Private So Uncivilized

[Inanna Harth]

“Well, color me surprised,” Inanna muttered as her ship exited hyperspace. “I guess the Maw haven’t found this place yet.”

The blue-green planet of Zaathru hung peacefully against a backdrop of stars. Unlike its distant neighbor Lao-mon, its surface looked lush and healthy with an abundance of undisturbed natural life. At the same time, there was a darkness to the planet, a sense of primitive wildness.

“There’s no spaceport to dock in, so we’ll be landing directly on the planet’s surface," she said. "To save time, I figured we might try and sense where the nexus is with the Force, and then land as close to it as possible. But so far I’m having a hard time picking up on anything. It’s like the sheer amount of life on the planet is creating too much background noise to hear anything specific.”

Cato might have better luck than her, though. It was certainly worth a try.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Really?" Cato asked, his tone skeptical. He joined Inanna at the cockpit viewport as the planet came into view. It was lush and Arcadian, but beneath it were untamed dangers. Even from space, Zaathru's ecosystem seemed to resonate through the Force. Inanna picked up on it as well.

Cato shut his eyes to focus, reopening them as he tried to pinpoint where the strongest pull was coming from. Not just the strongest, but the darkest. It was barely noticeable at this distance, but it was there. Like a single droplet of rain touching his skin, heralding an oncoming storm. A faint whisper beckoning him closer. "I think… there," He pointed at an arid patch of land on one of the continents, "That desert. Try there."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“I mean, it’s possible they’re here in some capacity.” Inanna lined up her ship’s scanners with the desert region Cato had indicated. “But I don’t see any ships in orbit…”

As if on cue, a warning alarm blared. A projectile had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, headed straight for the ship.

“Brace for impact!” she exclaimed. The ship shuddered, disruptor shields taking the brunt of the blow, but Inanna wasn’t going to sit around waiting for their unseen attackers to hit them again. Gunning the engines, she sent them plunging toward the surface of Zaathru.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Huh," Cato remarked, taking a look at the empty space around them. No ships, no hostile forces. Maybe they really weren't here. It was supposed to be just on the edge of Maw controlled space, after all, "Well, all the easier for u-"

And just like that, an incoming projectile appeared from the void, triggering the warning klaxons. Cato braced himself in the doorway as the ship shook, "The hell was that?!" He looked around, pent-up adrenaline telling him to move without any destination.

"This thing have any guns on it?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"This thing have any guns on it?"

“A few,” Inanna replied distractedly. She was largely focused on getting them out of there, not fighting. On the other hand, she supposed their attackers might just pursue them down to the planet’s surface, so…

“Take a look.” She gestured to a screen, which displayed a dizzying array of jerry-rigged weaponry, including a hellcaster cannon, two concussion missiles, and more. “I don’t have any experience with dogfighting, so if you’re planning on doing something…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato took his place in front of the screen, and his eyes sparkled, "Hello~" A few was an understatement. He activated the hellcaster, and the barrel began to spool up with energy.

"Who the hell are these guys? Maw?" Or someone else. It was too frantic for him to make out any defining details through the screen, but after a few moments he locked onto the target and fired a volley of bolts at the nearest attacker. "Just focus on getting us planetside, I'll deal with our party crashers."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“I can’t tell. Looks like they’re cloaked.” But Cato’s targeting systems could trace the path of the projectiles to their origin point, giving him some idea of where to shoot. It was coming from somewhere near Dagda, one of Zaathru’s two moons. “If it’s not the Maw, this might explain why they haven’t conquered this area of space yet.”

It also didn’t exactly bode well for Inanna and Cato. If their ship became damaged in the fight… Well, the last thing they needed was to become stranded on a pre-spacefaring planet.

After a few more hits, the shields gave way and the hull started to take damage. Warnings blared, and a burning smell filled the interior of the ship. “Something’s fried,” Inanna muttered, white-knuckling the controls. “I’m shifting to manual.” Because the autopilot isn’t working anymore, she didn’t add.

It was a bumpy ride. Starry night gave way to blue skies and sand dunes. The landing stuck—sort of—but the impact was teeth-rattlingly hard.

In the silence that followed, Inanna heard something spark. She coughed, waving smoke away from her face. “You okay?” she called back to Cato.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"Just our luck," Cato mumbled as he flicked a series of switches. Cloaked enemies capable of holding back the tide of the Maw. Now targeting them. He fired a missile, which whistled off to hit one of the pursuing craft just as their own shields were taken down. The ship rattled, "I noticed," Cato said a bit tensely, wrinkling his nose at the smell.

Their ship fell at a less than comfortable speed, breaking through the atmosphere in a burst of fire that rippled off the hull. By the time they reached solid ground, it had slowed down to a slighty more manageable descent, though the landing was still far from solid itself. Cato braced himself against the console, jerking to the side as they came to an abrupt stop. He groaned, "I'm fine. You?" Cato turned to peer in her direction, trying to make out Inanna's silhouette in the film of smoke. He unlatched his harness and stood up, wobbling a bit as he made his way over to her, "We gonna be able to get out of here?"

At this point he wasn't even sure if the ships had followed or were taken down. None of it would mean a thing if they got stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Tired of this chit,” Inanna muttered, coughing. She found Cato and pulled him along toward an emergency exit. Not because she was taking his next question literally, but because she had no other desire at the moment other than to stop breathing smoke.

The hatch popped open before they even reached it—courtesy of Inanna’s telekinesis—and they found themselves outside. Desert air wasn’t exactly top notch quality, but the dust and faintly mineralic scent of sand was better than choking on fumes.

Inanna turned to face the ship. Thick black smoke billowed from the wreckage. “How bad does it look to you?” she asked. Cato was the tinkerer, so she figured he might at least have an idea of whether or not their vessel could be fixed. She also was hoping for a bit of his usual cavalier optimism in what was threatening to rapidly spiral into a very bad situation.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

"You and me both," Cato quipped, though his expression remained stoic. Together they made a beeline for the nearest exit, with Inanna yanking it open immediately for them to spill out. Cato coughed and waved away the excess smoke, even putting a bit of his own Force powers to mundane use, repelling the puffs of black from around them.

He leaned over and spun around, studying the ship, "Well… I wouldn't call that much smoke a good sign…" Cato managed to crack a wry, but visibly weary, smirk. He walked around a bit to the other side for a better look, and wiped his brow with his forearm, "It's not totaled, I think. Repairable, but, not exactly a quick fix."

"On the bright side, that Force presence is definitely stronger now. Er- If you can call that a bright side."

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna exhaled in relief at his answer. “So it’s salvageable,” she said. “Good. Fantastic, actually.”

Her gaze flicked upwards. The skies were clear, with no sign of vessels in pursuit. Was it too much to hope that their attackers had given up for now? And what if they were still there when they got the ship working again, lying in wait to finish them off?

No, she couldn’t think about that right now. One thing at a time. Inanna looked around. The featureless sand dunes seemed to stretch on endlessly in all directions, save one. Some distance away, a tower rose from the dust. The sunlight looked strange against its metallic surface, gleaming but not reflective, almost as if the light was being manipulated somehow.

“Is that the source of it?” she asked, pointing toward the silver spire—no, it was two tall spires with several smaller ones surrounding it, she realized. The structure was far enough away that her eyes played tricks on her, turning it into one giant monolith. Or perhaps something more supernatural was toying with her perceptions.

It did, after all, practically radiate pure fething evil.

"I brought a speeder bike along,” she said. “Although I don’t know how well it fared during the landing. Let’s see if we can get it out of the ship. I’d rather not have to walk that far…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato looked up, and shaded his eyes with his hand to spot the fluctuating mirage of spires in the distance, "Ayep. I'd say so," The sinister energy was palpable, and discomforting. But also exactly where they needed to head. Thankfully, they wouldn't be doing so on foot.

"Perfect," He walked back around to the ship's garage, throwing open the jammed door, revealing a speeder bike that had been tipped over. Cato grabbed the handles to yank it back up, and turned on the engine. The bike hovered up, wavering a bit as it did, but with a bit of tweaking on Cato's part, it seemed to function no worse for wear, "We can make it work."

He took it outside, giving Inanna space to hop on, before he sped off towards the spires, "So uh, you said the natives are pretty hostile to outsiders, yeah?" Cato asked, "Don't suppose you'd know if any of them live all the way out here?"

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna neglected to mention that the secondhand bike was hot pink, complete with gloriously tacky blue flame decals along the sides. She had meant to have it repainted at some point, but just never got around to it. Now it at least elicited a stifled giggle as she watched Cato pick it up and turn it on.

Before leaving, she grabbed a bag full of supplies. Mainly survival necessities: food, water, medicine, and the like. She wasn’t sure how long they’d be away from the ship, and there was a fairly high likelihood of wild animals or the natives scavenging the wreckage while they were gone.

She wrapped her arms tightly around Cato’s middle as they sped across the desert. At his question, she huffed. “Don’t jinx it, baby.”

Thankfully, they made their way across the wasteland without seeing any signs of life. On the other hand, the distance between them and the mysterious structure proved even greater than it looked. Hours passed and the sun began to set well before they reached their destination.

“It looks like we’re going to have to stop and make camp,” she said. “Although technically you’re supposed to travel by night through a desert…” It was really up to him, as the driver, where and when they stopped.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato took the bike's paint job in stride, offering little more than a snort and a nod as he took it outside. After a quick gathering of supplies, they were speeding off into the desert, and toward their destination. The great monolithic spires in the distance hardly seemed to grow any nearer even by the time the sun began to set. They wouldn't be making it for a while longer. Thankfully, the rest of the journey had been otherwise unimpeded.

"Technically, yeah," He shrugged, having never had much time to consider it until now, "We've been through a lot already. We should rest while we can get it," If they were forced to travel by foot, then proper survival skills might be more pertinent. But the use of a speeder negated the need for excessive exertion. The speeder slowed to a stop, and he hopped off, searching through the supplies they had grabbed, "Don't suppose there's a tent in here? Or something we can use to make a tent?" Deserts were cold come nightfall. Shelter and fire would be ideal buffers. Not that there was a lot firewood around them either.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

"I have an inflatable tent." Inanna removed a small box from her pack. It was a little old and banged up, but it should work. She tossed it lightly upon the ground... and nothing happened. Retrieving it, she rolled it as if it were oversized dice. Still nothing. After a few more tries with no success, she began fiddling with the contraption, trying to get it to open up by force. Still no luck. Out of frustration she threw it down hard—then yelped as it blew up in her face, the tent suddenly unfurling from the box like a bird spreading wings of canvas cloth and plasteel boning.

“No assembly required,” she growled irritably.

As for the fire, there was just enough dry scrub and scraggly bushes lying around to make kindling. Since Inanna’s body ran a few degrees hotter than Cato’s, she’d fare worse in the cold than him. Yet she was reluctant to start a fire. “A fire might draw attention to us,” she said. “We have food that doesn’t need to be cooked, and for warmth, we could just… huddle together in the tent, I guess.”

It was sort of a lame alternative, and she knew it. But if a confrontation with the natives was inevitable, she was determined to delay it for as long as possible. Still, Inanna reluctantly shrugged her shoulders as she bent down to stick her bag inside the newly formed tent. “If you’re willing to risk it, I won’t try to stop you. I don’t like being cold, and it would keep wild animals away…”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

“Oh. Perfect,” Cato dusted off his hands, settling them akimbo as Inanna began fiddling with the soon-to-be-tent. A few awkward moments past where she couldn’t quite get it to work, and finally he stepped forward, “Let me give it a-”

And just then, it expanded rapidly, enveloping Inanna’s personal space as it did, before settling back down. Cato was barely stifling a chuckle by the time it was over, “No assembly required,” He echoed wryly.

Shelter was done, but it still left the question of warmth. Inanna was quit to point out the risks involved with a fire. Cato scratched his head, “Fair enough…” Then, threw up his hands, and seemed to relax now that things were decided, “Welp, I can survive a night of close cuddling if you can,” He winked, “Just let me know if you change your mind.”

Cato gave the perimeter around their tent a quick walk-around, making sure nothing alarming was on the horizon. Thankfully, they seemed well and truly alone. And hopefully, it would remain that way. “I think we’ll be alright,” He sighed contently, slithering into the tent, “Hell of a way to start the trip off, though…” He laid on his side, propped up by his elbow.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna narrowed her eyes at him. “Something tells me you’re going to make sure I don’t change my mind.”

She watched him circle the perimeter with a wary eye. Her anxieties about Zaathru were of course rooted in fear of the unknown. She didn’t know what to expect from this planet, apart from the horror story Samyaza had told and a few fragmentary explorer’s accounts she’d managed to track down, which didn’t make it sound much better.

With Cato having slipped into the tent, she continued rummaging around among their supplies. “Hungry?” she asked, holding up some food wrapped in foil. Whether he took it or not, she set one aside for herself and continued her search. “Cais ned’jin, how hard is it to find a blanket?…”

Her fingers finally closed around soft cloth. She pulled out a clean, folded blanket—only to realize it was one of Serena’s baby blankets. “Must’ve grabbed it by accident,” she muttered. After a second perusal of the contents of the bag, she sighed. “And of course that’s all I brought.”

“It’s a little small for two people…” Crawling beside Cato, she unwrapped the blanket and fell rather quiet, her thoughts elsewhere.

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato bowed, "I only aim to please."

They settled in soon after, and he took a bit of the offered food, "I'm starving." The blanket Inanna pulled out was less than preferable, seeing as it was baby-sized, but also seemingly all they had. He just snorted again, "Keep it. I'll live," Not like such a little square of cloth would do much for him anyway. She laid beside him, and it quickly became rather silent, spare the rustling of wind through dunes of sand.

"Sooooo," Cato finally said, "Uh, whatcha thinking' about?" He asked, picking up on her apparent introspection.

Inanna Harth​

 

[Inanna Harth]

It could be argued that things got quiet because they were eating dinner, but the silence persisted even after Inanna had finished. Slinging the blanket around her shoulders (it couldn’t cover much else), she hugged up to Cato, wrapping an arm around him. In response to his question, she hummed, her voice muffled against his chest. “I miss Serena.”

Just getting to Zaathru had taken a few days. At first it had been like taking a break, but now she felt the toddler’s absence more keenly, like a gap where something was missing. The mistaken blanket served as yet another reminder of what they had left behind.

“She’s my baby now too, you know. Not just yours.”

Cato Harth​

 

[Cato Harth]

Cato laid an arm around Inanna in kind, staring blankly at the tent canvas until she spoke. He then looked down, and smiled wistfully, "Yeah…" His experience was similar to hers. Even the best moms and dads enjoyed a break from time to time, and it was a welcome chance to cut loose some after all the parenting. Turns out, babies are quite the handful.

But now that more time had passed, and even a little exacerbated by the tension of having almost crashed their ship on a dangerous and unadvanced planet, he too was missing his little girl. Cato studied the blanket, his gaze broken by Inanna's following comment. He looked back at her quizzically, like she had just said something painfully clear, "Well— Obviously," He chuckled once, and pulled her a little closer, "You're her mom."

Inanna Harth​