The Negotiator and the Fire Fang

Stranded on Canarath: Wisps in the Night

"Ahh, it's no use." Varo muttered, whacking the comm. "The Sepys are blocking all transmissions. There is no way to contact Master Plo." he said, giving up on sending a transmission.

Kenobi rubbed his beard. The shadowy night had turned to misty morning by now. Up above, the overhead battle was still raging intensely, both sides locked in a standstill.

In the meantime, Shan and Ice had sat down on some flat, white rocks to give their feet a rest, while Gheo and Serak were lounged on the ground, leaning up against two of the skeleton trees.

Sahrea's braid was over her shoulder. She twisted the bottom around her gloved finger. Throughout the day, she kept undoing it. She'd pulled it up into a braid, undid it, braided it, and undid it again, over and over. It must have been a nervous habit for her. The clones' armor, along with Shan's Gray Jedi garb, had been all been colored red from the dusty landscape by now. Obi-Wan's was as well.

They had decided minutes ago to take a rest in this clearing while Varo tried to get a transmission through. He had attempted when they first landed, last night, and again this morning with no luck. There wasn't a single sign of Quest either or of what took him, which Kenobi wasn't complaining about.

"Well that means no help from Master Plo." Sahrea responded softly. Her gaze was unfocused as she stared off at nothing in particular.

"So we have to find our own way off this rock." Serak finished darkly. Gheo sat up suddenly. He snapped his fingers an idea came to his mind.

"What if we took one of clanker's ships?" he suggested, looking up at his commander.

"That could work." Cody mused. "We need to find out where the nearest camp is." Varo immediately replaced the comm with another device.

"Scanning now, commander." he answered, tapping proficiently on the buttons. Kenobi looked to the Gray. Shan still seemed out of it from that frozen, slow... whatever it was, but was doing better. Her lips were still a little dark, but she was no longer shivering. The weird sensation seemed to affect her more strongly than it did him. Perhaps it was the fact that she was more grounded in the Dark Side than he. Varo stood up.

"I'm picking up a lot of energy readings a few clicks to the east." he stated, handing the device to Cody. "That has to be one." Obi-Wan looked over Cody's shoulder. On the small map of the area, there were a lot of lights and circles on the east side of the map.

"Well then, it looks like we have our plan." Kenobi said. The others begrudgingly got to their feet. Obi-Wan stood for a moment as the clones passed him before he fell in step beside Sahrea Shan. She was very distant. The Fire Fang had lost her flame.

"Are you alright consult?" he asked her gently. "I'm fine." she murmured back, looking straight ahead.

"I just feel unbalanced." Kenobi focused in on her aura. Now that she mentioned it, he could sense that she definitely felt off. Her energy was very stagnant, hollow even. It was a hard thing to describe.

"Whatever that was, I think it was of the Dark Side." she told him. He agreed completely.

"I think you're right. Do you think it could have been some kind of attack?" he asked. He knew such rituals were possible. As a Gray, Sahrea would be much more versed in the ways of the Dark Side than he.

"I don't think so." she mused. "I have a theory, but I'm not quite sure." Kenobi raised an eyebrow.

"Well let's hear it." Shan took a breath through her nose. "When I was a child, my grandmother taught a class on Force-Sensitive creatures. There were Light-Sided creatures, like the Vardosian Firebird, Loth Wolves, and Myri. There are also Dark-Sided creatures, like Hssiss and Terentakeks." she explained.