Along the Rimma Route

[01010101101]

The Sprint was well-named. Custom-built by its first captain, it was designed to run through the Rimma Trade Route as quickly as possible, selling goods while they were still in demand. Granted, there wasn't too much space for cargo, being a smaller craft, and that's why the original owner sold it. The next captain that owned the ship used it for a different sort of cargo: the sentient kind. He didn't ask why a group of people needed to be transported, only where they needed to go and how much they were willing to pay. Sure, he took a few cases of food along the ride, but those were just for show. He initially expected it to be dangerous, but as it turned out, bandits were less interested in people than they were precious metals. Most of the time.


At least that's what Tali Werin hoped as he wrapped himself in his cloak. According to his father, the best way to look for the Jedi, if there were any left and willing to train two young boys, was to follow the trade routes to the Outer Rim. Tali had wondered whether the Jedi were hiding in Imperium territory, but had been given the response that it would be too dangerous to be asking about Jedi there.

Tali opened his eyes as his younger brother stood up and resumed his pacing. "Sit down," Tali told Shalge. "Conserve your energy."

"It's freezing here," Shalge muttered. "We should keep warm."

Tali looked around. "According to Captain Eeta, the other rooms were already full."

"So he sticks us in a refrigerator? I better not end up as a frozen snack for a Hutt." Shalge sighed.

"It'll be worth it," Tali said, knowing what Shalge was thinking. "We just have to keep pressing through."

Shalge smirked. "Yeah, we can tell them about our epic adventures, surviving the artificial elements," he joked.

"We'll be Knights in no time."

----------------------------​

"Vlee says to wait 'till they're next to Woostri."

"Why can't we blast 'em right now?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Vlee just wants a piece of the action, my guess."

"You mean the spoils."

"Pretty much."

 

[Wolf231]

In the vastness of space, it was usually hard to be in the right place at the right time - or at least it should have been, in peaceful times. These days there were pirate attacks every day all over these outer rim systems; it was unwise for most to even venture this far. Unwise except for the desperate, and that was another thing that was on the rise. Desperation was becoming commonplace, and the Jedi were barely even stable enough to begin trying to help. Finally, however, they were - thanks largely to Master Juno's efforts, she knew. She made a mental note to offer that woman any help she could bring; so far she had done little besides constant training. Fang had mentioned it would be wise to prepare for what was to come, and so she had been. Today something had felt different, however - she felt the Force calling her out into space.

So she had fired up her ship's engines, finding them to be strangely reactive after having laid dormant for so long. It must have been four or five years since the last time she had sat in the cockpit, but now that she was back she was quick to shake off the rust. There was an excited energy bubbling beneath her surface for - well, she didn't know why, but it was there. She was making good time as she traversed the Rimma trade route in reverse, keeping an eye on her long range scanners. As yet she hadn't detected anything out of the ordinary, or even any other spacecraft, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be long now before something happened.

 

[01010101101]

"Ok, we'll try again," Tali said, trying his best to be patient.
For the past hour, Shalge had been trying to learn the basics of Force Pull. For some reason, he could move a small object forward, but not backward. He focused on the small ball that Tali had placed on the floor. Shalge took a few deep breaths before carefully moving his hand away from the ball. It didn't move. Shalge sighed in exasperation and fell to the ground. "Ah, it's no use," he said. "I'll just have to learn when we find the Jedi."
Tali chuckled. "What if they make you take a test, and the final section tests your proficiency with Pull?"
"...don't freak me out like that, bro."
"Hey, they might even make you take a written test."
"Shut up, man.
Laughing, Tali stood up to stretch. "I wonder where we are," he said. He took out a small device out of his bag and turned it on. A hologram emitted from the device, showing a simple map of the galaxy. "Letsee, last time I checked, we were somewhere around Vandelhelm. With the average speed we've been going at...eh....I'd say we should be passing by Woostri soon."
"You think we'll stop there?" Shalge asked, looking up. "It's been a while since we've last docked."
Tali shrugged. "That's up to the captain. We might not stop until we reach Vondarc." He looked at Shalge, who was staring into space. "Hey, you hear me?"
"Something's...not right," Shalge murmured.
"What do you mean?" Tali asked.
"I dunno...but I think we're in danger."
Tali frowned. He didn't think that either of them were strong enough in the Force to detect danger, but if it was close, Shalge would probably be the first one to feel it. Unfortunately, he probably didn't know where it was coming from. Tali closed his eyes and let his mind wander. At first he felt nothing, then...there! An attack...by multiple hostiles. "A pirate attack?" he murmured to himself.
"We should go talk to the captain," Shalge said, standing up.
"And tell him what? That we 'got a bad feeling about this'?"
"It's better than sitting here waiting for the engines to blow up or something."
Before Tali could answer, an explosion rocked the ship, sending both boys sprawling. "Y-you alright?" Tali called, slowly getting back up.
"Yeah," Shalge coughed. "What the heck was that?"
The two ran to the bridge, where a half-dozen other passengers were staring out the windows. Three ships in total surrounded them. If Shalge wasn't gripped by fear at the moment, he would have recognized two of them as small scout ships, and the third as a freighter.
"Come on!" Tali called, running towards the cockpit. The brothers found the captain, a human named Erin, engaged in communications with one of the pirates.
"-engines are completely dead," the pirate said from over the communicator. "Surrender your cargo immediately or...well, you can think of the rest."
"There's no cargo!" Erin insisted. "There's just some food and cheap clothing! I'm only transporting people to the Outer-"
"People, you say!" the pirate interrupted. He turned to someone off-hologram. "Vlee! Are you still in contact with that slaver in Nal Hutta?" A mumbled response was heard, and the pirate looked back at Erin. "I suggest you have your passengers make this easy for us and line up against the wall.
Tali spoke up. "What are you planning to do?" he asked, causing the captain to realize that there were two boys watching him. "There's no way for you to get anyone in this ship."
The pirate roared with laughter. "Good question," he sneered. "Just open your outer ramp. We'll lower a tube to you. Try not to move." And with that, the communications was cut.
"I've seen those tubes before. It's basically a small connection between small ships. Just big enough to walk through," Tali said.
"We should jump them as soon as they come in," Shalge said, gripping his vibroblade.
"OK, there's at least five reasons why that won't work," Tali said, shaking his head. "The biggest one is that as soon as those guys see something going on, they'll blast us into next week."
"We don't know how many men they have," Shalge protested. "They might only send two or three, and they're not likely to fire when their own people are on board."
"We'reallgoingtodieIshouldhavestayedasamoisturefarmer," the captain whimpered, his head buried in his hands.
"None of the other passengers looked like they carried weapons," Tali replied, ignoring the sobbing man in the captain's chair. "Or knew how to use them."
"Let's go ask," Shalge said, running back to the bridge. Tali sighed and followed. "Alright," Shalge began.
"What's going on?!"
"Why are they getting closer?!"
"Are we going to die?!"
"Stay calm," Shalge said. "They don't want to kill you. They just want to sell you as slaves. But don't worry. Me and my bro will take care of them. We're still working on the 'outnumbered' thing, but it'll be OK."
Tali groaned. "Listen," he said quickly, before anyone tried to jump out a window. "Do any of you have weapons of any sort?"
No one said anything.
"Do any of you have any combat training?"
Nothing.
"What are you guys even doing here?!"
"Hiding from the Imperium," one woman said quietly. The rest of the group nodded silently.
Tali looked at Shalge. "Remember to go for the shooting hand first," the younger boy advised, drawing his blade.
Tali nodded slowly. "Trust your instincts," he replied, gazing towards the ship exit.

(Long post was too long, so I took out the line breaks.)

 

[Wolf231]

It seemed the Force had its reasons for calling her out here this day - though she wasn't even sure it was the Force and not just pure luck. She attributed it to the force, because it seemed right to her to do so. Her scanners picked up a group of ships together at the edge of her range, and as she drew closer and she got a visual she saw that one of the ships was clearly being harassed by the others. A freighter and at least two smaller scouting ships, by the look of it. She frowned as she continued moving forward, because they would obviously have noticed her by now. She saw tubes being extended and wasn't sure how she could help; firing might cause them to blow up the hostage ship and she didn't know how many people were on board. Even if there were only one, she couldn't risk that. She considered her options for a few moments before deciding and plotting a course for her autopilot.

She rose then and moved quickly, collecting her lightsaber and then donning a space suit - it wasn't made for long term exposure, but would let her be out in space for a short while. She moved to her airlock and stepped through the first doors, waiting for it to close behind herself before turning her oxygen supply on and opening the outer hatch. Her ship barreled by the others and when she was directly below the captive ship she used the Force to leap up - drifting through space as her ship flew off on its predetermined course, dipping and rolling if it was shot at as if it had a pilot. She floated quickly towards her target ship, using the Force to correct her course if needed. Soon enough she made it and started to climb her way to the auxiliary airlock.

It was only a few minutes before she was safely inside the airlock, and then inside the ship itself. Her space suit was removed; it would be too awkward to fight in for her. Then she was making her way through the ship quietly, listening for any sounds - and as the ship wasn't huge, it wouldn't take her long to hear commotion and make her way towards it. She would remain in the back however when she saw two boys trying to organize a defense, sensing something from them and wanting to see where they went with this, or what their plan was at least.

 

[01010101101]

Tali took one of his electronic tools out of his bag and began to bend one end of it.

"What are you doing?" Shalge asked, moving a cargo crate a short distance from the entrance, just in case they needed to get to cover quickly.

"I need a weapon," Tali replied simply, finishing with the tool. Its wires were now exposed, forming a small taser. "This is thee best I can do."

Shalge laughed nervously. "Told ya you should have brought dad's gun."

Tali shrugged. To be honest, he was regretting his choice. Originally he had declined the weapon, since he didn't want the burden of the deaths caused by it on his shoulders. But now.... "I hoped that I wouldn't need it; at least not this early." Switching on the taser, he looked towards the doors, which, by the sounds of it, were being unlocked. "Alright, remember: don't move until they're between those two hallways. Count to three and then jump--" He was interrupted by the sound of something crashing above him. "What was that?" he wondered.

"Probably their ship bumping into ours," Shalge suggested.

"I'd think they'd come from the side," Tali mumbled. Something didn't feel right. He felt confused, as if there were a bunch of wires crossed in a machine.

"Let's not go crazy just yet, eh bro?" Shalge took his position behind one of the walls. "Plenty of time for that once you're an old man." Shalge felt like his heart was going to explode. He tried to remember what his father had taught him about battle: the screaming, the blood...Once the pirates got in, he had to be prepared for all of that, and still keep on fighting. For his brother's life, as well as his own. He readied his vibroblade and nodded to Tali, who was across the hall from him.

The inner door opened, revealing four armed men, two humans, a Twi'lek, and a Bothan. They all held blaster rifles close to their chests, which were protected by light armor.

The boys began to count.

 

[Wolf231]

Arisa saw that their plan was a good one - in theory at least. They would ambush the boarding party, but not until after they had made it inside. This would make most men let their guard down; they weren't expecting any resistance anyways. But since of the boys didn't have a real weapon, there was a good chance one or both of them would be at the very least injured in the assault. These men were all larger then the boys and well armed, she could see - now that the doorway had opened. Well, before they made it to the ambush location she would simply have to act. This was likely only the first wave of pirates anyways, because those pirates weren't expecting much resistance they wouldn't send a full squad over. It was time to make them wish they had.

She strode out from the dark corner she had found to stand fully within the view of those pirates, but far down the hallway from where those boys were waiting to ambush the men. "It is impolite to enter someone else's ship without an invitation." Her voice was loud, but had a softness to it at the same time. She could see the pirates scoffing at her and pointing blasters her way; good. They even kept moving forward. With their focus on her, perhaps she should see what these boys were capable of. She shifted her stance as they approached to hide the lightsaber clipped to her belt, her hands coming up in an unarmed stance as if she planned on fighting them without a weapon, which made a couple of them laugh.

All of this had transpired quickly, which meant that the boys would be getting to three on their count quite soon. She shifted her hands, bringing both forward and making a yanking motion - each one pulling a blaster free from the front two mercenaries. They let out a cry of surprise as they stumbled forward, blocking the avenue for the two in the back to get a clear shot at her. Already those two men were going for their pistols and she was running forward, using the Force to speed her movements. She moved right between the unarmed ones in a blur, leaving them alone as they were dead in the middle of the ambush zone. She placed her trust in the boys dealing with those ones as she leapt at the second two. Neither managed to get a shot off due to her speed, one receiving a knee to the head that knocked him out cold. She landed smoothly and spun to sweep the other one's legs out before planting a hard punch to his jaw, then another just to be sure. Her hand went to her lightsaber as she turned her head to see how the boys had fared.

 

[01010101101]

Three...

Two...

What the heck is that? Tali had to resist the urge to look around the corner as the previous feeling escalated. Suddenly, two pirates ran forward. No, not running. Stumbling.

"They're unarmed!" Shalge yelled, quickly taking notice of their sudden advantage. He leapt forward and slashed at the pirate closer to him. The man, caught off-guard by both sudden ambushes, was too dazed to protect himself, and let out a yelp as a cut appeared across his side.

Tali shook himself from his daze. He could never understand how Shalge could adjust to quick changes in the environment. Tali's mind was reeling. Why were the pirates disarmed? Where were the rest of them? What is-- Luckily, Tali instinctively rammed the taser into the second pirate's gut, interrupting his own mental questions. The pirate screamed in pain and doubled over, giving Tali the opportunity to punch him in the temple, aiming for a quick knockout.

The other pirate was beginning to collect his bearings. Though completely confused at the sudden attacks, he managed to throw a quick punch at Shalge's jaw.

Shalge quickly sidestepped to avoid the blow. He knew that he should be terrified at this time, but to be honest, there was a bit of excitement in him as well. He struck at the pirate's feet, but his opponent quickly jumped. Shalge took the opportunity to ram his shoulder into the pirate, sending him into his comrade.

Tali quickly zapped Shalge's opponent in the back of the neck, disabling him. Shalge lept over and knocked out the remaining pirate with his vibroblade hilt. Taking a moment to catch their breath, the brothers looked up at each other. "You good?" Tali asked.

"Yeah," Shalge said slowly. "You?"

Tali simply nodded and looked down the hall. Standing there was a woman with silver hair and blue eyes, unconscious pirates at her feet. There was no doubt about it; she was the source of the gut feeling Tali had had.

"She has a lightsaber, bro," Shalge said in an excited whisper. He couldn't believe it. A jedi? Here? Now? He was just about to say something when he noticed that Tali had bowed lowly. Shalge followed suit.

Tali wasn't completely sure what to call the woman. His father had simply told them to treat any jedi they met with great respect. "Milord," he said finally. He mentally berated himself. "Lord" was a Sith title, one that he had grown used to hearing. "Er, Miss Jedi," he corrected himself. Awkward sounding title, but it worked. "You have our thanks."

"Yeah, thanks. Really," Shalge agreed, peeking up to look at the jedi again. "We were pretty much screwed back there."

 

[Wolf231]

Arias simply watched the boys converse quietly, interested in what they had to say to each other. Concern for the other's well being was a good sign, as were their instincts they had just shown. One quick to act, the other quicker to think it seemed, both could be good aspects with the right training. Being open to the Force, she could sense the potential in these two. After a moment they turned to her and spoke, one even bowing and prompting the other to as well. She smiled and inclined her head to indicate the two men the boys had knocked out. "It looks like you two had things under control." There was no subtext present in her words; she had truly meant them. It took courage to be willing to take on four well armed men who were all much bigger than yourself.

She turned then to look down the chute the men had come in on, seeing that it was empty. Excellent. She leaned over and plucked a grenade free of one of the men's belts. She pulled the pin, but kept it from priming right away with her thumb as she looked back at the boys. "If this ship has escape pods, it would be lovely if you two wouldn't mind getting everyone on them." She paused for a moment. "And if not, please ask everyone to strap themselves to something, and meet me on the bridge." She turned then, her thumb releasing as she hurled the grenade as far as she could down the tunnel. Her hand shifted then, using the Force to activate the door panel and causing it to slide firmly shut. A distant explosion caused the ship to rock a few seconds later, as well as destroying a portion of the tube connecting the two ships.

She turned and moved quickly to the bridge of the ship, expecting to find the captain there. If she did she'd tell him to get a move on, and quickly, towards the nearby planet. The closer they could get, the better it would be for them. Things were about to get dicey when those pirates figured out that something had gone wrong - which wouldn't be long with that tube destroyed. If the captain wasn't there she would sit down herself at the oil it's chair and get the ship moving, though that would take longer since it was an unfamiliar ship to her.

 

[01010101101]

Tali gaped as he saw the Jedi throw a live grenade at the tube. "Are you insa--"
"AWESOME!" Shalge whooped as the explosion sounded. "You're really good at breaking things!"
Tali shook his head. What was the woman thinking, risking the lives of everyone on board like that? They'd surely be fired upon.
Shalge, on the other hand, was ecstatic. His day couldn't get any better; he had just seen a Jedi in action, and they were saving a ship from pirates. "Escape pods, hold on to something. Got it," he said, tossing one of the pirate's weapons to Tali.
"Let's hope this works," Tali mumbled, checked the rifle's ammunition level. To his surprise, there wasn't as much as he was expecting, and the pirate was only carrying another energy cell.
"Here, take these," Shalge said, stripping the pirates of their remaining cells and tossing them to his brother. "It's dangerous to-"

"I swear, Shalge, if you make a 'it's dangerous to go alone' joke..."

"Ok then," Shalge laughed and sprinted to carry out the Jedi's commands.
Tali reloaded his weapon and glanced at the woman. He had heard that after the fall of Coruscant, many Jedi went mad. It wasn't impossible that this was one of them. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but then decided that it could wait.

Tali sighed sadly as he looked over the remaining escape pods. Or rather, the lack of them. The pods had been disabled a long time ago to make space for more passengers. There was only one functioning pod remaining, and from what he could tell, it had been recently ejected. A quick look at a keypad nearby told him that a code was needed to start the pod, meaning the captain had probably jumped ship. He jogged back to where the passengers were. Most of them were sitting on the floor, sobbing, resigned to their fate.
"Oh, hey! There you are!" Shalge said, coming up from behind him with an armful of assorted fabric strips, ties, and other binds.
"Where were you?" Tali asked. "I went to go check the pods, and-"
"Oh, yeah," Shalge chuckled. "When we were talking with the captain, I took a quick look at the computer. Most of the pods were noted as 'disabled'. And remember the last ship we took? There was a keypad on the pods there, and that ship was kind of like this one, so I figured..."
Tali raised an eyebrow. "You figured."
"Yup! I guess I should have told you about the pods beforehand."
"...I suppose your reasoning makes a little sense, but..."
"Of course it does! Now help me bind these guys' arms to something!" Shalge tossed a few ropes to his brother.

"Alright, folks! We got us a plan now!" Shalga said loudly. "Everyone tie yourself to something stable!" He offered a bind to a man, who simply stared up at him blankly. "It's going to be fine," Shalge assured. "There's a Jedi here who's going to make everything fine."

Tali coughed. "Er, what he means is...eh, never mind." Judging by the looks on the passengers' faces, they weren't even listening any more. "Let's just get these guys tied up, yeah?"

 

[Wolf231]

The captain was nowhere to be seen, which meant it was time to learn how to start up an unfamiliar ship. Arisa hopped into the pulot's seat and strapped herself in, humming a song to herself as she started to work. She started with where she thought everything to be and was rather successful with getting the shield generator online. Right on time too, as the ship lightly rocked from a warning shot across the bow. At least she was fairly sure it had been a warning shot. Otherwise someone over there was a poor shot. Either way, she needed to buy some time, so she hopped on the comm that was still connected to the pirates. Using the most sinister voice she could muster, she did her best Sith impersonation. "This is Sith Crusader Mantra Ragnos. I hereby claim these captives in the name of the Inperium. Resist me and you will be destroyed." She cut the line and breathed out, finally figuring out how to fire up the engines.

Hoping that the boys were making good progress on tieing everyone down she slammed the throttle on, turning and heading directly towards the main pirate ship. She made it look like she intended to ram it to make them take evasive maneuvers and then dropped under it. A quick turn had then heading directly towards the planet, even as she keyed in an approach that wouldn't cause them to all die a fiery death in the atmosphere. Her delay didn't last very long until they were being shot at by all three ships, but with the help of the Force and some dodge and weave tactics they wouldn't take any serious damage from the two scout ships. The larger freighter would take more time to turn and catch up to them, thankfully.

Not nearly enough time, of course. They weren't as close to the planet as she would like before the ship rocked harshly, a 'tsk' sounding from her. Thankfully they would be trying to cripple the ship instead of outright destroy it, but she would still rather fly away than have to fight through an entire ship of pirates. They turned out to be a better shot than she was hoping as well, and though she managed to avoid it for a while their engines were inevitably damaged. And so it was a fairly crippled ship that finally made it into the planet's atmosphere, fire burning brightly as it smoked its way in for what was sure to be a rocky landing. "Everybody brace yourselves!" She called back over her shoulder, angling the ship as they streaked across the sky and towards a forested area to catch as much wind as possible and slow their descent. The ship's engine sputtered, but managed to add some resistance to their falling speed as well. The ship managed to stay in one piece as it hit hard and slid about a hundred yards through the forest before finally coming to a rest. Strapped to the pilot chair, Arisa managed to avoid any serious injury, and hoped everyone else had too. The sensors were destroyed, leaving her wondering if the pirates had left or were still coming after them.

 

[01010101101]

The two boys had just tied themselves to a railing when the ship started to take the hits. "Aw, crap," Tali muttered, gripping the railing as the ship suddenly lurched forward. They were heading right into the other ships! He was nearly certain that this woman was either nuts or...no, that's really all he could think of. Another explosion sounded, seemingly waking up the other passengers from their stupor.

Shalge had mixed feelings about his situation. On one hand, it was likely that he was about to die. On the other hand, Jedi were known for succeeding against extreme odds. And the feeling of rushing through a planet's atmosphere was pretty exciting. At least that's what he thought until they hit the ground. Thanks to the binding, Shalge didn't break all of his bones, but it definitely wasn't pleasant. For what felt like the longest five seconds of his life, Shalge felt like he was about to die. And it terrified him. He thought about his parents. They would never know whether they had made it to the Jedi or not. He would never see them again.

His thoughts were interrupted by Tali's shouting. "HEY!" the older boy yelled. "Keep your eyes open!" Tali had managed to calm himself down, using a breathing technique that he had mastered when he was young. Granted, it wasn't easy to do when he felt like he was about to throw up, but it helped a bit. He knew that he had to stay conscious, if only to make sure Shalge was alright. He kept his focus on his family. He had promised his father before they left that he would take care of Shalge, and keep himself alive. But surprisingly, that wasn't the only driving factor that steeled him. He found that he was angry. Angry at the pirates for firing at them. Angry at the captain for abandoning his passengers. Angry at this Jedi for going through with her plan. He chuckled to himself as he mused over this. He would have to learn to keep his emotions in check. He had plenty to learn, it seemed.

"I-I'm good," Shalge said, trying to steady himself. He drew his vibroblade, which was tied to the rail so that it wouldn't cut anyone during the crash, and cut his binds, as well as Tali's. "Is everyone alright?" he asked the rest. A few shaky murmurings were his answer. No one seemed to be seriously injured, just some bruises. While Shalge cut the ties, he asked Tali, "So where are we?"

Tali slowly laid down the bag on his shoulder. It seemed that most of his holobooks were intact, thankfully. Checking his map, he replied. "I'd say...Eriadu, maybe? I could say for sure when we get outside."

"We should get these guys to a doctor. They might be more injured than they look."

Tali nodded. "Sounds good."

 

[Wolf231]

She didn't hear anyone screaming, which was either a good thing or a very bad thing. She unbuckled and stood, moving back to check on everyone. She heard the boys talking about a doctor and brought a hand up. "Hold that thought." She moved quickly to the side airlock and pressed the release - nothing happened. She sighed and drew her lightsaber, using it to cut a large hole before using the Force to blast that hunk of metal out into the forest. She gave the hole some moments to cool before stepping out and looking around, as well as listening. Silence. Either the pirates were finding a place to land or buggering off. Either way worked for her.

She came back inside and looked at all of the passengers individually, concentrating and using the Force to speed the healing of any injuries they had. They would still have bumps and bruises, but wouldn't die from any internal injuries at least. She spent more time than she had on the others in the two boys of they let her before waving them towards the hole she had cut. "I saw a city not too far off on the way down. They shouldn't take too long to get here, if someone saw our ship go down." Which was likely, since it had been on fire long before it hit the ground. "But I think it would be best if we started walking that way. If you would all follow me." She turned and again made for that hole, dropping the five feet down to the ground. If anyone needed help with it she would offer assistance, but was mainly preoccupied with keeping a look-out for returning pirates. She motioned everyone towards a sense crop of trees that offered cover as they came out, wanting to get everyone out before continuing on.

She glanced towards Shalge once people stopped coming out. "Do you know how many passengers there were? I would prefer not to leave any behind." She kept any sense of urgency she might be feeling repressed both in her voice and thoughts, so they wouldn't pick up on it. This forest was only marginally better than a crowded ship to fight a pirate band in.

 

[01010101101]

Shalge grinned as he watch the Jedi use her abilities. "This is freaking amazing," he whispered to Tali.

"I dunno," Tali said. "I mean, this could be our ticket to finding the bulk of the Jedi, but she could just be a wanderer. You'd think she'd be a bit more careful to hide herself if she knew where the rest of the Jedi were."

"We are in the Outer Rim," Shalge pointed out. "And in this case, it's kind of necessary."

Tali shrugged. His brother had a point. Shalge carefully jumped down through the hole, testing the impact of landing on the ground. He nodded to Tali, who motioned for the rest of the passengers to follow. Realizing that the Jedi was speaking to him, Shalge turned to look at the woman. "There were, eh, six, I think. Not including me and my brother." He looked around. The faster that they were away from the wreckage, the better. Waiting until Tali was busy shouldering his blaster, Shalge asked, "Um, don't tell Tali I asked you this, but do you know where the rest of the Jedi are? I mean, you're obviously a Jedi, because you can use the Force, and you're not a Sith, even though Tali told me about 'grey' Jedi, which I didn't really get. Are you a grey Jedi? How long have you been a Jedi? How do you--oops." He quickly shut up as he saw Tali walking up to him.

"Miss Jedi," the older brother greeted. "I guess we all owe you our lives." He looked up at the clouds, which looked stained. "Those clouds provide some cover, for both us and the pirates, if they choose to pursue us. I'm pretty sure we're in Eriadu right now, judging by how the pollution's made that cover..."

 

[Maxx]

Ben walked off the landing ramp of the passenger ship he had taken from Baes Logia to Eriadu. He was in search of the Jedi. Ever since the Battle of Coruscant, the Jedi Order had been in exile. Hiding from the Imperium and their wrath. After what had happened at his home planet, Baes Logia, he had decided that he needed to join back up with the rest of the order. As his feet hit the pavement of the spaceport, he looked up into the sky. The sky was smoky, made by the pollution that haunted this planet.

In the distance he could a red light. He held his hand up over his eyes and squinted to get a better look. His eyes grew wide and he looked around the spaceport. He spotted who he was looking for and ran up to them. He stopped behind the security officer and tapped him on the shoulder. The man turned around to face Ben."Can I help you sir?" Ben pointed to the light in the sky and followed it as it fell into the forest outside of the town. The officer took a comm out of his pocket and rapidly spoke into it.

 

[Wolf231]

Arisa counted passengers in her head after being told the number - and saw that they were all out and safe. That was good. The four pirates would have to be left behind; they didn't have the means to carry them. They would be alright, at least as long as it took the nearby city's defence forces to arrive. She looked to Shalge and was taken aback by both his quantity of questions and how he quieted up when his brother came walking back. That was curious. And now this one was also calling her a Jedi. She sighed inwardly, but outwardly spoke out just a bit louder than she normally would, to be sure the other passengers 'accidentally' overheard. "Just because someone carries a Lightsaber doesn't mean that they are a Jedi. That Order is long dead, I'm afraid." She nodded her head in the direction they needed to walk and stated doing so.

She looked towards Tali then, interesting that he could deduce the planet based on vegetation and simply knowing around where the ship had been when it was attacked. She considered him for a few moments before speaking again. "Eriadu. Anything dangerous I should know about?" She didn't think that anything would interrupt their journey, but she might as well be prepared for it. She wasn't really used to highly forested worlds, tending to spend her time out in space or well populated cities. Being in a forest now, she could see why some people enjoyed them so much. There was a sense of calmness here, even though she had just crashed a ship into it. What did worry her was the lack of animal noises - weren't those supposed to be around? Well - okay, she had just crashed a ship into it. Any smart animal would have hightailed it far away.

 

[01010101101]

Tali, hearing the Jedi's response, quickly realized that Shalge had asked the woman a question. Or, knowing his brother, a dozen questions. He glared at Shalge, that the younger boy wouldn't say anything else to endanger the Jedi, and thus themselves. After all, the Imperium was looking for any Force user not with them, Jedi or not. Luckily, Shalge only responded with a downcast look. It seemed that this woman had no connection to other Jedi. True, she could be, and was probably, trying to keep her connection a secret, but her words had triggered a fear inside of him: What if the Jedi were no longer organized? But no, one Jedi could be enough for a lot of things. He simply nodded. "I see," he said quietly.

In response to the woman's question, Tali replied, "The pollution is the most dangerous thing around here. The leaders were kind of...overly ambitious in the planet's urbanization. At first I thought that my holobooks just had limited information on the local fauna, but then my mom interviewed someone who came from here."

"I remember that," Shalge interjected. "Didn't he claim to be a descendant of a Tarkin?"

"Yeah. I doubt that he really was, though. I guess breathing in toxic gasses for years kind of messes with your head. In any case, most of the native plants and creatures were wiped out a long time ago. There's mostly just rats left. They should stay out of our way, but if we go into their territory, they'll swarm by the hundreds. Unfortunately, it seems that the pollution added a toxic bite to their teeth. The only other thing I can think of are the Septoids. They're kind of like the rats, except they're non-poisonous insects."

Shalge laughed heartily. "'Kind of like rats'?" he teased. "Last time I checked, the average rat doesn't have seven legs."

Rolling his eyes, Tali replied, "I meant their behavior is similar. But for all you know, the average rat does have seven legs."

"I'm not a complete idiot," Shalge joked.

"Just three-quarters of an idiot," Tali laughed.

 

[Maxx]

The security officer thanked Ben for alerting him to the situation and said that they had it under control and that Ben could be on his way, but that wasn't good enough for him. Ben ran back to the ship he had arrived on and went over to where the cargo had been unloaded. Sitting there was a blue and white BARC Speeder, one of the few things he had brought with him. He hopped on it and revved the engine. He looked for the security personnel that was going out to check out the crash. He saw them just heading out and he followed after, making sure to keep a safe distance away so that they wouldn't see him.

 

[Wolf231]

Arisa couldn't help but smile at the boy's antics. It had been a long one since she had been able to harbour such a carefree attitude - especially right after a crash landing! She glanced around before looking ahead again. "Toxic rats and seven-legged insects. So, nothing dangerous then." She nodded and continued on through the forest. As long as there wasn't a swarm of thousands of these rats or they happened to be over three feet long, she didn't think they would have a problem. Vermin didn't tend to be very aggressive, usually preferring to run and hide when they could. And in a forest like this, there was plenty of places to run to and hide. She wasn't worried.

"Where are your parents now?" She asked as they continued along, still quite a distance from the city - at least when it came to walking there. "And why are you searching for Jedi? A search like that, it is a dangerous thing. The Dark side makes everything like night, and you know what they say." She looked between them pointedly, any hint of a smile long gone. "The night is dark and full of terror." It might have been a little harsh, but they did need to understand that even mentioning the word 'Jedi' was enough to get them on the radar of people they did not want to run across. Her voice had dropped so that only these two could hear her, as she knew nothing about the other passengers. "It has become much too easy for bright lights such as yours to be snuffed out."

 

[01010101101]

Both boys immediately tensed at the Jedi's words. Was she threatening them? Why did she want to know their parents' location? "We can take care of ourselves," Shalge said bravely. "And each other," he quickly added.
"We're just looking for the Jedi because...uh..." Tali's mouth opened and closed, but he made no sound. He hated lying. To him, lies were one of the worst things to come out of war. But it was also one of the first things. "For a report," he said lamely. He felt like facepalming. Not only did he feel dirty, but who the heck travelled to the other end of the galaxy for a school report?
"Our parents are high-class officials!" Shalge suddenly yelled, loud enough for the passengers to hear him. "They live on Dromund Kass, and sent us on a long journey to write a report! But not a school report. They want us to work with them, so we're looking for traces of Jedi in hiding!" Shalge didn't like lying any more than Tali did, but he was a bit more...used to it.
Tali sighed softly and nodded to Shalge in thanks. He kept his head low, hoping the Jedi wouldn't question them further. He needed to talk to his brother. "<That's a good cover>," he said, speaking in Bith. It wasn't the most uncommon language in the galaxy, but it was the only other one he knew, besides Basic. Hopefully, it would only sound like a series of numbers to everyone else.

Shalge nodded in reply. "<Thanks>," he said. "<I hope we negative have to stay>...uh, what's the word? ...<false?>"

Tali chuckled. Shalge had ditched his Bith studies early, in favor of trying to learn a bit of Ugnaught. As a result, his speech was a bit rusty. "<Close enough>," he replied. "<What do you think about the woman?>"

"<I think her Jedi. That positive enough for I. Her did save us.>"

"<I guess...Just be careful.>"

"<Negative I always?>"

"<Dude. We need to get you back to Bith school.>," Tali said after a second.

"[Over my corpse!]"

"The heck was that?!" the older boy yelped, returning to Basic.

"Ugnaught," Shalge laughed.

-----------------------------------------------------​

A half-dozen rats scurried from their home under a nearby bush, warily watching the intruders. They had been without food for quite some time, and had never been completely full for years. It was rare that the larger, two-legged beasts venture near their territory. But then again, the rodents had recently gained new ground after the previous inhabitants had died from drinking the toxins in a nearby lake. They were hungry now, and the fleshy beasts that were walking away from the deafening crash that had sounded seemed to promise a meal for the mischief. The two-legs were large, yes, but the rats were many. One of them began to screech, sounding the call for a gathering.

 

[Maxx]

As he followed the officers out into the swamp, Ben felt a presence he hadn't before. He could feel a strong connection to the Force somewhere in this polluted wilderness, and with it were two other connections, not as strong, but they were still there. Using the Force as a guide, he soon left the path that the officers followed and traveled towards the Force signatures he felt. Parting through the trees, he came upon a group of people walking along. He figured these must be the survivors of the crash, he doubted anyone would be out here to see the sights. He spotted a woman with two kids at her sides. These people were who he had felt the Force radiating from.