Ask Into the Deep: Under Stormy Skies

[Falynn Tikarsis]

It was difficult to imagine a world stormier than Kamino, after experiencing it for the first time. Rain flowed down for as far as the eye could see. At best, it would only limit visibility. At worst, well, there were many unforeseen circumstances that could result from misdirection. Either way, the heavy downpour would hinder the rangers’ progress in finding a cloning location. The seas were not much better. Heavy waves crashed against the stilts holding up precious buildings. Looking below, it was evident that diving past the unforgiving surface of the planet to calmer waters would prove to be laborious.

The rangers’ mission was fairly straightforward. Find a usable, intact cloning facility. The challenge would be getting to the locations below the surface. Kamino had provided scant information on these facilities, but the majority of the task was delegated to Falynn and her fellow ranger. Though flying was not Falynn’s forte, her abilities were competent for the mission, despite the weather. As a precaution, she had chosen to take her own ship, the Everstar. It was one she was familiar with, and Falynn was not keen on piloting any other craft, for the first time, in unfamiliar conditions.

Having found a bay to temporarily dock her ship at, Falynn transmitted her coordinates and waited for her partner to arrive. Reviewing what information she had on the sites, it was impossible to know in what order they should scout them out. Any insight the other ranger had would be useful to formulate a plan.

@samdragon

 

[Cobalt Cavern Chronicler]

Cobalt cursed under his breath after a lightning struck dangerously close to his X-Wing, deafening him for a few moments. He wondered what he got in mind when he accepted to help, but then sighed. There had been even worse climates he had to fly through, so he couldn't complain.

His console beeped as it received Falynn's position, and he sighed in relief, since he was afraid that the storms would disrupt the communications, but apparently it was the contrary! He followed the signal and reached the base where the other Ranger was waiting him, and landed in the hangar. Once the ship landed, he hopped out of the cockpit and looked up at the taller woman. "Hey there! You must be Falynn. I'm Cobalt Cavern Chronicler, but you can call me Cobalt or Coby if you prefer" his portable translator squeaked as it translated the avian's chirps, sqwawks and other sounds.

@FireSong

 

[Falynn Tikarsis]

Falynn watched as an X-wing descended from above. It seemed, much to her relief, that the weather had not blocked the transmission of her coordinates. The ship’s cockpit opened, and its pilot came to greet her. He was of an avian species, though Falynn couldn’t remember the exact one. It would come to her eventually. As Cobalt introduced himself, she noted the translator which interpreted his language and relayed it to her in Basic. “Hello, Cobalt. It’s nice to meet you,” she greeted him warmly. Falynn trusted that while he could not speak Basic, he did understand it.


A quick glance outside the hangar told the ranger that the rain would not be letting up anytime soon. Yet, they needed to start scouting the seas as soon as possible. She sighed inwardly before pulling out her datapad to show Cobalt a diagram. “As you likely know, this is the information we were given on the facilities,” Falynn pointed to certain areas and their designated coordinates. “I believe this one is the closest to our current location,”—she gestured to the left—“it’s quite an expanse of open sea to cover though.” Falynn paused before continuing. “But distance may not be the most important consideration here. What do you think is the best way to navigate this mission?”

@samdragon

 

[Cobalt Cavern Chronicler]

The Shashay examined the datapad thoughtfully, tapping his beak while mumbling by himself. "In my opinion, scattering would be the best option. As in, keeping a distance between ourselves to allow our scanners to cover an area as wide as possible. Just my thought. If you have your own suggestions, I'm open to listen to them" he said, pointing at the area around the spot where she pointed at. "The issue would be confronting that goddamn storm..."

@FireSong

 

[Falynn Tikarsis]

Cobalt suggested they scatter, and Falynn saw the logic in that. They would cover area much quicker that way than by flying close side by side. The atmospheric conditions still worried her though. What if they lost communication? “Scattering is a good idea. I can’t really think of a way to avoid the storm though. It practically covers the entire location we’re supposed to scan.” Waiting it out would be pointless, as rain frequented Kamino too often. It seemed their only choice was to push through. “We may be forced to scan in the storm. Unless we want to try scouting for one of the other facilities first.” Falynn shrugged, “We’re going to have to face the storm at some point either way. Is it foolish to try this location even with the inclement weather?” The ranger had gathered that her partner was more experienced in this field and naturally deferred to him. If Cobalt thought it was better to try another location, they would. If he believed scanning around the storm was doable, then they would do that.

Falynn would wait for Cobalt’s input, and once they were agreed, would step back into her ship. She would make sure they had a secure channel and check her ship’s functions, especially the comm system. Once Cobalt was ready, Falynn would follow him out of the hangar. It was time to take to the skies.

@samdragon

 

[Cobalt Cavern Chronicler]

He pondered for a while, then looked up at her. "I'd say we could start from the other locations that are relatively safer than this one, and then eventually pass by it, in hopes that the storm at least calms down a bit in the meantime. Judging from the wind's direction" he said, pulling out a datapad and brought up the day's weather forecasts for the area, "I think that in like... a few hours we should be able to scan the area with relatively safe conditions. It'll still be rainy, but at least not that stormy. What do you think?" he asked as they headed towards their ships. "I'd say we should keep each our ship so we can still scan a wider area in any case, and obviously keep a channel open. In case, prepare also the emergency broadcasts, you never know what awaits out there" he said, half joking half serious as he climbed back in his X-Wing, his BG droid beeping and chittering in slight distress. "Don't worry Biggie, I'm sure about what I'm doing" he reassured the droid, who though was still slightly nervous.

@FireSong

 

[Falynn Tikarsis]

They agreed to scout the safer areas first. Falynn, for one, was glad to not have to fly in the storm. Waiting a few hours seemed reasonable to her. She prepared the emergency broadcasts as instructed because unfortunately her partner was right—they really didn’t have any idea what could happen in the field. Such was the life of a ranger.

As they exited the docking bay, the rain beating down on their ships, Falynn kept in close range of Cobalt. It wouldn’t do to lose him before they arrived at their destination, and the fog wasn’t helping in the least bit. “Alright, this is a test. Can you understand me?” Falynn spoke through their private channel and listened for a response. As long as they could clearly communicate, losing sight of one another wouldn’t be such a huge issue.

Falynn glanced down at her navigational aide which told her they would soon be within range of the presumed cloning facility. She tried to see if she could make out anything through the cockpit but was only met with watery streaks and a lot of gray clouds. “Cobalt, I think this is one of the areas. Shall we start scanning?”

@samdragon

 

[Cobalt Cavern Chronicler]

Cobalt tap tapped at the ship's communicator, which crackled some from the interferences given by the storm, but despite that, he could still make out the woman's speech. "Your voice is a bit muffled by interferences, but overall I can hear you well!" he said with a chipper tone. As they flew, the Shashay sighed in relief as the storm seemed to indeed calm down as they approached the first area. He observed the sea underneath, squinting his eyes, but he couldn't see a thing. At the woman's question he nodded. "Aye, time to boot up these scanners and see if we find something!" Then he activated the scanners and begun flying slower to allow the scanners to scan the area underneath the ship.

@FireSong

 

[Falynn Tikarsis]

Mercifully, Cobalt’s enthusiastic confirmation came over her comms audibly, albeit a bit quietly. Being able to hear each other was a reassuring first step. At his command, she turned on her scanners and began to fly the area. To no surprise, the view from the cockpit was still distorted and everything looked identical. She would trust the scanners to do their job. Scan after scan came back negative, and Falynn would be lying if she said she wasn’t disappointed. Sighing, she laid out her findings, or lack thereof, to the other ranger. “I’m not picking up anything over here. What about you?”

Having found nothing in the area she’d covered, Falynn angled her ship to the left and began soaring low over the waters. Still no sign of an abandoned facility or anything. But the view out the window had cleared. The rain had passed through, leaving behind clear skies and calmer waves. Suddenly, her console began chirping at her. Falynn waited several moments to see if it was an error, but the point stayed on the scanner. “Hold on, I think I found something over here. Do you see it?”

@samdragon

 

[Cobalt Cavern Chronicler]

Cobalt kept an eye over the sensors while leading the ship, humming a soft tune time to time. His radar beeped time to time, although mostly were some false positives. "Nothing here, but I'm not surprised by this" he mumbled as he flew over another sector of the area they were exploring. He slowed down the ship and headed towards her ship as she called him, and indeed, the signal was there. "Yup, I see it too! Let's check out" he said with a happy tone and gradually lowered his ship's height.

@FireSong

 

[Falynn Tikarsis]

With Cobalt’s confirmation that his scanners had picked up on the location as well, Falynn felt assured that they truly had discovered something. He was so cheerful in his speech too, that a flicker of hope sparked in her heart. She maneuvered her ship in line with his and flew down to hover above the waves. The water’s unbroken, uniform surface met her for as far as the eye could see. Beautiful, yet undesirable for their situation. “I can’t get a clear visual of anything on the surface.” Being unable to identify what the scanner had sensed above the water suggested there was something beneath it. Falynn severely hoped she was wrong, but mentally prepared herself for any adventure they might have into the depths. “What does it look like from your angle?” Although she was unable to see a cloning facility of any sorts, it was still fully possible that Cobalt could from his perspective.

@samdragon

 

[Cobalt Cavern Chronicler]

Cobalt's starfighter carefully lowered itself closer to the water's surface, slowing down a little so he could pinpoint better where the the signal came from... until the familiar spire of a Kaminoan building appeared. The Shashay sqwawked in excitement and churped in the mic "We found it! I think we found the cloning facility Falynn! Come and check out!" He flew around the large facility to help Falynn see where to fly to.

@FireSong

 

[Falynn Tikarsis]

He saw something? Falynn almost didn’t want to believe it at first, not wanting to get her hopes up. But when his cheerful voice came loud and clear through the comms, the medic knew he truly had found a cloning facility. She swung her ship around to follow Cobalt’s, and sure enough, just peeking through the waters was the dome-shaped roof of a Kaminoan building. “Wonderful job, Cobalt. I see it too now.” Falynn circled around the facility carefully, taking care not to fly too close lest she damage her ship. Fortunately, a good portion of the building was above water and could be modified for functional use. Whatever damage the facility had suffered was reparable. From the outside, it seemed structurally sound enough to be a plausible option for use.

Having flown closer, she could now identify the details of the building, including entrances and exits. “I think we can land our ships in that area on the east side of the building. Do you think it’s safe enough to scout around inside on foot?”

@samdragon

 

[Cobalt Cavern Chronicler]

"Interesting question. I'd say yes, the building seems relatively intact and stable, structurally it seems still quite solid, in my opinion. Ladies first!" he said jokingly, heading towards the landing platform, letting Falynn land first though. His droid beeped. "Good point. Hey, should we send some signal or something to tell the Rangers that we found something and perhaps send some reinforcements?" His point honestly was fair: they didn't know what they may find in there.

@FireSong

 

[Falynn Tikarsis]

“Ladies first!” Falynn smirked as she flew ahead and carefully landed her ship on the platform. Very funny.

Since Cobalt had confirmed her original thoughts about the building’s safety, they could move onward. She had almost forgotten about precautions until her partner mentioned it. “Right. That’s a good idea.” Falynn glanced at her display. “With the weather and how far out we are, a good signal is unlikely, but it’s worth a try. I’ll call in and then meet you outside.”

Pressing a button on the control panel, Falynn attempted to establish a line with the closest Sector Ranger outpost. Identifying herself and their location, she described the situation and potential danger. The second part was more complicated. From experience, Falynn knew backup could be hard to secure on short notice. “Requesting backup if no communication is made within 3 hours.” That would give them a window of time to scope things out. With any luck, they would emerge unscathed.

After the call was made, the medic grabbed her pack and necessary equipment before stepping out of her ship to meet Cobalt. Once ready, they would venture into the facility together.

@samdragon