STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Hunted

Eerin- Kyle just threw himself sideways for no reason. And now he's talking to himself. Perhaps it's a human thing.

Kyle, something not right about Rylis' appearance, now. You notice that the slight green tint to her Mirialian skin has become gray and unhealthy, and her jaw unhinges as she shouts her next line.

"SHOOT ME!" she rasps, in a voice that is not her own.

"I'm trying! Hold still!" Kyle shouts back, frustrated and confused. He takes aim, steadies his hand and fires...

Your pistol launches its beam across the room, and there's a flash as it strikes the wall behind where the apparition of Demon-Rylis once stood. However, it reflects off, bouncing back in your direction. It burns past your head, bursting against the wall behind you.

Eerin, you're not sure it's safe for Kyle to have his gun, at the moment...

"What the hell is going on?" Kyle notices Eerin in the room. "Where'd she go? Did you let her get by you?"

"[Kyle, give me the gun]," Eerin promts. "[We're the only two beings this side of Mos Eisley. Where'd who go?]"

While Eerin is severely puzzled by your actions, Kyle, there are two things puzzling you.

The first is that there is no logical reason for Rylis to have been able to get onto your ship. Your sensors would have picked up her arrival, Eerin would have seen her approach, the entrance ramp is buried in sand...

The second is that your shot bounced off of the inside of your cargo bay. It shouldn't have done that.

Kyle ignores Eerin's hand and holsters his blaster. He goes over recent events in his head. "Eerin, you didn't see Rylis? Did you see my shot reflected back at me? Cause I saw both and neither should be right. What the hell?"

The sudden appearance of Rylis you have absolutely no explanation for.

Reflecting blaster bolts, however, can be more easily explained, not that it makes any more sense. Your shot rebounded off the wall behind where 'Rylis' was standing.

"Eerin, what's going on?"

"[I was hoping you could tell me...]" Eerin responds.

Eerin will go over and check the area where Kyle shot at, including the wall and the crates and such.

Kyle hasn't been dipping into the drug catch unknowingly, has he?

(Hey, maybe we should check on that! Make sure nothing got out?)

Crates are secure! Death sticks are fragile and their containers are heavily cushioned. Even the crash into the desert did not harm them.

As for that wall... Kyle can very easily deduce that the wall has a magnetic field active, set at a low level so that it is not normally detectable. Not surprising, you have a few compartments elsewhere in the ship with similar fields. But they forgot to mention this one... not to mention that you just saw that bizarre apparition that caused you to fire directly at that specific section of the wall...

"Eerin, did you know that wall was magnetized? Let's search the ship, see what we find. Something's not right here, even on our own ship."

You're guessing that the section is magnetized because it is concealing something. All other compartments have an optional magnetic seal, but this one has been left on. Barely even uses power!

There is a beeping over the comm system. The computer is alerting you to an incoming hail.

"Eerin, let's see if we can shut it down."

"[You're better with that stuff than I am]," Eerin replies. "[I'm, ah... I'm going to go see who's calling]."

Eerin will head to the cockpit to receive the transmission.

A superb roll from Kyle sees the magnetic field shut off! What now?

-

Eerin heads up to the cockpit to answer the comms...

"This is Farstrider to crashed ship, over. Do you read me?"

Kyle takes a close look at the wall of his ship. Looking for something slightly out of place that might help him figure out what it's hiding.

Eerin will answer.

"[Last Laugh to Farstrider, I read you loud and clear!]"

A moment of silence over the comm system.

"Uh... come again, stranger?"

-

Whoever designed this compartment, they did a supreme job. You can knock on it and it doesn't sound hollow. There is no obvious controls or switch or lever or handle that will open this thing, but your keen eye for the technical gumf of the Last Laugh reveals a miniature hole.

The magnetic field seems to be regenerating, as well.