The Remains (Zandra)

[Milo Ren]

Ren moved towards the now salvageable debris, but paused for a second. Was that uneasiness he sensed? Fear? The Knight sighed silently to himself, inwardly frustrated yet compassionate for the Echani before him. He spoke sympathetically, almost apologetically as he moved forward to look through the debris.

"You're uncomfortable. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not evil like the ones that attacked you and your family, nor do I seek a quarrel with you. I'm not like them. Please, just relax. You're safe around me, I assure you."

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

The Echani chuckled darkly as she searched through the rubble and ageless derbies.

"I know," she replied, "But ya gatta understand. It's been years that I spent learning to fear your kind. Will take more than your assurance to break me of that."

She pushed up a sheet of crumbling metal, frowning. All that was under this was dirt and worms. Best keep looking.

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

A thicker piece of durasteel was lifted up with the Force, revealing a mud-caked scout trooper helmet. Ren tossed the hunk of rust aside and walked over to the armor. It was pretty banged up, the faded white caked in dirt and the lenses cracked, but it was an artifact, all right, and Milo whistled in approval, nodding in pleasure.

"I got the first catch!"

He was excited now, almost like the proverbial kid in a candy shop as he started racking off the historical significance of the gear.

"Scout troopers were fast, well trained on their speeder bikes, and very deadly shots. They were more than the average Stormtrooper, almost at a special force status. What a find!"

Ren smiled broadly underneath his mask, happy with such a little item.

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

This kid was, frankly, adorable. Reminded her of her children. They way they'd jump around, excited after discovering something in the snow. Actually, he was a bit like Rawnie. She knew a lot of weird trivia too. She grinned, despite her suspicious feelings towards him, and lifted another plate of rotting steel.

"Well, good fer you, Kid," she said, "I still got nothin' but worms and fungus under here..."

And- Wait. Was that? The pirate lifted something, overgrown with mushrooms and plantlife. Something vaguely gunshaped.

"Is this something?"

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

Milo, eager for the discovery of a new find, rushed over to the small Echani's side and gently grabbed the rotted weapon. Could it be what he thought it was? Ren gasped in awe.

"This looks like bantha poodoo, but I think it's an original E-11 blaster rifle! Wow! I-I-I can repair this no problem, it'll just need some cleaning and a few parts and I could return it to its former glory!"

He excitedly inspected the rusted and plant infested weapon with care. This was grand! The Knights of Ren would certainly think higher of him now, and his own personal curiosity and drive for knowledge were being slowly but surely satisfied.

"This is amazing! What a find! The standard rifle of the Empire may have been common back in their time, but now, an original piece is almost impossible to find. The archeological community of the entire galaxy would go crazy over this!"

Milo was really, really happy now.

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Yeah. Just like her Rawnie. She got excited over things like this too. She tried to be all stoic and mature, but when something caught her interest, she turned into a child. Zandra laughed, letting the not-Sith-not-Jedi take the muddy mass. It was his. She had no use for it.

"Ha! That mean I get paid?" she asked with a grin, "I'll start looking over this way now. I gots a good feeling about this."

And her 'feelings' were rarely wrong.

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

Milo put the muddy weapon aside gently and reached out with the Force, picking up the helmet and laying it down next to the rifle. He then turned to Zandra, following her closely as he talked.

"If we keep making finds like, like, like this, money won't be an issue, I assure you! Lead the way!"

The Knight was a warrior-scholar at heart, and all of this may have seemed like trash to another, but for the Ren, it was almost all the galaxy to him. Searching the galaxy, combing battlefields, collecting artifacts, uncovering knowledge, it was his spice, almost, his drug that gave him a rush.

And like a drug, he was hooked.


[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Ha! This kid. He was too much. All that fear. She was starting to wonder why she'd been afraid. She went from pile to pile, hefting large plates of rotting metal aside. Digging through trash, essentially. She kept snagging her stockings. That was alright. They were stained to death already. Nothing to be done about it.

"You some kinda archaeologist then?" She chuckled again, shaking her head, "To think I was freakin' out about some history nerd."

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

Ren grinned, too high off of the find to care about nuances like a biting humor or blunt speech.

"I am a historian. It's my job to assist my brothers, the Knights of Ren, in the preservation and expansion of known knowledge, particularly Imperial relics and data. Don't get me wrong. I'm a warrior too, but I do have a more scholarly side. Let me help with that."

Milo's right hand extended, picking up a rather large shard of metal and tossing it aside with effort. That certainly cleared a bit of the way much easier than by hand. He looked at the dirt then, trying to pinpoint any objects of note, jumpy with excitement.

"D-d-do you see anything?"

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

The Echani stared at the dirt for a while. So far, they hadn't found anything. But Lady Luck herself had pointed her in this direction. The Lady had never steered her in the wrong direction before... She got down on her hands and knees and started digging, paying no mind to the dirt and rust staining her hands and her mostly white clothing. Something was here. She had... a feeling. She always trusted her feelings. It was Lady Lucks love.

"...Found something," she whispered. Her nails had scratched against something hard... and big. She paused, looking back at him. "Help me with it."

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

"Stand back."

With both of his arms outstretched, Milo brought the Force around the object and began to lift, tugging the metal thing buried underneath the dirt. It slowly began to come up. Ren grunted as he put all of his focus into bringing that object above ground.

"That thing's heavy...what is it?"

Whatever it was, more than half of it was above now, enough to study it and assess if it was worth the extra effort of actually getting it out of the ground. Ren turned to the Echani woman and looked at her briefly.

"Any idea what it is? I can't really tell. Too much dirt."

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

The Echani stood by, bewildered. Alright. Lady Luck still loved her after all. Whatever it was, it was certainly at least worth something in scrap metal! Looked like a giant ball of dirt with a broken wing. Bigger than she'd anticipated. Clearly it was quite busted, whatever it was. But still...

"No idea," she replied, getting in close to start scraping the thick layer of mud and grime off of it, "You're the history nerd here. What does it look like to you? Looks to me like an escape pod. It's almost the size of one. But the it's got these stupid looking... what were they? Wings? Hard to tell..."

She shrugged. If he could pull more of it out, they might have a better idea. It was his call. She cared little either way.

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

Milo studied the giant clod of dirt further, pondering what it could actually be. An old TIE fighter? A Rebel craft? An escape pod? Only one way to find out for sure, which was taking it out of the ground completely.

"It's coming out. Be careful."

Ren reached out again. It took about 5 minutes, and a lot out of him, but the craft finally came free with a waterfall of dirt. He panted, tired but satisfied, and set whatever the hell that thing was down gently. Now, to take a closer look...

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

She stepped back again, closing her eyes against any stray speckles of dirt that might find their way into her sensitive eyes. When it was out, she stepped forward again.

"Help me clear it off," she said, clawing at the hunks of dirt clinging to the rusty surface, "Might be somethin' real good."

Lady Luck told her it was. It must be good.

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

The Knight wordlessly did as he was requested and began to paw at the side of the rusted surface as well. Whatever it was, it looked really, really good. The damn dirt was tought, but his determination to find out whatever the hell this was was greater than the earth. However, all he was revealing was more dirt, and eventually rust. Slight frustrated, Ren called out to Zandra.

"Anything of interest on your side? I don't really see much here."

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

She clawed at the dirt, almost frantically.

"Come on, Lady Luck," she mummbled, "Don't let me down. Don't-"

Her fingers hooked on something. She paused, wiping clean a large trasparasteel...

"Door...?" She blinked, locking her fingers around the edge, "It's a door! I think it was some kind of craft."

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

Milo was messing with one of the broken wings, knocking the dirt off to reveal...broken solar panels? He paused briefly, and spoke in a harsh whisper, excited to all hell.

"Is this a TIE fighter?"

Ren merely stared in amazement at the shattered wing, mouth literally ajar. He removed his mask, letting his white hair fall out and his green eyes shine in awe. The Knight wanted to see this with his own eyes, not through the cold shield of a mask.

"If this is...I don't know what to say..."

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

Now she could see him for who he was behind the mask. To the old pirate, that was more astounding than an old tie fighter. She straightened up, hand still on the crafts door. That white hair. Green eyes. He really did remind her of her daughter now. He looked so excited, just as her Rawnie would when she discovered something. It made the Echani grin.

"You ain't Echani, are ya?"

She looked him over again, raising a white eyebrow. Maybe. He could pass as one.

[member="Milo Ren"]

 

[Milo Ren]

Milo smiled at Zandra, eyes wide with excitement.

"My father was. O-or is. He is. Uh."

Ren's eyes grew sad for a second as he remained silent, then turned back to the TIE fighter. He used that to bring his spirits back up again and as a distraction to not think about his parents again.

"Oh, man...this is awesome. This is the find of the year, probably! I can't wait to tell my brothers!"

Still grinning madly, the Knight began to take more and more dirt off of the ship, uncaking the battered hull bit by bit.

[member="Zandra Tal'verda"]

 

[Zandra Tal'verda]

And this was going to be a big pay out for her! She silently thanked Lady Luck for assisting her on this as she worked to unclump the ages of dirt and rust on the ancient ship.

"So... just a guess, how much ya think I'll get paid for this?" she asked, flashing a grin, "I mean, it is the find of the year, right?"

[member="Milo Ren"]