Crash Landing on Almas - A Fanfiction

By FSF Bailey

Chapter 3:

Outside the transport, Bragi looked over the three volunteers he was not familiar with. First, he checked out the Twi’lek male he was unfamiliar with, before heading and looking over the other two humans who seemed to be quite cozy with each other.
“Hello, I’m Sansolidan Modin, but my friends call me San. I am an archaeological professor at the University of Corellia.” The white twi’lek male stated, his yellowish eyes staring back at Bragi. Bragi extended and shook his hand before walking over to the humans he was unfamiliar with.
“Hi, I am Kanneth Hurron. And this is my wife Sophie.” A blonde human stated, pointed at his long black haired wife.
“Hi, I am Sophie. I am an Engineer working on designing starships. I was volunteering, so my husband had to, also.” Sophie mentioned.
“Yeah, and I am a mechanic.” Kanneth said coldly, paying more attention to his wife then to the surroundings.
“Well, take a breath mask as we’ll head out.” Bragi stated turning and shaking his head at the show of affection Kanneth was showing Sophie at the moment. Then Bragi turned to Wagner. “Sam. I need you to stay here and keep the passengers under control. Take a pistol.”
“But sir, I should go.” Wagner said questioning.
“Sam, someone should stay. I don’t want to risk us all on this mission either way. Plus I need someone I trust back here.” Bragi said back.
“It’s alright Sam.” Vardis said, letting go of Sam’s hand and stepping over toward Blake and Bragi. Blake took a step toward Wagner and handed him one of the pistols. Wagner handed it back and then pulled out some sort of automated pistol that he had been hiding within his coat, with a smile. Blake then handed one to Vardis, and one to Bragi, keeping the third for himself.
“Well, at least you found yours and Vardis’s luggage.” Bragi said, looking at Blake.
“Yessir!” Blake answered back, patting the cylindrical weapon attached firmly to his belt. Bragi then looked at Vardis who was sitting, holding her own personal tool kit.
“Don’t leave home without it?” Bragi questioned.
“Never!” Vardis answered back.
“Well, we should be off.” Bragi stated. As they all turned around and began walking toward where that compound was spotted, the transport door was forced opened.
“You are not leaving me here with the injured!” Demlas Vrees said in a commanding voice.
“Vrees, what are you doing?” Blake questioned.
“Going with you of course.” Vrees answered back, patting the pair of KYD blasters holstered at his side. After Vrees hopped down from the opened door, Analia entered the door frame. Vrees did not turn around as she began to climb down from the raised doorway. Bragi and Blake both rushed over and aided her in her descent.
“There’s no way I am going to miss this story.” Analia stated. Knowing that there was no way to dissuade them from there decision, Bragi turned toward Blake.
“Do we have enough breath masks?” Bragi questioned.
“Just barely.” Blake answered, handing the last two to Vrees and Analia.
“Well then, we’ll be off.” Vrees said firmly and began walking eastward. Vardis grabbed Sam’s hand and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before turning. Then Bragi, Blake, and Vardis began heading North North West, followed closely by their three volunteers.
“Vrees, this way!” Bragi shouted. Vrees turned around and saw the others heading a different direction and quickly followed, Analia following him closely. The group turned and waved goodbye to Sam as they saw him reenter the damaged transport. Then Vardis turned and looked at the grass like plants growing on the plains.
“I don’t think I have ever seen anything just like it.” Vardis said, taking one of the purple with green edged plants in her hands. As the group looked westward at the rapidly darkening sky, they noticed a glow from the surface of the planet.
“The plants generate the light!” Blake said, figuring it out.
“Wow, at least we won’t be in the total dark as we hike.” Bragi said back.
“Who cares? How about less chatting and more marching?” Vrees said, pushing by the others in the direction they were headed. Shaking their heads, the others followed, leaving enough room so they wouldn’t have to hear most of what he was griping to himself.


After hours of marching, the party of 9 reached the edges of the plains and looked over what seemed to be a dead area of the planet.
“What could be causing this?” Vardis questioned.
“I don’t know, but I don’t feel comfortable about heading this way.” Blake said, feeling a menacing feeling in his gut.
“Feelings. Eh, who needs them.” Vrees added it, coldly. “This is where a structure was seen, this is where we head.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, Vrees is right. I don’t feel good about it either, but we do need to find some sort of communications before we die out here.” Bragi commented. As Vrees turned and smiled to himself over being right, he noticed a large shadow on the horizon.
“There it is!” Vrees shouted, beginning to sprint toward the massive structure in the distance. As he took off, the others turned and saw that he was right again and begin following after, not wanting to separate the group.


After about an hour of intense running, the group found themselves looking upwards at what remained of a large fortress, dark stones melding with the blackened sky in the dark night.
“Who would’ve built a structure like this?” San said to himself, pondering the mystery and wanting to search the site.
“I don’t know, but it has certainly seen better days.” Sophie replied, as San ran over and began trying to interpret the text on the doorframe to the fortress.
“Well, we’ll let him go about his business. We should divide into search teams and see what we can find. How should we pair up?” Bragi suggested.
“I’ll take Analia” Vrees stated calmly, grinning and staring at her as if she were a piece of meat.
“Umm, can I request someone else?” Analia quickly added, slowly backing away from Vrees’s piercing gaze.
“What? I thought you wanted my story.” Vrees added.
“I think I’ve heard enough of it.” Analia quickly responded, backing behind Blake and Bragi.
“Vardis, do you think you can handle Vrees?” Bragi questioned.
“I can try.” Vardis replied back, clutching her blaster with one hand and her tool kit in the other.
“Well then. Can you two be alright on your own?” Bragi questioned the couple.
“I think we will be just fine.” Kanneth replied back, embracing Sophie once again.
“Well then. Blake, stay here with the professor here and keep an eye out for any transports or anything else. I will take Ms. Analia and go inside and look around.” Bragi commanded.
“Got it Commander.” Blake said, with Vrees staring past him at Bragi with angry eyes. At that, Bragi took Analia’s arm and lead her into the entrance, followed by the couple, and trailed even further by Vardis, dragging a pouting Vrees. As they progressed further through the ancient ruins, the passageway went into three directions. Two stairwells on the sides and a ramp going straight down. Bragi motioned to the couple to go left, headed to the right himself, and left Vardis and Vrees’s to head down the ramp. Vrees looked up at Bragi, still with his angry eyes, as he drew his blasters and began marching down the ramp.

“We’ve been searching for nothing all this time!” Vrees shouted angry as they reached the end of the ramp. Then they looked around at a very large room, similar to a courtyard. Inside, the dried remains of several large plant lives still remained in the sterile environment. From the entrance, Vrees could make out a walkway on an elevated level above them, and noticed several statues lining the perimeter, ach shaped like a different kind of warrior. Vrees looked up and could see Bragi and Analia walking along on the right side of the walkway, searching the outside rooms as they went. His anger was so strong, he didn’t notice Vardis disappear behind the central statue. A few seconds later, she reappeared from behind it and patted Vrees on the shoulder.
“Where did you go?” Vrees questioned anger still in his voice.
“Just looking at the statue. There is a name plaque on it. I wonder if there is one on the other ones also.” Vardis added in. As she did, she noticed Vrees’s angry stare looking up at Bragi. “You know, he has a right to be angry with you.” Vardis told him.
“He thinks he is so smart.” Vrees angrily shouted. “He is nothing. Not a worthy officer. I wish I never had to serve under him again.” Vrees added in, his teeth scraping together as he talked.
“Vrees. You tortured him!” Vardis shouted.
“He was captured and I did what I could to keep him alive. And he stays angry at me like he is. And after I helped him out on Dantooine!” Vrees shouted, before turning away from Vardis and stomping off.

“I think we’re alone.” Kanneth quietly whispered into his wife Sophie’s ear.
“Honey, we should be searching the ruins.” Sophie stated back.
“Let the others search. I just wanna be with you honey. It is our honeymoon after all.” Kanneth said to his wife.
“You want to do that, here?” Sophie questioned. As she finished, he turned toward her and put his right hand on her left cheek.
“I am sorry. I can’t help myself. I have the most beautiful wife in the galaxy. ” Kanneth stated, before going in and kissing her on the lips. They kissed deeply and with such passion. Before long, they both found themselves sitting on the floor of the ruins, their lips passionately eating away at each others. In their passion, she began to lay back, him lying on top of her while still making out. After a moment, he sat up, breathing heaving from the passion. He looked down at his wife and smiled as he slid his tunic style shirt over his head. He then reached down as began to undo his wife’s shirt. As he was finishing undoing the fastener, a flash of purple caught Sophie’s attention.
“What was that?” Sophie questioned, fear in her voice. As she looked up at her husband, his face seemed to be emotionless. “Get up and let’s check it out.” She said, pushing gently at his chest as she fought to get up. As she nudged him, a red line began to appear where his neck was. His head rolled backwards from his body and across the floor. As Sophie let out a blood curling scream, she noticed the figure concealed in the shadows. “No! What did you do?” She screamed, before she felt her body gets ripped off the ground by some unknown force. She saw the figure extending their hand toward her, as her body was elevated off the floor. As she looked over her figure, she felt pressure coming upon every area of her body, slowly crushing her. As she fought to gain breath, unable to break free of the force, her body erupted from the pressure. With a loud snap of dozens of bones being broken at once, blood erupted from her body and splattered on the ancient walls around her.

“What was that?” Bragi shouted, rushing toward the source of the scream. Behind him, Analia tried desperately to keep up with him. He thought he heard footsteps coming from the room as he rounded the corner, blaster pointed. Behind him, he heard Analia catching up to him. As he looked inside, he nearly gagged at what he saw. He saw the headless body of Kanneth spread upon the ground, his head lying about 10 feet across the floor. Across the wall and floors, the blood of his wife lay splattered, her crushed body lying several feet away from that of her husband. As Analia attempted to round the corner, Bragi grabbed her and tried not to let her see. She fought against him until her eyes lit up at the sight of the bloody bodies. She turned and started to cry at the sight. As Bragi knelt and attempted to console her, he heard several footsteps coming up from the other way. Raising his blaster, he aimed it at the oncoming shadows in the darkness. As they came to light, he saw Vrees and Vardis rushing toward him. At the sight of them, he lowered his blaster.
“What happened?!” Vrees questioned. Bragi just keep kneeling and motioned to Vrees around the corner with his head. As Vrees turned the corner, he almost stumbled backwards at the sight. As Vardis turned the corner, she saw it and stared almost disbelieving.
“What could have caused that?” Vardis questioned.
“Let’s get outside, now.” Bragi questioned, leading Analia with his right arm around her, and left hand still clinging to the blaster pistol. Vrees lead the way, a pistol in both hands pointing in different directions, in case something came out of the shadows. Vardis marched between them, looking to the sides as they marched down the stairs and back out to the main entrance, not saying a thing. Just keeping an eye out in case the darkness came for them too. As they erupted from the outside door, they saw Blake standing over the scientist, attempting to provide whatever light he could in the darkness.
“What happened? Where are the others?” Blake questioned.
“You don’t wanna know.” Vrees said, looking around the surroundings with his blasters aimed.
“They’re deceased.” Bragi stated, still shocked at the manner of their deaths. Next to him, Analia sobbed lightly.
“He lost his head, and somebody gave her a break.” Vardis added in, sitting down next to the wall and leaning backwards on it.
“When did you get such a sick sense of humor?” Vrees questioned.
“I always had. You were always too busy treating me like a piece of meat to notice.” Vardis replied, to which Vrees just nodded and backed off.
“What caused it?” Blake questioned.
“I don’t know. What struck Kanneth’s neck did look like a light saber burn, but it didn’t burn straight. It seemed to curve. I don’t know how that could happen.” Bragi stated.
“Another bloody dark Jedi. Is that what you’re telling me?!” Vrees angrily questioned.
“I don’t know. Let’s try to get some rest. We’ll go search some more in the morning when we have light to aid us. If we all stay out here, whoever it was will not risk attacking us all.” Bragi added in, helping Analia sit down before doing it himself.
“You want us to rest, now?! With a killer on the loose?” Vrees angrily questioned.
“Well, if he is that skilled, I don’t think we could take him right now in a straight on conflict. And he could probably catch us if we ran. So let’s stick together because he obviously wants to pick us apart while we’re separated. We will go search in the morning when we at least have the advantage of light to help us.” Bragi finished.
“I can’t rest at a time like this!” Vrees angrily shouted.
“Then you can stand guard while the rest of us rest.” Bragi replied, lying down on the rock slab below him. After that, Vardis and Blake both laid down on the other side of the slab, eventually encouraging Analia to do it as well. As Vrees huffed and puffed around, San continued to read the inscriptions on the wall, attempting to translate them. Although none of them slept, keeping an eye open all night, they managed to stay together and protected.