Dev To Heal A World, Part I - Left To Waste Away

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

The dry, flat wastes of Mandalore spanned ever on. The arid, unassuming landscape was mostly ignored and forgotten by most of the galaxy after the Sith siphoned the planet's very life from it. And yet, since the Protectors under Ijaat Mereel and Mia Monroe took up the task of restoring this world, the orders were issued - map out the wastes.

And so, two lonely speeders made their way across the landscape, under the relentless sun. Even out here, the pollution of Mandalore's atmosphere could be seen as a thin veil stretching across the sky. Beneath it, the orange painted, apocalyptic landscape burned with no relief. Elise Vizsla was used to hot climates, having grown up on a hot planet. But even then, Archais had been full of wildlife and plants. Mandalore? It was a great tragedy, how the planet was scraped bare of its own ecosystem long ago. it was criminal, that no attempts to revive Mandalore had been made before now.

Elise's red kama flapped in the dry wind as she steered her speeder towards a distant group of mountains. On her speeder's pad, and with her H.U.D., Elise had scanners and technology working on mapping the areas they flew by. Mapping out this flat void would be easy. But the tiny ring of mountains beyond? That... would take some more sentient touches.

Elise's white beskar'gam glistened under the sun, blindingly so, as she called her partner, Arla Rodarch , through her comlink, <<"We're almost to the mountains. We're going to have to either be careful or go on foot. I'm fine with whatever you want to do.">>

Elise spent most of her scouting trips alone. It was quite lonesome, so she was very happy to have a partner this time around. Her life was far more social while aiding the rebuilding project at Keldabe. She had workers she would be healing, fellow green thumbs helping her restore some plant life to the city, and... well... whatever sort of social thing was going on between her and Darth Malum of House Marr . But on scouting missions? It was too lonely, with only the wastes surrounding her, to keep her company. She supposed, she was used to being alone out here. She was not nearly as talkative as she usually was with people today. But through her voice, her partner would hear how gleeful she was of having company just the same.

As they approached the shadow of the mounts, Elise awaited her response. Slowing her speeder down to either dismount or keep careful, she pulled her red hood over her buy'ce.

 

[Arla Rodarch]

Mandalore
The Wastes


Outside Keldabe and the other towns and settlements, it was easy to think that nothing could live on the blasted surface of Mandalore. Arla knew better. Her Clan, Rodarch, lived in the south, beyond wide deserts which seemed barren, but actually teemed with life. There were whole cavern systems just beneath the surface too, which likewise supported many forms of flora and fauna. Mandalore's biosphere had proven as resilient as its people.

Arla had joined Elise Vizsla on this prospecting trip to investigate a lost bunker. The location was remote, and required them to travel far from what passed for civilization on Mandalore. She hadn't spoken much since they'd left Keldabe.

As Elise brought the speeder to a halt, she felt she had to say something. The comm crackled a little, probably from all the shit in the atmosphere after the bombings, or the metal in the soil interfering. "We go on foot. Never know what we might find out here." That was common sense talking, the wasteland's very environment could present considerable dangers. That was to say nothing of what other unknown horrors might be hanging around. Searching for lost things held its own risks, myriad and many.

Arla had learned well from the others of her Clan. The desert dwellers knew how to protect themselves against the dry hot environment, and find sustenance. The cave people knew the paths of the depths, and many of the dangers that lurked down in the dark. They mixed fairly well with those who lived in the settlements, and those who traveled, following their own path. Rodarch was a large and diverse Clan, and Arla felt she could not have found a better home. With the Protectors, and their goal of rebuilding Mandalore itself, she had a purpose she'd never known she lacked.

Despite her determination and single minded focus, Arla allowed that she was also glad of the company of a vod. It could get lonely, exploring, besides the common sense practical approach that it was safer not to explore alone. Plus droids made shitty conversationalists. Both of them had their focus, but could relax easily in each other's companionship as professionals.

Elise Ahana-Gwyneira

 

[Elise Ahana-Gwyneira]

Elise dismounted from her bike and immediately started to climb. She was an expert rock climber, having grown up rock climbing and traveling trails within the Dreamseer Coven. She used her vambrace's fibrochord whip to help, to preserve her energy, but soon enough made it atop the first steep mount. And that was pretty much the start of it, rock climbing and manually mapping the areas on the twosome's scanners. For a while, time went on like that. Small, professional talk was made here and there, but not much else.

It was too easy to map the mountain. It was lifeless and devoid of any plant life. The bare rubble and jagged rocks could be seen from far off, and the working was going faster than Elise would have thought.

As Elise tapped more buttons, adding another chunk of landscape to the GPS, she sighed. <<"There's no plants out here... no animals... It's really sad.">>

She stood up from the rock she was seated at and turned to ascend another steep hill. But she noticed something in the landscape above that made her narrow her eyes. <<"Hang on a second, I want to check something up there.">>

The Novanian activated her jetpack softly, flying until she reached the top of the steep wall. And she saw... exactly what she suspected.

<<"Arla, this is a sharp drop into a hole. A deep one at that.">>

She activated her HUD's nightvision and looked inwards. The long, downwards spiral seemed endless, and yet, she faintly saw the bottom of the ditch below. But then, there was the strangeness. She noticed that it appeared that a large rock slide took place within the hole. More stones and gravel cascaded deeper than Elise could see. But the strangest part of all... there was a smooth, unnatural wall that said rockslide had uncovered. Scanning it, Elise realized-

<<"Hey, a rockslide in the hole! And look at this!">>

She swiftly sent her scanned data to Arla Rodarch , <<"This is a wall of solid durasteel! Something was buried down here! I guess that a sink hole collapsed after this thing was initially built in. The wall is just poking out from where solid rock used to be.">>

She paused for a moment, then carefully landed on the ground outside the hole, <<"We should probably check out what that is.">>