Just a Common Trip

[Kay-Larr]

"I'm okay. Can't believe that we climbed that high..." She peered over the edge a little bit. "..but I'm okay." [member="Marina DeVoe"] needed assurance and that was about the best that Kay could do right now.

Her attention turned to [member="Einon"] as he led them down what they could presume was the path that led him to beat them to the top. How was she going to explain the weird time warp that they were in? Marina gave her the look, giving her the indication that she wanted her to tell the bizzare tale. Oh boy. Here goes...

"We didn't camp. It was weird, Einon. We found an old building, explored it and came across some people that were stuck in this." She pulled out the sample of the amber-like substance and held it out for him to look at. "We had a break to eat, then broke off a piece and decided to head back. Next thing we knew there were men after us, her droid panicked and apparently we were gone for over two days when we weren't. I don't understand it myself, but...I swear that we haven't had any spice or anything." Isn't drugs the usual excuse for that kind of tale? Well in this case, there wasn't any. Not even alcohol.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Wow...it could have sounded worse coming from her. Good thing it was Cessy who were telling it, as if she had said the exact same thing Marina was certain there would be a doctor waiting down there...and it wouldn't have been a medical doctor.

"Oh yea...thanks..." She nodded, taking the canteen of water from Cessy, as her friend went to explain their bizarre discovery.
The water was a welcome refresher, as the climb had taken a lot of effort. Both she and Cessy had yet to take a drink, since they were pulled up. Marina took a few good drinks and handed the soft leather-like canteen back to Cessy.

"Yea...sounds crazy even to me hearing it from her....but that's what happened. I wouldn't be able to tel it different.." She confirmed Cessy's story.

"What do you suppose that stuff is anyway?...I never heard of such entombment. Even those men in that stuff seemed like they were just put in there like..yesterday. only that the accumulative dust down below indicated no one's been around down there for quite some time. The only disturbance and foot prints down there were ours..." She added.

 

[Doyle]

Einon wasn't sure of what to make of the outlandish tale. He made observational glances to each of them, checking to see if he saw any bumps on their heads or any other signs of a fall. They had water, so that seemed to show that they weren't dehydrated. "I guess that there's more mysteries to this place than just it's abilities to mess with communications."

He took the piece that [member="Lady Kay"] and [member="Marina DeVoe"] had chipped off and inspected it within the bag as he led them down a zig zag path. "You're saying that people are trapped in this stuff? Are they trapped behind it? Or within it?" Carbonite came to mind, but this was different. "Any computer terminals down there? Any indications that they are just asleep in this stuff?" Many more questions formed in his mind. There'll have to be a team brought in to make sure that whatever it was, it didn't spread. The last thing that they all needed was for all of Commenor to be entombed.

"In any case, the raiders were arrested and sent away. You've got a fiesty droid. Not a bad thing to have when it comes to protecting your ship."

 

[Marina DeVoe]

She would have naturally been yapping all about the amber, the cavern and especially the two creepy dudes encased in the stuff. But her mind were elsewhere...on her droid.
Einon had several times already assured Marina that her droid wasn't worse for wear...a little carbon scorching as some blaster fire had been exchanged, but otherwise working quite well. Just the only thing marina was still anxious over was that she still couldn't communicate with it. But she were heading down toward TK and would see for herself. She figured not to hound the man about it, as he wouldn't know why her droid could no longer link up with her, despite it was just a few hundred feet away. She had gotten the man's answer before about the canyon having spotty signal interference and most likely he would tell her that again. Even so, there was nothing the man could do if he didn't know much more. So Marina walked in a hurried pace along her friend and Einon.

It took a fraction of the time getting down than it took for her and Cessy to climb up. And as soon as she were down on the canyon floor, she quickened her pace even more to then a light run for the ship once they saw it around the bend.


And there was her droid, out there seemingly trying to scan the area.
"TK!..." Marina yelled as she took to a full sprint. The few men that were there at first seemed to want to intercept her, but somehow got word, signal or gesture to let the woman through.

The droid spotted her and made it's way toward Marina too. They came at a sort of midpoint before marina took hold of it in a sort of hug, before she knelt down and were going over her droid, looking for damage.

Sure enough some scorching and what had appeared to be a grazing shot had actually took out it's comm link.
And so the droid beeped and whistled that exact diagnostic.
"Oh wow...I'm so glad you're alright...God, I didn't know-" She didn't get a chance to finish when he beeped in.

be-be-beep be bee beep..

"Yea, I could see that...I 'll get the comm link fixed-" But she were interrupted by TK as it voiced its opinion on that matter...

"Ok, ok... fine, I'll let you fix it.....God!... sigh....I'm glad you haven't changed..."

 

[Kay-Larr]

"I don't know. They look like they're trapped inside it. One of them has an arm outstretched, so I'm thinking that it's some alternative to carbonite." And one that would make a Hutt grin with glee to be able to display their enemies in such a clear manner. "We didn't see any terminals on our side. But there could have been some on the other side. It looked like there was stuff behind them."

Kay watched as [member="Marina DeVoe"] sprinted off towards her droid TK. She grinned as she saw them reunite. It was a special kind of friendship that the two shared and she admired that. Of course it just made her think of poor Mrs. Nesbitt.

"Thanks for coming out here, Einon. You probably saved our hides." But then again, that was his job. And she was glad that he seemed to be keeping her identity a secret too. She didn't want to risk getting Marina mad at her for lying.

"Everything alright, Marina? TK is good? What about your ship?"

 

[Marina DeVoe]

"Hehe...tinker toy is fine....just his comm got hit..." She stood up with such a happy smile on her face.

Yes, her droid had taken a grazing round, but was Ok. The droid's comm could easily be replaced even by her, but looked like that was out of the question, as the droid wanted to repair itself. yes, TK was as feisty as ever, despite being in harms way.
But the Mariner IV?

Marina hadn't thought about what the Mariner IV must have experienced as far as damage. But now that Cessy had brought it up, marina took a look from where she stood. By that time both Cessy and Einon had caught up. Cessy drew closer to her as her company security personnel went to see about his men...or whoever those other companion of his were.
There were two crafts that they had landed near her ship...no wait-
A third came by and hovered near, seemingly communicating with one of Einon's companions, before it took off again. Marina figured there were probably a few more crafts that had come searching for Cessy, as they must have outnumbered the other crafts, that the marauders had.

"I'm not sure what damage they may have done inside, but the exterior looks Ok, say for a few scorched marks. The ship was made to take on small blaster fire and that's what it looks like it did on the outside." She said, after a quick assesment of the damages. They were minute by visual inspection.

She then turned to Cessy.
"I'll have to check for myself inside and run some basic operational diagnostics. It may take an hour or two, Cessy.
I can't see you waiting on me. I'm sure Einon isn't going back without you." She started figuring.

"Besides, your company has sent their security people to come looking for you and you might as well go back with them...I think it's what's expected of you to do...no?" Marina figured this was the end of her role, as she was certain the men here wouldn't just simply leave..not without Cessy or possibly even providing escort back, if Cessy decided to take the Mariner IV.
But the ship may had been compromised, and Marina couldn't simply just haphazardly take off with her passenger, not being certain about it being safe. She wasn't one to risk her passengers...especially one she now considered a friend.

"I'll be OK...I'm sure the ship's OK to fly too, but I do have to run through the diagnostics. Would be a big boo-boo finding out something was amiss in the middle of a jump...
So it's best if you go now with them.
...and don't worry about the fare..it's on me, Cessy. As bad as it turned out to be, it was a great adventure for me and a pleasure to have made a friend."

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay gave [member="Marina DeVoe"] a small smile, glad that TK was in pretty good shape. That was a relief.

She watched as everyone seemed to be busy with something, [member="Einon"] included, all except for her. So Kay stood watch for a moment, puzzling over what she should do. Stay? Or go? In some ways Marina was right. Her security team wouldn't want her to stick around. Yet she didn't want to just leave her there either.

"Are you sure that you'll be fine? I can wait until you're sure that your ship is okay." She chewed the inside of her cheek a little and then stepped forward. Kay couldn't leave Marina without getting a hug first. "Making a new friend is priceless, but you'll still be getting paid. You used up fuel, rations and have some damage to repair. So it'll be on me. And I'll have some of the team stay here with you until you're sure that you can get offworld okay. Oh! And let me be able to contact you so that you can know what we discovered."

 

[Marina DeVoe]

2 days...
Two days had somehow and unexplainably passed them by, during the mere hours they had experienced.
Marina appreciated Cessy's concern and willingness to remain with her until the Mariner IV could be deemed space worthy. But taking everything in consideration, it weren't really feasible, not with so many rescue crafts and personnel that had been deployed looking for a lost company executive. Marina really felt Cessy's sincere and that was more than enough. She couldn't see holding up so many personnel for a few hours. They had to depart their ways for now.

"Cessy, I can't-" But Marina's effort at even not accepting the fare for the flight, went without say. Cessy had the last word. That and instructing one of the crafts and crew to remain behind giving assistance if Marina required it, so that she could leave the system in a safe ship.

"...yea, I'm curious too as to what we stumbled upon in the caverns. " Marina replied.
Yes, most certainly Cessy would most likely have the amber looking samples analysed before commencing a research team to explore their findings. Maybe even the time anomaly, could be a result of what was down there that trapped the two poor souls.

"...and thank you so much for having a crew stay behind. I'm sure everything will be fine with the ship...just have to go through the safety checks. You know me...cautious. Hehe.."
And she hugged her new found friend.

"Good-bye Cessy....
Oh, and here is my contact info. It's easier to message me using the company network. It's more widely accessible than my personal comm.
So....sigh...." Good byes were never her strong point. Marina hated parting when friends were concerned, But Cessy had her job and her company had sent so many crafts to search for her. Cessy had more obligations to leave than stay a few more hours. After all, two days had passed and marina knew that everyone associated with Cessy had been worried. Yes, Cessy had to go back with her searchers and rescuers.

"Oh....and don't forget to call me if ever you need to get lost again for a couple of days !" She laughed, waving to her friend as she were escorted to one of the crafts.
"...and you too, Einon. Take care!"