Public Project: Defiance (PM to Join)

[Aeshi Tillian]

OOC Ken Martano

GH-531. About as barren and inhospitable a world as one could wish for. Rocky, desolate, and windswept with atmosphere that made it impossible to scan the surface and scrambled comm signals. She sat on the edge of her seat as she guided her ship down towards the surface. This was where the colony mission had decided to settle. Not the best world for it, but the first wave of colonists were mostly grizzled spacers already. Mostly Outer Rim folks like herself who had already carved out niches for themselves on semi-established worlds, but now wanting to go the next step and start somewhere truly fresh.

Worlds without any government interference or prior settlement weren't easy to come by. So after an exhaustive search of databases and records, they had ended up here. Hopefully between the scrambling and scan-blocking, it would keep them safe enough from raiders, be they pirate or government-oriented. All the same to her. The problem had been that it was hard to start a colony on an essentially unmapped world. It was why she and Ken were here before the rest of the initial wave. They were to scout out the world and find the best location for a settlement. Normally, a scanner would be the key, but with that being jammed, it was back to old fashioned eyes.

"In recording range," Aeshi said from her seat, over her shoulder. "Start the holovid recorder and keep your eye out the viewports. See if you can find anything that might indicate signs of water present in the ground. And keep an eye out for ion storms. Don't need to crash onto this rock before the rest arrive."

 

[Ken Martano]

Ken was tired of it all. Tired of fighting. Tired of running. Tired of trying to believe in causes.

That was why he was here, flying over this storm-scoured rock with Aeshi Tillian at the helm. There were others like him, others who wanted to get away from the chaos of a galaxy locked in a constant state of war. They were going to build something together, way out here where none of the great powers could reach them - or would even want to come looking. In an age that seemed to demand they choose a side, believe in one blood-soaked mega-government over another, it would be a symbol of their Defiance.

First, though, they had to put in the groundwork to make sure their hidden refuge could survive on its own. Ken lifted the holovid recorder to point evenly out the viewport beside his seat, visually scanning the surface through its zoom lens as it rushed by beneath the ship. "On it, Captain," he replied, eyes peeled for promising terrain features. He didn't know Aeshi well yet; this dream they shared, a dream of a place beyond the reach of politics, was all that linked them for now. But he was willing to follow her lead.

They flew in near-silence for several minutes, the low hum of the sublight engines the only sound in the cabin. Ken was too focused to make any effort at conversation, trying to tease out possible locations that might provide the resources their little colony would need - and that would shelter them from the ion storms that raged across the planet in a constant cycle of strengthening and weakening tempests. They were a hazard, but they were also a potential shield from both detection and mass-invasion.

Something caught Ken's eye, a patch of shadow, and he zoomed the viewfinder in closer. "Twenty-two degrees to starboard, Captain," he called out, taking in the sight. "Some kind of cave system beneath that overhang. If there's liquid water on this dustball, I'd guess it's somewhere sheltered like that." The cave opening was massive, large enough to comfortably fit the ship inside, but it quickly narrowed beyond the mouth, diverging into multiple twisting tunnels that vanished into the darkness. Worth a shot.

Even if there wasn't water, they could at least use it to keep the ship out of the way of any storms that cropped up.

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

"Twenty-two degress to starboard, making course adjustment," Aeshi replied, craning her head to peer out the main viewport towards where Ken Martano had indicated. "Cave system's a good start. Get a temporary base for our scouting mission, if not a place for the colony."

She could see the overhand now. A massive hole in the ground with a lip of stone hiding the edge. One hand slowed the ship's thrusters so they approached at what felt like a crawl, but was still faster than most ground vehicles. The other hand adjusted the computer to bring about a measurement of the cave. She gave a low whistle. "Seen smaller buildings." Aeshi brought the ship down on a slow approach vector.

Several minutes passed as it came down to the surface. "Any sign of seismic instability in this cavern system? Don't want to put my ship somewhere where a bunch of rocks are going to smash it." She flipped a switch and the ship rumbled as the landing gear lowered. There was a hiss of steam and hydraulics as it settled onto the rocky surface. She lifted a breath-mask from next to the command console and strapped it over her face.

"Want to go see if we can find some water? Got some probe drills in the cargo hold."

 

[Ken Martano]

The towering stone cliff dwarfed the starship, looming ominously over the approaching explorers.

As Aeshi Tillian carefully set the craft down, Ken kept an eye on the scanners. "No signs of instability," he reported, watching the readouts tick steadily by. "This planet is old, and it's cold inside now. There's not much shifting in the mantle that would cause seismic shifts, and the stone is dense and solid." He wasn't a scout by training, but he'd been educated at one of the finer universities of the galaxy's eastern edge, and he'd spent a lot of time picking up a wide range of spacer skills in his wanderings.

The ship rocked gently as the landing gear met the rocky ground, coming to rest in the mouth of the cave. A low, mournful howl echoed through the passage, the combined sound of the wind whistling through half a dozen stone throats. Despite himself, Ken was excited. They were almost certainly the first two sentients to set foot in this cave system, and some of the first to walk the planet's surface at all. He strapped on his breath mask and gave Captain Tillian a nod, ready to follow her lead.

The probe drills would let them break through some of the rock in search of water, but it would help to have a more specific idea of where to look before using them. Ken picked up a handheld environmental scanner, then headed for the loading ramp. Preliminary readings scrolled across the screen as the ramp slid open. "Atmosphere is technically breathable, but extremely arid and particulate-heavy," he reported. "All sorts of silica dust that can get into your lungs and tear them up if you're not careful."

He didn't want the dust in his eyes, either, so he donned a pair of goggles and prepared to follow the captain.

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Ken Martano

Aeshi nodded as her compatriot observed the nature of the planet's surface. What he said made sense and functioned in line with what she'd learned working for GUIDE. Granted, she was a hyperspace scout, not a planetary scout. "Not sure if it's good or bad that the world is old and dying."

The woman activated the switch on her breathing apparatus as the boarding ramp began to land. She pulled a scarf up over her lower face while a pair of goggles protected her eyes. "SIlica dust ?And particulate heavy atmo." That was more concerning. Manageable, but not ideal. They'd need some way to seal off usable atmo and filter it, which meant power generators, industrial filters, sealed environment, so probably interconnected prefabs.

Her boots crunched on the surface of the planet as she stepped off the ramp. A headlamp flickered on as strode to the mouth of the cave and looked in. "Anything interesting on the scanner? Cave this big could be hiding a krayt dragon for all we know. Don't want to run into one of those again."

She stepped further into the cave, cautiously picking her step across the cave floor. "Watch your step. Rock's not smooth. Lots of erosion, looks like. Could be silica-based." The beam of light darted across the stone, revealing rough, raw stone around the entrance of the cave. "Irregularly shaped. Seems natural enough in origin."

 

[Ken Martano]

Ken shrugged. "Wouldn't say it's a bad thing. It takes a planet a long, long time to die. We'll be dust before anything comes of it. For now, it means minimal chances of an earthquake." For a moment he wondered what it would be like to be as ancient and long-lived as the stones around him. He shuddered at the thought; in only twenty-seven years of life he'd already seen the kind of suffering the galaxy could inflict. He wasn't ready for his life to end yet, but he didn't want to live forever, either.

They stepped down the ramp together, and at the captain's instruction Ken kept his eyes on the scanner. "Hard to get a reading with all this dense rock," he replied, "but I'm pretty sure there are no big life forms down here. They'd show up. Besides, what would they eat? The only native plant life I'm picking up is lichen; honestly, it's a miracle they're putting out enough oxygen to form any kind of atmosphere, unless I'm missing something. But that does suggest at least some liquid water."

Ken stumbled and nearly fell several times on the loose silicate gravel, his footing difficult to see as he followed Aeshi Tillian 's light. "Yeah. Could be that there used to be a lot of water here, carving out the canyons and caverns. Or maybe glaciers rather than a sea. Whatever it was, that must have been tens of thousands of years ago... if it was that recent." He wondered what this planet, nameless except for a bland alphanumerical designation, had looked like back then. Had it been beautiful?

He was torn from his thoughts as the scanner suddenly lit up. "Couple of readings..." he said, trying to get a fix on where they were coming from. "Could be life forms, but there's a lot of interference. Hard to tell." Suddenly, the question was answered for him when several pairs of leathery wings swooped past his face. "Sithspit," Ken swore, nearly falling as loose gravel shifted beneath him again. He drew his blaster, scanning the cavern for more movement. After a moment, the scanner got a better fix on the things.

"Mynocks," he reported. "Not native, obviously. They probably got here on supply ships to that old survey base, centuries ago."

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Ken Martano

Aeshi shrugged at the words. Minimal chance still meant there was a chance and she hadn't survived as long as she had on the very fringes of society by ignoring possible risks. But he was right. Not something they quite had to worry about yet. But it was something to consider for the future. Something that far out needed planning for. She couldn't just trust her instincts in the Force. She wasn't a seer that could see the future.

She had just a flicker before the wings swooped down towards her face. Aeshi dropped to one knee, hand reaching for her blaster, but she stopped, breathing tightly controlled as she forced her fingers to relax and move away from the holster. The point of this colony project was to have a new life where she didn't need to resort to a blaster that often. She glanced around again before slowly returning to her feet. The gravel and stone beneath her boots crunched as she rolled her shoulders.

"Yeah. Mynocks. Hate those things." She brushed some of the dust off her pants as she pushed forward a little deeper into the cave. "Well, if it can support lichen and mynocks, we should be alright." Her gaze traversed the roof of the cave above them. "Especially if we can get some small-scale terraforming. What do you think? Seal off the entrance in the long-term? Tunnel down for geothermal? Ever built in a cave before?"

She knelt and ran a finger through the gravel, digging into the dirt to reach towards the bottom. It took her a bit but she eventually reached solid-rock. "Foundations could be tricky to start with until we dig through the soil." She rapped her knuckles on the stone. "Feels solid though."