After landing beside the dormant ship and handing out my orders, we paused to let the deep scans of the surrounding area finish. According to the results, the ship was not just powered off, but completely drained of any energy, and the same temperature as the air around it. There wasn't even any active power cells, which meant the ship hadn't been turned on to charge any of them.
Safe to say the starship hadn't been used in quite a few years.
The sensors also picked up significant modifications to the ship, namely that it was missing a considerable number of parts. Nothing had been removed that would compromise the ship's integrity or its seal from the atmosphere, meaning the inside of the ship would still be clean.
It also located a tunnel under the ship. It couldn't penetrate the rock for more than a dozen feet, and the tunnel descended below that, but it was more than wide enough for two adults to walk side by side down.
"No life signs in the ship… How much you want to bet they went downward?" I asked, pointing at the scan of the tunnel going down. "Looks like a natural cave."
"No deal," Tatnia responded. "Should we head right for the cave, or...?"
I frowned and considered her question, trying to consider our options. On one hand, finding the Jedi was our priority, so exploring their ship wasn't strictly necessary. On the other hand, getting a sense of their state of mind would make me feel much more confident in dealing with them.
"Can anyone think of a decent way to get into the ship without contaminating everything?" I asked.
"What if we put a barrier up connecting us and the ship? Something like a mag com field?" Corvak suggested.
"If we can get to the emergency air lock, I can get us inside," Cal suggested, pointing to the airlock on top of the ship. "I used to disassemble these C70 Retrofits on Bracca all the time. There is a manual release for the emergency air lock built into the side panel here."
"Well, a mag com field would keep the air out, but what about the environmental shields we use?" Tatnia suggested. "Their whole point is to protect us from adverse conditions, and we won't have to disassemble any of our systems to get it working."
"Do we have any on board?" I asked, looking over at Corvak, who shook his head. "In that case, comm the Hope and see if they do. They should, but if they don't ask the Ark. Also, add environmental shields to the standard loadout for ship inventory."
It took a bit of phone tag and moving things around, but eventually we got a portable environmental shield generator down to the surface, where we activated it to create a barrier connecting the Loyal Hound and the unnamed Clone Wars era starship's emergency airlock. It was a bit complicated to get it working, so we didn't pull contaminated air inside, but we managed to get it working with positive pressure to push out the contaminated air, before finally stepping outside the ship.
It was a bit bizarre to look out at the surface of the planet and see the noxious atmosphere being kept at bay by an invisible force, but all of us stayed a good distance from the line, not wanting to risk accidentally pushing through. That was harder than it sounded, considering we exited the ships while we were floating on our repulsor packs.
Previously, I had assumed we would be forced to walk on the surface unprotected, and we still might, but for now, I was more than happy to go the extra mile to keep things uncontaminated. That included floating around slowly to keep our feet from touching the ground.
Cal led us up along the side of the ship to the top before directing us towards the emergency air lock. It only took him a moment to find it, and he quickly got to work, using a prybar to open a hatch next to it. When the metal panel was free, Ahsoka used the Force to float it away while Cal reached inside the opening to pull out a long, bright orange wrench-looking thing.
After looking inside the hatch with a bit of light, he stuck the head of the wrench back inside the compartment, locking it around some sort of bolt or gear. Once the wrench was secure, he yanked and pulled against it, eventually managing to loosen the controls so that he could slowly engage some sort of manual opening system. It was slow going, as it seemed like he was manually turning a gear that was attached to the system's already existing opening mechanism, except he was doing it an inch at a time.
It took a bit of finagling to find the right amount of leverage, as we were hovering above the ship with nowhere to anchor ourselves, but we eventually managed to get it done.
When the opening was eventually spread wide enough, one by one, we floated down inside, landing in an open hall. It was obviously dark, but our helmets compensated for that, so we easily spread out to inspect the ship. Just as our sensors predicted, there was no one inside. It was also clear that the place had been heavily salvaged for materials.
"The whole place has been stripped down," Ahsoka pointed out, gesturing to the opened walls and empty sockets for benches and cabinets. "Did they drag it all down with them?"
"I can't imagine where else they would bring it, the whole surface is a hellscape," I said with a frown, looking around the primary break room. "Glad we didn't try to power this bucket up. Best case, it would have burst into flames with all the crossed wires. Worst case is a crater."
Ahsoka chuckled and nodded as we moved to inspect more, Corvak eventually calling us to the starship's large cargo bay. It didn't take us long to realize why.
At the center of the large space was a freight elevator, which was extended down to the surface. The elevator was pressed firmly against the ground, directly over the spot where our scans said the tunnel downward was.
The elevator was also heavily modified, with walls built from the ship's interior panels to protect it from the toxic atmosphere. They had basically built a box on the elevator and sent it down to the ground, welding it in place to create a sort of docking tunnel. The walls were thin, and the welds were simple, but it worked.
At the base of the docking tunnel, which was the bottom of the elevator, were a few piles of scraps, though nothing more than a few hand-sized pieces. Tucked along one corner was a ladder down, built by hand, and in the opposite corner was a hatch, partially covered with a metal plate. Through an open corner, we could see the darkness below, with another makeshift ladder welded in place. After taking a long look down, I turned to the rest of the group.
"Okay. Ahsoka, Tatnia, Mara, Corvak, Cal, and Merrin, we are going down into the cave. It is where my spell is leading me to find Sevarril Arraln," I explained, the group nodding in understanding. "The rest of you are staying here to hold the ship and to act as reinforcements should we need support. Nal, you have command of the surface team in case we lose contact. Work with Corvaks second and try not to come in guns blazing right off the bat."
Nal nodded, and after we informed the Loyal Hound of our plan, we quickly split up, gathering around the modified cargo elevator. After a moment, I jumped down to the elevator floor, heading straight for the hatch. Once I had it fully open, I gave Ahsoka a thumbs up before climbing down through the hole in the floor, descending slowly by ladder. Ahsoka followed in after me, as I slowly made my way down, eventually hopping off the ladder to the ground. It was rocky and solid, with a slight dampness that told me there was a lot of moisture in the air.
As the rest of my people followed me, I activated my helmet lights, which provided just enough light for our night vision to work. Suddenly, I could see the tunnel ahead, which only proved that we were in the right place.
Ahead of us was a crudely carved staircase, with the lines and indents soft and rounded as if they were melted. I knew of several tools that could do that, but I also recognized the telltale signs of a lightsaber. Along one side of the stone stairs were poles stuck into the ground. With a closer look, I could see they appeared to have once been strung with something to make a rope railing, but it seemed as if the rope had been taken away.
"Well… at least we know they were smart about it," I said, tapping the metal pole.
"No one has been on these stairs in several years," Corvak stated, kneeling down, dragging his finger along them. "Possibly more."
"Hmm…. well, once they stripped the ship of everything useful… maybe there wasn't much of a reason to use it?" I suggested. "Either way, we won't know until we make it down. Clairvoyance is pretty clear, she is down there and at least mostly intact."
I stepped on the first stair, and almost immediately slipped. I barely managed to catch myself, spinning my arms a bit before finally managing to stop.
"Might be a bit slippery," Corvak said, and I shot him a dirty look, not that he could see it through my helmet.
"Explains why the railing was there," Tatnia added, her smirk audible in her voice.
Slowly but surely, we made our way down the stairs, several times having to hunch down or use nearby handholds, leaning on the pipes, and generally just being careful. Technically, there wasn't much of a risk of anyone getting seriously hurt while we were wearing armor, and if they somehow managed to, I could heal them up pretty quick. Shockingly, despite that, no one wanted to fall, so we all took it slow and steady.
After descending for a full five minutes, our suit microphones started to pick up the sound of water flowing. It was considerably more than just a trickle as well, the sound getting louder as we descended further. Not long after that, Ahsoka, who was right behind me, stopped abruptly enough to catch my attention.
"I… I can feel life," She said, sounding confused. "Cal, Merrin?"
I watched as both of the slightly younger Force sensitives bowed their heads slowly as they concentrated. After a moment, they straightened, both of them nodding in confirmation.
"Something is there," Merrin agreed. "It feels strange, spread out, with spots of brightness, shifting and moving…I've never felt anything like it."
With a frown, I looked down the tunnel, wondering what we were about to walk into. After a moment spent considering the possibilities, we continued to descend. Only a few minutes later, we noticed a light, a faint blue glow coming from further down into the tunnel. As we got closer, it became clear that we were approaching some sort of opening. When we finally reached it, leaving the tunnel behind, we all stopped in shock.
Stretching out ahead of us was a massive cavern. The flowing water we had heard was a river, which poured into the cave from a falls not far from the tunnel, before running through it in a wide, meandering path, continuing on until it disappeared around the corner. Along the ground were growths of green moss, fungus, lichen, and more, as well as smaller plants that would look at home in a tropical rainforest.
All of that was secondary, however, compared to the massive mushrooms dotting the cavern, growing up from the ground and out from the walls. They ranged from the size of a hubcap to the size of an SUV, with bulbous purple tops and glowing undersides that lit up the cavern in the pale blue glow we had seen as we descended. Even as we stood there, we could see and feel water dripping from the ceiling, like a constant light rain.
In total, the visible portion of the cavern seemed to be as big as a football field at least, though it narrowed at several points and turned out of sight. It was incredible, breathtaking, like a wet, mushroom and fungus-filled oasis under the surface of a lethal planet.
It was also extremely ominous.
"This… This is not what I expected," I admitted, eyes trailing over the ceiling, water dripping from stalactites. "Ahsoka… do you feel anything off?"
"I can feel the life here… It's like a full ecosystem," She explained, awe in her voice. "There isn't anything dark that I can feel. The mushrooms are more alive than you would think. Not sentient, but they show up strong in the Force."
"The bright spots are further in… Though there is one cl-"
Merrin started to explain something, only for a gasp to echo out from our left. All of us whirled, looking up to a slight hill covered in moss and a patch of closed blue bulbs. There, standing at the top with wide eyes, was a small Twilek boy. He was maybe at most ten years old, with pale green skin and wide, shocked eyes, dressed in plain, handwoven cloths. He was carrying a basket in his right hand, filled with what I could only assume was food, harvested from the oasis.
The most shocking thing, though, was his left arm. Splashes of purple colored his skin, all from his fingertips to his shoulder, and part of his chest. Running through that were tendrils, seemingly grown under his flesh, then up and through it, where it bloomed into purple mushrooms that glowed from underneath.
It looked painful, but he still seemed to have full, unimpeded control over it. Though at the moment, he was too frozen, likely in fear, to make use of it.
Hoping to defuse the situation, I held my hands at my sides, palms facing forward to show they were empty.
"Hey there, kiddo," I said, trying my best to sound as non-threatening as possible. "My name is Deacon, we-"
Before I could continue, the kid finally seemed to break through his shock and fear. He shook for a moment before turning and running, tearing down the opposite side of the mountain and vanishing from sight, dropping his basket in the process.
"Dammit," I cursed, watching the kid vanish, shaking my head.
"Should we chase after him?" Cal asked, sounding like he was ready to rush off at a sprint as well.
"No, chasing after a kid and trying to corner him is not a good look," I pointed out, shaking my head. "We follow after him calmly, with our hands off our weapons."
I put my words into practice and slowly climbed the slight hill. As I crested it, bending down to pick up the basket, I could see the kid still running, already crossing over another hill a dozen meters or so away. I let out a sigh, shaking my head as we slowly followed after him.