Private Footprints in the sand

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"You spend a lot of time watching everyone, letting them do the heavy lifting and joining in when prompted to come. You have given us a lot but you follow a lot of what we are doing or planning which can help. A good support is invaluable in a situation like this and we need a lot going into all of the plaans that we have been working on." Guilia sat there as she finished eating and finally rose up stretching out full with several pops. "It is a lot of work and tomorrrow is going to have a lot more but we will have some more food as well and nothing like tiring yourself out.

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened to Guilia without interrupting, though the description of her habits earned a small, thoughtful smile. She supposed there was some truth to it. She had never felt particularly compelled to put herself at the center of everything simply because she possessed the ability to help. There were people here who understood the work better than she did, and Seren had learned long ago that knowing when to follow someone else's lead could be every bit as useful as knowing when to take it herself.

"I suppose I have always preferred figuring out where I am actually useful before throwing myself into something." She glanced around at the work they had accomplished, then back toward Guilia. "Especially here. Half of what all of you are doing is new to me. It would be rather arrogant of me to assume I know better simply because I can use the Force."

There was a slight humor to the admission. Seren had spent much of her life surrounded by people who placed enormous value on individual power, where admitting someone else knew better could easily be mistaken for weakness. Life here had been very different. Nobody seemed particularly interested in proving themselves. They simply saw what needed doing and did it, and Seren had found herself settling rather comfortably into that rhythm.

Her attention returned to Guilia as the woman rose and stretched, the succession of pops drawing a brief laugh from Seren. "That sounded either very satisfying or deeply concerning." She shifted where she sat before looking toward what remained of their meal. The promise of more work tomorrow was hardly surprising. Their list of projects never seemed to become shorter so much as change shape whenever one task was completed.

"I don't mind the work, though. I think I am starting to understand why all of you keep finding more things to do." Her gaze wandered briefly toward the camp around them. "There is something satisfying about reaching the end of the day tired and being able to actually point at something and say that it exists now because we made it."

She smiled again, warmer this time, before finally beginning to rise herself. "Besides, if tomorrow comes with more food, you have already discovered an effective way of convincing me to keep helping."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

She gave a nod while walking and climbing up to her perch overlooking parts of the camp where she had bedding set up. Allowing her to be there for the time. The night able to continue on while Jesse was eventuallly sleeping until she could feel the warmth in the morning from the pod and rolled over and onto the floor. "I... I am up." She said it rising up and walking with a yawn towards the beach again while feeling the burn in her arms and legs from the day before and all of the work that she had had to do with the force. Etain was down there with Ginger and Mari who were looking over some parts of the food. THey had made breakfast forr all of them with the bowls and there was even the scent of something close to sausage and meats cooking with the fire itself.

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren had slept deeply enough that the sounds of the camp stirring barely registered at first. It was the smell of food that finally drew her awake, and she remained still for another moment before reluctantly sitting up. The previous day's work had left its mark, a dull soreness lingering through muscles taxed by hours of labor and repeated use of the Force. Apparently even a former Sith could be defeated by enough construction work.

By the time Seren made her way toward the beach, her blue-black hair had been pulled back with considerably less care than usual. She spotted Jesse returning from her perch while Etain, Ginger, and Mari gathered around the food, and the scent coming from the fire immediately captured her attention.

"Is that actually meat?" Seren asked, sounding almost suspicious as she approached. A small smile tugged at her lips as she glanced toward Jesse and noticed the stiffness in her movements. "You look like you're feeling yesterday about as much as I am."

She eased herself down near the others, stretching one sore shoulder before looking toward the waiting bowls. For once, Seren had absolutely no interest in being the first person to suggest another project. "Whatever we're doing today can wait until after breakfast."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Mari looked at Seren with a grin. "Oh yeah, we don't make that fake stuff only the good stuff... Also we kind of don't have the means to process and overprocess it into synthetic versions." She said it but was getting some food as Jesse was coming down and grabbed a plaate for the moment with a grin on her face. "Wonderful and whatever we do today, it will be nice and goes a long way towards what we might be needing... it has been a long time coming. Or it will go no where but either way we will get to thave a good time at least."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren glanced toward Mari with a small smile as she settled near the others with her own plate. "I'm certainly not going to complain about the lack of fake food." After everything they had done the day before, something warm and freshly cooked sounded better than it had any right to.

Jesse's optimism earned a quiet laugh from her as Seren took her first bite, content for the moment to enjoy breakfast and the relative peace of the morning. Her body still carried enough aches from the previous day's work that she wasn't particularly eager to rush into the next project.

"I think we've earned at least a little time to eat before we decide what we're doing today." Her amber eyes passed between the others. "After that, I'm willing to help with whatever needs it most. Preferably something that doesn't involve moving half the camp with the Force again."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

"If we are lucky it will not be moving anything at least not that large it would be searching i the ship and stripping what we are able to if we are lucky." Jesse said it and as was eating and looked over at Mugen who came out and offered a grin for a moment and got some food. THe man was moving and Jesse looked over at it when he spoke. "We only really have the ship searching planned for the moment today and if it works well we can do a lot more. Later we can map the other ships if we need it and go after them but that would be in time instead of right away to make sure there is a chance to relax and stay at the ready."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren's smile appeared over the edge of her plate when Jesse clarified that the day's ambitions did not involve hauling another ship across the landscape, and some of the mock concern she had shown earlier eased from her expression. After everything they had managed the day before, searching through the wreck and stripping out whatever remained useful sounded almost suspiciously reasonable, particularly when compared with some of the increasingly ambitious projects their little group had undertaken since becoming stranded.

"Searching I can manage," she replied, glancing toward Jesse before taking another bite. "Especially if the alternative is discovering how many ships I can move before the Force decides I've abused the privilege." There was a quiet humor beneath the words, though she was genuinely relieved that nobody seemed eager to repeat yesterday's exertion immediately. Her body had reminded her of it from the moment she woke, and while she would have helped if something genuinely needed doing, she had no particular desire to test exactly how much soreness could be accumulated before it became a problem.

The rest of Jesse's plan sounded sensible as well, particularly the decision not to immediately turn one successful salvage attempt into a reason to start dragging every other wreck they could find back toward camp. They had time, or at least enough of it that behaving as though every useful thing needed to be recovered today would only exhaust them before they knew how long they might actually be here. Seren glanced toward Mugen as he joined them, offering him a small smile before her attention returned to breakfast and the conversation.

"One ship at a time sounds good to me. We can see what survived, decide what's actually worth bringing back, and worry about the others when we've had a chance to recover." She settled a little more comfortably where she sat, clearly in no hurry to abandon the food in front of her simply because a plan now existed. "Besides, I think we've become sufficiently good at finding work without going looking for several days' worth of it all at once."

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

THere were some nods and Mugen was going as Guilia rolled over. Etain and Ru with Ginger and Mari were there as Jesse went out the gate and they could move to the ship as it was looking a little in the light. "Hmm Guilia, find one of the view ports and see if any are clear enough to look in?" Jesse said it while she was looking at it and the cathar gave her a look. "If you can seethrough and it looks clear or if you can't but it looks murky like it is filled with water." That she got and gave a nod while she was moving and Mugen produced a little kit of small metal slivers. "\it isn't much but should be able to help with the locks if there are any or the magnetic seals have been activated."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren followed the others through the gate, her attention settling on the ship as it came properly into view beneath the growing light. Yesterday's effort had looked considerably different while they were occupied with cables, tension, and the immediate problem of getting the wreck where they wanted it. Now that it sat near camp and she could look at it without simultaneously helping drag several tons of starship across the landscape, the sheer amount of work still waiting inside became considerably more apparent. Whatever remained useful would have to be identified before they started tearing things apart, and there was no telling what years of exposure had done to the interior.

She watched Guilia move off in search of a viewport while Mugen produced the collection of narrow metal tools, apparently prepared to deal with whatever locks or seals had survived. Seren glanced between them and the ship before realizing that everyone else seemed to have found an immediate purpose while she was still standing there waiting to discover hers. She could have started examining the wreck herself, but after yesterday's conversation she was making a deliberate effort not to approach everything as though she needed to determine the solution before anyone else had finished speaking.

"What do you want me to do?" Seren asked Jesse, turning toward her with an easy smile. There was no reluctance behind the question. If anything, she seemed rather content to let someone else decide where another pair of hands would be most useful. Her gaze briefly returned to the battered ship as she considered the possibilities. "I'm assuming we're checking whether it's safe to get inside before we start deciding what pieces we want to steal from it."

Considering the increasingly ambitious collection of salvaged material accumulating around their camp, Seren suspected the distinction between salvage and theft had become largely academic.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Mugen looked at herr with a nod. "Yes." Guilia was moving but he went towards the hatch while checking it. Fingerrs slipping along the metal and movin build up around off of it. "Hmmm looks civilian at least. So likely no countermeasures, not Corellian so the modular design won't be as easy to breakdown." He was going over more of it as Guilia spoke. "No water from the looks of it but the room itself looks like it is closed so could as easily be a pocket and the rest is flooded." Mugen paused for a moment as he was looking at it and Jesse looked at Seren as she spoke and motioned. "I think we have an aanswer. If that door opens and a wall of water comes out. hold it back."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren's attention shifted from Mugen at the hatch to Guilia as she reported what she could see through the viewport. A dry compartment was encouraging, but the possibility that it was merely a sealed pocket surrounded by water made opening the hatch considerably more interesting. When Jesse finally supplied her with a job, Seren looked toward her and gave a small nod as though being asked to hold back an unexpected wall of water was an entirely reasonable assignment.

"That I can do." She moved closer to the hatch, though not so close that she would be directly in Mugen's way while he worked. Seren planted her feet and turned her attention toward the seams around the door, preparing herself to react the moment the seal broke. "Although if the entire ship is waiting on the other side, I reserve the right to reconsider how confident that sounded."

The humor did little to diminish her concentration. Seren let the Force settle around her awareness, ready to catch whatever came through rather than trying to prevent Mugen from opening the hatch in the first place. If there was only trapped air beyond it, then she would have nothing to do. If Guilia's suspicion proved correct and the opening released several compartments' worth of water, Seren intended to meet the surge immediately and hold it long enough for everyone to get clear or for Mugen to close the hatch again.

For once, it was a pleasantly straightforward assignment. She did not need to understand the ship's design, recognize its manufacturer, or know how Mugen intended to defeat an old civilian locking mechanism. She only needed to stand ready and make certain none of them were unexpectedly introduced to an ocean when the door opened.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

The doorrs opening as Jesse moved with it gave her a better area to move. As Seren was holding the water back she was able to work on it and push back the wall as Mugen was getting cleared. Guilia moving in and preparing when Mugen spoke. "Alright, on the count drop the force and let the water drain." Jesse gave a nod of her head to that when she was breathing in and then outwards with the force before looking at Seren so that she would be able to do a lot more. "Ready?" She asked it looking at Seren and waited for a moment longerr before releasing it and Mugen was pulled out of the way by Guilia. Jesse braced herself as the water started crashing out of the ship and draining into the sand itself. Leaving more of the ship open.

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren kept both hands raised as the pressure of the trapped water pushed against the invisible barrier she had formed across the opening. Even with Jesse helping, the weight behind it was substantial enough that she had to plant her feet more firmly in the sand and adjust the angle of her hold rather than simply meeting the force head-on. The water strained continuously against her control, finding every weakness along the edges and sending thin streams curling around the sides before she tightened them again. It was not especially elegant work, but elegance mattered considerably less than making certain Mugen and Guilia had enough time to clear the hatch without being swept away.

When Mugen gave the instruction, Seren glanced toward Jesse and caught the question in her expression. She drew in a slow breath of her own, maintaining her concentration on the water while giving the other woman a small nod. "Ready." Her attention returned immediately to the opening, waiting until she saw Guilia pull Mugen safely out of the path before preparing to release her own hold along with Jesse.

The moment Jesse let go, Seren released the barrier as well. Water thundered outward from the ship in a heavy surge, spreading rapidly across the sand before beginning to sink into it and carving shallow channels around their boots. Seren shifted back several steps to remain clear of the strongest part of the flow, watching as the pressure that had fought against them moments before spent itself across the beach. Only when the initial torrent diminished into a much more manageable stream did she relax completely, lowering her hands and allowing the tension that had gathered through her shoulders to ease.

For a few moments, Seren simply watched the remaining water drain from the wreck and disappear into the sand. Guilia's earlier suspicion had proven entirely justified. Whatever they had been able to see through the viewport might have looked dry, but there had certainly been plenty of water waiting elsewhere behind the hatch. "Well, Guilia was right about the water." A faint smile touched her lips as she looked between the others and then toward the newly accessible portion of the ship. "And apparently I've found my very specialized role in salvage operations."

She stepped closer once the heavier flow had passed, careful of the newly soaked sand as she tried to get a better look into the opened ship without getting in Mugen or Guilia's way. Holding back part of a flooded starship was certainly not what Seren had expected when she asked Jesse where another pair of hands would be useful, but compared with some of the problems their little group had already encountered, she was perfectly willing to count opening the wreck without washing anyone away as progress.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn


Jesse was looking at her and gave a nod of her head to that. Before they were moving around and she checked on some of the frame as Mugen was moving up and looked at Mari and Etain. "We got fish and other things." He said it and they had some of the bowls and bags they had made to carry them. THey could do it and with several they started picking up and dividing them as Mugen was going in further. "Everything is damaged from the water but we could gut it. Move it to be something we have in the sand for a defensive wall and use the airlocks." He seemed to be thinking of some more as Jesse was checking on it and she went through a room as most of what was there was degraded or covered but she could see the bunks. "Oh beds, real beds."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren followed the others farther into the wreck once the last of the water had drained enough to make moving through it practical. The interior had suffered exactly as Mugen predicted. Water had gotten into nearly everything, leaving behind corrosion, ruined components, and enough accumulated grime that there seemed little chance of simply repairing the ship and putting it back into service. His suggestion of gutting it made considerably more sense. Even if the machinery was beyond saving, the hull itself represented an enormous amount of material they did not have to manufacture, and using portions of it as another defensive wall around the camp would save them considerable effort. The airlocks interested her as well. Anything designed to seal sections of a starship against vacuum had obvious potential if it could be removed intact.

Her attention wandered toward Jesse when the other woman disappeared into one of the rooms, and the excitement in her voice drew Seren after her. She stopped at the entrance and looked over the bunks, eyebrows lifting slightly. After everything they had improvised since becoming stranded, the sight of actual beds somehow seemed considerably more luxurious than anything they had pulled from the other wrecks. "You can have dibs on the first if you want." Seren offered Jesse a small smile before looking over the rest of the room. "You've certainly earned an upgrade from whatever we've been calling beds until now."

Whether the bunks themselves could be removed intact was another question, particularly after so long exposed to water, but Seren was already considering what parts might remain useful even if the mattresses and softer materials had been ruined. The frames alone could potentially be cleaned and moved back to camp, and anything they could salvage from the room would make their increasingly elaborate settlement feel a little less temporary. Between the defenses, food stores, workshop, and now the possibility of actual beds, they were steadily crossing the line between surviving on the beach and building somewhere they could comfortably live until they finally found a way home.

Seren glanced back toward Mugen and the others working through the ship before returning her attention to Jesse. "At this rate, I'm beginning to wonder if we're salvaging these ships or slowly building ourselves a new one out of all the pieces." There was amusement in her voice, but considering how much material they had already accumulated around camp, the idea was beginning to feel slightly less ridiculous than it probably should have.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

Jesse was looking at it as she was able to see it and Mugen came in. He had a few things but was going over it. "Most is shot and can't be used but if we move this back which should be easier now that it has lost a considerable amount of water weight. We can posiiton it in the sand to make a breaker over the water and use it to make a third enclosure. The paneling will give us a little more and I can use the chute we created." He said it as he was moving and went over a few panels with a look. "Here we go." He said it and popped it as it went into the refresher but he was looking at it and opened it up. "THat is a proze though, a waste converter. For fuel and they have a manual crank you can use in case of emergency. then it will begin to fuel itself."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren listened as Mugen worked through what could still be salvaged from the wreck, her attention shifting between him and the ship's exposed structure. Moving the entire thing would have sounded excessive when they first discovered it, but with so much of the water drained away, she could see the advantage. They had already learned how useful wreckage could become when treated as building material rather than ruined ships, and another enclosure would give them considerably more protected space. When Mugen opened the panel and explained what he had found, Seren stepped closer with considerably more interest. "Now that sounds useful." A waste converter capable of eventually fueling itself solved two problems at once, particularly when so much of their surviving technology depended upon whatever power they could generate or salvage. "If we can get that out intact, we wouldn't have to keep relying entirely on whatever usable fuel happens to survive in the wrecks we find."

She studied the converter for another moment before glancing toward Mugen. Machinery was far more his territory than hers, and she had no intention of discovering how delicate the device was by putting her hands somewhere they did not belong. "Tell me what needs to stay attached when you remove it, and I'll help with the parts that require more muscle than engineering." Her lips curved faintly. "Or the Force. I've discovered that's apparently my contribution whenever something is inconveniently heavy." For all the joking, the discovery felt significant. Food could be gathered and preserved, their defenses continued to grow, and now even their waste might become another resource. What had initially looked like another drowned collection of useless machinery was rapidly becoming one of their better finds.

Jesse Organa

 

[Jesse Organa]

Seren Gwyn

He was lookign at it and spoke. "Oh we can't remove it. this is an entire system and it breaks down biological waste so moving it to be closer and in place for use. We can handle that now and it will allow it to make sanitation better. Which improves quality of life and prevents sickness. It will also allow us to power the small fresher here. We just need to get the pumps for it and might have to clean the filters if they were compromised but if they were not rrunning they might be clean, old but clean and able to be used for getting better quality water and reserves." He was looking at it and a few of the other things that they had. "I can thinkof a few other uses for the ship aside from the sealed compartment if it stays like that we might be able to better wtore supplies that need it as well as the galley could be used for the prep area instead of risking sand."

 

[Seren Gwyn]

Seren gave a slow nod as Mugen explained that the converter was integrated into the ship rather than something they could simply pull free and carry back. In that case, moving the wreck itself made considerably more sense. Sanitation had not been the most glamorous problem they had faced since becoming stranded, but she could appreciate how quickly it could become one of the most important. A working refresher, cleaner water, additional reserves, and fuel produced from waste would make the ship valuable even if almost everything else inside it remained beyond repair. "Then moving the whole thing seems worth the effort. Especially if cleaning the filters and finding working pumps gives us another source of usable water."

The mention of the galley caught her interest almost as much as the refresher had. Seren glanced in the direction Mugen indicated, already imagining the difference a proper preparation area could make compared with trying to keep sand out of everything they cooked around camp. "A place to cook would be great too. I think we've all eaten enough sand by now." A faint smile accompanied the observation before she looked around the wreck again. Between the galley, refresher, storage, and the hull itself becoming another part of their defenses, the drowned ship was beginning to look less like something they intended to strip for parts and more like an extension of the camp. "At this rate, we might want to decide where we want it before we start moving anything else. If we're keeping this much of the ship intact, we may as well put it somewhere we'll actually want to use it."

Jesse Organa