Cadena slows as she approaches, moving quickly and quietly to the formation where she ducks into the cover of a cleft. From her position, she tries to pick a stealthy way up. She doubts that there is anybody, and if there is they probably saw her coming, but if there is, it'd be ideal if she can get a look without getting her head blown of.

She thinks she sees a good opportunity and decides to take it, dashing out of the cleft and up the slope. As she reaches it, she presses herself against the wall and slowly begins making her way up. About halfway up, a foothold snaps off under her foot, nearly making her fall. The rock skitters and bounces, scaring a couple rodents who squeak and scurry away. So much for stealth...

Cadena reaches the top of the outcropping and is relieved to see that there are no threats ready to pounce on her. As Barda approaches, she starts looking out over the area. She can make out deep depressions consistent with landing gear, probably a big ship. Over the last few days, the depressions have been obscured by the wind blowing the loose sand, but are still there.

She estimates based on the imprints that the ship was about one hundred meters long, maybe eighty wide.

Barda made her way slowly and carefully through the brush to the base of the rock formation. Her ankle still gave the occasional twinge but otherwise behaved itself.

On her approach, she had seen Cadena on top of the formation, which gave her the idea to climb up so as to see what had attracted Cadena's attention. She is definitely staring at something .

A quick survey of the rock face in front of her made it clear that this side was definitely not for climbing - at least not by her. A few minutes' trudge around the base brought Barda to a more accessible path to the top. Still not without its risks, but better than the first area, she mused as she began to climb carefully.

Once Barda had reached the top, she nodded to Cadena. As she bent over to dust off both her hands and the dust smudges on her clothing, she remarked upon the view.

"Nice view, but I noticed that you were staring intently at something. What did you notice?" she asked the other.

Cadena gestures towards the imprints, "Landing gear. I'm guessing a ship of about one hundred meters long by eighty wide. Few days gone. Other than that, I see nothing of importance.

"Hmmm," Barda studied the impressions pointed out by Cadena. "Definitely something, but I don't have much of a clue about ship types. I wonder if we - or Aleena of the Silver Tongue - could find out what kind of ship it was from Kiev Traffic Control. Presumably it landed and lifted with some sort of official acknowledgement."

"I would hazard a guess that it came and went without acknowledging the authorities. For one thing, it did not land at the spaceport or landing field, but instead elected to land on the outskirts, disguised by a rock formation. It would have been picked up on sensors, so perhaps they will have record of a rogue vessel."

"My thoughts exactly - there should be something on record, even if it's just a complaint about an unregistered stick-jockey," Barda replied.

Cadena casts one last look around the area and sighs, "Shall we rejoin the others now?"

"Yes - and we can tease them about missing the fresh air and wonderful view while they were investigating a scrapyard," Barda said with a grin.

She walked over to where she had arrived at the top, and looked down.

Hopefully I can find the same route down!

As soon as Cadena and Barda left for the rock formation, Aleena turned to Sienna and said, "Shall we?" pointing at the scrapyard.

Sienna turns away from the formation and nods, "Let's."

Aleena walked over to the scrapyard's entrance, and stopped beside the old human who was working on a swoop bike.

"Hello, there!" she greeted him politely. "May we trouble you for a few minutes of your time, please?"

The old man doesn't even look up from the machine as he works, We're closed today.. maybe even tomorrow... Whatever yer selling, I don' want any..

"But we'd like to buy certain items from you!" Aleena exclaimed. "Possibly even a used starship. Aren't you running a business here?"

The man scoffs and chuckles, Yer in a scrapyard, He indicates the pieced together bike, An' once this is done, ah'm leavin'... What happen here a couple days ago.. he shivered. Empire is one thing.. that monster is another, If he comes back, I don' want to be here when he does. He finally looks up at them, Ah suggest you do the same.

"What did happen then?" Aleena asked. "We'd like to know what - and who - to avoid, and why."

Sienna smiles and says "Yes, anything you can tell us would be appreciated. And I'm afraid it's really rather imperative that we purchase a ship, we're currently stranded here. Our old ship broke down and is beyond repair. Perhaps you can help us find a good candidate? Or even a bad candidate that is still spaceworthy?"

The man looked between the two, Th' only thing that has any chance to be spaceworthy is what I just received earlier today. Everything else has been stripped or scrapped on orders from th' Empire... And I don't think you want it...

"What's the Empire doing that requires such orders?" Aleena inquired.

Sienna sighs, It's Clunker, isn't it? Well that isn't helpful.

The man shrugged, They're the Government , they do what they want.. The man eyed them suspiciously, Where're you from that you don't know?

"Off-world, and only just arrived to do some trading and the like," Aleena replied. "Unfortunately, our ship suffered a catastrophic failure on arrival. I can only count ourselves lucky that we weren't docking on a water world - I'm sure that the ship would have tipped over into drink under those circumstances!"

She shook her head in disbelief at their situation.

Duncan smirked, Yeah.. you're the one with the old Sheathipede, ain't ya? he sighed and took a longer look at them. You're here cause of her, aren't you... he whispered, Look, ah don't want any trouble, she seemed like a nice kid... But I make it my business to stay out of other peoples... It's safer that way.

Aleena became more serious, showing how concerned she was.

"We're not looking to cause trouble, truly ... we just want to know what happened." she told him softly. "Well, that and find a replacement ship."