Private Footprints in the sand

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

He gave a nod to her as she was learning it and he looked when Guilia came in joining them with a look as she had some food and water. "There are carefully made vents that can be used and we are working on digging out to be able to position it where you want. We will be able to line it up and can use some of the cap to seal it as a connection at least until we might be able to cover it with a metal seat." She said it and Jesse was there with Mari for a moment. "We'll be aable to move it a little later, no water weight will help a lot and we'll be needing to position it just right it sounds like." There was a nod. "Yes and Etain and Ru are scouting for others that are intact enough and close to shore or a large enough piece we could use it."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren glanced toward Guilia as she returned, listening as she explained how they could position and seal the vents once they decided exactly where the wreck belonged. It sounded considerably more practical now that so much of the standing water had been removed, and she was glad the others had already begun preparing the ground rather than attempting to drag the hull into place and solve every problem afterward. "Getting the water out certainly made this thing feel less impossible to move." She took some water for herself, drinking before looking around the increasingly exposed interior. "And if the vents can be lined up once it's positioned, that gives us one less thing to improvise after we've already put it down."

The news that Etain and Ru were scouting for additional wrecks brought a small smile to Seren's face. Only a short while ago, another wreck would have sounded like little more than another enormous cleanup project. After everything Mugen had explained, she was beginning to understand why finding one could be genuinely valuable. "Hopefully they find something that doesn't require quite as much swimming to recover." She glanced toward Mugen with a touch of amusement. "Although I suppose you'll find something useful in it regardless of what they bring back." For now, Seren was content to leave the positioning and engineering decisions to those who understood them better and continue helping wherever another pair of hands, or the Force, could make the work easier.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"If it was close enough to not require swimming it would be nice but likely have to. The incline of the shore and sands here is decent enough we can manage and it doesn't just drop. Which benefits us more. The other benefits will be in how we manage the stores, if there are more threats like the crabs having secure areas and more armored hulls between us and them is a benefit to all of us." Mugen said it while he was eating and Jesse checked on much of it with a drink though. "We'll make it work and we'll be sure to secure the sections on the beach. The water will be easier as it is the hardest and strongest pieces of the hull."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren nodded as Mugen explained the shoreline's shape, conceding that avoiding the water entirely had probably been optimistic. At least the gradual incline meant they could work wreckage toward shore rather than somehow hauling it vertically from deeper water. The reminder of the crabs also made the heavier hull sections seem considerably more valuable than they had when the group first started thinking about salvage. They had managed the last attack, but Seren had no particular desire to discover whether the next creatures wandering onto the beach would be larger, more numerous, or simply harder to discourage. "After the crabs, I'll happily put another layer of starship hull between us and anything else that decides the camp looks inviting."

She took another drink while Jesse spoke, looking toward the sections they intended to place nearer the water. "It'll be nice having somewhere more secure for the stores too." Losing food or supplies to wildlife could hurt them almost as badly as a direct attack, particularly after everything they had done to build their reserves. Seren smiled faintly as she glanced between Jesse and Mugen. "I suppose swimming for another wreck doesn't sound quite so bad when the reward is something that has to work considerably harder to get through." Whatever the others eventually found, she was content to help haul and clear it once they knew what they were dealing with.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"The layers of hull allow for solid defenses being built into the sands and we can section it. Discouraging is important and if we are able to secure it with walk ways above allowing us the vertical advantage, grooves designed with alcohol to burn them and metal to contain them. It all stacks together to create an important aspect. We keep moving sections of the jungle to secure the main areas there including the water way which Guilia has managed to create a more secured tunnel covering from the sides the water way that will also organize those parts of the jungle. We don't have lighting except from above but it is filtered and made to let us slip in and out of the tunnel into parts of the jungle. NOw we will have hull sections we can build around it over enclosing it which could be better for protection."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened as Mugen described how the different improvements could eventually fit together, her attention following the route he described from the beach toward the jungle and the waterway beyond. The individual projects had begun to sound less like isolated attempts to make survival more comfortable and more like parts of the same growing structure. She could appreciate the advantage of having elevated walkways, especially after the crabs had demonstrated how useful distance could be, though the prepared grooves of burning alcohol sounded like something she would be perfectly content letting someone else design. "I hadn't realized how much Guilia had already done with the waterway." Seren admitted. "Having a protected route into the jungle sounds considerably better than having to cross open ground every time someone needs to go that direction."

She glanced toward the hull around them, imagining sections of similar material reinforcing what Guilia had already constructed. The lack of artificial lighting didn't seem particularly troubling if enough filtered daylight reached the tunnel to navigate it, and enclosing the more vulnerable areas with salvaged hull would give them protection far sturdier than anything they could readily construct from the jungle itself. "It sounds like every wreck we find gives you another piece for something that's already underway." A faint smile touched her expression as she looked back toward Mugen. "I'm glad some of you can keep track of how all these projects connect. At this point, I'm content to help move the pieces where they're needed and enjoy discovering what the camp looks like when you're finished."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"It does, we got lucky as it were with the locaation. This island might not be massive but we are able to best use it and with its size and distance the shallows are not as numerous. That is a benefit and a dangers as it means arkley are not coming here all the time but it means if ones does manage it is likely trapped and needs to be dealt with." He said it as he was stacking pieces and making a small map like thing on the floor that could be used. "We are able to plan more though also because we have natural barried in different locations so reinforcing them is much easier then if we had to make them normally."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren watched the little map take shape on the floor, crouching nearby so she could better follow what Mugen was showing her. The natural barriers made sense once they were reduced to something she could see rather than a collection of beaches, jungle, and rock she had been walking through for days. Her attention lingered on the approaches where those barriers narrowed the ways anything could reach them. "Could we mark the places where something large can still get through?" She reached for a few smaller scraps but stopped short of adding them to Mugen's map herself, leaving him to indicate the correct locations. "Not necessarily to close them. Just so those of us who aren't keeping the entire island in our heads know which approaches are worth watching."

It was something Seren could actually contribute to without pretending she knew how the fortifications themselves should be constructed. Once Mugen indicated the vulnerable approaches, she could walk them and become familiar with the terrain, perhaps even leave unobtrusive markers the others could recognize. "I can check those routes periodically while everyone is working. If something does get trapped here, I'd rather notice tracks, broken vegetation, or frightened wildlife before we discover it standing outside the camp." A faint smile appeared as she picked up another scrap and turned it between her fingers. "I may not be able to tell you how to turn half a wreck into a settlement, but keeping an eye on what might be approaching it is considerably closer to something I know how to do."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"The areas where something large could go are important, if there are no access points then they try and make them in places, sometimes to test which enough tests can compromise the whole. So you give them the path you want them to take and then let them walk into it. We just have to make sure the path we want them to take it baited and enticing enough that they would think it was worth the risk to themselves." Mugen was making more and laying it out. "The trees that Guilia is moving with her interweaving and transplanting serves a purpose as well since they are natural and just a lot stronger in blending in. With the right combination it is able to be a lot more effective then just a wall ot a tree."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren studied the little map again as Mugen added to it, understanding the distinction now. They were not trying to make the island impossible to enter, because anything sufficiently determined would eventually start testing the barriers until it created an entrance of its own. Giving it an apparently easier choice meant they could decide where that confrontation happened. "So instead of wondering where something will eventually break through, we convince it that we've conveniently left the answer for it." There was a trace of amusement in her voice, though her attention remained on the route taking shape. "That I can help with. Once you've settled on the route, I can look at it from the other direction and see whether the opening actually feels like the easiest approach rather than an obvious trap."

Her gaze shifted toward the jungle as Mugen mentioned Guilia's work with the trees. Seren had seen enough of what Guilia could accomplish with the vegetation to understand why incorporating living barriers would be preferable to simply piling salvaged metal everywhere. "And I can keep an eye on the transplanted sections afterward." That gave her something useful beyond carrying material from one project to another. "If anything starts disturbing them, forcing its way through, or repeatedly testing the same place, there should be signs before the barrier actually fails." Seren smiled faintly and gestured toward Mugen's map. "You decide where you want everything going. I'll learn the approaches well enough to notice when something isn't using them the way you intended."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"Something like that, most but not all threats who would attack the walls are simple enough. The higher thought ones would use tools which go a lot further. Or bypass it entirely, the ones that would really out think barricades might not attack even if there was an obvious opening." He had a look at the map as he finsihed more of it with Mari joining to look at it. "We were looking at the small reef here, it is a pocket area but the sands wrap in enough andf the rocks form a natural barrier on the main side. Some small adjustments and we can block it off with the rest and used the rocks. That will give us some more isolated area we can use for production and either farming or fisheries. The trees on this part of the shore are fruit barring."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened as Mugen explained the idea's limits, nodding slightly when he pointed out that anything intelligent enough to recognize a deliberately convenient opening might simply avoid it altogether. No defense would account for everything, but she was beginning to appreciate how much of their security depended on making the island itself work for them. Her attention shifted to the section of the map Mugen indicated, following the curve of sand around the reef and the rocks that already enclosed much of it. With relatively little work compared to everything else they had undertaken, it could become another protected area, and the nearby fruit-bearing trees only made the location more useful.

The thought should have been reassuring. Instead, Seren found herself wondering, not for the first time, when they were going to begin talking seriously about leaving. Every improvement made survival easier, and she understood why they needed that. They had no guarantee rescue would simply arrive. Still, somewhere between workshops, fisheries, cultivated areas, defenses, and increasingly permanent structures, the camp had begun to sound less like somewhere they were surviving until they escaped and more like somewhere they intended to live. She kept the thought to herself. Mugen and the others solved the problems immediately in front of them, and Seren could hardly fault them for making sure everyone stayed alive long enough for escape to matter.

"The reef sounds useful, especially if most of the boundary is already there." Seren looked from the map to Mugen and Mari, rather than trying to suggest what should occupy the protected space. Farming and fisheries were both well outside her expertise, and she trusted them to decide what would actually benefit the camp. "What can I do to help with it?" She gestured toward the marked section of shoreline. "If you need rocks or wreckage moved into position, vegetation cleared without damaging the fruit trees, or simply another pair of hands, point me where you need me."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"All of that, we need to start clearing and preparing some of the area as well as clutch harvesting. For the fisherries if we want to make more we need some eggs and those are in some of the reefs not in our little section. Once we block and section it off we will be able to use it. We need to make any trees or rocks that are cleared able to be sectioned and used to block off and section the others. The small island we are looking at using and have worked on a few advances on it. The trees can be cultivated and more spaced out while using some of the rrecovered vessels to make a wall it would also work as a better warning sysem as we can use the rocks and sand to make height as well as more narrow passages."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened as Mugen expanded the idea, her attention shifting between him and the rough map they had been working from. What had begun as finding another source of food was apparently going to require considerably more preparation before the reef could actually serve that purpose. The need for eggs meant someone would have to venture beyond the protected section they already possessed, while clearing the new area created its own problem of what to do with everything they removed. At least Mugen already had an answer for that. Nothing needed to become waste if the trees, stone, sand, and recovered hull sections could simply become part of the next barrier. She nodded slowly as the larger picture came together. "So clearing it is part of building it. Anything we remove becomes material for the sections we're creating rather than something we have to dispose of."

That was straightforward enough for her to contribute to without pretending she understood fisheries or settlement construction as well as the others did. Seren rose from beside the map and brushed the sand from her hands. "I can help with the heavier clearing once you decide what trees you actually want moved and which ones should stay." Telekinesis made stone and wreckage considerably less troublesome than they would otherwise be, and she could move material where Mugen or Guilia wanted it without deciding for them what belonged where. The mention of clutch harvesting drew a little more curiosity from her. "I can help collect the eggs too, if someone who knows what we're looking for comes with me. I'd rather not return triumphantly with the eggs of something that eventually decides we'd make excellent food." Given their experiences on the island so far, Seren wasn't entirely convinced that was even a joke.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"The eggs will come later after we haver it and most of the main work will be done once it is sectioned and walled off. It doesn't work good if you just have it as an open way into the main camp even if it is over a walkway and small sandbar. We will be able to do more once we have more pieces and more ideas. The keeping it clean and ready will work and the sand in some places we could dig into and out using the scrap hull to make stable walls and flooring. Having a store there would be beneficial as well as a place where we could have some of the animals in safety. There are a few of the crabs we might be able to box in and raised for feeding or some fo the wild game in better pens."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren gave a small nod as Mugen clarified the order of things. Of course the eggs would come later. She had gotten ahead of the work by several stages, already thinking about stocking a fishery that did not technically exist yet. "Right. Walls first, fish later." A faint smile touched her lips at her own impatience before she turned her attention back toward the area they intended to develop. Leaving an open approach into the main camp for the sake of reaching another food source would rather defeat the purpose of all the defensive work they had already done, and she could see the sense in treating the little island as another secured section rather than an extension they hurriedly attached because it happened to be useful.

The idea of digging into the sand interested her more once Mugen mentioned reinforcing the excavated spaces with hull plating. It would give them protected storage without requiring everything to remain exposed above ground, and using another portion for animals could keep both their food supply and the animals themselves safer from whatever wandered the island. Seren considered the crabs with a somewhat dubious expression. They had spent enough time fighting oversized crustaceans that deliberately keeping some nearby felt faintly absurd, even if the practical value was obvious. "I admit, after everything we've gone through with the crabs, deliberately building them a home wasn't where I expected this to end." The amusement lingered before she looked back toward Mugen. "But if they can actually be contained safely, having food we're raising instead of constantly going out to find would make a considerable difference." For now, though, the first step remained much simpler. She gestured toward the area they would eventually wall off. "So what needs clearing first?"

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"One of the best examples of survival is domestication of the food sources. The creatures we encounter in the wild can be trained minorrly in the wild. Getting them as pups can go a long way and selectively working with them to make sure the best continue allows for better control each time. It is the same for many other species on countless other worlds. We just need to find the proper way to utalize it." He was saying it while walking down the ramp as the doors were closed and affixed to be opened easily again as they needed it. FOr now having some wood and metal barricades until they moved i but Mugen was looking at the rest of the beach and island.

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren followed Mugen down the ramp, listening as he explained the advantages of domesticating the creatures they encountered rather than relying entirely upon hunting them. It was a sensible approach, although she suspected the practical difficulties would prove considerably more interesting than the theory. Some of the wildlife they had encountered seemed determined to regard anything smaller than themselves as a potential meal, and raising their offspring required a degree of optimism she wasn't entirely sure she possessed. Nevertheless, the possibility of establishing a dependable food supply was difficult to dismiss. "I suppose there's a considerable difference between trying to convince a fully grown creature that we're not its next meal and raising one that's never known anything else." A faint smile accompanied the observation as she glanced toward the barricades they had left securing the entrance. "Though I imagine we'll discover rather quickly which species are willing to cooperate and which ones consider their new accommodations an insult."

Her attention shifted toward the beach and the island beyond, considering how much their circumstances had changed since they first found themselves stranded. They had begun by securing shelter and finding enough food to survive another day, yet now they were discussing cultivation, breeding, storage, and permanent defensive structures. That progress was encouraging, even if the increasingly elaborate plans occasionally made her wonder how long everyone expected to stay here. She kept that concern to herself for the moment, unwilling to diminish what they had accomplished. "I wouldn't know the first thing about selecting which animals to breed, but I can certainly help catch or contain them once we decide what's worth keeping." She looked toward Mugen with a small, thoughtful tilt of her head. "Have you noticed any particular species that might be easier to start with? I'd rather our first attempt at animal husbandry didn't involve something capable of eating its enclosure."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"That is a thing and why domestication takes generations... luckily most animals mature and reproduce much faster then people so they can have a handful of generations. It gets easier each time and we are learning more and more about what we will be able to do and raise. We won't be able to get all of them we will have to experiment and make some notes for all of it." Mugen was looking at more while he kept walking and Jesse looked at it as parts were moved aside and worked on Guilia was there and Mugen was marking in the sand where it needed to go as he looked back. "ALright this is where the ship is going to be moved if you could we can work on the first stage of positioning and connecting it."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened to Mugen's explanation as they continued along the beach, glad he understood the intricacies of animal husbandry better than she did. Generations of selective breeding wouldn't solve their immediate problems, but the prospect of establishing something sustainable was encouraging. She was about to ask another question when Mugen turned to the ship and began marking positions in the sand. Apparently, they had reached the point where planning could finally give way to something more tangible. "That, at least, is something I can help with." She approached the markings, studied their placement and the available space, then looked toward the vessel. Moving something that size would require far more concentration than shifting individual pieces of wreckage, but it was well within the kind of work she could attempt with the Force.

Seren moved to a position where she could see both the ship and Mugen's markings, then extended her awareness toward the vessel. Rather than lifting it outright, she gradually gathered the Force around its structure, testing the weight distribution before applying enough pressure to ease it from its resting place. Sand shifted beneath the hull as she worked, her movements deliberately slow to avoid twisting the vessel or damaging sections they intended to reuse. "Keep an eye on the alignment for me, would you? I can move it, but I'd rather have someone watching the placement than discover afterward that I've put several tons of metal exactly where nobody wanted it." Her attention remained fixed upon the task as she guided the ship toward the designated area, adjusting its position incrementally while leaving Mugen and the others room to direct the final approach. Once it was close enough to begin positioning and connecting the sections, she slowed further, ready to hold the vessel steady while they checked how everything fit together.

Jesse Organa