SM: Soggy Boots [IC]

[Serest Riet]

Riet squatted down and hooked her gauntlets under the droid, lifting it experimentally.

“Depending on how heavy this is, I also might be able to tow it under me as I fly across.”

She wasn’t sure if such a thing was feasible or not, but wanted to check nonetheless. She would know from just getting a sense of the weight of it if her jetpack could handle the extra load.

“I was thinking about the original reason why we were sent on patrol, to verify if the recent meteor strikes were just that, or something else. It seems we have our answer, though it makes me wonder if there are more droids here in the jungle. Droids or small ops teams. Or if the enemy just sent in one droid whilst taking advantage of the cover that a meteor shower could provide.”

[Mara Aragone]

Mara thought about Riet’s reminder of the scout patrol’s objectives. While they had assumed the single, damaged probe droid would be the answer to the fears, they could not afford to be wrong if there were more.

“Riet, you make a very good point. It would only be an assumption that this probe droid was sent alone. After coming all this way to look, perhaps it would be better to continue searching around and verifying for sure there were not more.”

“Rather than just leave this wrecked on here, we should probably move it to a place we can easily find and take with us when we do head back. How about back at the sensor towers?” she suggested.

[Taanoas]

Taanoas nodded his agreement with Riet's assessment about there potentially being more trouble here then was obvious. He surveyed the area around the droid and immediately discarded leaving it here. While the droid had clearly been felled by the beasts, the beasts were clearly felled by technology.

Mara's suggestion on what to do with the droid in the meantime was reasonable. "If there's no homing signal or something similar, the sensor tower would make sense. If there's a chance of a homing beacon, I would prefer not to compromise the tower and would instead get rid of the bodies here."

[Samara]

Samara looked down as the others discussed moving it. She agreed with the inital conclusion. They needed to at least make the attempt to bring it back to base.

"Good idea, " she commented on cutting the droid down to size. She was already thinking along those lines.

With a flick of her wrist, she activate her lightsaber and neatly severed the actuators and the propulsion unit. The rebel was careful to leave the main body more or less intact. After a minute or so, the work was done. The droid body was still fairly heavy. Probably around 100-200kg or so. Heavy enough that one person would not be able to carry it.

Samara nudge the remaining droid body with her foot. It didn't budge at all, and the force user frowned as she disengaged her lightsaber.

"I think we should assume the worse. Homing beacon and perhaps others droids. However, this is the closest impact to the base. Command had recorded others, but they were much father out."

"I should be able to use the force to move the droid. I need a minute to focus however."

Samara closed her eyes and re-centered herself with the Force. Then she reached out and wrapped the droid in the power, lifting it off the ground with relative ease.

"Lead the way."

[Serest Riet]

“Very well. I will bring up the rear, as usual. Taanoas, you will lead?” Riet asked.

It made the most sense to her, given how they intended to move out, and that Samara’s focus would be on keeping the droid aloft. She supposed if there were one droid, there could easily be others. It would be up to the Rebellion’s engineers and slicers to determine if the droid had sent any transmissions offworld or not, or if it had been set upon too quickly by the deathclaws.

They had done their job.

The rain continued its downpour, dampening sound even with her sensors.

“I suppose this means we will have to evacuate this world.”

[Taanoas]

Taanoas nodded in response to the Mandalorian's question. "Of course."

He turned and faced the way they came in scanning quickly for the easiest ascent out of the crater especially with the droid in tow. Finding it he glanced back at his companions, and discovering their readiness set off. His head swiveled as he scanned, looking for more trouble. Without a strong reason to believe the rebels were present here, a single droid seemed most likely. Still, it was silly to ignore the possibility of other threats, especially having encountered the deathclaws.

He listened to the forest, the noises starting to come back to life in the quiet after the battle and heard over the constant noise of the rain. Balance. Fighting and death, abundant life. Success. Small though it might be, it was still nice to have.

[Mara Aragone]

Mara was not terribly upset at Riet's comment that they might need to evacuate the world. "That would likely be the safest course of action unless there will be proof to the safety from the droid's memory."

"It would be nice if there will be a chance for some decent shopping on the way to resupply. And I can only hope that we don't end up on a frozen ball of ice or another of these jungle planets that is too humid for proper care of my hair."

She fell into place in line, flicking on the Stealth Field generator once more as everyone focused on marching through the rain and stopped the chatter as they focused on keeping eye and ears open.

[Herzog]

The trek back to base was uneventful. The rain had abated some, but was still coming down as a drizzle. No more deathclaws attacked, nor any imperial troops spotted. Samara was able to handle the droid with her force powers, and navigating the bridge over the ravine was not an issue.

Within a couple of hours, you had returned with your findings. Your superiors, dour faced at the sight of the droid, thanked your for your work and sent you off to fresh cloths, a hot meal and some rest. Samara had a brief stay in medical to have her wound checked out.

The droids arrival signaled things were about to get lively.

spoiler: show

End of the Prelude. Every one gets 1xp. New thread is up.