help others. It will be easier if we can make contact first instead of hoping someone will stumble upon us." Jesse was looking at more when she took a drink for herself and stretched out. "At least it is warmer now and with the fires able to be maintained we have better heating."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren gave a slow nod as Jesse spoke, her glowing amber eyes reflecting the firelight while the reality of the situation settled more firmly into place. The conversation had drifted far beyond simple survival hours ago. Now they were discussing visibility, incentives, and the uncomfortable mathematics of whether powerful people benefited more from them being rescued or forgotten.

"You are probably correct," she admitted quietly. "Missing survivors create uncertainty. Uncertainty delays conclusions, investigations, payouts, and accountability."

Her gaze drifted briefly toward the darkness beyond the camp, toward the unseen ocean surrounding the islands.

"Dead passengers are politically convenient. Missing passengers are expensive."

There was no bitterness in the observation, only a calm recognition of how institutions often behaved once enough money became involved.

"And if someone intentionally caused the crash, then prolonged uncertainty may serve them even better than confirmed deaths."

She folded her hands loosely in her lap, thoughtful now.

"Because the longer nobody knows what happened to you, the more opportunities exist to shape the narrative before survivors can contradict it."

At Jesse's point about making contact first, Seren inclined her head slightly in agreement.

"Which means communication becomes more than rescue," she said softly. "It becomes control over your own existence."

The words lingered for a moment before her attention shifted back toward the camp itself, toward the firelight, the reinforced shelters, and the slowly growing signs of permanence.

A faint warmth returned to her expression then, quieter but genuine.

"At least you are no longer fighting the environment and each other at the same time," she observed with subtle dry humor. "Reliable heat, safer shelter, cleaner water, functioning defenses… those things matter more than people realize until they are gone."

Her eyes flicked briefly toward the infamous bottle again.

"Though admittedly some of your scientific advancements remain deeply questionable."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"Safe experimentation and learning experiences are key and I'd rather have it be on trying to make alcohol then if something we use to keep the eels or the sharks away failed. Or for boiling the water that we are able to bring to ourselves. The food storage and smoking or salting rooms to preserve the meat for longer term storage." Mugen said it and Jesse gave a nod as the discussion of what had happened to the ship gave her some better ideas of what could have been done. IT was a longer shot but she spoke. "Mugen what are the chances of other survivors?" The man was thinking about it. "Low to a point but we survived, it would depend on what they had. if they were on an island like us with enough debris then they could likely find initial supplies but middle of the ocean they would have likely ran out unless they were heavily rationing."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened quietly while Mugen spoke, her glowing amber eyes reflecting the firelight as the conversation drifted between practicality and grim possibility. The discussion of preservation methods, boiling water, and defensive failures carried the strange normalcy of survival situations often developed after enough time passed. People adapted. They learned to discuss danger with the same tone once reserved for weather forecasts and household repairs.

At Jesse's question about other survivors, however, her expression grew more thoughtful.

"Statistically, there are likely others who survived the initial crash," she said quietly after a moment. "The real variable is sustainability afterward."

Her gaze drifted toward the shoreline beyond the firelight, where the ocean had begun to darken beneath the rising night.

"Surviving impact and surviving isolation are very different problems."

The rhythmic crash of waves filled the brief silence that followed, though as the evening deepened, other sounds began to emerge alongside it. Soft clicking noises. Rustling against wet stone.

Seren's attention shifted slightly toward the edge of the surf.

"…Though apparently the local wildlife believes dinner conversation is over."

A faint trace of dry amusement touched her tone as several pale, many-legged crustaceans began crawling from the shallows onto nearby rocks, their shells reflecting the orange firelight in strange, fractured patterns. They moved cautiously at first, antennae twitching while they scavenged along the tide line.

One particularly bold creature paused near the edge of camp, large enough to earn immediate suspicion.

Seren narrowed her eyes slightly at it.

"That one looks as though it has ambitions."

The crab froze for a moment beneath the collective attention before continuing sideways toward what was very obviously an abandoned skewer.

A quieter warmth settled into Seren's expression then as she watched it.

"At least something on this planet appears to be thriving."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Jesse gave a nod of her head and Guilia was the first to move, her hands going to spears as she went up into the second level they had built above their wall and at the barricade. Jesse spoke as she moved... Etain looking up as she went to move. "Nope." She said it and sorrt of fell over into the saand. "Alcohol works." She said it with a giggle as Mari was looking at Ginger who shifted and moved after Guilia with a spear. They were taking to opposite sides as Jesse motioned to Seren with another and Mari. Mugen going up high as he turned mirrors that were illuminating areas of the shore where the exterior fires didn't reach or cover.

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren was already moving before Jesse fully motioned toward her.

The relaxed atmosphere around the fire vanished almost instantly, replaced by the sharpened efficiency that came when people had survived long enough together to recognize danger without needing it explained twice. The faint humor lingering from the failed alcohol experiment disappeared beneath the sound of shifting sand, lifted spears, and the creak of the elevated barricades above them.

As Guilia and Ginger split toward opposite flanks, Seren caught the offered spear cleanly in one hand and rose in a single fluid motion.

"Well," she said dryly as Etain collapsed dramatically into the sand behind them, "at least we now know the alcohol functions reliably as a sedative."

Despite the humor, her attention was already outward.

The mirrors above shifted under Mugen's adjustments, redirecting reflected firelight farther along the shoreline in fragmented bands of pale illumination. Shapes moved briefly between the surf and darkness, enough motion to confirm that something larger than scavenging crabs had approached the perimeter.

Seren stepped toward the barricade beside Jesse, spear angled low but ready, her glowing amber eyes narrowing toward the tide line as the newly redirected light revealed movement between wet stone and shallow water.

Not fast. Not charging. But watching.

"…Something is testing the edge of the camp," she murmured quietly. "Too deliberate to be wandering wildlife."

The surf shifted again. For a brief moment, several reflective eyes appeared low against the shoreline before disappearing beneath black water and rock. Seren adjusted her grip slightly on the spear.

"I suddenly feel much less charitable toward our local ecosystem."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Jesse gave a nod of her head looking at Etain who was being rrolled over by Ru as he checked and gave a thumbs up. Mari motioning over to him as they were moving and she went towards her pen. The things she had rescued were howling after a moment and she was grabbing a few things. "How many?" She asked it but got a small bottle when she was opening the pen to the outside. Keeping the inner doors to the camp closed but the sounds of howling went away as some of them were moving and she spoke. "Food." She shouted it and four of the things were attacking on crab in a moment like a pack. Maari going to the upper area as she looked out and was splashing some of the liquid within on herself and marking Mugen and Ru.

"Pheromones, they know not to attack." She said it and patted Jesse for a moment as her nose was assaulted. "This is what you have been working on?" The woman looked. "Not just, they fertilize the gardens which makes the sand patties better able to grow." She was moving, Ru was looking as her had grabbed some more bottles that had been set aside and buried as he looked at them. "It might be best to dispose of this. Etain is not going to drink more but." He sniffed as he was putting it into smaller bowls and flinging the bowls to splash the water on crabs and sand and into the shadows. He was setting it up as Jesse held a spear but joined him with a nod.

"Might be best before she was checking it and one of the beasties rounded from the jungle and latched onto a grab flinging itself around with its own speed as it went into the sand. Mari was moving and Guilia with Ginger weren't throwing spears but they were tracking. "Something is out there but for the moment, let it stare down it gives us a chance to prepare and we have a few surprises." Ru was moving over before Mugen spoke. "The approach that would be best would be from the beach. With the warning fires around to keep things away it will ignite the alcohol for what was splashed close and the metal will protect us as long as it stays low."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren's eyes followed the sudden coordinated movement across the camp with growing disbelief, though she kept her spear raised as the strange chaos unfolded around them. What had initially seemed like panic quickly revealed itself to be something far more organized, if deeply unconventional.

The howling creatures rushing from Mari's pen tore into one of the larger crabs with startling efficiency, scattering sand and broken shell fragments while the deeper shapes lurking near the jungle hesitated at the sudden territorial response.

The sharp scent of the pheromone liquid hit Seren a moment later.

Her expression tightened immediately.

"…That is horrific," she informed Mari with absolute sincerity as the smell reached her properly. "Effective, apparently. But horrific."

She did not step away when Mari marked her shoulder with it, though the visible restraint required to tolerate the smell was almost impressive.

The firelight reflected across the shoreline while Ru and Jesse began spreading the alcohol strategically through the sand and tide approaches. Between the warning fires, metal barricades, elevated platforms, and the newly weaponized homemade liquor, the camp was beginning to resemble a deeply unstable military fortification assembled entirely through desperation and questionable engineering.

Which, Seren supposed, was not entirely inaccurate.

Her glowing amber eyes shifted back toward the shoreline where the shelled crabs continued clicking and shifting near the edge of the surf. Several were easily large enough to crack bone if they reached the barricades.

She looked down briefly at the spear in her hand. Then back at the crabs. Then back at the spear.

"…I do feel compelled to ask exactly what the long-term strategy is supposed to be here," she said dryly. "Because at present it appears we are attempting to fight armored shoreline predators with sharpened sticks, homemade explosives, and weaponized fermentation."

A nearby crab snapped loudly enough to reinforce her point.

Seren narrowed her eyes slightly at it.

"And I am increasingly unconvinced the spear is winning that particular argument."

Despite the dry commentary, however, she adjusted her footing into a more defensive stance beside Jesse, clearly prepared to hold the line if necessary.

Her gaze shifted briefly toward the darker jungle line beyond the beach, where Guilia and Ginger remained tracking movement.

"The crabs are not what concerns me most," she murmured more quietly afterward. "Something else is watching how we respond."

Jesse Organa