Deslok

Without moving or seeming to notice the pair that entered the room, the seated figure spoke, "How may I help you today?"
Traga and Kalo looked at each other, and then back at the chief who still hadn't looked up from his task.
"We're trying to solve a mystery." said Traga.
"All of life is a mystery." said the Chief, finally looking up at the two travelers. "Ah, you're not from this planet, are you?"
"No." offered Kalo.
The Chief turned back to the table before him and closed a book that he had been writing in. He stood up and adjusted his robes. "It's about time you got here, this world is in turmoil."
"You've been... expecting us?" said Traga with an air of surprise.
"Someone like you."
"I see."
Kalo sat down on the floor. The Chief sat back down, Traga remained standing, he spoke, "We're looking for our people."
"Do you know where they are?"
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you."
"Good! You have a very energetic spirit. You've come to the right place."
Traga looked confused. "Can you help us?"
"Can you help yourselves, that is the question." Traga rolled his eyes."
"I can help you" said the Chief, "but in order to do that you will have to help me too."
"How can we do that?"
"You will have to bring your ships down here."
"Our ships weren't designed to land on planets."
"You'll have to find a way." said the Chief insistently. Traga and Kalo looked at each other, more confused than ever.

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Deslok

One would never know that a horrible war was being waged on this world given the peaceful nature of the forest. The trees stood silent sentry as Traga and Kalo retraced their steps to the spot where their ship was hiding. Once there, they entered the hatch and powered up the computers. One by one, the craft's system lights came on, first blue then yellow. The ship dug itself out of the ground and the struts pointed the nose up toward the sky. Seatbelts were buckled and engines whined, and then they were off into the night sky. The planet below fell away from under them and they soon found themselves docking in familiar territory. In the docking bay, Kalo turned to Traga and asked, "Do you think this is a good idea? Landing our ships down there?"
"No, I'm not sure it's a good idea at all. We're only going to land your ship down there."
"My ship? Why?"
"Because my ship is a better design, it's faster and has better weapons systems."
"Come on! Everyone knows that Largonian technology is better than yours."
"Also, I outrank you."
"I don't take orders from you!"
"We need answers, I don't know of a better way. Do you?"
"No."
"So, it's settled. My ship will remain in orbit, we're going to make a crash landing into the sea below. We'll need to land as close to that camp as possible."
"You're forgetting one thing though, they're waging war with ships on the ocean, those ships are all nuclear warheads."
"We'll have to deal with that contingency if it arises, for now we must get some answers, and our people back."

Kalo was not liking this discussion at all, he reluctantly and silently agreed to go along with Traga's plan... for now.

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Deslok

Some time later, the pair were making the actual descent to the planet below.

"This is crazy, you know..." said Kalo.
"What's crazy?"
"This whole thing, it's crazy. We don't even know anything about this world, or it's people."
"Rotate for maximum reverse thrust"
"Huh? Oh!" Kalo flipped a switch. A light went on next to the switch. "Uh-ohhh."
"Hang on, we have a systems failure!"
The ship plummeted, the engines were spitting out fire as pieces of it melted away. Everything heated up, and then they hit the ocean.

"We've landed." said Traga.
"I always knew you Atlasians were geniuses." said Kalo sarcastically. He undid his safety harness and looked out the tiny port window.
"Well, it looks like we landed pretty much on target."
Traga undid his safety harness and stood up. He leaned his hand against the bulkhead, and pulled it away, "Owwwww!" he said.
"Yeah, the walls are hot. We just went through the atmosphere. How long have you been a pilot?" Traga looked at him with anger. "Let's get this thing near the shore." Kalo leaned over and activated the directional jets on the top of the craft. "Why are we doing this again?" he said.
Traga stopped what he was doing, looked over at Kalo and said, "You know something, I don't have a clue."

"Something strange is going on here." said Kalo as he looked at the telemetry from the descent. "This says that life support went out moments after we penetrated the atmosphere."
"Well, I don't feel dead." quipped Traga. Kalo looked out the tiny window and noticed that they were nearing their target. "I think I see the forest people. We're here." Traga killed the engines and the pair climbed up to the top of the ship. It ran aground and they fell off the hull and into the murky water. When they surfaced, they could hear the laughter of the men and women from the forest.

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Deslok

"Well, we made it!" sputtered Kalo, his head bobbing on the water's surface.

"Yes, indeed." said the chief. He extended an arm and helped one, then the other out of the water. "Your people are anxious to see you now that you've arrived."

"Our people? You mean they're alive?" Shouted Traga.

"Alive? No, nobody survived." said the chief. "Your ships were trapped in an ionic incuctance field when you passed by a while ago. Your ship crashed as a result, the life support on the other one simply failed. For some reason, you didn't go down with your ship when it came down through the atmosphere, a copy of it remained among the stars. You could not be allowed to wander the universe forever in a ghost ship. Ghosts must remain grounded. On this world, you can exist in a way that is almost exactly like living, except that you cannot die here. Think about it, your ship just made a very dangerous descent, one that would have killed you if you were alive. Not to mention that your bodies are highly dependent on water and the pressure controls on your ship. You could never have survived the crash.

"Oh great, we're living on a planet of dead people." Said Kalo.

"Not exactly dead," said the chief, "just different from what you're used to."

"I don't like it." said Traga, and he and Kalo walked away from the villagers.

"Stop by my house when you have settled in a bit. I have much to tell you." shouted the chief as the pair vanished into the thick cover of the trees.

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Deslok

"Well, what now genius?" said Kalo, not looking at Traga as he spoke.
"What?" said Traga. He stopped in his tracks, anger and uncertainty washed over his face.
"He said that we're dead, didn't you hear him?"
"No, he said we weren't exactly dead."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know, but we have to find a way off this planet. We've obviously made a huge error."
"No, the error was made by whoever gave you command of a ship."

Just then, the sound of gunfire disrupted the relative calm of the jungle. Traga and Kalo ducked for cover.

Kalo pulled himself up onto his feet. "Hey, if we're dead, then what am I worried about?"
"Get down you idiot!"
"We're dead, don't you get it? We just came down from waaaay out there, and we don't have a scratch on us. Those weapons can't hurt us!"

Bullets whizzed past Kalo's head, one pierced his arm and continued to it's random target. "See!" he shouted with joy, "I've been shot!"
Traga looked, but did not rise. Kalo turned around and saw around about thirty alien soldiers advancing through the trees and brush. They ran right past the startled offworlders and on into the distance.

"They didn't even see us! How do you explain that?" said Kalo as he helped Traga up onto his feet.

"I can't" Traga mumbled.

"I think we'd better go see the chief and get some answers."

Kalo began walking in the direction of the village, Traga followed. Gunfire erupted before them, then the same alien soldiers retreated to thier former position, again ignoring these two figures in the jungle. Traga and Kalo looked at each other, and continued on their way.

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