Private Held in the Currents of the Force

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra looked out across the gap and immediately understood why he had asked if she was ready. The distance wasn't impossible, but it was certainly far enough that she had no desire whatsoever to attempt it on her own. Her eyes tracked the route the engineer had indicated, following rooftops and overgrown structures disappearing into the canopy beyond. Somewhere along the way, exploring hidden ruins had become normal enough that her first concern wasn't the jump itself, but what they were likely to find after making it.

"You know, I miss the days when my biggest travel decision was whether a landing zone looked muddy," she said with a small sigh. "Now apparently I'm evaluating rooftop leaps across ancient observatories while discussing Force illusionists and giant spiders."

The complaint lacked any real conviction.

The mention of the engineer earned a glance downward. The Anzellan was still muttering a steady stream of complaints, several of which sounded suspiciously directed at both of them. Lyra crouched and carefully scooped him up before he could object too loudly, settling him into one of the larger utility pockets on her jacket with only his head and arms sticking out. The resulting barrage of indignant noises only made her smile wider.

"There. Safe, secure, and close enough to continue insulting us," she informed him. "Everybody wins."

Straightening again, she stepped closer to Syn and rested a hand lightly against his shoulder while looking out over the jump one last time. The nervous flutter in her stomach was there, but it wasn't fear anymore. Not really. They had made it this far together, and somewhere between the spiders, the visions, and the impossible valley, trusting him had stopped being a conscious decision and simply become natural.

"I'm ready," she said, warmth touching her voice as she looked toward him. "If this ends with us dangling from a tower while our tiny mechanic laughs at us, I'm blaming you."

Despite the words, she moved closer without hesitation, ready to follow wherever the next mystery led.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He only made a show of looking back with a small smirk as he adjusted so she was holding onto him from behind and then he lept... his legs coiling before propelling himself into the air. WIth Lyra there holding onto him he was able to move and make a stronger show of it. Going into the air though as he looked down at the ground. THe sound of the little engineer cursing them rising higher and higher with their elevation before she was landing on the top of a tree and branch but there wasn't space. Just an adjustment to his center of gravity through inertia with the force. ENough he could surge forward into another leap higher into the air and an arch towards a smaller clear.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra had expected a jump.

She had not expected that.

The moment Syn launched himself into the air, every sensible thought abandoned her. Wind rushed past, the hidden valley dropped away beneath them, and instinct immediately won over dignity as her arms tightened around him. Somewhere near her shoulder, the Anzellan's stream of profanity rose several octaves in both volume and creativity.

"This is not a normal way to travel!" she shouted over the rush of air.

The protest lost some of its effectiveness when it was immediately followed by a startled laugh.

For a brief instant, they touched down on the crown of a massive tree. The branch bent beneath their combined weight, and before her brain had even processed the landing, Syn was moving again. The second leap carried them higher still, arching over the jungle canopy as sunlight flashed through the leaves below. From up here, she could see how vast the valley truly was, hidden structures peeking through the greenery like forgotten relics from another age.

The sensation was terrifying.

It was also, she begrudgingly admitted, incredible.

"Alright," she called, a grin finding its way onto her face despite the death grip she still maintained. "I take back some of my complaints. This is significantly better than climbing."

The little engineer immediately objected to that assessment from his pocket, which only made her laugh harder as they sailed toward the next clearing.

"Not all of them," she added quickly. "Just enough to keep doing it."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He chuckled at that statement while moving. "Well as long as it is not pod racing." He moved though landing there for a moment when he was running with a third leap towards the wall itself... the stone canyon before he brought one hand out and caught it when he landed... softening the blow with a nod of his head. "Hold tight." He was moving with a purpose from here as he scaled the canyon wall for a moment only stoppiong to get a better look back at the valley and ollow the directions of the little engineer who was pointing and giving him an idea of where to go. The top of the canyon let him stop and reach out with his senses to go over the area while he had a spare moment.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra immediately tightened her grip when he mentioned podracing.

"That's because podracers are actively trying to kill the people flying them," she informed him. "Normal ships occasionally develop opinions. Podracers wake up every morning and choose violence."

The protest lost some of its impact when he launched them into another leap.

The valley dropped away beneath them once again as they crossed the distance toward the canyon wall. By now, she had accepted that objecting to his methods of travel was largely pointless. The best she could do was hold on, try not to look directly downward, and pretend this was somehow a reasonable way for two people to move across a landscape.

When he caught the canyon wall and began climbing, she glanced over her shoulder. The hidden valley stretched below them in a patchwork of jungle, ruins, and forgotten structures. From this height, it looked even more impossible than before, as though they had somehow stumbled into a place the rest of the galaxy had overlooked.

"You know," she said, her voice carrying a thoughtful note now, "if I flew over this and somebody told me there was an ancient facility hidden underneath all that, I'd assume they were reading bad sensor data."

The little engineer continued pointing directions while muttering under his breath, and Lyra found herself trusting him more than she probably should have. Then again, the tiny mechanic had gotten them this far.

As Syn paused atop the canyon and reached out through the Force, Lyra let her gaze wander across the surrounding terrain. Somewhere out there was the Expanse. Somewhere beyond that was the Alema. For the first time since arriving, the thought of getting home felt less like a distant hope and more like an eventual certainty.

"See anything interesting?" she asked quietly, remaining beside him while he searched. "Or are we about to discover another mystery this place has been hiding?"

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Not yet." He said it when he was standing there for the moment and stated to move. To find what they would be able to out here. "Movement here on the world so far is better but the spiders might be able to burrow up here or have tunnels throughout the planet." He said it when he was walking with a small moment. Senses going out. "This region fo the galaxy is filled but the croke make others avoid it or the worlds are unexplored." There was sounds coming from the engineer as the jedi master looked at him for a moment. "Yes there is also a connection there." He said it and looked. "It also connects towards the far ends of the Farlax region. A place of several thousand worlds never explored because the beings on N'zoth gatekept the sector."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra walked beside him along the canyon's edge, taking care with her footing while the little engineer continued his running commentary from her pocket. The farther they went, the more she realized just how much of the galaxy existed beyond the routes most pilots actually traveled. She knew hyperspace lanes, fuel depots, trade corridors, and the places people regularly visited. Listening to Syn describe entire regions that had remained unexplored for centuries made the star charts in her head suddenly feel very small.

"It's strange," she admitted. "Pilots spend their lives looking at maps of the galaxy, and after a while, you start thinking most of it is known. Maybe not personally, but known by somebody."

Her gaze drifted toward the distant horizon.

"Then you start talking about sectors with thousands of unexplored worlds and civilizations deciding who gets to enter and who doesn't, and suddenly it feels a lot bigger again."

The mention of N'zoth drew a thoughtful expression from her.

"I suppose gatekeeping an entire region is one way to make sure nobody steals what's there," she mused. "Though I'm guessing it also means a lot of mysteries stay mysteries."

She glanced toward him with a faint smile.

"And somehow we keep stumbling directly into them."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

"Yes, it keeps the blood pumping and makes for something to talk about." He said it while he was walking though and looked at her. "Though we have a moment so I want to make sure you are ready? If there is something else here that will attack us or come after us." He was there for it though while he moved and only crouched down to check the pathway ahead. His head looking up and prepared to look at it. He wasn't running but he was feeling the ground now as he allowed the force to map and guide throughout the mountain itself... he could feel the tunnels and burrowing creeatures. "Be careful where you step, there are holes and pitfalls that have been dug by people maybe or just by the spiders."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra immediately slowed her pace and looked down at the ground in front of her.

"You mean the large man-eating spiders?" she asked, giving him a look.

There was a brief pause.

"Because I feel like we've become entirely too casual about those."

Carefully stepping around a suspicious-looking patch of earth, she glanced toward one of the nearby tunnels before quickly deciding she didn't actually want to know what might be living inside it.

"A week ago, if someone had told me I'd be navigating an ancient hidden valley while avoiding giant burrowing predators, I'd have assumed they were telling a bad campfire story."

The little engineer muttered something from her pocket that sounded remarkably like agreement.

Lyra pointed at him without looking.

"See? Even he's concerned."

Despite the joke, she paid closer attention to where she placed her feet, trusting Syn's warning completely. Between the hidden pitfalls, the tunnels beneath them, and the possibility of spiders deciding they looked interesting, caution seemed like an entirely reasonable survival strategy.

"But yes," she added after a moment, glancing over at him with a faint smile. "I'm ready. I'd prefer if nothing tried to eat us today, but if something does, at least I won't be surprised anymore."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He did have a small chuckle to that for the moment. "Preferably." There was a chance of the creatures while he was navigating around several of the holes but he could see down and they were not massive but good enough a foot could fall into. "Besides a hidden valley is a good thing, it does have the downside of distance but it also means that whatever is here could also be within hasn't encountered dangerous threat. For some times it is the way to have an expedition going around." He said it more but came to the edge as the engineer was showing him where to go next aand the jedi master gave a nod of his head to it. "If he is right then his ship is crashed at the far end."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra stepped carefully around another depression in the ground, deciding that any terrain which required a Jedi warning her where to put her feet was terrain she was going to treat with a great deal of respect.

"I suppose that's one advantage of being hidden," she admitted. "The galaxy can't ruin a place if it never finds it."

Her gaze wandered across the valley again. For all the danger they had encountered, there was something undeniably beautiful about it. Untouched forests, ancient structures, and a sense of isolation that was becoming harder and harder to find in a galaxy connected by hyperspace lanes.

"Though I imagine whoever built all this probably wasn't thinking about future explorers appreciating the scenery," she added with a faint smile.

When Syn mentioned the crashed ship, her attention immediately shifted to the direction the Anzellan was indicating. The little engineer practically vibrated with purpose from her pocket, pointing insistently toward whatever lay ahead.

"If he's right, that could answer quite a few questions," she said thoughtfully. "How he got here. How long he's been stranded. Maybe even what this place was being used for before everyone disappeared."

She looked down at the tiny mechanic.

"Assuming he doesn't leave out all the important parts of the story."

The Anzellan immediately launched into what sounded like an offended rebuttal.

Lyra's smile widened.

"Definitely leaving out the important parts."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

THe jedi master only smirked with it while he was moving and seeing where it was be scented the air. The wind carrying the older scent of metal and new growth... rotting plants that have long since turned to mulch and more. He was moving though as the incline wasn't nearly as bad. "The real question will be what he did with the others in his ship, I do not know about hunting and we had to make progress through the caves to get up." THe chance he had been with a few or if there hadn't been any other survivors. Syn was moving as he motioned for Lyra and the way that they would be able to go down into the lower valley. The newer growth was what he was looking for

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra carefully followed the route Syn indicated, picking her way down the gentler slope while keeping an eye on the newer growth he seemed interested in. The valley felt different down here. Less like ancient ruins and more like something living, slowly reclaiming whatever had been abandoned.

At his comment, she blinked.

"By him..." she began, glancing down toward the Anzellan occupying her pocket. "Do you mean our little friend?"

The tiny engineer immediately looked up and launched into what sounded like a defensive argument before she'd even finished the question.

"See, that's exactly the reaction of someone who sounds suspicious."

There was obvious amusement in her voice as she continued walking.

"Though you do have a point. If he had a crew, we haven't seen any sign of them. No camp, no shelter, no other survivors wandering around maintaining hidden observatories."

Her gaze drifted ahead toward whatever waited at the far end of the valley.

"Hopefully the ship gives us some answers. At the moment, every answer we find seems to come with three new questions attached."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave only a small look and there was one thought but he didn't say it... but he had to think about it as a means and answer... then there was all of the ornery and defensive language that was being used which only seemed to add to his suspicions in many cases. He was on the grorund though and moving to lead the way as he spoke checking on it. "The crash would have overturned and destroyed sections of the jungle, with enough time there would be new growth and the difference would be hard to see unless you know how to tell the difference." He said it for her as he crouched but was touching the soil. "And yes most of this is about our little friend. He would be perfect to lure us into a trap."

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra followed him down the slope, her attention shifting from the ground beneath her boots to the little Anzellan nestled comfortably in her pocket. At Syn's explanation, she found herself studying their tiny companion with a little more scrutiny than before.

"You mean to tell me our little friend could have been planning all this from the beginning?" she asked, one eyebrow rising. "He's about the size of a toolbox, and somehow that's making him more suspicious, not less."

The Anzellan immediately launched into an indignant string of rapid-fire complaints, throwing tiny hands into the air as though personally offended by the accusation.

Lyra couldn't help smiling.

"To be fair," she said, glancing toward Syn, "if he wanted to lure us into a trap, he's certainly committed to the act."

Her gaze drifted over the surrounding vegetation, noticing the subtle differences in the newer growth now that Syn had pointed them out. She never would have spotted the signs on her own, but once explained, the disturbed landscape became easier to imagine.

"Either way," she said, returning her attention to the path ahead, "I think it's worth finding the crash site. If there were other survivors, we'll finally have some answers. And if there weren't..."

She looked down briefly at the muttering little engineer.

"...then I suppose we'll learn just how resourceful our little friend really is."

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He gave her a look while he was moving with a smaller moment. He was able to check it as he stopped. "PErhaps, or he ate them cause they were injured in the crash. I have seen worse." He said it as food for thought listening to the indignation but didn't have to turn his head as going through the growth the remains of a ship was there in a long pathway that had been overgrown. He was following it and the scorch marks on the ground that paints it with broken trees and debris overgrown with moss. His hand came up as he motioned her to the side and he moved silently through the brush for a moment with the stump itself. He slipped into the jungle.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra stared at him for a long moment.

"...Well, that was somehow worse than every theory I'd managed to come up with."

She looked down at the Anzellan in her pocket, who immediately looked back up at her with an expression of unmistakable offense before launching into another torrent of animated protests.

"I'm choosing to believe you're innocent until proven...less innocent," she told him. "Please don't make me regret saying that."

The humor faded as they reached the edge of the crash site. Even beneath the blanket of moss and new growth, the path of destruction remained unmistakable. Broken trunks lay where they had fallen decades ago, scorched earth still marked the ship's violent passage, and fragments of hull plating peeked through the vegetation like bones beneath the forest floor. Whatever had come down here hadn't simply landed. It had torn its way through the valley.

When Syn raised his hand, Lyra stopped immediately.

She slipped to the side without a word, crouching behind a fallen trunk while carefully easing the little engineer lower into her pocket so he wouldn't accidentally announce their presence. The Anzellan immediately objected by attempting to bite her gloved finger, earning nothing more than a quiet, amused smile.

"I'm taking that as a complaint," she whispered.

He answered with another indignant stream of muttered curses that fortunately remained too quiet to carry beyond the brush.

Watching Syn disappear silently into the jungle, Lyra rested one hand on the grip of her blaster and let her eyes sweep the crash site, searching for any hint of movement among the overgrown wreckage.

If there was someone—or something—still here, she intended to see it before it saw them.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

He could hear the voices and didn't make a sound or turn to look at it but Lyra had it handled for the moment. The jedi master was stalking into the jungle and scaled a tree as he stopped and listened to the jungle. Climbing towards the ship as he touched the metal and could taste it. One hand going towards the ground before he was reaching into the metal itself and tapped with a finger and the force. Letting the vibration resonate through the metal so that he would be able to map it. The growth he could wipe away before he crouched down lower and moved silently on all fours searching for scents of rot not tied to the plants.

 

[Lyra Ventor]

Lyra remained where Syn had left her, resisting the temptation to follow immediately. Watching him disappear into the dense foliage was a reminder that the two of them approached problems from entirely different worlds. He listened to the jungle through the Force. She listened with her eyes and ears, looking for movement, broken branches, or anything that didn't belong.

Carefully, she adjusted her position behind the fallen trunk to give herself a better view of the overgrown crash site. The Anzellan shifted in her pocket, apparently unable to remain still for more than a few seconds. She rested a gloved finger lightly against the edge of the pocket.

"Easy," she whispered. "If he's sneaking around, the least we can do is avoid announcing ourselves."

The tiny engineer answered with another series of hushed complaints that sounded no less offended simply because they were quieter.

Lyra smiled despite herself before letting her attention return to the wreckage. Moss-covered hull plating disappeared beneath creeping vines, while shattered sections of fuselage protruded from the undergrowth like the ribs of some long-dead beast. Time had done its best to reclaim the crash, but not well enough to erase it.

Her hand rested comfortably on the grip of her blaster, more out of readiness than fear. If something emerged from the jungle, she'd be prepared. Until then, she waited, trusting Syn to investigate while she kept watch over the approach and their increasingly disgruntled little guide.

Syn

 

[Syn]

Lyra Ventor

Syn continued to move through as he came to a part of the ship and pushed on the cargo bay doors where he could feel a small breeze of air. The sound of the metal opening before he reached out with the force for Lyra. In the flooded corner of the cargo hold, the pod racer rested against the ruptured bulkhead. Its massive, heavily-treaded front wheels were jammed awkwardly under a collapsed section of the ship's ceiling. The bronze-painted casing was dulled and pitted. Thin vines had crawled over the entire chassis, weaving through the exposed coolant lines and wrapping around the central sunburst emblem. Leaf litter was packed into the treads of the two tires.

The pilot's cockpit, detached from the main body, had slid sideways and was now half-submerged in a puddle of stagnant water, its canopy cracked and speckled with green moss and lichen. A severed power cable dangled from the rear housing, ending in a cut end where the coupling failed during the impact. The thick, creeping roots of the dense jungle canopy above had forced their way through the damaged loading bay doors, anchoring the entire wreckage to the soil. Syn was moving as he looked over parts of it so that he would be able to search but he raised his attention to the rest of the ship as he climbed into the vents.