Chapter Text
The sheathipede shuttle careened downwards toward the forest, a trail of thick dark smoke trailed behind it. The ship was falling apart, losing pieces into the forest below. Vigil and Mute desperately tried to keep the ship steady while the small alarm bleated from the dashboard. Vigil, on the yoke, managed to rectify the ship from its nosedive. They were still descending, but not as dangerously as before.
“Get ready for a rough landing.” Vigil called into the troop bay behind him.
The treeline grazed the shuttle’s belly at first, but the forest stopped just shy of an open valley. The shuttle sank lower down until the underside of it plowed through the soft soil, and then coasted to a stop.
“Everyone alright?” Vigil asked once the ship came to a complete halt.
“Rattled my bones a little too much, but I’ll be fine.” Tiger replied.
“We’re all good.” Beryl also chimed in on everyone’s behalf.
Garnet swung the restraint arms of his seat up and invited himself into the cockpit to get a better look at the environment they just crashlanded in. There were trees to one side of the valley, and on the other side in the far distance were mountains. Aside from the sight of the ugly crashed ship, this place was a sight to take in.
Garnet batted the dangling assortment of trinkets that hung in the control cabin. “So much for safe travels.”
Vigil retrieved his trinkets and wrapped it around his right forearm. “We were pursued by vulture droids, but we landed alive. So that’s something.”
“Vigil, let us out.” Tiger was already standing at the rear of the ship.
Mute beat Vigil to it, pressing the button that opened the shuttle’s rear door that extended into an access ramp. With the exception of the pilots, tiger squad exited the ship.
“We’re trying to send out a transmission, but the ship’s all out of power.” Vigil told the team from within the ship without being prompted by the most pressing question.
Tiger placed his hands on his hips. “Looks like a lot of the ship is missing.” And that was most evident by just once glance at the battered and broken shape of the ship.
Tacts pointed down the opposite direction the ship had flown before the crash. “We could go for a hike through the forest and recover the ship’s missing pieces. Not all of it, but enough to send a beacon for recovery.”
“How long will we be here?” Bite asked.
In response, Tiger shrugged. “Could be a while, could be a day.”
“We don’t exactly know how far apart our ship is scattered.” Tacts added.
“Alright. But where exactly are we?” Garnet questioned. “I would like to get our bearings oriented.”
The team’s pilot and co-pilot grouped up with the rest of the team. Mute silently pointed to the command console just beyond the troop bay, mimed button mashing, and then shrugged.
Bite was able to interpret all of what Mute had said, and translated. “He panicked and made the jump to random coordinates.”
“Great, so we’re lost.” Beryl grumbled.
“I have spice. If I could-” Vigil began.
“That’s never worked.” Acklay interrupted him.
Tiger sighed. “Here’s our plan. We split up. One group finds the nearest water source in case we’re going to be stranded here for a while. The other group follows the debris trail of our ship to scavenge for parts.”
“Sounds like a plan. Who goes with who?” Tacts asked.
“Bite, Mute, Acklay, you’re coming with me. We’ll look for a water source. Garnet, Beryl, Vigil, you’re following Tacts to scavenge ship debris.” Tiger had put together a quick plan. The composition for each team hadn’t been chosen at random, it was a tactical choice. “Vigil, you’ll help keep Garnet and Beryl in line.”
Vigil simply nodded.
“I think I should be in the lead. But, I’ll follow Tactics.” Garnet said.
Tacts gave a reassuring pat to Garnet’s armplate. “I know you’re smart. If there’s anything you see that I don’t, tell me.”
“We’ll meet back at the shuttle by dusk. Move out.” Tiger gave the final order for the briefing.
With Tiger’s orders, the team split up into two even parties. It just might very well be a long day. How long a rotation lasted was yet to be determined. How far away water was, was also yet to be determined. So was finding the ship’s components. But they had a simple plan they were executing, and that was enough for now.