The dash to the escape pods hadn’t been anywhere near as difficult as the miraluka padawan had imagined it would have been, especially considering the fracas that had played out in the passenger berth just moments ago. In fact, despite Lana’s sporadic pauses to slice some security terminals in an effort to slow down any pursuers, Caise hadn’t so much as sensed even a wandering trooper between the passenger compartment and the shuttle… Of course, they could be anticipating these very actions and may be content to blast us to dust once the shuttle is clear of the ship…

 
Caise didn’t dwell overlong on this, though. It appeared that the Force was indeed with the group and had it in its will that they should at least escape the Kul Kura. As he slipped through the hatch behind the others, the young jedi finally returned his lightsaber to its place beneath his outer robes and found what passed for a seat in the cramped space among these sentients whom, it appeared, would be with him for a bit longer. It wasn’t until an explosion tore apart the Kul Kura and violently rocked the escaping shuttle that Caise realized that they hadn’t been pursued because, at least in the minds of those who had captured the ship, they weren’t the primary objective and, thus, less than important to the mission’s outcome.

He gave a slow shake of his head as he sensed the lives aboard the Duro vessel wink out of their place in the Force but, otherwise, sat in silence as Mercury did his best to safely guide the shuttle-pod to Tanaab’s surface. That task, the jedi knew, must not have been an easy one considering the damage done to the tiny craft as the larger vessel exploded behind it and the effects of being caught precariously in the planet’s gravity well. Even without physical sight, the controlled “free-drop” to the surface of the planet was disconcerting and, for a moment, Caise was thankful that he couldn’t see the spinning and spiraling approach of Tanaab’s surface as the little ship hurtled through the atmosphere… just the sensation of it threatened to turn his stomach more than once…

“No way we’ll make it to a spaceport,” he heard the young pilot say, “Looks like a crash landing…”

Just as well, Caise mused, preparing himself for the bone-jarring bumps and skids that were yet to come, Landing at a spaceport likely wouldn’t be the wisest of choices considering that the ship we just left behind has just exploded in orbit. He turned his blind eyes towards Damanil. And, since we’ve already been inadvertently branded rebels, sympathizers, or worse I doubt that any reception we might have received would have been cordial…

The impact as the shuttle pod carved a gouge in Tanaab’s crust was violent enough to toss bodies around the tiny cabin but not so bad that anyone had sustained serious injury from what he could tell. After shaking of the effects of the crash, the first thing that Caise heard was the almost impossibly cheerful voice of the young pilot.

“Surprise! We’re alive!”

Following that was the still irritated and impatient voice of the Kul Kura’s engineer. “Now what?” Lana demanded.

“Now, miss,” Caise said matter-of-factly as he freed himself from the tiny seat and made for the hatch, “we determine where we are and where we must go to get to where we need to be.”

((OOC: Okay, let’s get out of this crate and have a peek about before we go running off willy-nilly, shall we? If it’s possible to do so before heading towards the nearest city, Caise will make an attempt to contact Master Trask’s “associate” and let him know that he has arrived… maybe there’ll be a chance of some assistance there?))