Discovery

"Fierfek!" The ship tilted dramatically to the side as Roller cursed loudly, narrowly avoiding a dark rocky spire that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Tyro's eyes snapped open, visually confirming what he had lost himself in while meditating, the weather was getting worse. Large gusts of wind beat against the craft, rocking it side to side. Roller was concentrating hard to fly straight, and from the readout on the navscreen was doing an astounding job. Still, he looked stressed.

Tyro, lost in the swirls of the wind and the snow had found it fascinating and dramatically beautiful, but he was beginning to see more and more how not everyone would feel that way.

"No wonder those two crashed," Tar grumbled from the back of the craft, gripping his seat so tightly Tyro wondered if it might break.

"They wouldn't have been flying this low yet. The cruiser is farther off," Roller corrected tersely, in the professional tone of an experienced pilot. "Might have been, but I doubt it. Something else got to 'em," he finished darkly.

The wind suddenly picked up, the gust so loud they could hear it over the noise of the engine. Roller quickly shut up the small talk, as he pushed the controls hard to the right, rolling the ship at an angle to the wind. Tyro let out a deep breath and his stress with it as the acceleration flung him and the rest of the crew harshly to the left.

"What the hell!" He heard Tar scream from the back over the wind and whirring engine.

Tyro looked up from the navscreen to Tracks as their course diverted wildly to the right, noting the concern ever so slightly biting at his brow and the corners of his mouth.

"Tar," Stitch started, his voice low and even, but Tyro could feel the worry in it.

"No. Don't tell me this is alright. This is not alright!" Tar shot back.

Despite it all though Tyro didn't feel too concerned. Even if he couldn't find his center enough to meditate, he could still feel the force there. It was as he had told Gavyn earlier, nothing was fated, what would happen would happen. And it was as Gavyn had told him, this squad knew what they were doing, they were all experts at their craft.

"You're right," Tyro declared evenly. Stitch looked like he was about to open his mouth again before but he, along with everyone else turned to Tyro instead. "This is scary. It's scary because you don't know. You don't know if the ship will hold in this weather or if we're going to smash into a mountain, crash and be buried in snow and freeze to death." It was morbid, but it was worth saying out loud. Everyone was thinking it. They had to acknowledge it though if they were going to recognize the true nature of it. Tar looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to yell more or agree with him. "But here is what we do know. This ship has been modified to the top quality possible given the time and supply constraints. The conditions now are different than whatever Ace and Champ ran into, the factors they met with are unknown but it is unlikely that we would they would be replicated.

"We have a top-notch pilot who has been handling this weather amazingly, sure, it feels uncomfortable and it is stressful, but Roller hasn't had a problem so far, he knows what he is doing. You've got your best tracker here, making sure we're out here for as little time as possible, and if need be he knows what it would take for us to survive outside," Tyro continued, his conviction in his own words growing.

"Sparks not only could fix any mechanical or electrical issue we encounter, but he would be able to detect a failure before it gets to that point. On the off chance we were to run into anything Tar would have that more than taken care of. If something did happen, we've got two top-notch medics. And if it all goes to hell, you've got me," Tyro finished firmly.

They all fell silent, Tar, letting out his breath in a huff leaned back, working the words over in his mind, along with everyone else.

It started to sink in form hi as well, that he had just said that. All of that. Tyro reflexively clenched his teeth, looking down quickly to hide the horror that spread over his face. That was stupid. So stupid. He was just some kid telling a bunch of professionals what they already knew.

Tyro was just about ready to bury his face in his hands to better hide it when he heard Roller speak up. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Commander. This ship ain't going anywhere I don't want it to." Tyro could hear the smile in the man's voice.

He straightened up, realizing that was probably something he should do at being addressed, beginning to realize that though the storm was still just as violently beating at the craft as ever, everyone did seem a lot calmer. Tracks regarded him with a smile and a nod. "Well spoken, Sir."

Tyro nodded back, not wanting to have to say anything else. Then suddenly, Tar looked back to the navscreen. "We've got something about three klicks out to the northwest."

Tyro leaned closer, trying to get a good look at it.

"What is it?" Sparks asked from the back.

"Something metal," Tracks growled.

"The ship?" Sparks asked excitedly.

"We're not close enough to tell yet."

The next few minutes passed slowly, despite everybody shuffling quickly about, making sure their supplies were in order, re-hashing plans, shouting over the gusts of wind to make sure everything was accounted for to safely get Ace and Champ out of whatever kind of situation they might be in. Tyro for his part tried reaching into the force again. Perhaps now they were so close he could tell if they were alive or not. He only found the same distracted meditation he had been stuck with before.

"In range now. Keep it here Roller," Tracks announced.

"We're here, so what's the plan Commander?" Stitch asked evenly. Tyro took a deep breath, trying to think and not panic. He could do this, he knew what he was doing.

"Pardon the interruption Commander, but there's something you should see," Tracks announced. With a bit of confusion Tyro looked to what Tracks was pointing at.

"Too small to be a ship," Tracks said discerningly. "No that looks like a droid or something?"

Tar pulled himself out of his seat, moving forward to get a better look. "A probe droid," he finished darkly.

"That's just kriffing great," grumbled Tracks. "So now it's seen us. Better get out of here before it tries anything else!"

"Hang on!" Sparks took a moment to confirm something on a screen he was holding before heaving a sigh of relief. "Inactive," he announced "Readout shows it's entirely inactive."

The relief of not being shot down or ratted out by a probe droid only lasted a moment though. "So then all it means is we're right back where we started then. With nothing. That's just great," Tar huffed.

"No, no it doesn't," Tyro corrected quickly. His mind already filling with ideas. "That droid was out here for a reason. I'll bet it has some sort of info on Champ and Ace's location!"

"That wouldn't be difficult to extract, Sir," agreed Sparks quickly, his voice filling with excitement.

Tracks managed a knowing half-smile. "Looks like we can ready a landing party after all."

The shuttle ride to the cruisers in the upper atmosphere was a long and quiet one. Gavyn wrestled with settling his mind. What if the other Jedi Masters sensed his turmoil? Would they find out about Ace? He knew that the worry would only further upset him, and he resisted the thoughts. Gavyn had to focus on the upcoming summon. Anything that happened on the planet's surface was out of his hands now.

When Gavyn stepped out of the shuttle, he was surprised to find himself in the service hangar of the Guardian. It was overcrowded with military vehicles, and Gavyn knew something was amiss. "Why are we not in the main hangar?" He asked his pilot as they walked together.

"She took some damage in the last skirmish, sir. Traffic is diverted to this hangar until we can get repairs finished."

Gavyn nodded grimly. Battles in space were rougher than on the ground, in his opinion. They left very few wounded, it was literally do or die. There was a reason Gavyn was known as a ground troop general as well. He got his hands dirty. He led from the front. He had a good sense of environments and how the living force flowed through them. Space, however, felt like drifting in the ocean, far away from anything tangible.

Even now, his padawan seemed so far away, and they were hardly out of the atmosphere. He couldn't sense Ace at all. Cautiously, he reached out with the Force, to search for him. As brilliant and as certain as a sunrise, Gavyn could feel Ace alive down on the planet below. He was cold, and alone, but Gavyn was sure he was alive, and that was enough hope to keep him satisfied for now. If he could survive overnight, he could make it through this after all.

The bridge of the Guardian was intact, despite the damage they passed en route. Gavyn wove his way through the glowing holo screens and clustered Clone navigators to the central communication table. With a tap of a button, the images of the Jedi Council members sprang from the surface.

"Glad you could join us, Master Jervada." Mace Windu noted with implied impatience, but not a note of it in his voice.

Roller expertly set the craft down in a valley between two rocky peaks. It would have been an impressive landing even in good weather, but it was all the more vital now. Wind shrieked over the rock walls above, the storm blowing furiously overhead, but down in the canyon it might as well been a clear day. Standing up Tyro couldn't shake the sensation that the craft was still rocking consistently in the wind as it had been for the past many hours.

The protection from the wind and snowfall did nothing against the dangerous cold however. A frigid blast of air slammed Tyro in the face as the hatch popped open, reminding him to quickly fish for his mask and goggles. It was actually colder down here than it was out in the storm.

Tyro tried to imagine what it was like for Ace and Champ in something like this. Even if they still had shelter from their craft, it would be well below freezing, and if they couldn't move to keep warm they would definitely be in trouble.

"How is that snow gear holding up in this?" Tyro asked, as he stepped down the ramp with Tracks, Sparks, and Tar. They left the rest on the ship. The medics and pilot wouldn't be needed out here, and they couldn't risk them in any way.

"Can't say I don't miss the old stuff, but as for keeping out the cold, this is definitely doing its job," reported Sparks cheerily.

Tyro nodded, finding comfort in the hope that at least Champ and Ace were similarly equipped.

Tyro stepped forward out into the snow, grinning slightly at the soft crunch of it under his boot. As awful as this weather was, this stuff was still awesome. The ground beneath his feet held for about a second, then with an impressive crunch Tyro found himself buried up to his waist in the fresh powder.

"Well, that's going to be a problem," surmised Tracks with the slightest hint of amusement in his tone, looking down at what was left above ground of the young Jedi. "Sparks, we've got some special boots for this I think, can you go grab those?"

With a "Yessir," Sparks was off.

Tracks turned back to Tyro. "Need a lift Commander?" he asked. Tyro could swear he heard a slight laugh through that electronically projected voice.

"No," grunted Tyro as he tried pulling his legs up one at a time, loosening the snow around them. "I got this." He leaned forward to brace himself against the bank of snow in front of him seeing if that would give him a better shot at getting free. It didn't. Next thing he knew his hand slipped through it and he fell face first into the snow.

"I'm fine!" Tyro yelled quickly, his voice muffled by the powder. This time Tar was definitely laughing for sure. Tyro couldn't help but grin. It was only as embarrassing as he was going to let it be, and this was pretty amusing. He pushed at the snow a bit more, but it was quickly becoming clear that while this would work...eventually...if he pressed the snow down enough, this was going to make moving around in the snow an arduous and extremely lengthy process. Perhaps whatever boots Tracks had mentioned were the solution to this, but Tyro had another idea.

He reached out to the force, lifting himself with it back onto the gangplank, hearing a mumbled "whoa" from Tar at the display, before taking another look at the snow. It wouldn't be too much effort to just hold himself up with the force…

"Okay, got 'em! I brought some snow shovels too, looks like we'll need 'em." Sparks announced. "Though I'm not really sure how these will fit you...Sir" he started, unsure, looking down at Tyro's feet. "We're kind of all fit one size here, Commander."

"No, it's okay, I think I got it." Tyro replied, regarding the wide boot attachments. Distribute the weight enough to not sink into the soft powder. Simple, yet clever. It made sense. And come to think of it that would not be too difficult to replicate with the force, and it would save more energy than his previous plan.

"Time for attempt number two then?" He asked once everyone was equipped. They all stated their agreement without the slightest question of Tyro's own abilities. He was a bit surprised at the lack of opposition, but he had just reminded them that he was a Jedi after all.

Avoiding the rather impressive chasm he had just left in the snow he stepped out a second time, this time spreading the force out with him beneath his feet. He tested it out for a few steps, stepping along the snow so lightly he hardly left a footprint. "Damn," Tar whispered, probably thinking Tyro couldn't hear. Tyro smiled, happy it was hidden by his mask. The force was so common everywhere he had been before, and while he was sure the army had seen it from Gavyn, it did feel like a compliment.

Shaking that aside, along with the fascination with the snow, he brought his mind back to the mission. "Tracks, do you want to take the lead on pinpointing this?"

"Yessir," came the succinct reply.

It was only a few meters before the Tracks looked from the small datapad in his hand to the ground. "Here, Sir."

Tyro looked down. From the surface there was nothing that differentiated this patch of snow from any other. Well, that was what the shovels were for.

"Permission to speak Commander?" Asked Tracks succinctly.

"Sure, what's up?" Tyro replied without really thinking.

"We need to be careful in or digging. While the droid itself is inactive we don't want to risk either damaging it or setting off any kind of weaponized device it may have, Sir."

"Yeah, that's a good point," he agreed. Nothing followed. Everyone stood there watching them as if waiting for some kind of command. Tyro winced. Well of course they were. "Okay guys, it's as Tracks said. We all stop digging when he gives the signal."

Tyro quickly looked over to Tracks to see if he had said the right thing, relieved to see the man nod in agreement.

Three of them set to work with tracks watching from the side on his datapad. Despite knowing the exact location of the probe droid it was a long and arduous process. It had snowed a lot since the droid had crashed here, and Tyro began to realize that this was just a small droid. Ultimately they would have to be doing this with a ship. Perhaps this droid had crashed much earlier and Champ and Ace would be easier to get to? Tyro doubted that would be the case though.

"Halt!" demanded Tracks suddenly. "Shovels up. Everyone step back. Tar, Sparks, I need you to disarm the probe droid and locate whatever you need to find."

"I can help too," offered Tyro quickly.

"Commander, with all due respect, you are this highest ranking officer here. It would be unwise to compromise you at this stage of the mission."

"I've disassembled quite a few droids and disarmed my share of bombs, I know what I am doing," Tyro replied defensively.

Tracks motioned for him to step closer, pulling him off to the side. "Commander," he spoke privately to Tyro. "Nobody questions your ability here. And while if something were to happen, Stitch would be able to lead this mission, your skills are a lot more important down the line when we need to locate Ace and Champ and get them safely out of whatever situation we find them in."

Tyro frowned. It was unfair thinking he was worth something more than Tar and Sparks and the rest of them. At the same time however, what Tracks said was logical. A risk here meant he might not be there to help out when it really did matter. This probe droid was not worth the true purpose of the mission.

"Thank you Tracks," Tyro quietly agreed. He stayed where he was, a good distance away, as Tracks nodded and stepped closer to supervise the other two.

Tyro fought to keep his mind from wandering as he watched from a distance while the three worked. Time seemed to pass so much more slowly when he wasn't involved. As the minutes ticked by he began to focus on the snow around him. It was cold, like Gavyn had been saying yesterday. Very cold. Cold enough that it was starting to seep through his thick snow clothes. When he had first stepped out of the ship in them he was so warm he hardly believed that could be possible. He looked down at the front of his jacket and pants, noting how much snow was caked onto them from when he had fallen into it earlier, and hastily started to brush it away, but the cold bit at his muscles, slowing his movements.

More time passed. His toes began to sting in his boots and he lifted himself out of the snow enough that he was hovering slightly above it. As he started to shiver he remembered what Gavyn had been about to show him yesterday, about meditating to keep himself warm. But he hadn't been able to meditate earlier, and the cold was distracting, he didn't even know where to start. He turned his attention to Sparks and Tar instead.

"We should be good!" Tar finally called out after what felt like an eternity. "Did you want to take a look at this Commander?"

"Once we extract the data we'll have more information, but from just looking at it, it appears it crashed after being blown into one of the cliff walls here," Sparks commented as Tyro approached.

"So are we good to extract the data to analyze back on the ship?" Tyro asked. "It'll save us some time and it's getting pretty cold out here."

"You'd probably be best at that Commander," admitted Sparks. "Slicing and data aren't really my things."

Tyro nodded, fishing a small drive out of his pack with clumsy gloved fingers. He held onto it tightly, hoping it could still function in this cold. A few minutes later he had what he needed. "Got it," Tyro announced, secretly glad this meant they could go back inside soon.

He handed the drive over to Sparks. "We'll just need to pull this up to analyze once we're back on the ship. Anything else?"

"No sir."

Stitch stood waiting for them, fully equipped in his snow armor, as they stepped back onto the ship, looking the group over. "You bringing on anything?" He asked the group cautiously.

"Just data, Sir," replied Sparks, holding up the drive. Stitch nodded in approval. "I want to be tracked just as much as you do."

Letting the rest of the group pass, Stitch motioned for Tyro to stop. "Commander Reval, if you'll follow me?"

"Uh...okay," Tyro replied uncertainly, following the medic to the back of the ship as the hatch closed behind them, blocking out the cold at last.

"Boots, pants, coat, gloves, mask off," Stitch commanded succinctly, removing his own helmet.

"Wait why?" Tyro protested protectively.

"The snow on them is only going to melt in here, and you're already freezing, Commander. You were out there for over half an hour. We don't know how much longer we've got ahead of us, we need to take as much care of ourselves as we can, while we still can. Wouldn't you agree Commander?"

Tyro considered protesting again, but there wasn't anything to argue. As much as he felt weak being the only one pulled aside, he wasn't going to make anything better by ignoring Stitch. Once again this was an issue of not pushing himself now so he could do so later, when it really mattered. Biting back a sigh he began to peel off his mostly frozen outer layer of clothing, dropping it unceremoniously to the floor. Suddenly the three layers of clothes he had on under that were not enough. His extra layer of insulation gone, he began to shiver violently.

"Sit." Tyro obeyed as Stitch wrapped a thick heated blanket around him. "Let me see your hands." Satisfied with whatever it was he was looking for Stitch nodded. "Take a moment to warm up, Commander, and join the rest of us up front when you're ready," Stitch offered looking him over once more. "I'll see if I can find somewhere for these to dry," he added, picking up Tyro's pile of snow clothes.

"Thanks Stitch," Tyro nodded, a bit of shiver still in his voice.

Left alone with his thoughts, Tyro felt a bit bad. This was the second time today he had been reminded that he needed to focus on the purpose of the mission. A Jedi should have been more mindful of that than anyone else, yet he had been hearing it since Loronar. That he needed to accept help, save his most valuable resources. It had just been so different with his former master. He had done almost everything by himself, and the times they did work together it had always been okay when they diverged from the plan when Tyro had a better idea or saw something else that needed to be done.

Feeling warmer Tyro finally stood up to join the others up front.

"I'm not finding anything of use here. Looks like either we are missing part of it, or it never had anything in the first place. All I can tell is that this crashed a few minutes after the approximate time we have for them going down," Sparks was saying to the rest of the group as Roller readied for takeoff.

"So basically all we got from this is we now know approximately how deeply buried in snow they are," Tar said as Tyro found his seat.

"Basically."

"So a total waste of time after all," Grumbled Tracks under his breath.

Tyro sighed, looking out the window as Roller took off, expertly weaving the ship out of the small canyon. It had been a bad call after all, though there had been no way to know that before. He sat conflicted for a moment before deciding that the risk had been worth the potential of a better pinpoint on Ace and Champ's location. He could only hope that the extra time wouldn't cost them.

As they reached the top the violent wind caught the craft again and it was back into the storm.