Trouble On the Home Front

[Lissa]

As Jeryndi Trander walked the halls of the massive place-- the Yelora Dowen-- his heart was pounding... How did he explain this? He'd already finished the last trip to the Quintessence. Unloaded the last shipful of passengers he'd carried from the planet on his last run of the evacuation. He'd discovered something horrifying and unexpected upon finishing loading off the Mandals.


Medren Trander was gone. He knew it had to have been during the last trip down to Keldabe, but he wasn't entirely sure when his son had slipped away... But it had been between unloading the speeders for Solomon and departing for the Quintessence for the last time. There would be consequences if he found his son alive-- but mostly... he'd be grateful to have him back. He was thinking about how upset Kel'dan would be as he walked the halls. He had gotten here only moments ago. His daughter walked alongside him, two steps behind. Her black pigtails bounced with her haste to keep up with her father... Jeryndi had only one purpose in being here, aboard this station. That was to talk to Kel'dan.



* * * * *


Aboard the Yelora Dowen was where Kel'dan formerly Akir was...His ship was docked with the Battle Dragon, his advisors and aids had come with him. But the only one here in this room was Ti'ya Begran. He'd taken up a spot in the control room, watching as the scans and new information constantly poured in from the planet's surface. He'd had a sinking feeling ever since stepping foot in this room, but he didn't know why...


His whole body was tense as he looked at the screens. Among his people who'd come with his ship, some had worn their beskar'gam... He was sure that set some of the Hapans stationed here on edge-- but not even minutes after arriving, he'd given the order for them to take it off aboard his ship. He, however, had his in storage. It was on his ship, but he had not donned it before leaving the planet... He probably had not changed clothes since the Plume had happened. To everyone but his first in command, Ti'ya, he seemed calm... But she knew better. She could see the uncertainty and unease behind those green eyes...


Tiya's comm rang with a quiet beep and she rejected the transmission-- not wanting to talk to anyone right then... A moment later, another beep as she got a message.


Jeryndi Trander is here to see the Mandalore.


It made her click her tongue in annoyance... Kel'dan couldn't afford distractions right and that Jetii was about to do exactly that... But she walked towards the door of the bridge, going out to head off the man before he could get to Kel'dan himself... She knew Kel'dan was watching her as she left, but she didn't care. After going out into the hallway to speak to the Jetii, she curled her lip as she went back in.


"It's Jeryndi... He needs to speak to you. It's urgent." She told him. He gave her a look of dread, but turned to walk with her out of the bridge.


Upon getting outside of the bridge, Ti'ya offereed a hand and a smile to Marian. Marian took it with a smile back and gave Jeryndi a small wave goodbye as Ti'ya led her away... Jeryndi waved back, then looked to Kel'dan.


"Ren's gone," Jeryndi said, not bothering to beat around the bush.


"WHAT?!?!", Kel'dan said, exclaiming it in a harsh whisper that wasn't meant to carry, but did. "What're you talking about?" he asked, after taking a few seconds to compose himself...


"I mean," Jeryndi said slowly. "He snuck off the Lickity Split while I was loading refugees for my last run to the Quintessence... I didn't realize he wasn't there untiul we docked and unloaded... Marian didn't notice, either."


The look on Kel'dan's face threatened murder... "You..." He sputtered indignantly for a second. Jeryndi didn't quite flinch, but he jerked away from Kel'dan in anticipation of having a swing taken at him... "He's down there... in the Red," Kel'dan hissed... "How did you not notice?"


Jeryndi looked away, not meeting Kel'dan's eyes. "Every trip we made to the Quintessence, he sat in the back with the Mandals... He'd run the preflight checks and then go sit with them and Marian stayed with me in the cockpit... Eleven trips we made, Kel... Eleven. What reason did I have to think this was any different?" he asked. "And now it's too late."


When he looked back to the Mandalore, there were tears in his eyes. Kel'dan could feel it-- the grief the younger man had in him... It felt like the first time Kel'dan had seen him since returning from the dead. A kind of grief that clung to him, despite the smiles and jokes. For that moment... His anger faded. It was a long, drawn out silence between them... Probably 45 seconds as they stared at each other.


"Maybe not," Kel'dan finally said. He glanced around them as Jeryndi's eyes widened with hope. Kel'dan grabbed the former Jedi by the arm and led him off to the side, away from passer bys in the corridors. "The Red has stopped... There are places where it hasn't reached. It seems to have stopped altogether... You've got a chance to go after him."


Jeryndi breathed a sigh of relief and his hand tightened on Kel'dan's sleeve. "Really? You..." His mind was racing... The wheels were turning. The hamsters were hyper. There was hope. He let out a shuddering breath as he felt weak in the knees... "Oh gods," he muttered. He suddenly felt sick... And Kel'dan caught him right before he collapsed and puked all over the floor. Cleanup on aisle 4? Kel'dan sighed as he held Jeryndi, waiting for him to recover... Now he knew what that feeling of dread had been. What that feeling that had been nagging at him had been....


"Listen, Jeryndi," He said softly. "You'd better go down there and get him... I will never forgive you if you don't bring him back." There was a hardness to those words... They also doubled as, I will kill you if you come back without him. "He is our son... I very much still love him... This happened under your care. On your watch... Fix. Your. Mess." With that said, he stood back up to full height and pushed Jeryndi back up to his feet... They stood there again for several seconds in silence again....


"I will give you clearance to go back... But the Red has stopped. Get what you need. Go well-supplied. Be smart about this... Go and say goodbye to Marian... I promise, I will take care of her."


Jeryndi stared at the puddle of vomit he'd just left on the floor... How long had it been since he'd done that? He had no clue.... But he was listening. He met Kel'dan's gaze and nodded. "I know... I know you will," he said softly. Kel'dan simply nodded.


"Get to it." With that said, he turned to leave and go back to the Yelora Dowen's bridge.

[Lissa]

Clearance had been given to the Lickity Split, making it one of the only ships to be given permission to return to the planet after it had gotten to the 15 minute mark. In the other parts of the planet, on the other side of Keldabe, the last places the Red was supposed to touch... Those places had veen evacuated to Keldabe to be transported off-world if they didn't have a direct way off the planet... Those places, those towns, had been empty before the last ships had left Keldabe. His was first and perhaps only ship to be going back down after the Red had hit Keldabe.


Hours had passed... Seven, to be exact. He hadn't been comfortable waiting that long, but that's how long it had taken to get everything he'd needed. It had taken some effort to wrangle supplies from people without making an extra trip somewhere else... Which would've taken a day, at the least. So it had come down to nerf trading with people. The only thing that hadn't been give and take had been the landspeeder from Kel'dan's ship. Exactly like the one that Kel'dan had prepared for Solomon...


He'd meditated. He'd searched through the Force for his son... While he didn't find him, he had a good sense he was alive. He'd waited, he'd worked on the speeder bike in his cargo bay.


He'd gathered supplies... Crates of supplies. He'd stocked up on envirosuits, basic comm units, rations, water, random things-- rope, to-be-assembled kits for carrying the injured, medical supplies, and a few science supplies... Out of all the things he'd collected, science supplies? Samples. That's what they'd asked of him... Samples from various things and places if they were on the way. If he encountered survivors along the way, to help where he could and take samples of blood and skin. The general hope had been he'd make this a quick trip-- getting to his son and returning in a timely fashion and bring back whoever and whatever he could that might give them more information...


He'd jerry rigged a train of sorts. First the landspeeder, then two hoversleds behind it. One had nothing but supplies on it. The second had two speeder bikes on it. All of them were in perfect working order before leaving the Yelora Dowen to come back down to the planet... After landing on the outskirts of Keldabe, the Lickity Split sat in silence... He'd taken a good look at the sky. Any semblance of daylight was gone. It was eternal dusk and night here on this planet now... He shuddered to think of what it was like to be out in it. The winds were strong here-- but the Red lingered. Not all that far away-- a few miles. It hovered like an unmoving dust storm... But it didn't change the fact that there were electromagnetic interference and storms. He sat in the cockpit of his ship, thinking of his son being out there in it... He shook his head. It was past dusk and any semblance of outside light wouldn't come until morning...


After meditating, reaching out with the Force, eating... He knew it wouldn't be morning before he could leave. But he knew he could make good time with the Force as his ally. He decided to try something... He got on a comm and sent out a wide mesage on all channels. Who knew how far it'd go-- if it would ever be heard...


"Hello? Can anyone hear this?"

[Lissa]

He'd not slept, but that was okay. He wouldn't have been able to sleep, even if he'd wanted to... Sleep was elusive most of the time these days. So when he had finally found a calm quiet within meditation, it was like a caress to his soul and mind. Which, in turn, reinvigorated the body... Upon meditating for what felt like hours... Searching himself, searching in the Force... He'd finally found what he was looking for. His son. He hadn't gotten a location, he hadn't gotten a connection... But what he had gotten was that his son was alive and well... It was enough to go on. It was enough to motivate him all over again...


It was one thing to take out the hoversleds and the landspeeder in the harsh wind and environment... It was another to keep it intact. After leading the train down the ramp of his cargo hold, he realized... This wasn't going to work. Back up the ramp one sled had gone and things were rearranged... Now, there was only one sled in tow behind the landspeeder. There was still supplies on it, tied down, and a speeder bike on it, too... It wasn't what he'd hoped to be able to take, but the wind was too harsh to take two. It'd have toppled or crashed or worse.


In the early morning, when the sun should've just been coming up, he sent word to the Yelora Dowen that he was departing the Lickity Split to set out on his mission... It had started out well-- he'd made his way through Keldabe, wearing a envirosuit. It hadn't been long before finding a few survivors. He'd gone to the Aud first thing-- if anybody was in Keldabe, good bet they were there...


He was glad to have helped. There had been a Mandal named Sitlan, donned in beskar'gam, a seemingly formidable woman in her own right... Her son, Joukaru, who was all of six...And the one that she had rescued. A woman named Olivia Tino. Upon finding them, he'd gotten them into envirosuits. He'd unhitched the hoversled and left it behind in the Aud while he made the return trip with them to the Lickity Split. He'd given them rations and water while he contacted the Yelora Dowen.


"I found 3 survivors in the Aud... I have brought them out of the Red and back to my ship. I am departing in a few minutes to go back into the Red... I am requesting you send a ship down to pick them up and take them back for medical exams. Since I found survivors so quickly in, I'm going to set up a small waystation here in this building next to my ship... I'll put supplies and suits there, along with a long range communications setup so anybody i direct here can contact you for extraction... I'm glad to be of service, but I have a mission to do. Trander out."


That had taken him an hour, probably, to set up... After locking down his ship, he set back out into the Red. More survivors, if he found them, would be directed here. Just outside Keldabe. The one thing he had in plenty was suits... To give to anyone he came across. To give the survivors the knowledge that if they found any working speeder bikes, that was the best mode of transport. He'd returned to the Aud, hitching the hoversled back up to the landspeeder... And after three hours of daylight, but not wasted time, he was finally on his way out of Keldabe in earnest... He had a mission to do. He had to find his son.