Pelek Baw

*The ship touched down upon the surface; she had felt it. The engines were dying down and going silent. Now, hopefully, she could get off this ship. She cradled the still-shivering Lokay in her arms and moved within plain view of the cargo bay door, sitting down against a crate, looking as innocent and hopeless as possible, hoping whoever saw her first would take pity on her.

But no one came. Morgan frowned, wondering if perhaps they were meeting with someone outside the ship before recovering their cargo. But several minutes passed, and still nothing. Morgan's frown deepened; why weren't they opening their cargo bay? That was her only way out of here! No... it wasn't. She would just have to make her own way.

She stood slowly. Lokay, sensing they were no longer in space, settled down a bit and climbed onto Morgan's shoulder. She approached the door, placing her palm flat upon its surface and closing her eyes, extending her senses. Hopefully the locking mechanism was simple enough; her training in opening doors with the Force was still at a moderate level for her age, and she didn't want to cut open someone's cargo bay door if she could help it. If the owners weren't bad people, anyway.

There, a simple deadbolt. That was good. Morgan exerted the Force upon it, her face scrunching up with concentration as she attempted to unlatch the door from its hinge. She heard a soft click, and the door propped open. Opening her eyes, she grinned, glad she was successful. She pushed it open, then exited the cargo bay, closing the door behind her so as not to raise alarm for the owners when they returned, and stepped outside the ship.

There was no one in site, but that didn't draw her attention as much as the sense of the world itself... It was strong in the Force, rich, almost similar to Felucia. Almost, but not quite. Not quite at all. Still, she'd be lying to herself if she said they didn't feel similar. However, she still had no idea what it looked like. Nor where she even was. That, she had to find out quickly, and fortunately, there were signs directing her way out of the spaceport.

"Pelek Baw," the city was called, as she followed the directions away from the landing area. That was good to know. Even better, she now knew the name of the world as well: "Haruun Kal." She knew this name. She'd learned about the battles that took place here during the Clone Wars, that it was a dangerous jungle world.

Yep, definitely similar to Felucia.

It was even rather warm here, warmer than Felucia even; Morgan was used to the heat from her homeworld, but even this was a bit overbearing. And she wasn't even in direct sunlight! With any luck, she could avoid going out into the open, see if she could find a nice traveler who would take her back home, or even public transport of some kind, though admittedly she didn't expect to find anyone headed to Felucia any time soon.

Eventually, her path led her to a customs building. There were a few people inside, some sitting in chairs, some in a line to the customs officers' desks, others just standing around. Any one of these could have been the pilots of the ship she had stowed away on. It was only then she realized she must have looked rather odd to these people. Here she was, all alone save for the black and red tailring on her shoulder, standing in nothing but a dark tan, primitive, tribal-looking dress, with a bow and quiver around her back and her lightsaber hanging from her right hip. She wasn't even wearing any shoes. Maybe this could work to her advantage somehow...*
=Customs Officer=
Are you lost, little one?
*Morgan turned towards the speaker, a reptilian being. Not a Barabel, which she had seen many of at Felucia, but a different sort of reptilian species. Tran-something... Didn't matter; despite her rough exterior and raspy voice, she—Morgan assumed it was a she from its voice anyway—at least seemed concerned for Morgan. Or maybe she was appraising her potential flavor... hard to tell with reptilians. Morgan started to approach the desk, nodding up at the officer.*
Yeah... I accidentally got stuck on a ship on my homeworld and ended up here, and I just want to find a way home...
*The officer seemed to take pity on her, judging by her creasing eyelids and some semblance of a frown. Morgan thought it was a frown anyway.*
=Customs Officer=
I wish I could help you, but alas, I know no one with a ship that could take you home. Perhaps when I'm off-duty, I could help you find someone who could take you ho—
*The reptilian seemed to notice upon the metal tube hanging from Morgan's hip. She quickly made the connection before reverting her gaze to Morgan's eyes, looking a bit more encouraging this time. Or maybe that was a sneer.*
=Customs Officer=
Jedi, are you? Then you're in luck, for there is a Jedi Temple just outside of Pelek Baw. I'm certain someone there would be able to help you get home.
*Morgan's eyes widened. A Jedi Temple on Haruun Kal?! Wow, she'd gotten lucky! Er, that was to say, not lucky, but things wouldn't be so bad after all! She smiled hopefully, beaming up at the officer.*
Thank you, thank you! Can you tell me how to find it?
*The reptilian's teeth were bared in what must have passed as a smile for its race, before giving Morgan approximate directions to reach the Temple. Then she handed a single credit chip over the counter to the girl.*
=Customs Officer=
And take this, so you can get yourself a couple of restorative tablets before entering the showers.
*Morgan held up her hands to catch the chip as it was dropped, but then she frowned, confused.*
Showers?
*The female nodded.*
=Customs Officer=
The pro-biotic showers. You've just passed through the antisepsis field that prevents dangerous metal-eating fungi from damaging the ships that dock here. But they also remove some helpful bacterias from your skin and intestinal tracts. The showers and the tablets restore those, and I highly suggest you take them. Otherwise... Well, the results won't be pretty.
*... well, that was different. And yet, another similarity to Felucia, in that there were also harmful fungi in the air, but nothing that ate metal. She finally smiled and thanked the officer again, before following her directions towards these showers. She was greeted by several monitors displaying rather gruesome results of not passing through the showers. She winced; if there was any hesitation before, it was gone now at the sight of these.

There was the dispenser with the tablets, each costing half a credit each. Morgan deposited the chip given to her by the official, receiving two tablets. She broke off a part of one, then managed to coax Lokay into eating it for his own benefit. She then took her own, trying not to make faces at the poor flavor, then entered the showerhouse.

This... left Morgan surprised. She had expected small, individual stalls for personal use. What she saw was one large walk-through lined with nozzles spraying a red mist, with a conveyor on the side for possessions so that they would not get wet. That was certainly different... Not very private, either. But this was of little concern to Morgan, who only shrugged, disrobed, set her things upon the conveyor, and strolled through the red mists. Lokay seemed to be particularly enjoying them, fanning out his wings and extending his neck, trying his best to cover every inch of him possible in the nourishing liquids, eliciting giggles from Morgan.

She dried off using the air dryers at the end of the walk-through, doing her best to straighten her hair before taking her items, making sure they were all in order, before putting them back on and heading into the city itself. Strangely, despite suddenly being in the direct sunlight, it wasn't as hot as it had been in the spaceport. It also smelled less clean... Probably something to do with that "antisepsis field" the customs officer had mentioned.

There was something else, though. Now she was in a clearer state of mind, with a goal to find the Jedi Temple and get off of the planet, she could sense the thickness of the Force even greater. It felt... historic, in a way. But also slightly dipped in darkness, despite the supposed presence of a Jedi Temple here. Tension... but from what? Was there something other than just Jedi on this planet... ?

More reason to simply get to the Jedi Temple and get off the planet, then. Morgan recalled the directions given her by the reptilian female, then set off down the street. Things seemed... primitive here somehow. She should have anticipated it from the admittedly underwhelming customs office, but here, well, the pavement was rough, there seemed to be a shortage of speedercraft, buildings were pretty simple... Was that a carriage being pulled by a Wookiee? This was quite the different kind of planet, that was for sure. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to be here long.

Or so she thought.

A sudden explosion went off in the streets, causing Morgan to jump and Lokay to flail. People yelled and scattered as the ground itself rumbled. This was not good. A turf war of some kind? Maybe if Morgan could just run and get to the Temple— No, this was coming from the general direction. No! So, what did she do now? Gunshots. Yells. This was escalating. These streets were not safe. She had to get out of here before something bad happened.

A side street. Morgan did not hesitate to dart down it, away from the main roads. She could see the edge of the jungle ahead. Perfect. She could hide there until this cooled down. Maybe make some progress in the general direction of the Temple until she could come out again. So much for this being an easy journey, but she shook her head to herself before darting off toward the treeline. Hopefully her jungle survival skills developed on Felucia would come in handy here as well...*