The young Nautolan braced himself against the side of the LAAT as the shuttle lifted off from the deck, an involuntary sense of dread coursing through him as the craft went airborne. The amphibian youngling did well for himself in space, which was rather like orienting oneself in deep water – that being that there was little need for concepts such as up or down, left or right – and he did very well for himself in terrestrial environments where such cardinal points were more pertinent. But he didn’t like atmospheric flight. Something about it just seemed [i]unnatural[/i]. He liked the feel of either solid ground or water beneath his feet. The feeling of dread escalated as the ride became a wild jaunt in between the layers of the city that defined the planet. Because Coruscant was a single city, built neighborhood upon neighborhood until it not only stretched across the whole of the planet, but no one knew what the surface of Coruscant looked like anymore. Or even where the surface of the planet even was.

Through the sniper points in the side of the doors, the boy glimpsed buildings and walkways, each a blur as the LAAT weaved through traffic and buildings in the plunge through the cityscape. Zak had spent his life on Coruscant, and this was still likely the most he had seen of the planet. The only sight he recognized was the Jedi Temple.

Now a pillar of flame and smoke on the horizon. 

A shadow passed through the shuttle, darkness encompassing the LAAT as it was swallowed up inside of something. The boy held fast to the side of the shuttle as he felt their craft and whatever it was now inside of suddenly take off, as though aiming to breach orbit. Part of him was glad for that, eager to get out into the null gravity of space and out of the uncomfortable chaos of atmospheric flight. And part of him was nervous. Their shuttle had been swallowed up by something. 

And he could sense someone now approaching. [i]Someones[/i] now approaching.

The doors to the LAAT swung open, two men reflected in the large, dark eyes of the Nautolan as he gazed out anxiously at the sight of armed strangers approaching the Jedi.

[i] "Don't worry, Corporal Orson, Sector Rangers,”[/i] the man offered in explanation, which wasn’t much of an explanation at all. To remedy that, the man added, [i]“Well, ex-ranger. We're here to help."[/i]

“Sector rangers?” the youngling echoed, sliding to the door of the craft to now peer out at both the strangers and the strange craft that had swallowed their LAAT whole. He knew of the sector rangers, of course. Republic law enforcement, with a mandate that stretched to and beyond the borders of a sector, but he had never met one. [b]”Cool,”[/b] Zak affirmed, breathing a sigh of relief at the thought of someone coming to help.