Camping and Mongooses (Sejah)

[imported_Terran Starek]

The stars came back into focus as the planet of Gais become visible in the viewscreen of the cockpit. The large blue-green sphere glowed bright, covered in a few spots of splotchy cloud cover. Terran smiled--it had been some time since he had been to his home planet, and he couldn't wait to land. His farmhouse was only about a six hour trip from the single spaceport on Gais, and he couldn't wait to see his mother's face when she saw her son coming up to the house.

"Well, there she is," Terran spoke, turning his head to face his copilot and companion, Sejah Haversh. The two had been through quite a bit--especially in the friendship department as of late--and this trip was sort of a time to bond, in Terran's eyes. He'd prepared all the details and made all the arrangements for a nice peaceful stay in a small hunting and fishing camp on the edge of Hillburnt Lake. The lake was named for a strange, protruding hill that stuck out from the middle of the water. No matter the season, it always had an orange grass covering it.

"Gais--my home planet. I grew up here." Terran rethought the statement. "Well, mostly. My family lives here, about thirty degrees north of the equatorial ridge. They're pretty close to the planet's only spaceport, so it shouldn't be too bad of a flight." He set the ship on copilot as they pullled steadily towards the planet. He wanted to make a quick check of his bags before landing, just to assure that they had all the things they were going to need.

"Ok, so you packed the clothes we went shopping for, right?" Terran smiled as he recalled them visiting one of Coruscant's outdoorsman shops. They'd picked out some flannel shirts--woven double tight for warmth--sleeping bags, waders, and of course, the obligatory fishing hats. They'd looked like a pair of regular fisherman (or dorky tourists) trying the gear on, and Terran was quite amused in a sort-of geeky way. "I brought the tent, the poles, some lures, two hungting rifles, and camping gear. I can't think of anything else. . ."

THUK THUK CLICK. . .

"Did you. . .did you hear that?" Terran cocked up as he heard a strange noise coming from the hull of the transport they'd borrowed from the GJO. Granted, it wasn't the most advanced ship, but they didn't need the tip-top technology for this trip. Both Jedi had inspected the vessel before they left, however, and it was strange that such a noise was coming from there.

"That's odd," Terran said in a half-assured, half-nervous tone. Luckily, they were approaching the atmosphere. If anything was going to go wrong, he prayed in the Force that it would happen once they were inside the atmosphere of Gias.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah was terribly nervous about the whole thing. He hadn't ever been in a real forest before, and was very seldome outside a city. The whole clothing getup seemed horribly foreign to him, and he had no idea how to 'fish' as Terran described it.

After their car ride, Sejah had begun to trust his former friend again, and he hoped that their camping trip would be enough to seal over some old, deep wounds. But as the ship began to rattle, his feelings of dread kicked back in, and the mongoose looked worriedly to Terran. "That didn't sound good, Terran." he said, then looked back at the controls, but had little idea what many of them did.

"Is it okay? I don't see any red lights," he asked, but there was a jitter in the ship's drive now, and both of them couldn't ignore it. "I knew we should have taken the red ship. I said I didn't care that its shower was broken."

But complaining and regret were useless and the ship shuddered and shook. Something was definitely wrong.

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Buckle up, Sej," Terran said with a confident tone of voice. He had to be confident--though he wasn't--for the sake of his friend. Though Sejah was one of the best mechanics he'd ever met, he wasn't too familiar with starships. Terran could hold his own with starships, as he had traveled and repaired one for a few years before making it to the Order. At this point in time, repair was not an option, as the two could feel the final clicks and a shudder of friction as one of the three ion engines gave out. The middle one, directly at the rear of the hull. The strongest one.

ba-BOOOOOM!

"Maybe you were right about the red one!" Terran shouted with a sort of mischevious grin as he gripped the controls to the ship with white knuckles. He added a little bit of humor to keep Sejah remotely at ease. He closed his eyes, making a connection with the Force, enough to call into it:

Force, guide me. Be my strength. Be my eyes, my ears, and my protection.

It was a prayer he often prayed in times of tragedy, and in most cases, he could feel the spirit of the Force meet his needs. As connected to it as he was, Terran relied on it for everything--and piloting definitely fit on the list of everything.

"Ok. . .this might get bumpy. . ." The nose of the ship broke the atmosphere like a knife cutting into a steak. Friction created orange and blue flames as the ship plummeted and broke into the sky. Clouds broke apart around them, and for the first time--with the addidtion of oxygen--Terran could see deep black smoke billowing from the tail of the cruiser.

Having no idea where they were headed now, Terran had only one goal: land this thing in as little pieces as possible. As the ground came into view, Terran's eyes focused on a sizeable land mass with a good sized body of water in the eastern region. To the west was an ocean--it had to have been Southern Rank. That would put them about 1700 miles southwest of their destination, and a few days out of reach of civilization. He shook his head--he had to focus on the task at hand.

The ship pushed closer and closer to the ground as Terran pulled the yoke near him. No matter how hard he pulled, the other two jets could not push hard enough to pull the ship level. They did, however, manage to slow the momentum down a bit. With time running out, he had only a few seconds to scan for a landing place.

"There!" He thought aloud, pointing towards a small grove. It was sparsely populated with trees and would give them a shot at not being ripped apart. This would be about as good as any plot, he thought. It would be hard to find better in the dense wood of this area.

"Hold on Sejah!" He gave his final warning as the ship plummeted towards the ground. Closing his eyes, he braced for impact as the Shuttle plunged towards the ground. A tree caught hold of the right engine, the engine exploding as it was ripped from its housing, sending the ship abruptly left. The nose dipped below the treeline, digging into the grass and soil with a loud screech as the ship lurched on impact. Terran's body was jerked as he was held in place with his seatbelt, the rest of the ship slamming against the ground in a furious impact, sliding through the grass, digging a deep trench in the ground.

Terran held the controls until they locked in place, the ship spinning, nearly flipping over before it was caught in some more brush. His hands ripped from the yoke, kicked back at the strength of the crash. The ship now sat at a strange, half-upside down angle, resting against a great Oakawa tree. Black smoke enveloped the crash site as Terran's head fell to his chest.

He was unconscious.

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah's hear raced in his chest as the shuttle dropped like a stone from the sky. Terran's skill at piloting was the only reason they were still alive.

His head hurt, and something warm was running down his face. Lifting a paw to it, he pulled it back to see blood. Something had cut him. The mongoose could see very little in the smoky chamber, and frantically clawed the the latch to release his seat harness. IT was a bad idea, and he went tumbling to the floor, which was now a side wall strewn with camping gear. Oh, Garffife, his arm hurt. Struggling to a stand, Sejah squinted as his eyes watered in teh smoky cabin. His breathing was interrupted by coughing spells, and he tried to figure out a way out of the shuttle now that it was sitting on the door.

He discovered it in the windshield. Using a fire extinguisher canister, Sejah pounded at the glass until it shattered into safety pieces, then kicked out the rest of it with his footpaw. Turning around, Sejah hacked and choked on the noxious air as he pulled Terran from his seat and hauled him out the window. Once he was outside, Sejah dragged his friend to a safe distance, then returned to the ship and used the fire extinguisher to put out whatever remaining flames there might be. Then he hurriedly emptied the craft of all their necessary supplies, and went to check on Terran.

"Terran? Can you hear me?" he asked, kneeling by the unconscious man's side. Tapping his cheek lightly, Sejah tried to bring him around. "C'mon, pal, wake up."

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Ungghhhhhhhhh," Terran groaned, his eyes opening--then quickly snapping shut as the sun beat down on his dialated pupils. For a second, all was forgotten to him--even his own identity. He could recall nothing. Then, rather abruptly, it all returned.

"Oh no!" He sat up, grabbing his head as it ached with pain. He decided it was best to lay back down. "Sej--you ok?" He looked at his friend who had a bit of fur on his head matted with blood. He sat up--much slower--with Sejah's help and realized that his lower back hurt quite a bit. Nothing too immobilzing, however.

"That. . .that was not plesant." Then, it became clear to him--he was outside. He turned a bit, hearing the noise behind him, to see a very wrecked GJO transport with the smoldering gray smoke reminiscent of flames snaking from a few angles.

"This is not good. They're gonna make me take the pilot's test again!" He came to his feet, examining the rubble. "Is our gear ok?" He looked back to Sejah--his mind was going a mile a minute.

"Sorry--are you ok?" He examined his friend, who was holding his arm and bleeding from his head. "I am a bit trained with this kind of stuff. I could give you some help--but I'm not sure how well your body will react to Force healing." He remembered the last time he'd used the Force in Sejah's direction.

[Sejah Haversh]

"No, that's okay!" Sejah said immedately, looking a little afraid. "I'll be fine, really."

His injuries were superficial. It had been a broken mug that smashed him in the head, cutting a shallow gash on the crown of his head, and his arm was just bruised.

Following Terran back to the wreck, Sejah heaved a sigh and shrugged. "It looked okay, mostly. We were lucky we were planning on a camping trip, we should be pretty well off. The ship's toast, though. She'll never fly again, so it looks like we're stuck here."

[imported_Terran Starek]

Terran held his head between his fingertips as he thought--part of his process in wonderment of the entire happening, part of it in fear of the consequences. He wasn't sure what was going to happen because of all this, but something reassured him that everything would work out ok. So instead of worrying about it, he turned his energies to figuring out a solution to the mess. It started with pulling their gear from the rubble.

"I think you're right," he replied to Sejah's comment. "We definitely got stranded with the right gear, though." Terran climbed into the nose of the cockpit--which was still mostly filled with smoke. Sejah was behind him. He rumaged through the various bags and packs, tossing them back to Sejah who tossed them out onto the floor of the woods. Just as Sejah had attested, most of the gear was in good shape. Minus a few dents and dings in containers, it looked like they'd survived the trip pretty well.

"Hmmmm," he thought aloud, searching through the ship's own personal survival kit. "Well, we've got a distress beacon here. Considering the last coordinate I remember seeing before we hit, we're a few days from any kind of help." He climbed out, turning around and clicking the beacon to life, a red light flashing to show that the signal was being broadcast.

"You know," Terran got the grin on his face "It isn't a cabin or a resort, but it looks like we might have a few days in the great outdoors afterall."

[Sejah Haversh]

Sejah squinted in the afternoon sun. They had been fortunate to even be alive after their crash, but the sight of all the trees around him was frightening. The mongoose had never been in a real forest, and already in the darkness of the trees, his mind was creating monsters and dangers.

"Do we set up camp here? We could use the ship as shelter, but I don't want to risk those fuel tanks blowing while we're inside," he said, looking at their supplies. They had packed for an eight day stay in the woods, but only had sparse supplies as far as food went. Terran had convinsed Sejah that they would be able to live off the land, and catch fish and the like. Sejah wasn't so sure. At least they had the homing beacon.

"I think the first thing we should do is make some shelter for ourselves. I don't exactly want to be out here in case it should start to rain."

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Good idea," Terran said. He could see that Sejah was visibly nervous by the lack of civilization around them. Gais was a much different setting than Corsucant or any of the core worlds. At night, it was silent--truly quiet--minus the sounds of life around them. The sun was getting a tab bit weaker, hinting that it was late afternoon.

"Luckily, I did prepare, my friend." He pulled a large bag out from the medium-size pile of luggage and began to unzip it. "One four-person tent, complete with rain hood and double zipping door!" As if he was a salesmen, Terran spouted useless knowledge about his toy. "It's green, with four sturdy pegs, a double knit, extra soft floor, and a neat little battery-powered lantern and flashlight." He held them up.

"Pretty cool, huh?" He pulled the tent out and studied it while Sejah stood back. After a few moments, he realized the travisty of the situation and set his eyes on the mongoose.

"Wanna learn how to put up a tent?" He had a fatherly trying-to-interest-his-son look as he opened his arms and his facial expressions as though saying "Well. . .well?. . .Well?. . ."

[Sejah Haversh]

"Terran, don't you think we ought to set up over there?" Sejah suggested firmly, pointing to a flat bit of grass near what appeared to have been the river they spotted from overhead. "You know, in case the ship goes 'boom'."

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Yeah, yeah. . .I knew that. . ." Terran blushed, a bit embarassed, getting caught up in the camping-time mood. He dragged the heavy bag yards from the ship so that they would be clear of any type of blast that could errupted from the wreckage. He smoothed out the tent and pulled a small satchel from within the bag, drawing a few spikes and a hammer.

"Well, you gonna stand there or you gonna hold that end down so I can stake it?" Terran gave him a grin and picked up the hammer and spike. He began to assemble the tent figuring that Sejah would jump in and help as best as he could.

[Sejah Haversh]

And he would have jumped in and helped, if he had any idea how to set up a woodland camping tent. As it were, it was painfully obvious that Sejah had never gone camping before, and he only succeeded in bungling up the process so badly that Terran had to finish it himself while Sejah looked on helplessly.

In the end, it all turned out decently well, though, and the mongoose took to sorting out their provisions from their other supplies, and setting up their bedding in the tent. It was midmorning, and the two of tehm would have much of the day left to get the rest of camp set up, but as it seemed par for the course, Sejah was rather clueless, and depended on Terran for guidance.

"So, how long do you think it'll be before somebody finds us?" he asked while tightening his bootlace. "I didn't see any signs of civilization around while we are on our way down. What if we're stuck here?"

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Yeah, no kiddin there." Terran took a moment from arranging some pots to look out into the woods. "If I had any guess, I would guess we're at least 500 miles from any village, let alone city. This isn't exactly Coruscant. Gais isn't known for its sattelite network, so I'd guess it'll be around three or four days until we hear anything." Though Terran didn't exactly like the prospect of having limited resources, they were completely prepared to survive in the wilderness, given the nature of their vacation.

"But, it'll give us some serious quality time together--really!" Terran turned, a childlike smile across his face. "We've got poles, rifles, nets, pans, campfire kits, and tents and sleeping bags! It's like camp all over again!" For a second, Terran wanted to give the mongoose a big hug.

"Yeah, good buddy, looks like it's just you and me and the great outdoors." He walked over beside Sejah and draped his arm across his shoulders. "I think the first order of business is to catch some lunch. I brought some vegetables, but without some gillfish or pondswishers, they won't be that tasty. Whaddya say?" Terran made his way over to the gear.

"C'mon, grab your pole and we'll find a lake or something. I can hear a stream." Terran began to poke his way through the brush.

[Sejah Haversh]

It wasn't a stream, it wasn't even a brook. It was a river. A wide band of fast-flowing water with whitecaps splashing over some of the bedrocks.

Once he caught sight of it, Sejah froze, but as Terran kept going, the mongoose followed, but stopped a few feet short of the riverbank. The fishing pole was foreign to him, and he had only learned the basics of how to thread the hook and use the reel. Beyond that he was clueless.

But Terran wasn't, and Sejah felt silly for being so 'camping-ignorant'. Watching from the sidelines, he said, "Um, I'll just watch this first round and see how it's done, okay?"

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Ok, but you're getting in here!" Terran pulled the waders up and connected them by the large suspenders. They caused him to walk a little awkward (not to mention he was walking into a pretty good current) and he wondered if it was an amusing sight. He held the pole out in front of him at the edge of the bank and reached for the bait box.

"Step one: bait your hook. Choose something you think they might be biting for, like a greensquirmer," Terran commented, digging into the fresh bait and pulling a small, grubby insect from it. The creature did live up to it's name, a pale green color wiggling crazily to get free. Pinching it inbetween is thumb and forefinger, Terran baited the small worm. "Stick him on and your halfway there"

"Step two: cast out your line. This can be a bit tricky, but you'll get used to it. It's easy, just watch." Terran tromped out into the lake about up to his knees or so, holding his pole out in front for balance. Slowly, he went through the motions, so that Sejah could see. He angled the pole back behind him with his strong arm, then threw the pole forward, sending the line buzzing out into the river. Finding a good depth, he clicked the reel into place, allowing the line to drift downstream a bit.

"Step three: wait for a bite. This is where the patience comes in--it could be awhile." Terran hoped something would happen so that Sejah could see. "Once you feel a nibble, hold off--don't react yet. Let him nibble some more. Then, when he really bites it--BAM--jerk your rod back and hook him." Just as Terran spoke, he could feel a small jerk on his line.

"See?" Terran pointed to the end of his pole. It remained level for a few seconds. . .and then dipped quickly as it was hit. "That's two. . .one more and he should take it." Just like clockwork, the pole dipped again--this time much, much heavier. Terran immediately jerk the rod back, lodging the hook, landing the fish.

"Got him! Last step: reel him in!" Terran busily cranked his reel pulling the fish in. "Wow, he's pretty big. Grab that net and get fish him out when I get him to the bank, will ya?" Terran was smiling--it'd been some time since he'd fished, and he was really enjoying it. Especially the chance to teach it to Sejah.

[Sejah Haversh]

The whole process seemed easy, and Sejah watched with keen interest as Terran showed off his skill. Apparently there was very little to actually catchignt eh fish, and Sejah began to wonder just why they needed to be in the river in the first place to do it. Putting that aside as simply tradition, the mongoose grabbed the net and made his way to the water's edge as Terran wrestled with the fish on the line.

"Okay, I got it," Sejah announced as he scooped the wriggling trout up in his net, pulling it from the water. It just kept bouncing and flapping around, so Sejah decided to put it out of its misery. Taking his other paw, he balled it into a fist and snapped it out, smashing the fish in the head, knocking it unconscious, or possibly rendering it dead. In either case, it wouldn't feel itself suffocate.

Terran went on to explain how to remove the hook, and then the fish was dropped into a basket designed for the purpose. Then it was Sejah's turn. The waders were an awkward fit, especially with his tail. The shop had no sets designed for a Nehantite's body, so he jsut had to wrap his tail around his right leg in order to keep it dry. It was uncomfortable, but having a wet tail would be worse.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked his friend, who urged him to head on out into the current. Sejah didn't like water. He especially didn't like running water with living things in it. Back his pole went, then he snapped it forward, launching his worm-laden hook out before him into the current.

Nothing happened.

Was he doing something wrong? Terran hadn't hardly waited but a moment before his cast had resulted in fish. So sejah waited, and waited, and toyed with his reel by pulling it in a little gradually. Could it be that there was only one fish in that part of the river? Or maybe they just didn't like him. Sejah hated fishing already.

[imported_Terran Starek]

"I'm positive," Terran replied, sensing Sejah's doubt. "Sometimes, it just takes a little longer than others. You know. . .it's about the patience and the bonding, ya know?" He tried to make the whole process sound more involving, but even he could admitt that it wasn't the most mind-consuming task. Still, it was a good time for them to be together.

"Man, I really think this is gonna turn out positive," Terran said, referring to their situation in general. "I mean, aside from the accident report I'll have to fill out back at the Order, I think it'll go by smoothly." He could still see that Sejah was getting bored with holding his pole aimlessly, wishing for a fish to come by. Terran closed his eyes and concentrated on the Force and the water around him. He reached out and touched the nature, feeling for any energy that might rest inside of the river. He called out, trying to draw the fish to their location, trying to persuade the Force to send one Sejah's way. Who knew if it would work, but it was worth a try. It was a silent request to boost Sejah's experience.

"I'll tell you what, Sej," he began again. "Tonight, we'll get back to the camp and build a fire, I'll show you how to dress the fish we catch, and with a couple of those veggies cut up and thrown into a pan with some oil and seasoning--mmm-mmm! We're gonna have a serious meal, my friend." He was just happy to share a night like this with his friend--one he owed so much too.

[Sejah Haversh]

The mental image od "dressing the fish" was enough to make Sejah laugh, and he tugged again at his fishign rod. But his luck didn't change much, and it wasn't for another fifteen minutes that his hook got any attention at all from the aquatic life.

But when it did, it got it big. Suddenly the line went reelign otu downriver, and Sejah panicked and siezed the reel, trying to pull it back in. HE had caught something big, and he knew it. "Terran! Terran, I got one!" he shouted, terribly excited as he faught against the fish on the other end of the line. The rod bowed deeply against the streain, and his reel clicked slowly as the mongoose pulled it in.

It took nearly ten minutes of wrestling with the line, but eventually Sejah netted his catch and held it up to see how big it was. His pink eyes went wide when he saw it was nearly twice the size of the trout that Terran had hooked, and his teeth gleamed in the sunlight as he beamed a smile of pure pride in his catch. "Look! I got one!" he exclaimed, holding up the wrigglign fish in the net.

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Holy. . ." Terran was impressed with the sheer size of Sejah's catch. He made his way over to the mongoose to help him with the catch. "That is a very nice fice!" Terran helped him pull it from the net and slipped it into the livewell basket that they had attached to some roots growing in the bank. The livewell was designed to hold the fish alive until they were ready to be dressed. The fish took up about half of it.

"Man, one more like that, and we'll have ourselves a feast, my friend." Terran smiled, happy that Sejah had gotten some results. He thanked the Force, knowing that the fistherman weren't alone. They fished there for awhile longer, until the sun began to descend in the Western sky. All in all, they caught two more fish together, for a total of 4 (about 6 if you counted the sheer size of Sejah's first catch).

"Not a bad catch, I'd say." Terran beamed, feeling like the two had really accomplished something. More over, they'd fended for their own dinner. That was a real accomplishment. "The day is getting old, my friend. I'd say we should head back to the camp and get dinner started." He started to pull all the gear from the side of the river and get everything packed properly.

"Now I'll show you how to dress these puppies and we'll have a very nice meal." They made their way back to the camp, Terran stopping to gather some fuel for the fire as Sejah carried the livewell. He was excited to get started.

[Sejah Haversh]

In Sejah's mind, they caught more fish than they needed, and he somehow knew that at least one of them would go to waste. But, Terran was having fun, and seemed to know what he was doing, so Sejah went along with it. The livewell was heavy from their catch, but he managed to bring it back to their campsite. As Terran prepared a pit, Sejah gathered firewood, and soon they had a small capfire going.

"So, you were going to show me how to prepare them?" Sejah asked as he sat down, his shadow grown long as the sun sank toward the horizon.

[imported_Terran Starek]

"Sure am," he said, pulling a fold out working board before him. He set it up, dragging the livewell to his position. Reaching into one of the containers, he pulled forth a long hunting-style knife as well a cleaning cloth. He showed Sejah how to build a proper fire, lining the outside of it with rocks to avoid an unforseen spread of flame. He then put together the pots, filling it halfway full with water before suspending it above the fire with the apparatus. He also pulled out some vegetables for preparation.

"Ok. First things first. Depending on personal preference," he began, pulling out one of the fish. "One can choose to slice off the head of the fish or not. I prefer to do so, just because I don't believe in leaving the critter alive while I dress him. So, that's step 1." Terran used the knife swiftly to take the head off of the fish.

"Second, there are two basic parts of the fish: the filets, as they are referred to. Those are the parts to eat." Terran continued, showing Sejah each step as he took the skin off of the fish, cut off the fins, the tail, and pulled out the spine. He also cut the fish's organs out.

"Then, you've got two nice, solid filets. For our purposes, I'm going to cut them into strips." Terran did so, then he pulled out another knife. "It's your turn," he said with a smile, handing the knife to Sejah. He pulled out the biggest fish--the one that Sejah had caught--and laid it across the board.

"I've got to get the hotplate ready to fry these babies. Ready to give it a try?" He moved away and into the rest of his cooking gear to find the flat, metal pan that served as a frying pan over the fire.