Tied Together With A Smile

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl scrunched her nose, turning back towards the direction they needed to head, in order to reach the cave. "I'll try." She said simply. It really was a difficult thing to contain that amount of excitement, even if she understood why Aela was warning her the way she was. She hadn't been to the planet, but she did grasp an understanding for not underestimating the power of the dark side. After all, she'd dealt with both Vrak and Waide now. Two contrasting types of Sith, but both equally dangerous in their own way.

"I'm just happy we're going. But..." She said, stifling a bit of laughter. "The Terentateks are all you."

Aela didn't like ships but still rode them. Jamie didn't like monsters but still had to live with their existence.

It was similar. Sort of.

Sith spawn were worse than ships, she was certain of that.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela smiled, though kept speaking as though she hadn't heard Jamie. "It's not just Terentateks."

She reminded Jamie.

"There's other creatures on Korriban." The Jedi Master had listen a few of them when she'd been making fun of Jamie for her fears earlier, but now it seemed much more crucial. Some of the beasts within the tombs seemed more dangerous that Terentateks, at least from their description, in truth Aela hadn't encountered half of them. "Plus."

She let out a breath as they walked, finding that she was getting a little tired. "That's not even to mention the tombs themselves."

It would have been foolish to deny them.

"The Darkside is ever present on Korriban, the tombs are infested with spirits, the Valley of the Dark Lords it practically a pilgrimage for the remaining Sith Lords in the galaxy." There would be dangers beyond just Terentateks.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Okay, okay, I get it." She said, batting the air towards Aela. "Korriban is the dark and spooky crevice of the galaxy and we're going to find hideous frightening monsters that will probably convert me to the dark side before eating me alive." Jamie was feeling the excitement stripped away from her minute by minute. She wanted to quiet Aela down before she ruined the whole experience for her.

The blonde paused, looking down to her wrist to ensure they were still on the right path. With a nod she pointed north.

"We've got another thirty minutes or so. Do you want to rest now or when we get to the crater?"

From where they stood, and the elevation they were at, it would be easy enough to see the separation of trees in the distance indicating where about the crater was that opened into the massive cave below. It was big. Bigger than Jamie had even expected from the photos she'd seen. But that was just the opening. It would get much, much more constrained once they were inside.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"No." Aela said as she took another breath, this wasn't that much worse than the regular exercise she was doing, but yelling at Jamie to take Korriban seriously took quite a bit out of her. One couldn't really blame her for that.

"Let's just keep going." She told her padawan. "We can rest when we get there."

Aela frowned slightly slightly as she followed the path of Jamie's eyes, looking down at the crater.

"This place is amazing." She said quietly. "Though I suppose a lot of the galaxy is."

There was still much she hadn't seen.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Right. Okay."

Adjusting the backpack once more she started off towards the crater, the last leg of the journey towards their destination coming to a close. There would be enough prep work before they entered the cave that it would be good to rest when they arrived, even if it were for just a brief period, perhaps a drink and a bit of food before venturing in.

The sun was still high in the sky, leaving plenty of daylight left.

"I like to think every planet has something worth seeing. Even the seemingly empty, desolate ones."

There was always a surprise to find. Something tucked away somewhere. But Jamie appreciated the beauty in simply things like a pretty skyline, a massive, looming tree, or a flowing river off of a mountain. It seemed Aela shared that appreciation which only made it easier for the two to bond with one another. She smiled, delighted that she had taken Aela along for this trip. It seemed right.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Aela gave a small nod. "Even Ta-"

She cut herself off, face blanching for a second.

"Balls of dirt have something to look at." She hoped that Jamie would be too distracted to notice what she had started to say, though just in case she had Aela quickly barreled forward with more conversation. "Maybe If i leave the Order we'll spend more time exploring."

Her words came quickly.

"We can track more...unknown threats." The idea appealed to her, going after latent SIth cults rather than the big bad guys.

Plus that way they'd travel more.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie was a pretty oblivious person, and with Kurt not currently on her mind the momentary half-mention of Tatooine slipped past her without a thought. She heard Aela stutter for a second, though quickly continued on with her dialog, seemingly caught up on whatever it was she was trying to say. "Maybe not much. But something." She agreed.

"More unknown threats?"

That sounded a lot like hunt more creepy crawly monsters like the ones at the outpost. That Jamie could do without. No more creepy crawlies. Nuh uh, nope! The idea of them made her arms flare with goosebumps.

Exploring sounded good, though. She liked that.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She breathed an inward sigh of relief.

"There's more than just the typical 'Sith Orders'."[/color[ Aela told Jamie. "There's dozens...if not hundreds of cults spread out all over the place. Most of them are harmless, sticking to themselves."

She shrugged as they walked, the heavy weight of the backpack lurching on her shoulders.

"Others aren't. They use people, the villages on their worlds, travelers, whatever comes by." She had heard the tales of cults and other smaller sects doing as they pleased within Wild space, beyond the reach of the Alliance and other good forces.

"They get ignored or forgotten because they're so far away." She explained quietly. "Perhaps taking them on...wouldn't be so bad."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl hummed as she walked. "I see." There was merit in weeding out small cults along the fringes of space. They could do what others refused. Then again, it would also likely be in vain. Places like that, where brutality and warlord lifestyles were the norm tended to just replace one bad ruler with another. To weed them all out was a more daunting task than toppling a government like the One Sith. At least with them you knew where to find them.

"Do you think that would really work?"

Without becoming a member of the populace, taking up residence in a small village or something like that, it would be impossible to secure the stability of a group. It was just as likely that someone worse might come along and completely enslave a whole people.

It wasn't that Jamie didn't think of them as worth the intervention, but she shared part of the sentiment of the Alliance, that it was too on the fringe to enforce the safety of those living there, without potentially making their lives worse.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She shrugged. "It wouldn't be fast."

Force it wouldn't be. They might spend months at a time on a single planet looking for a single cult. It would take time, yes, but...Aela couldn't help but think that it would be worth it. At the very least she would be doing something good for the galaxy, and for once she'd be helping the little guy.

Not the giant City planet.

"I think I could do it though." She told Jamie quietly. "Probably fight a lot less than I do now."

There wouldn't be no fighting at all of course, she was pretty sure she'd never have that, but the idea of doing something a little bit more simple was appealing to her. "Plus, if there's Alliance support to everything...We could set up something more stable after the Cult is gone."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Are you so sure?" She perked an eye. "Perhaps not wars you would fight. But every day would be a battle of sorts. Weeding out criminals is much different than tyrannical governments." They would need to spend months working through the ranks of a criminal organization to cut off the head, and then work to ensure a stable rule and society before moving on, lest the world fall back into chaos immediately following their departure.

"It might be more exhausting than wars."

Alliance support would be helpful, but without direct intervention helping her and Aela, it would still be a slow process.

Though if that was what she wanted to do Jamie would be by her side.

"But I'll do what I can for you."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She considered Jamie's words. "I don't know."

Her Padawan was right in a way of course, perhaps Aela was being naive. She frowned and then shook her head.

"I think there's still just a lot to consider." She hadn't even mentioned the logistics of it all. How she would get around, pay for food, do a dozen other things. If her parents didn't give her money...then she was shit out of luck. She frowned for a moment more and then simply continued on their path.

"Let's not dwell on it." Gently she nudged Jamie's side. "We're here to have fun!"

That was the important thing. "We can worry about everything else when we get out of here."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Okay."

Aela was right, they were there for enjoyment, not to ponder the galaxy's vast and never ending plights. There was plenty of time for dwelling on problems of the future in the future. Right now they had a path to follow and a cave to dive. Which, by the spreading of trees looked to be drawing near. The more they thinned out the more the crater came into view until they were just a few hundred feet away from its' massive maw.

"There." She pointed, not that Aela could miss it. They looked like ants next to the sheer size of the hole in the earth. The massive opening gave way to hundreds of tunnels that split off from the vertical opening in the ground. It appeared almost like an asteroid had crashed into the planet at some point hundreds of years ago, and over time nature had unraveled holes from shifting soil, rain, and other natural occurrences to form the tunnels that led to the depths beyond within the cave system that had been created. "That's where we start."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

She let out a whistle.

"That's impressive." Aela had a grim thought pass though her mind, wondering just how many people had fallen victim to this place before people started realizing just what it was. She supposed that some inexperienced climbers likely still fell victim. She frowned slightly, wondering where the heck such dark thoughts had come from.

She shook her head.

"Right." Aela said. "I suppose we should strap in then."

The Jedi Marsahll wasn't entirely sure what the correct terminology was, she was more used to free hand climbing than anything else.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie smiled to Aela, inspecting the area briefly before leaning slightly over the side of the massive crater, a black abyss waiting below with only a hinted outline of the bedrock at the base of the plunge. "Okay. First thing's first." The blonde knelt down, taking the pack off her back and slowly removing a number of items from it. A number of anchors, a harness, carabiners, a belay, and rope.

"Your bag should have a harness. Grab that, three carabiners and a belay from inside."

The blonde would begin to set the anchors in place in the ground to ensure they did not suddenly fall to their deaths at the base of the cliff.

"We'll tie off here and rappel down together. I can show you how to tie the knots if you need."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I know how to tie knots." She was pretty sure at least, climbing knots were generally different than ones you would use to tie off a boat or wrap presents, but as Jamie set to work on completing her own Taks Aela simply watched her for a moment. The Jedi Marshall stayed quiet, listening to Jamie mumble something as she fiddled with the straps and rope. After a moment Aela began to follow exactly what her padawan did.

It was easier that way.

"This is going to get heavy." She commented slightly as she settled another strap into place. "Wouldn't want to fight in it."

Hopefully that would be unnecessary here. She slipped the last strap into place around herself, sliding one of the caribners into place around a metal loop there and locking it in. She gave a satisfied nod to herself and then drew out the climbing rope.

"Alright, I think I'm ready. Just had to put down her own Anchor.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie turned after she had set the last anchor in place, wiping the small beads of sweat from her forehead as she looked at Aela. Her nose wiggled, finger brushing against it to clear the momentary itch before walking around behind the other girl. Her hands lowered for a second, placing them on the older girl's thighs, something that might surprise her rather uncomfortably, given her knack for not liking being touched, but her straps were too low. Jamie pulled on them, sliding them up a bit to make sure they were set directly beneath her rear, which actually ended up lifting her butt a bit, before tightening them further.

"There." She said with a nod. "You were too loose."

The blonde then settled into her own harness while she watched Aela set her own anchors in much the same way. Three weren't entirely necessary, it could be done safely with two, but a third was extra cautious, and Jamie liked being extra cautious when it came to potentially falling to her death. It only seemed logical.

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Thanks, mom." Aela said with a smirk to her padawan.

She was excited for this.

Climbing wasn't something she had done in a very long time, and she'd never quite done it like this before. She shifted slightly, and then looked at their packs. Briefly she spared a glance towards Jamie, somewhat unsure of herself.

"Do we carry our bags down?" She asked. "Or lower them?

The latter seemed like the safer option. The bags were quite heavy, and if she was going to be rappelling down into the deep unknown darkness she'd rather have a bit more control.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl displayed a squinting glare towards Aela. "You can thank me when you don't fall and die."

Of course wearing the harness did make Jamie giggle a bit. She strode past the Jedi to begin tying off her own knots, beginning with the figure eight. This was the most important aspect, given that if the rope gave way, well, it was a long way to fall. "At least your butt looks good now." Her words followed a wagging of her eyebrows before another round of laughter caught her.

"As for the packs, we can lower them, but keep the side bags in case you need to anchor into the wall of the cliff face for any reason."

[member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Uhh." Aela began. "It always looks good."

She exercised daily after all.

Without another word Aela moved towards the edge, checking her harnesses one last time and making sure the anchor was properly placed. Once everything was set she moved towards the cliff, her eyes darting down it for a moment before she pushed her bag lazily over the edge. Slowly she unwound the rope that she had tied to it, letting it slowly fall towards the ground until after a minute or so the rope went slack. She gave a satisfied smile then turned to Jamie.

"Do you want to go first?" They would rappel at the same time, but one of them had to go over the edge first.

She wasn't afraid of heights or anything...but she didn't really want to go first.