Below The Surface

[Firen]

Gyndine​

Firen was traveling to one of the Alliance basses on Mimban with the hopes of practicing the usage of the Force with a Padawan who was accompanying him. They had almost made it before they received a transmission about troubling occurrences on the nearby Industrial world of Gyndine.

The world was littered with mines and in of them, they had begun having strange sightings of creatures made of shadow. It was probably just the talk of exhausted miners but enough had happened that the company that owned the mines reached out to the Jedi who held territory in the area.

It would be good to gain favor with one of the larger companies on the planet. Besides, learning in the field was always better than in a controlled environment. That had been something his Master told him constantly, and he had turned out okay.

Firen pointed at the comm station next to the co-pilots chair. "Raise them and request permission to land," he said to his traveling companion, bringing the ship low as the made their final approach. "This should be fun!" he said as they passed over a large crater in the ground, equipment snaking its way in and out of various mine tunnels.

@Styx

 

[Abrakhal Grisgoh]

"Uh," Abe started from a dead stare, slouched in the co-pilots chair, pretending like he hadn't just been wishing for a stiff one. He lifted in his seat with a sluggish, "Right," and reached for the comms a little too fiercely, punching the hand-held out of its mount on the console and quickly waking up to catch it before it fell. He shuffled in his seat to return to comfort, this time with a more professional posture, what with his little friend looking like he was sitting on a pile of data files faking his age to get his learner's permit four years too early, and looked out the port glass down into the crater; something about the crater, or the angle of his neck, brought a drip of drool out of the corner of his mouth in awe. He scratched his beard, a thin haze of speckles flitting into the air, "Fun. Sure."

"Tower control. This is," stutter, pause, absent look to Firen with twisted lower lip and shoulder shrug, "uhm, this is your friendly neighborhood exorcists, here about your little problem, requesting landing coordinates?" Abe's thumb released the button, leaned onto an elbow cartoonishly, toward Firen, curling the comm into fist with a free finger poking his sideways temple with an embarrassed squint.

"They're probably batty," Abe conspired with sand in his throat. "Shadows. There's loads of them down there. I'd lose it too if I were stuck in a golfer's hole for too long."

@Raydo

 

[Firen]

His whiskers twitched as the Padawan acted a fool. There were many times when he had gone on missions with his Master and had not been the most enthusiastic, but he always tried to represent her well. This Padawan seemed more focused on playing games than actually helping.

Maybe Firen's appearance gave the Padawan the impression he could slack off with him, he was about to learn otherwise. "You will treat these people with the respect and seriousness that your position calls for." he said chastisting him for goofing off on the radio.

"If you can not take this mission seriously, you may stay on the ship and I will take you back to Jedha." he said looking over as he steered the ship towards the landing pad.

"Keep an open mind, Padawan." he said before turning back to the landing the ship. Once landed, he would turn and slid off of the seat and make his way to the exit ramp. He wouldn't wait to see if he was followed, he either was or he wasn't, that choice was left to Abrakhal.

Firen saw the foreman approaching towards the landing pad as he exited the ship. The Kushiban Knight gave the man a small bow. "I am Jedi Knight Firen and this is Padawan Grisgoh. We understand you have had troubling stories come from some of your workers?" he asked, looking up at the large man.

 

[Abrakhal Grisgoh]

Abe nearly fell out of his seat straightening up, surprised by Firen's response. Guilt gripped his throat, and he was instantly sure he'd accidentally offended the Jedi Knight, which he instantly regretted. He wished he hadn't. He wanted to be a Jedi after all. But his rebellious life predating his short years with the Jedi often won out.

"Yes," was all he could muster, trailing off without much else to say. He'd try to keep an open mind, especially since he liked doing missions. Maybe this mission in particular wasn't looking like his usual ones yet, but he didn't want to lose any privileges. Usually he managed to take missions that put him in bars or amongst drunks or around addicts who could usually spare a drink or two. Ah, the drink. Sithspit, hopefully Firen couldn't read Abe's mind right now.

Abe looked forward and followed Firen to the foreman, stopping behind Firen. Abe saw Firen bow, then gave a dumb wave when it was his turn, frowning all the while; he quickly realized he should've bowed, so he shuffled his feet together and also gave a small bow.

He could tell the foreman thought Abe was odd, but just so Abe thought the very same of the foreman. As soon as he started on about shadow creatures, Abe sighed; he had to quickly play it off as a deep breath or something though, Abe's eyes checking Firen's face for any sign of catching Abe in the act. Though it was subtle and subdued, Abe was already sure that nothing got past Firen. So Abe feigned ignorance and turned his head away as if to survey the area. That's when he saw a worker walking the landing perimeter with a mustard yellow bag hefted over his shoulder, staring at them. They looked away when they saw Abe's eyes on them, ignoring Abe's less-than-before wave - an almost secret wave from the hip. Abe wondered if it was curiosity he had seen or hope. It made him contemplate Firen's words: keep an open mind. They were really scared, weren't they? Or weren't they? Something was here, perhaps. More than Abe had first thought possible. Maybe Firen was right.

Abe returned his attention to Firen and the foreman with a new curiosity of his own, still skeptical but feeling something begin to nag at his senses. The foreman had just finished saying something specific and Abe wished he'd been paying attention. He balled up a fist and patted his leg. "I'm sorry, you-you said your equipment's been malfunctioning?"

@Raydo

 

[Firen]

The Foreman explained the situation, not much changed from the report they had received while en route to Gyndine. He spared a brief glance at the Padawan as he quietly sighed. It wasn't openly disapproving but enough to keep the Padawan on notice. Had he been this thick in the head in his training. The answer was probably a resounding yes, if not worse. Padawans would be the death of him he was sure.

Firen's nose twitched as the Foreman continued, explaining the off occurrences that had been going through the last weeks. "We will do what we can to discover what is happening here and bring an end to it." he said, nodding slightly as he glanced back at the Padawan, mainly to make sure he was still awake.

The Padawan asked a question, causing the Foreman to repeat the last part of his report. The Foreman looked up from the Jedi Knight and towards the Padawan. "Yeah, in a couple of the tunnels surrounding the main shaft where we have received the other reports, started around the same time." the man continued, shifting uncomfortably obviously shaken by the whole thing.

Firen had his own ideas about where they should start, but this was also meant to be a learning experience for the Padawan. Padawan Grisgoh, where do you think we should begin?" he asked, scratching his chin as he looked up towards the Padawan.

@Styx

 

[Abrakhal Grisgoh]

Abrakhal's eyes wandered in thought until Firen's question startled him, bringing him back. His signature grimace remained. "Oh. Well, we could ask the others about what they saw. But I kind of just want to head in there."

If he was a more sociable sort, then he might've elaborated on his thoughts. It seemed to him that all their stories and accounts would be vague and lacking in some way. None of them knew exactly what they saw, if they saw anything. And their stories had been told so many times now that exaggerations would be spreading like a virus. Not to mention they were all scared. If anyone would show them around, like a guide, they would be doing it against their better judgement. He wasn't smart enough or patient enough to suggest something like checking security recordings, as something in the back of his mind pushed him to ignore such thoughts and urged him to take action for himself. And that was why they were here to begin with, right?

Abrakhal started walking toward the structure. The foreman called out and got Abe's attention back, suggesting something about safety equipment and offering it to them. He also offered to have one of the workers escort them down to the main entrance, adding how the worker could maybe give more information on the way. Abe nodded, hand turning out as if to ask Firen's permission to take the offer. "I don't think we'll need the equipment but-"

The foreman already started on the radio, lifting the pack out of his belt and beeping a call to the worker. "Hey Arthur. You there? Arthur come in." When Arthur didn't answer, he looked at Firen with some concern and then tried again. "Haymich. Yeah, I'm looking for Arthur, you seen him? Alright well can you do me favor and head up to loading and show some guests of mine down to the main tunnel? Good, thanks. And can you get a word out to Arthur and tell him I'm looking for him. I don't want any one else going off comms. Thanks."

Abrakhal would turn a thoughtful glance at Firen.

@Raydo