Unscheduled pit stop

[Milla Caranthyr]

The ground shook under the weight of the massive juggernaut transport as it rolled along through the thick underbrush. A loud roar came from the tank turned transports engine as it powered its way through a patch of thick mud. Ten oversized tires spun momentarily before gaining traction and sending the transport on its way once more. The transport may have been old, but it made this journey between Silvers Rest and the nearby Wookiee cities on a daily basis.

Inside the transport shook almost as much as the outside. Every bump, rut and log could be felt through the metal floor, rocking both passengers and cargo. Today only two passengers found themselves on board the old transport.

Milla watched out the window with excitement as the transport rumbled along. She had journeyed to the city before, but not like this. The whole experience was much more exciting than taking a regular shuttle to her destination. Her bare feet hit the cold metal floor as she darted to the other side of the vehicle to look out the window.

[member="Diana McClaine"]

 

[Samatharis]

Diana tried patiently for the first ten minutes to sit in the old jumpseat and try to read a book. Alas. With every such bump and divot rocking the tank to and fro. She found no such luck in reading. Le sigh.

Now. Devoid of her book, and a good deal of patience, she simply contemplated why. Why in the whole world had she signed up to take the only Gods-forsaken ground transport out to Dervish's Lament. Oh. That's right. Because it was either that or take a canoe. A Wookiee canoe. Down the whole, flipping, river. Arghhh.

Diana was fine.

This was fine.

Then the tank hit another giant bump and it just about popped her whole body out of her jumpseat. Blarg! Why!? Who does this! Arghhh!

And then, the tank stopped. Oh. And yes. Then, it started hissing. Like something else has just gone terribly wrong too.

"Good heavens!" Diana exclaimed as she unstrapped from her jumpseat, "Did we just nosedive into a ditch!? What is wrong with this flying bathtube!?"

Obviously. She was in a good mood.

Diana strolled over to the side door and hit the escape latch. Alas. Once again, fate denied her clemency. The hatch was stuck in the 'closed' position. She couldn't even open the side door to look and see what was wrong.

...Awesome.

[member="Milla Caranthyr"]​

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

The old transport gave a jarring shake before grinding to a halt. The sound of loud hissing could be heard from one side of the vehicle. Milla climbed onto the seat and peeked out the window to see what happened, tail twitching some in excited anticipation. Unfortunately whatever was making the sound was just out of sight.

Diana's exclamation drew Milla's attention to the woman. She didn't seem as thrilled about the whole adventure as Milla did. The young girl watched the older Jedi try to open the side door, to no avail. Hoping down from her seat, Milla wondered over to Diana. "What's going on? Are we stuck?"

A loud crackling of static came over the loudspeaker followed by the captain speaking. "Folks this is your Captain speaking. It appears that we have hit a slight mechanical delay. Don't worry, we should be up and running in no time." They broke down? Way out in the middle of the jungle? The thought made Milla a little excited as she thought about all she could explore out here. Then realization sank in as she remembered that they might actually be locked in the vehicle.

[member="Diana McClaine"]

 

[Samatharis]

Diana gave a loud sigh and slowly turned to view Milla up close.

"Doors stuck. No good."

She folded her lips and shook her head. Stupid old carriage tank-thing. Then she sighed again and shrugged.

"Kark it. I'm cutting it."

With a quick flourish of a blue Lightsaber blade. Hissss! The latch on the door glowed super-heated. Then fell right off. Plop!

"Better."

Diana smiled to Milla. Then kicked the bottom of the door to open it.

"Let's see what the fuss is all about."

The tall blonde hoped out of the tank. Falling a great distance to the ground. Obviously, she was supposed to repel down or hit a ladder latch or something. But Jedi don't mind gravity. Falling is fine too.

She trotted through the damp mud towards the front of the nose-diving tank. Ugh. That smell. Bleh? Was that... Burning hydro fluid? Gross. Had they just blown the axle or something? Ugh.

[member="Milla Caranthyr"]​

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

So they were stuck inside the transport. Well, temporarily anyway. Milla took a half step back when Diana drew out her lightsaber. Within seconds the hatch to the door fell right off.

Diana wasted no time in exiting the tank. Milla, however, stepped up to the edge of the door frame and glanced about. The warm jungle air flooded into the transport, bringing with it the smell of the forest. Urged forward by a renewed sense of adventure, Milla lept from the transport. She slowed herself using the force, landing safely on the muddy forest floor.

Her bare feet sank into the mud as she followed after Diana. The foul smell of burning greeted her nose. Hydro fluid Diana said. Milla picked up her pace till she was beside the blonde Jedi.

Then she saw it. The source of the hissing noise from earlier. Two engineers stood in beside the tanks massive front tire. A tire that had a log pierced through it like a giant spear. The oversized tire was losing air fast, and what appeared to be a thick liquid pouring out from behind it. "Wow. That looks bad!"

[member="Diana McClaine"]

 

[Samatharis]

"Yep." Diana sighed. Placing her hands upon her hips and shaking her shoulders. Bad, was right.

"You boys call for back up?" She gestured to the gents.

"Second truck is on it's way. We'll back it up. Then start throwing the tire with the jack."

"Right." Diana nodded. That meant an hour or more. Easy.

The tall blonde slowly turned to regard Milla again. As if for the first time. Huh. Weird. Kid had horns.

"I guess that means me and you are gonna be stuck here until the calvary arrives."

Diana turned her full body to face the small lass. Then extended a handshake.

"Diana."

[member="Milla Caranthyr"]​

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla's eyes wondered from the engineers to the damaged tire then back again. Something that bad on a vehicle this large could take awhile. Even then, the backup they had called for would take sometime getting there.

How long it would take really didn't matter to Milla as long as she got to explore the forest for a while. Her blues eyes gazed upward towards the forest canopy. The urge to climb was starting to take hold and she was curious to see what was up there.

The sound of Diana's voice brought Milla back to the present. She turned to see the Jedi extend her hand as she introduced herself. Milla shook Diana's hand and gave her a small smile, showing off some of her canines in the process. "Milla."

[member="Diana McClaine"]

 

[Samatharis]

Diana smirked at the strange little creature. Always something new.

"Wonderful to make your acquaintance Milla."

Then she put both hands on her hips and looked around. Eyeing the tall trees with gusto.

"Ya know... It's safer closer to the river, down here. More sunlight means less beasties."

Then she returned her gaze to Milla and gave a quick wink,

"Think you could climb up there and see which way the river bends? I'm gave for a hike down to the shore but... Ugh. Terrible climber. Hehe."

Because she certainly wasn't going to climb back up into that dirty old tank to find her book. Bleh. No sir. Diana would happily go for a walk. Nice.

[member="Milla Caranthyr"]​

 

[Milla Caranthyr]

Milla cocked her head to the side a little when Diana mentioned that it was safer down by the river. "It is?" She guessed the woman's logic made sense. Being out in the open would make it harder for something to sneak up on them.

The young girl perked up when Diana asked if she could climb a tree to see where the river was. "I can do that." She replied enthusiastically. Without another word, she darted to the nearest tree. Milla was an arboreal species, anything climbing related was done readily and with ease. This tree was no exception as she made quick work scaling up the trunk and into the up branches.

From the top branches, she could see the area clearly. Her tail wrapped around a branch and anchored her there as she scanned the forest for the river. The search didn't take long as they weren't far from it and it cut quite a clear path through the forest. "It's over there!" Milla yelled to Diana as she pointed towards the river.

Milla descended from the tree just as fast as she climbed it. Reaching ground level, she hurried over to Diana. "The river isn't far, just right over there."

[member="Diana McClaine"]