ANH 'verse. Tatooine. A Disturbing Discovery . . .

[astrotechmech]

Random isn't really sure about how he feels about all this close-to-land traveling. It seems too restrictive and almost dangerous in a way. But in another . . . Kia is down here, and he needs to stay by her, so he goes along with it as they make their way back to Hot Shot's place.

At least it didn't look like another sandstorm was coming. He hates all this sand though. It gets in everywhere. Ugh. He'd have to take an oil bath once they got back . . .

"Doing all right down there, Kia?" Random asks from where he's hovering above her in vehicle mode, searching out all sides of the horizon with his scanners for a sign of either the dwellings or anything dangerous.

Comments

[random_xtras]

"Doing alright!" she responds cheerfully as her speederbike-like alt mode playfully buzzes the big tracked sandcrawler that is Scavenger. "This is fun."

"Hey... I see smoke," says Hot Shot suddenly. "Over there... and over by the dome."

[astrotechmech]

"That's great. Just be careful." The smile that can't be seen in this mode seeps into his tone.

His "smile" disappears. "I see it too . . . And it's pretty thick."

[random_xtras]

Scavenger is silent for a moment, though he slows.

Then he starts toward the nearer smoke column. "Kia, stay here and activate the cloak I gave you. Random and Hot Shot, come with me."

"Okay...." The little femme drops to the sand and seems to vanish from sensors.

[astrotechmech]

"Do I have--" Random begins somewhat fearfully, slowing to a mere hover, before his own gasp at Kia's disappearance cuts him off. That was a good cloak.

[random_xtras]

Scavenger's already moving ahead, showing surprising speed for his alt mode. Behind him and slightly to one side Hot Shot's progress shows his curiosity.

[astrotechmech]

Random's own hovering gives away his gawking-ness, and his reluctance to leave Kia, even with such a good cloak.

[random_xtras]

//Go on,// whispered his charge as the others got further away from them. //I'm okay.//

[astrotechmech]

//A-all right.// Random comms back, steeling himself to follow the others. //Take care.//

With a burst of energy, Random speeds after the other two, easily catching up to them and falling into "step" slightly behind and above them.

[random_xtras]

"Uh... Scavenger... something stinks," says Hot Shot, suddenly lagging as curiosity turns to apprehension.

The sandcrawler makes no reply as he reaches the top of the last dune that separated the trio from the source of the smoke, only transforms and drops to his belly as he scans the site.

Below them the crawler belonging to the slaver named Alpha Q stands, looking untouched but for its lowered ramp and the smoke that's escaping from all the usual ports and a few new holes that have been blasted into it. All around it lay the charred bodies of Sharkticons and slaves.

"Sand people," mutters Hot Shot from where he too is laying on his front next to the Jedi, then he makes a sound of distress and crawls back a bit to empty his tank.

[astrotechmech]

The smell and the sight hit him almost instantaneously having been hovering slightly higher than the more land-based alt-modes of his two companions. After a moment he transforms in midair, landing somewhat hard but on his feet on the sand below the crest of the dune on the side they came from.

Looking somewhat nauseated, Random turns around with a bit of wobble but lands on the ground with his back to the site. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to see or smell dead mechs or those organics ever again, and now he saw and smelt dead mechs and dead organics. And he thought they smelled bad on the outside.

[random_xtras]

"Sand people killed Alpha Q...." Hot Shot hugs himself, and then abruptly jumps up with a cry and transforms to barrel toward the other smoke column.

"Random, go after him!" orders Scavenger, turning his head toward where Kia is hiding.

[astrotechmech]

"Ah!" Random gets startled out of his flashback to his last memories being on the ship. It takes him a moment for his processor to catch up, and when it does he glances in Kia's direction before transforming and blasting off after Hot Shot.

//"Hot Shot! Wait!"//

[random_xtras]

The yellow mech makes no reply, only continues his headlong hurtle homeward. He cries out again as they come within sight of the homestead, which is now only a couple of smoking craters in the ground and a few scattered mech parts.

"No! NO! Primus, not Wheeljack. Not my brother!" Hot Shot transforms and nearly falls on his face, then drops to his knees next to a large chunk of something that might have once been a Transformer. "No...."

[astrotechmech]

Unfortunately, for all of Random's efforts, Hot Shot did get a head start.

. . . And why did Scavenger think that having him go after Hot Shot was such a good idea? He had no clue what to do here.

Random does not transform when he arrives, focusing too much on not focusing on what happened to what was his new home by helping his brakes slow down by overshooting and curving back around.

[random_xtras]

The wind whispers mournfully as Hot Shot kneels there and stares with shock, his visors flickering as his processor fights to shut down. And in the distance, coming slowly, two signatures overlapping show where Scavenger is approaching with Kia inside some inner hold.

[astrotechmech]

Random silently hovers above, letting the other mech mourn, his scanners acknowledging the arrival of the other two and his thoughts going elsewhere.

[random_xtras]

Scavenger pulls up and scans the line of Bantha tracks that lead to and away from the ruin.

"It wasn't Sand People."

[astrotechmech]

Random scans the tracks as well. "What makes you say that?" Since he wasn't familiar with Sand People in the least.

[random_xtras]

"Sand People travel in each others' tracks, so you can't tell how many are traveling. And Sand People don't use thermal detonators."

[astrotechmech]

"Oh." Random makes a small circle around the site. "If they didn't do it, then who did? . . . The shape of the tracks seems a bit familiar . . ."

[random_xtras]

Scavenger's reply is a single word, which seems to drop like a rock on the swollen and whispering air.

"Autotroopers."

[astrotechmech]

Random's hovering fluctuates once.

" . . . Wish I hadn't asked . . ."

[random_xtras]

"You know what they're after," says the old mech quietly.

[astrotechmech]

Random hovers closer to the ground and the group, suddenly feeling exposed being higher up.

"Y-yes . . . I th-thought that's why the-they'd attacked the ship, but I-I'd hoped . . ." But obviously that too, was too much of one.

[random_xtras]

"No. They attacked the ship to get Arcee. But they think you and Kia have information that they want." Scavenger opens a port and lets out a white minicon, who walks over to patpat Hot Shot and beep at him gently.

[astrotechmech]

"They're not . . . " Apparently, he didn't know what they were after. "What 'information?'"

[random_xtras]

"You came from the Rebel flag ship, and you were specifically sent to this planet. That makes them think you know something important."

[astrotechmech]

"'Specifically sent?' We were just trying to get off that ship! Nobody sent us but ourselves! . . . And for information, all I know could easily be found in the ship's computer! I was reasonably kept out of the know for a lot of what was happening on the ship!" he whispered agitatedly.

[random_xtras]

"No. Arcee sent Kia to me." Scavenger trundles forward a little. "That's why she came to find me."

[astrotechmech]

No reply or sound comes from Random other than the jets keeping him hovering about the ground, but if his face were visible it would show surprise and possibly shock.

[random_xtras]

"We need to get off this planet." The old crawler moves over to Hot Shot and nudges him as the white Minicon climbs up onto him.

[astrotechmech]

". . . But where would we go? If they found us here, what stops them from finding us anywhere?" Those are only two of the many questions Random now has in his head that he's able to put into words and speak.

[random_xtras]

"I have some ideas." Scavenger nudges Hot Shot again, urging the younger mech to join the Minicon on his back. "But to start with we'll go to Mos Eisley and find a ship."

[astrotechmech]

"This planet's actually got something that can take them off this joint?" No, that wasn't a reference to how broken-down everything looks here, no. Of course not.

[random_xtras]

Scavenger turns away from the site of the destroyed homestead and starts trundling toward the nearest dune, which is creeping closer now that the dome's force shield no longer holds it back. "Yeah. It's called a space port."

[astrotechmech]

Random hovers after him. "Usually."