"I swear that it's not as bad as it sounds."
Nara Allam stood in her Master's quarters, looking a lot worse for wear. It was evening, getting towards the night. She'd been gone for nearly a full day and you only needed to look at her to see where she'd been. Her coat was caked in mud, dirt and dried swamp slime. Her face was dirty too, cheeks scuffed with a few cuts and bruises. Her hair was a tangled mess, sticking out at odd angles. Her boots? Well, there was more grass and muck attached to them than she'd ever seen before in her life.
On her shoulder, Three-B beeped softly, apologetically. His head bowed down towards her Master as he shivered. In fear? In sadness? Maybe it was just disappointment for his role in it too. Though Nara knew deep down that she'd encouraged everything to do with it.
"Please just... let me explain, master."
It had been a few weeks since Nara had arrived. Nara'd spent her whole life running with gangs of orphans, committing petty crimes and thefts. Was there any doubt that something like this would happen? She'd warned him from the moment that they met that she'd only give it a try. At first, everything seemed okay. The work was hard but she felt like she was making a little progress. The strange, freshness of the air around her started to grow on her. She was making peace with Oren's way of talking and his lessons about the Force. She'd even managed to use it a few times, deliberately.
Maybe it was just a lesson that didn't go right for her. Maybe it was the pressure of looking at all those old lessons. Maybe she just... snapped. But over the course of a couple of days, she'd become convinced that she didn't belong there. That she'd made a terrible mistake. Yeah, maybe Nar Shaddaa was a terrible place but... look at her. She had no patience for all these studies. All these lessons. All this slow, tender exploration of the energies around her. All she ever wanted was to get things done. So... one night, after she thought most would have returned to their quarters and their beds, she snuck out.
Finding Oren's ship hadn't been hard. He'd told her about it before. He'd mentioned about heading to different planets for various duties and tasks. He had certainly talked enough about various historical worlds of interest to him. It wasn't exactly sleek or new either, which suited Nara just fine. It looked like junk, to be frank. And junk was Nara's speciality. Her and Three-B had headed over there and sliced through the door pretty easily. No different to breaking into a warehouse on Nar Shaddaa, no worries. It felt kinda good to be fiddling with wires again, watching her droid work his magic, feeling that shiver of satisfaction when the circuitry beeped and the door slid wide open for her.
The unfortunate thing was that Nara had never flown a ship before. She didn't know what to do, how to do it or how to get it to work. Unfortunately, Three-B had been salvaged mainly from gambling droids and cleaners, so there was no chance he'd have something hidden away in his databanks. So, in her desperation, Nara turned to the age-old solution. She started hitting buttons in the cockpit until something worked.
Whether it worked? Well, that depends on your definition of worked.
She did manage to get it flying. With a judder, the ship lifted into the air as Nara slipped to the floor, watching the dark sky and stars shift with the ship's movement. Trying to lift herself up, she grabbed at the console and hit other buttons, feeling the ship shake as the engines engaged. But she was too low, the ship wasn't high enough to burn the engines so hard. The ship blasted off over the temple, heading straight through into the thick, dense, swampy forests.
Nara managed maybe ten, twelve seconds before there was an incredible BANG and she blacked out.
When she woke up, light was poking through the purple-red clouds in the sky. Through the treeline, she could see it. It took her a little while to climb out and assess the damage. The ship, stuck halfway in a bubbling, gurgling lake of stagnant water, ooze and mud. The cockpit was aimed right at the sky, the rest of the ship slowly sinking deeper into the ground, engine first. Nara nearly tried firing it up again to see if she could burn it out, but then thought that it might overload it and explode. That was when the realisation had hit her. She had to go back.
".... and I managed to head back through... well, the jungle. Woods. Whatever you call it. It took me most of the day. I had to... I had to find my way back here. I had to feel it through the Force." She was hungry, tired, sore and feeling pretty stupid. But the worst thing? That feeling in the pit of her stomach, gnawing at her. Especially when she looked at Oren's face. She couldn't match his gaze, couldn't look right at him. Her fists clenched as she stared at the floor, like a naughty child who'd just been caught.
"I'm sorry Master. I'm so sorry."
@TWD26
Nara Allam stood in her Master's quarters, looking a lot worse for wear. It was evening, getting towards the night. She'd been gone for nearly a full day and you only needed to look at her to see where she'd been. Her coat was caked in mud, dirt and dried swamp slime. Her face was dirty too, cheeks scuffed with a few cuts and bruises. Her hair was a tangled mess, sticking out at odd angles. Her boots? Well, there was more grass and muck attached to them than she'd ever seen before in her life.
On her shoulder, Three-B beeped softly, apologetically. His head bowed down towards her Master as he shivered. In fear? In sadness? Maybe it was just disappointment for his role in it too. Though Nara knew deep down that she'd encouraged everything to do with it.
"Please just... let me explain, master."
It had been a few weeks since Nara had arrived. Nara'd spent her whole life running with gangs of orphans, committing petty crimes and thefts. Was there any doubt that something like this would happen? She'd warned him from the moment that they met that she'd only give it a try. At first, everything seemed okay. The work was hard but she felt like she was making a little progress. The strange, freshness of the air around her started to grow on her. She was making peace with Oren's way of talking and his lessons about the Force. She'd even managed to use it a few times, deliberately.
Maybe it was just a lesson that didn't go right for her. Maybe it was the pressure of looking at all those old lessons. Maybe she just... snapped. But over the course of a couple of days, she'd become convinced that she didn't belong there. That she'd made a terrible mistake. Yeah, maybe Nar Shaddaa was a terrible place but... look at her. She had no patience for all these studies. All these lessons. All this slow, tender exploration of the energies around her. All she ever wanted was to get things done. So... one night, after she thought most would have returned to their quarters and their beds, she snuck out.
Finding Oren's ship hadn't been hard. He'd told her about it before. He'd mentioned about heading to different planets for various duties and tasks. He had certainly talked enough about various historical worlds of interest to him. It wasn't exactly sleek or new either, which suited Nara just fine. It looked like junk, to be frank. And junk was Nara's speciality. Her and Three-B had headed over there and sliced through the door pretty easily. No different to breaking into a warehouse on Nar Shaddaa, no worries. It felt kinda good to be fiddling with wires again, watching her droid work his magic, feeling that shiver of satisfaction when the circuitry beeped and the door slid wide open for her.
The unfortunate thing was that Nara had never flown a ship before. She didn't know what to do, how to do it or how to get it to work. Unfortunately, Three-B had been salvaged mainly from gambling droids and cleaners, so there was no chance he'd have something hidden away in his databanks. So, in her desperation, Nara turned to the age-old solution. She started hitting buttons in the cockpit until something worked.
Whether it worked? Well, that depends on your definition of worked.
She did manage to get it flying. With a judder, the ship lifted into the air as Nara slipped to the floor, watching the dark sky and stars shift with the ship's movement. Trying to lift herself up, she grabbed at the console and hit other buttons, feeling the ship shake as the engines engaged. But she was too low, the ship wasn't high enough to burn the engines so hard. The ship blasted off over the temple, heading straight through into the thick, dense, swampy forests.
Nara managed maybe ten, twelve seconds before there was an incredible BANG and she blacked out.
When she woke up, light was poking through the purple-red clouds in the sky. Through the treeline, she could see it. It took her a little while to climb out and assess the damage. The ship, stuck halfway in a bubbling, gurgling lake of stagnant water, ooze and mud. The cockpit was aimed right at the sky, the rest of the ship slowly sinking deeper into the ground, engine first. Nara nearly tried firing it up again to see if she could burn it out, but then thought that it might overload it and explode. That was when the realisation had hit her. She had to go back.
".... and I managed to head back through... well, the jungle. Woods. Whatever you call it. It took me most of the day. I had to... I had to find my way back here. I had to feel it through the Force." She was hungry, tired, sore and feeling pretty stupid. But the worst thing? That feeling in the pit of her stomach, gnawing at her. Especially when she looked at Oren's face. She couldn't match his gaze, couldn't look right at him. Her fists clenched as she stared at the floor, like a naughty child who'd just been caught.
"I'm sorry Master. I'm so sorry."
@TWD26
