Sunburns & Hyperdrive Troubles

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Eventually Kurt managed to patch all of Kaile's little scars up, cleaning her up enough that he felt comfortable leaving her behind in the med-bay for a moment while he investigated the starships central console. He poked around for half a moment, finding the switch that would open up the hangars bay doors. Light flooded the room, the sun glowing brightly in the sky still and revealing that it was sometime in the late afternooon. The courier seemed to nod at that, wandering back out of the shuttle to look at the state of the hangar.

As one would expect, most of the places was entirely filthy.

There were several doors spread throughout the hangar bay, some likely leading to those maintenance closets, others to off-shoot rooms that would go to rooms where pilots and such hung out. It was all standard really, aside from the Hangar Bays location within a dormant volcano. For a moment Kurt simply mused, then he called back to Kaile on the ship. "We'll have to be careful. The Hangar deck is really slippery."

Perhaps they could find some droids to clean up the mess left by the bats. It wouldn't take long really, most of it could simply be swept off and out of the hangar bay via the front doors. There wouldn't be any real issue, but landing would have to be done with a bit more tact than usual.

"Let's spool up the engines." So far he had only turned on the reactor. "Get The Messa over here."

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile was a small patchwork of bacta patches, coming up alongside him. "Okay, hopefully this ol' girl has it in her." considering the guano and everything else, they had to make sure things would be safe for them. Tucking the tangled of hair behind her ears, Kaile gave a grimace. She could not only smell herself, but the guano.

Definitely will be taking a nice long dip afterwards.

Her stomach also gave a slight rumble. They hadn't actually had anything to eat at all today besides the power bars. They would have to try and follow up with their original plan, or at least consider what to do to get a real meal out of this.

"Well have to actually sit down and eat too. Maybe clean up a bit." With a slight frown, "Let me go check the engines real quick... rather not have something living there and then ... explode..."

That would be the cherry on the cake.


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt nodded. He was getting rather hungry, though the excitement of the day was making it so his stomach wasn't really craving anything, just sort of coasting along. he would have thought it odd, but the drop in the elevator earlier had dispelled any thought of actually eating anything. He supposed that was because of the idea of throwing up, or rather, the idea of him dying before he could even have time to throw up. A shake entered his body, an involuntary shutter that carried throughout him.

"Yeah." The Courier said.

"Check those engines." Kurt quickly continued on, glossing past what he had just experienced. "Go ahead and see if there's any bats in there, if so we'll get em out and if not we'll go and get The Messa. Piloting back into the hangar shouldn't be all that hard. This old bird was meant to be easy to fly."

Of course, they would both have to fly one of the ships.

It went without saying that Kurt would grab The Messa when they were back on shore and Kaile would fly back this ship. He trusted her with their ship of course, but flying The Messa was something of a treat for him every single time he did it, even if the journey took literally under a minute. The vessel was his after all, now wholly owned by himself with a title and everything, that made a certain point of pride swell in his chest every time that he thought about it. "After, you can see if we can't cook something in The Messa and I'll see about some tools."

 

[Kaile Vera]

"Got it."

Setting her bag down beside Kurt, Kaile freed her arms of the added weight and shift of items. A soft sigh of relief blew out of her checks, sending her bangs up in the air and scattering. She'll need a few things first. Bending down, Kaile tugged at the straps of her bag and flipped the lid. Digging in, she took out her servo driver and hydrospanner.

Alright, she told her self with a nod. Her other hand picked up her flashlight. "Just yell if you need me." Kaile would tell the pilot, coming to her feet to head off of the shuttle. She first wanted to inspect the outside. If anything had made its nest there, that was the first place she needed to shoo them off.

Only that this was going to get her crawling up guano covered hull. Yuck.

Knowing that it had to be done, Kaile searched for the ladder rungs and went to work.




[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Meanwhile, as Kaile inspected the engines, Kurt made sure that every other system on the ship was still working.

He ran a quick diagnostics tests of the ship itself, making sure that the hydraulics that worked the wings still functioned and ensuring that every other system actually was still up and running. The computer was surprisingly fast for how old it was, the diagnostic programming running within half a heart beat to show that everything was still up to snuff. The Courier let out a loud whistle, clearly impressed by the fact that the ship was still so pristine.

"Shame to take her apart." Kurt mused slightly. "Oh well."

It wasn't like he had an emotional attachment to the thing. "Kaile! How are the engines?"

The ship worked off of Ion Engines, much like most vessels, and it shouldn't take too long to clear them out of anything if something had nested there, or so Kurt thought anyway. As he waited for a response the Courier threw himself down into the pilot seat, buckling himself in and beginning the startup checks of the craft, though taking careful measure to avoid touching anything that had to do with the engines.

 

[Kaile Vera]

This time around, Kaile was ready. She had her flashlight, her tools and the determination to make sure she didn't go flying off the ship onto an embarrassing pile of bat poodoo. Thankfully, her initial inspection lead to a zero on the critters departments.

Kaile: One!

Bats: Zero!

From down below, the Lorrdian heard the pilot's yell. It echoed, muffling it a bit. Nonetheless, Kaile caught the gist of it. "Sec!" she cried out, moving to climb down the rungs and come back. Hopping off that last step, she gave a huff.

"Almost done."

Rushing inside, the agent headed over to check the ones inside. That thankfully didn't take as long. The ion engines seemed in good working order. Considering that they'd been protected by the elements, they were in tip top shape.

"We are good!"


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kaile dropped from the ship and quickly headed inside of the cockpit, joining Kurt there and happily plopping herself down in the co-pilots seat. The Courier offered her a small smile, leaning over and flipping one of the small switches on the board. There was a slight roar, a buzz, and then a sudden whir as the Engines began to spool up. For a moment nothing happened, then the shuttle slowly began to rumble. "Strap yourself in, we don't know how she'll fly."

Kurt said simply as he took hold of the controls.

He could feel the vessel shake a bit more, the bright blue of the ion engines erupting in the mirrored surface of the hangar deck as they blazed into life. He reached over and flipped the switch for the vessels repulsor engines, ensuring that once the support struts were up they wouldn't fall flat on their face. The ramp was raised next, slowly lifting up and sealing itself into place with a loud hiss. All the systems showed green, running surprisingly smoothly after all these centuries.

"Here goes nothing." Kurt said with a shrug.

The shuttle lifted from the Hangar deck, pushing off the floor and rising slightly into the air.

It hung there for a moment, then The Courier slowly began to maneuver the vessel out and towards the Hangar Bay doors. Within half a heartbeat they passed from the the hangar and into the open, soaring into the dormant hold of the volcano and passing into the sky.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Just like that, they were airborne.

There was this rush in her belly, one of excitement as the black shuttle soared from the volcano hanger. It just seemed... surreal. Their viewport wasn't too clean enough to really appreciate the beauty of their mystery island, but regardless, it made Kaile feel a bit small. The second volcano jutted up from the earth up into a sharp point. Steep cliffs of granite and old lava beds. From here, they would see a majestic singular waterfall pouring into a larger river, this one split off and went towards the south end of the island.

There were a few flat planes, and as they flew over, they could see larger animals bounding like Dantooine deer. "Look!" she'd point, a small herd moving into the jungle. They were of a smaller stature, but considering their location. That made more sense. They likely didn't reach any higher than knee level.

"Guess we will have something to hunt after all!"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt watched the animals for a time, his eyes settling on them as they began to roam around the small clearing. He had never seen that type of creature before, couldn't even identify them. He mused for a second, then slowly tipped the shuttle over towards the left and the island where they had left The Messa. It came as no surprise that the massive land bridge that had been there not hours ago was now completely gone, the tides having surged and covered the small inlet completely.

"Well..." Kurt began. "I guess no more bridge."

He offered Kaile a shrug.

He hadn't quite expected it to stay anyway, but it seemed odd to him.

"We'll have to see if it's there tomorrow again." If it was just a weekly thing or perhaps daily he didn't know. Tides worked differently depending on the planet you were on, moons, weather, location, it all had an effect on things. He shrugged again, then pulled the Shuttle over towards where he saw The Messa. The bright red paint of his ship showed rather well on the contrasting sands of the white beach, burning like a bright red fire.

 

[Kaile Vera]

"We can at least dig through this shuttle and see what we can use!" Kaile told the pilot, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead. Grit and the dry salt of her sweat smeared a dark streak along with the dust of guano. Her face puckered in a grimace.

"Tch... Reckon we are both gonna need a good washin'" the young woman sighed out, her shoulders sinking in weariness. The time had it at about three o'clock in the afternoon already. The sun a bright yellow orb slowly sinking into the horizon. Mentally, she ticked off areas of her body that felt sore. Thighs, legs and arms. There was a small knot at her back too.

She gave a small stretch, her hand reaching behind her to rub at it. The action brought to the fore a memory. Of sandalwood and lavender. The pressure of thumbs, the slow rotating circles as knots of tension were massaged away. Along with what had come before that. Cheeks flushed in a manner that had nothing to do with the heat.

"Maybe take a dip in the ocean first."


[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Maybe." Kurt said, though truthfully swimming was now the last thing on his mind. The opportunity to upgrade The Messa had him far more excited than any sort of beach going could ever do, well, maybe not any sort, but most. The Courier loved his ship, and he loved the idea of getting new parts for it. It was something that he genuinely liked doing, something that he always look forward to. That much was obvious with how Kurt was sitting, with how he was fidgeting.

"There we go." Kurt said pointing to a small space behind the dunes. "We can touch down there."

The shuttle dipped low over the beach, cutting just across The Messa's hull and slicing over the dune. The wings of the shuttle folded in on itself again, slowly moving back to their landing position. There was a slight hiss as the landing gear unfurled, a rocking of the cockpit as they touched down against the harder ground of the compacted sands.

"Easy." The Courier said with a shrug.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile wasn't thinking about swimming as much as simply washing off everything. There is only so much one can enjoy a sonic for. Even washing off the bulk of the grime in the sea then using the sonic seemed like like a good way to start. Grabbing something to eat and making sure they were fed was another thought.

Speaking of fire pits, they still had the other one with hot coals. Along with my new spear.

Drat!

Well, she mused, as Kurt landed them upon the beach, just will have to go grab it when we head on over next time. "I'm going to get cleaned up." shet old him, unbuckling herself. Bending over to grab her bag, she slung it over her shoulder. "Then we can take inventory of what we have in here."

The engines were barely waning in the whine, allowing her to speak without having to yell. "Maybe get something to eat. I'll see what I can do." her boots were a tattoo upon the deck, leaving the cockpit for Kurt to do as he pleased.

"I'll get back to you in a bit."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt nodded, though he was already mentally thinking of everything they'd have to do.

It would go easier if they headed back to the Hangar, but he supposed that if Kaile wanted to get cleaned up a bit first he was hardly one to deny her that privilege, especially considering what they had found in the hangar bay and what she had taken a slight tumble in. "Don't rush."

Kurt told her.

"I'll check over the shuttle." The Courier said as she hopped out of the cockpit. "Let's head back to the hangar after you've cleaned up though, we can take inventory after and cook on The Messa."

It was a better option than having to do everything on the beach, especially because that would give Kurt time enough to look through all those maintenance closets. Who knew what they would find there. Could be anything from new weapons to shield generators to components that had been meant for custom starships. He doubted that last part, but a part of him held out hope that they would find all the things that Kurt could ever want.

After all, finding the Bunker in the first place had been a miracle.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Her 'okay' of agreement sailed over her shoulder. Quick feet jogged down towards the exit ramp. Coming to a stop before the console, the agent brought a hand forward and pressed the unlocking mechanism. There was a slight hiss then the silent drop of the ramp as it began to lower. The bright afternoon sun along with the scent of salty sea air came pouring in. It aired out the cabin, allowing fresh air to sweep through the shuttle.

"Gonna leave his open for a bit." that was not just for ease of convenience as well as for their general well-being. Trotting down the ramp, Kaile brought her hand up to rest over her eyes, shielding them from the bright light.

There were a few birds flying overehead, the tide long since reaching the waterline that they had experienced yesterday. Slowly, she let her lungs fill with fresh air, letting herself enjoy that small moment of relaxation. She held it for a few seconds, before blowing out her cheeks and exhaling it out.

Without further ado, she would trail off towards the Messa. A change of clothes, a towel. It was about efficiency right now. The dip in the sea wouldn't take any longer than about ten minutes. Sonic, less than that.

They could then fly both the shuttle and the Messa back to the volcano hangar and start the salvaging there.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt didn't follow behind Kaile, instead he began to dig around the shuttle to see what all he could find. Unsurprisingly most of it was rather standard equipment, though he didn't actually check outside the cockpit much. There was a small closet that held two flight suits, a helmet with each of them. There was an emergency kit and several small objects that he couldn't quite identify. His head shook slightly as he put the box back into the closet, his eyes folding around the small space.

The cockpit was actually bigger than the one on The Messa, but that wasn't really all that surprising either, his ship being somewhat of a race craft when compared to shuttles like this. He shifted slightly, standing and looking around himself one more time before wandering into the back of the shuttle. "Alright..."

The Courier mused for a moment.

"Maybe here?" Kurt said as he wandered over towards one of the small panels on the wall. His finger slipped into a slight gap, prying away what was there and popping it free. "Oh...No."

The removal of the panel had revealed a mess of wires, not what he'd wanted.

 

[Kaile Vera]

The water was cooler than the last time she took a dip. It wasn't any less refreshing. Ten minutes was more than enough for the Lorrdian. More than enough to wash away the wreck of the day and feel a bit more like herself. Water undulated around her belly, thighs, and calves as she wadded back towards the shore.

Both hands came up, slicking back the dyed brown hair. Streaks of her natural strawberry blonde would reveal themselves. A few more washings and the color would return to what it was before. There was a small breeze, and as the wind hit her, goosebumps ignited over her flesh. Dripping water, Kaile sank her feet onto the sand, grabbing her towel with a slight bend of her torso.

Sighing into the soft and well worn terrycloth, she gave a faint smile. Alright, time for the sonic, then see what Kurt was up to.

With easy going steps, the agent trotted over towards the bright crimson ship that was her home.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Well.

This was boring.

As it turned out the panels within the walls of the ship contained nothing exciting or even thrilling, which meant that the most important components were likely located in the underside of the ship, which meant that Kurt and Kaile would likely have to peel away at the hull or the floor itself. A sigh escaped his lips. "That's gonna be some work."

"Ugh." His head shook. "Alright. Wait for her to get back. We'll need tools in the hangar anyway."

With a slight jaunt Kurt wandered over towards the acceleration couch in the middle of the room. He threw himself down onto it and closed his eyes for a moment, allowing for a second of rest and relaxation before Kaile came back and the real work started.

 

[Kaile Vera]

It took seven more minutes.

However, the end result was worth it. Fresh bacta patches lined the small scratches she'd received - along with making sure that she took a precautionary pill against rabies -- and the Lorrdian with a fresh set of clothes called up the shuttle.

"Kurt? You ready?" she cried out, making her way up the ramp. In her hand she had a bag of peanuts and a nutrient bar for herself. There was a bit of surprise in her expression at the various panels that had been taken off, nothing but cords behind them. She found the courier flopped along the accelerator couch.

Tossing him the bag of peanuts, Kaile shot him a crooked grin, "Guess you didn't find much?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Kurt caught the bag, though only with half a heart. For some reason he still wasn't quite starving hungry. "Nah, just a couple of flight suits and some loose wires."

Wires that were only loose because of him, but he wouldn't share that.

"You sure you can fly this bird?" The Courier asked her as he slipped from his place on the acceleration couch and onto his feet. "It's not that complicated, but I know you get confused."

Kurt smirked at her, mischief in his eyes.

Of course, Kaile was a grand pilot. Not as good as he was, obviously, but she could still more than hold her own.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

For his sass, Kurt received a punch right on the shoulder. The flash of her tongue came next, as she flounced right past him towards the cockpit. She waggled one hand, her slender body moving a head of him. "I never get confused when it comes to getting a hand on the situation there Meyer!" the euphemism would drawl out to the courier.

Hmph! "I'll show you confused later Kurt!" she'd tease. With another chuckle to herself, Kaile crossed the threshold and sat her bag into the co-pilot chair. This shouldn't be too hard. All the more considering Kurt had managed it himself. if the pilot hadn't yet managed hop off towards the Messa he'd better do it soon.

The first couple of minutes were spent familiarizing herself with the controls. Some were familiar, others not quite as much.

"Okay Kaile," picking up the comm, she brought it to her lips.

"This is your Captain speaking..." oh she was enjoying this, "Please clear the area for departure....."

At the very least