A Rock And A Hard Place

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

[fancybox2]

RUUSAN
1100 Hours
@EmilyHuene ; @Herrith [/fancybox2]

Miners were either the nicest people you could ever meet, or the rudest. It depended entirely on what hour of the day you were addressing them. Was it before or after lunch? Was this their first shift or second? Was this their third day in a row or twelfth? Anyone hoping to get a good reception from their kind had to factor in at least these three things. It helped to bring along food with you; no one could refuse a warm cooked meal. A bribe or two of coin usually made things go smoother too.

Another important factor when dealing with miners was if you've saved their life or not. And for Kae'Leigh Tameris, she was doing that right now. With systems within the Imperial Hutta now freed from the reign of the Sith, more and more pirates were out scavenging and taking advantage of the transition. One such crew had come to Ruusan in hopes of stealing a few Ruusan diamonds out from the traders' hands. What the pirates didn't know, was that there was a Jedi Knight in the nearing colonies who would swiftly come to aid them.

A blue skinned Twi'lek would come down in her Mynock series freighter and land just outside of the battle zone. The pirates had already taken to capturing the anti-air missiles, but had yet to turn them back on for their own purposes. As such, the Jedi swooped in low and in the clear. Their blasters were totally ineffective. Walking out of the ramp (her ship giving cover fire from a low hanging turret), the Twi'lek ignited a wooden hilt lightsaber that emitted a blue beam as brightly colored as she was. She was wearing a black leather outfit similar to that of a Sith, but her aura was filled with Light.

The pirates that braved her ship's blasters would come out from their hiding places in the entryway of the caves and fire down at the girl. With no effort she deflected the bolts as if nothing more than flies buzzing in her ears. She began walking toward the camp as she continued to deflect the bolts with minimal effort. Her eyes watched the surrounding area for miners, but at this time she could not see a single soul. They must have all gathered deeper in the caverns and were waiting for someone to come and rescue them.

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia hadn't expected pirates to rain on her day. Much less the fact that the shuttle she had hitched a ride on would have dropped her off here. She, unluckily, had been caught and was now hog tied in a little alcove while the pirates responded to some kind of new commotion. And now my jacket's all dirty...great. She grit her teeth around the gag that kept her from talking and slowly shrimped her way out of the small cutout she had been stuffed in. The pirates had forgotten about their little prize, especially since the commotion coming from outside was rather distracting considering the screams and death.

She saw her holster and sidearm laying on top of a rock and rolled onto her belly, worming her way forward, painstakingly slow as legs scraped dirt and sharp rock. Hopefully whoever was causing trouble with these pirates was more merciful and had less evil intentions for her than what the scoundrels had planned. Astrid grunted and rolled onto her back, sitting up to look out the mouth of the cave. She saw nothing. So far.

Why did I have to get on the wrong shuttle...

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

Moving up to the main doors of the cavern, Kae'Leigh was still taking heavy fire. They were scattered shots and made out of desperation. None were accurate. Had even a single one of them been some trained killer than maybe the Jedi would have been a little worried. But this was nothing more than saber practice with one of her dummy droids. It was a tradition as old as time. Jedi Padawan fighting off training droids by using their senses rather than their eyes. This was child's play, and Kae'Leigh knew the pirates understood that.

Panic ensued them. So they kept firing. The ones above had better vantage points but they could not seem to pass her blue blade. Her stance was made exactly for this task. Her style a defensive grip that held the hilt backwards so the beam came down toward her elbow rather than out in front of her like an extension of her arm. This backwards grip allowed her to arc her wrist with ease and use very little arm movement to get her saber where it needed to be as quick as possible. Added to the fact that she was walking forward and that the pirates couldn't seem to get a clean angle on her, they might as well have stopped firing altogether.

The ones at the base of the caves quickly came to the realization they were not going to win this battle. And so, they turned and began to flee. Now Kae'Leigh started to get serious. Using the Force to push her movements forward, Kae'Leigh imbued her muscles in her legs and shot forward. She ran fast, and being a Twi'lek she was already more agile than a normal human. But a Force user, a trained Knight, was like watching something out of a movie. She was a blur of blue; her saber's beam trailing behind her like a comet's tail. The Jedi Knight rushed into the cave after the men and slashed the first one she came across in the back.

Of course she wouldn't kill him. Kae'Leigh could never forgive herself for ending someone's life. Scum or otherwise. He deserved a fair trial at the hands of the Galactic Alliance. All the Jedi would do was run just the tip of her blade up his back to burn a few layers of skin. The shock alone would make him pass out. He'd be in the hospital for a few weeks, but he'd be alive. As soon as she'd swiped her blade she stopped to block a few more blaster bolts that came randomly from the darkness ahead of her. The pirates were shooting blind. Well, not too blind. They figured if you shoot at the blue glowy stick you're bound to hit something.

A good thought. If not poorly executed. Kae'Leigh scoffed after deflecting the wide shots and then rushed in once more to find her targets. She came across a fork in the path and sighed. "Now this is no good," she said aloud. "How am I ever going to save the workers if the pirates all go in different directions..."

With a pout, she sighed and took the left path. She had no idea where it would lead but it had to lead somewhere. She sensed life forms were this way. Either they were the miners or the pirates. And she was half right. A few meters down and around the bend the pirates would come rushing past Astridia. They didn't even glance her way. They just kept running to meet up with their buddies on the upper levels and those further inside the mine.

"A Sith is coming!" the captive beauty would hear one of them shout. "Fall back and regroup. Someone get the grenades!"

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia continued to inch for her sidearm, hearing the commotion and freezing while it subsided. She was close, now. She pulled herself up on the rock and lifted her legs over her arms, bringing her hands to her front and realizing the second problem: they'd roped her arms to her legs. Pretty smart, all things considered. She sighed in irritation and spun around to grab her sidearm before falling again, the blaster landing on her face. Astrid cursed and then grabbed the weapon, sticking it in its holster with some difficulty as she found her way to her feet again.

She got two steps and fell once more, crying out briefly despite the gag and then attempting to undo the tightly wrapped cloth, contorted at an odd angle to reach her hands to her mouth. Sith? If so, she may have been a bit safer. Then again...Sith were Sith. But why was there not more screaming and death?

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

As Astrid desperately tried to free herself from the trussed up situation she'd found herself in, Kae'Leigh would come around the bend in search of where the pirates had gone to. Instead...she found this very strange sight. The blue skinned Twi'lek curiously stared at the girl with the wavy brown hair before realizing she needed to assist her. She quickly ran over and cut the girl's rope that kept her hands bound to her feet.

"Here let me help you!" she said as she knelt down before cutting away the rope.

Once the rope was severed, the Jedi put away her saber so she wouldn't risk burning the captive brown eyed girl. She used her hands to pull the gag out of the girl's mouth and then brushed away some of her matted hair. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

As she looked over the girl for any injuries, finding no blood on her clothes, she began to pull away the ropes with her fingers. The knots were tight, but not too much so that Kae'Leigh couldn't unbind them. She'd have this girl freed in no time. She focused on the task at hand, listening only to the girl's plight. She hadn't even considered the fact that this girl might be an enemy. Nor had she come to notice the Empire's crest on the jacket. Not that she herself carried any sign of being in the Galactic Alliance, save for the blue blade. But while most Sith had red beams, it wasn't too far fetched to think one might have stolen another's blade?

"Is that any better?" she asked after she got the girl's hands free. If Astridia allowed, Kae'Leigh would go to undo her feet next unless she decided to do them herself. In which case Kae'Leigh would simply stand back and watch.

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia looked up at the blue beam of light and the being staring at her. The girl approached rather excitedly, and Astrid had the sudden urge to squirm away, more of an instinct learned from stories than anything else. The rope severed easily, and she got herself to stretch her back and such as the woman pulled out her gag. She got the first breath of fresh air she'd taken in a rather long span of time, and managed to cough and test her voice with a grunt. Hair was moved, and she got a look at her 'rescuer'. Blue saber and all.

Her history lessons kicked in. Jedi? Those didn't exist, as far as she knew. Extinct, right? She shoved those thoughts away. The sooner she pushed herself away from the Empire, the better for the near future. Astrid shook her head and spoke.
"Not hurt. Save for my dignity, perhaps. Thank you?"

Her hands were loose now, and she flexed and stretch her wrists and fingers, glad to be rid of those restraints. The woman then moved onto her ankles, and she hesitated for a moment before looking up to her blaster and weapons. Her legs came undone and she pulled herself to her feet hastily, albeit lightheaded.

"Better, thank you-"

She grabbed her holster, slowly, and clipped it to her belt and leg, looking around.
"Are you who they've been yelling about?"

Her mouth stung now that it was free.

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

As the captive woman began to get her bearings back she would speak and say she was unhurt. Her dignity was wounded a little, but that could always be repaired. "I am glad you are unharmed," she said honestly. She would untie the woman's legs next while Astridia went about stretching her hands which had likely become rather tingly all bound up like that. Kae'Leigh had thankfully never been tied up in her life. Something she was ever grateful for. That and the fact no collar had ever hung around her neck. And for a Twi'lek, that was an accomplishment.

"Take your time standing up and moving around. I have some more pirates to take care of. Do you know if there are any other captives? Are you one of the miners by the way? I imagine not, you don't have much dirt on your, not like those who work in the caves all day long."

The woman would find her weapon and return it to her side. Kae'Leigh watched her do so, but didn't think the woman would go and turn on her after just rescuing her. Instead, she asked a question that was more important than answering the one's the Jedi was asking. And Astridia was right to do so. Was she the one they were yelling about?

"I can only assume. These caves make the echoes do strange things. But yes, I'm off to go save the others. Do you know which way they might be?"

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia stood as the Twi'lek questioned her. A curious sight. She thought hard about the miners, at least the ones she had been with on the shuttle before everything went to hell. No...all she could think about was them going deeper into the caves. Which was hard enough to imagine as is.

"Sadly no...just 'deeper into the caves', is about the best answer I could give. And no, not a miner."

She wiped her mouth, voice still hoarse from misuse and face still sore. Her wrists and legs would just have to deal with their punishment for now. She checked her blaster and the time. Only a few hours. Okay...acceptable.

"The only way...maybe down. I can...help, if you'd like. I know how to use a blaster."

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

Deeper in the caves then. That was Kae'Leigh's goal in the first place. On the bright side, at least she knew where she needed to go. Standing up, she would bring her saber back to her hand then ignite the blue beam. She began to walk towards the long cavern once more but didn't leave the slight alcove they were in. Behind her, the captive girl would offer her assistance. Kae'Leigh turned her head and nodded with a smile.

"If you are up to the task. I could always welcome to help. Come on then." The blue Twi'lek then started to move into the darkness which was illuminated by the occasional lamp, but mostly the hue of her sapphire blade. "I don't want you doing anything reckless. If you feel you are in danger, please retreat. But if possible, I would like your hand in getting the minors out. The pirates will likely be focused on me so that will give you time to stay hidden. I fear though, if you make yourself known as their enemy they will fire back."

Kae'Leigh turned a corner and saw someone down the line fire at her. She had plenty of time to dodge but she merely moved her blade in its path. The bolt bounced back into the wall to their right. Kae'Leigh then lifted her left hand and closed her eyes. The man whom was a good twenty yards away was suddenly lifted up off his feet and then thrown backwards against the wall behind him. He hit the ground and then slumped over.

Opening her eyes she lowered her arm and then continued, "Oh, and my name is Kae'Leigh. Though those who cannot pronounce the dialect of my people just call me Kaylee. The preference is yours." Turning her head she gave the girl another welcoming smile and then asked, "Might I have yours?"

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

"Yes..yes I can help.

She was by no means worried about the pirates themselves. They were rather unprofessional, and the only reason she had ended up tied like she had been was due to their numbers. Now that this Twi'lek had whittled that down with her lightsaber, Astridia felt much safer fighting them. A blue saber...and here she had thought Jedi to have gone extinct long ago. But why make her presence known here of all places? If anything, Astrid was curious about who she was and what she was doing here, besides rescuing miners. Perhaps she could find information about who her late sister had been associated with.

"Kae'Leigh. Yes, I know some of your language. Astridia Kazaczecho is mine."

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

"I am thankful," she replied to Astridia's offer to assist her. She then smiled as the girl correctly pronounced her foreign name, before then giving her own. "A pleasure to meet you Astridia Kazaczecho." She hoped she was pronouncing it correctly. She'd hate to not reciprocate.

Moving further into the cave she continued onward feeling with the Force for enemies. She encountered one nearly right away who tried throwing a grenade at the both of them. This actually took the blue Twi'lek by surprise. She reacted swiftly, charging her body with the power of the Force. Her muscles quickly tensed and she moved with inhuman speed. Thrusting her hand forward, she gripped the pipe bomb in her mystic hand and gave it a good shove back to the direction it came. Then, as soon as it left her touch she turned around and rushed to Astridia's side and talked her to the ground. She curled herself around the girl's frame as heat washed over them.

Kae'Leigh kept her eyes closed as she felt the bottom of her back heat up severely. It wouldn't be a terrible burn, but it would be raw for some time. The explosion was over quickly, and whomever threw the grenade wasn't...well wasn't there anymore. Opening her eyes she had a pained look on her face. Kae'Leigh looked down to the girl she'd cradled against and looked over her to see if she was alright.

"Astridia...Astridia. Are you hurt?"

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia had had enough time to see the explosive, and was halfway through getting her lips to yell and dive by the time she was already tackled and on the ground. The Twi'lek curled around her tightly and she found herself pretty effectively pinned by the time the explosive detonated. The tight tunnel played hell with the shockwave, and her ears rang and throbbed with pain. By the time she had opened her eyes and tried to shake off her daze, she was on her back and the Twi'lek was uncomfortably close, checking over her.

As far as she knew, she was fine. Her back was a little sore from the impact and she was a little humiliated in her current position, but Astrid didn't feel any missing limbs or burns.

"Yes-yes..Yes, I'm fine, thank you."

Her ears still rang a little, but nothing too awful.

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

Astridia seemed a little dazed, but otherwise unhurt. She replied as such and Kae'Leigh would give her a warm smile, "Shiny. I'm glad."

Looking behind her, she made sure no one else was aiming at them and then stood up. She'd thrown her saber in the confusion so she reached out now and it snapped to her hand. Then, reaching out with the other hand the Twi'lek would offer to held Astridia to her feet as well. With a nod, her mood changed back to serious. And she was seriously ticked off. The blue skinned woman turned and stormed down the hallway with a stern look on her brow. It took a lot to get Kae'Leigh worked up like this, and even more so since she'd become a Jedi Knight. Apparently lobbing a grenade in her face was one such way to break down those walls.

Kae'Leigh knew they were getting desperate. She could feel it in the air. The anger she was feeling must have been feeding off the fear of the pirates who came to harass these minors. It would be a boon to any Sith who worshiped the Dark side, but to Kae'Leigh it was a foul odor she wished she could repress. The caves were getting bigger now as she continued down them and after only a small curve she found her way to a large opening with railways for carts as well as slopes and pulleys for transporting the minerals from the caves below. Here, the rest of the pirate thugs had come to take shelter from the "Sith" coming to get them.

As soon as her blue saber made it past the opening, the men began to shoot. Kae'Leigh whipped her blade into action, swinging it with grace. She took a position that held the blade backwards, so the beam went toward her elbow rather than out from her hand. This allowed her to ease the blade in circles faster by merely twisting her wrist. Plus, with the grace and agility of the Twi'lek people, she looked like she was dancing. Carefully, making sure her footwork was proper, she began to avoid the beams while blocking as many as she could. Hopefully, this would give Astridia enough of a cover for her to sneak around and look for those minors. If the intruders were here, the locals couldn't be too far off.

"Come and get me, you cowards!" Kae'Leigh shouted over the blaster fire. She hoped taunting them would get them to focus on her and come out from their hiding places. They couldn't fire at her forever...

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia smiled back as the Twi'lek flashed her teeth. Then all of a sudden, the moment was over and she was back on her feet, lightsaber having magically shot to her hand. That seriously made her do a double take as she picked up her weapon. They continued down the tunnels, upon which the mines began to open up and reveal cart rails and pathways. Kay'leigh seemed angry, something almost uncharacteristic of the woman. Despite being a Sith. With a blue lightsaber.

Another corner, and they encountered opposition. The Twi'lek blocked shots with her saber and began to dance a dangerous game, leaving Astridia with the task of continuing to move down the mine. As much as she wanted to help out, there were more important priorities in hand.

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

And like clockwork, the men charged. Her taunt had worked. The men began to stand, seeing that the Twi'lek Sith wasn't fighting back. In fact, she was making every effort not to deflect the blaster fire back toward them. This made them cocky, and that's what Kae'Leigh wanted. They began to move from their perches and fire at her with everything they had. The Jedi could no longer keep advancing as she had been, for now she had to concentrate on just avoiding the onslaught of beams coming at her.

At first it seemed like it would be a stalemate until the group of thugs began to advance even further, hoping to overwhelm the Twi'lek by closer proximity. But they were very wrong. Calling the Force to her once more she suddenly lept from her position and vaulted over one of the railing carts above them. No person should have been capable of such a feat. Save for a Force user. She landed then on the other side and gave a push into the backs of the three men she'd jumped over. Their bodies sailed forward and rolled several times.

Kae'Leigh had only turned her head backwards to look at the men -her left arm as well to do the push- so her right was already up and ready to block the next volley. She began blocking the bolts once more while creating yet another Force push within her off hand. The invisible energy swirled around as it grew, making the air shimmer only slightly to a keen eye. As it bubbled up and grew to its peak, Kae'Leigh pushed her hand forward and the orb exploded from her hand. It grew exponentially, nearly the size of a tank and shot forward with as much speed as a missile.

Every one of the pirates in her way was lifted from their feet as they were hit by the tremendous wave that came out of nowhere. Likewise, coal, rock, and other debris left lying around were also caught up into the shockwave. Everything went hurtling backwards and each person would land hard once they hit the ground. It didn't seem like anyone could get up after a hit like that.

But the battle wasn't over; two of the pirates had managed to jump out of the way for they were in the back and saw their buddies suddenly lifted from the ground. Kae'Leigh stumbled for a moment, not used to using so much energy. The two managed to stand and find their guns and aim them at the Twi'lek who fell to her knee. Her saber low and not in a quick position to block anything....

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia had ushered some of the miners down a couple side tunnels that led to the entrance. She kept looking for the Twi'lek to be running along, then suddenly stopped. Going back. Kriff. She spun in place and ran back down the tunnel, emerging out of a corridor that led straight to where the Twi'lek was kneeling. Astrid already had her weapon drawn as she heard the shuffle of boots on dirt, and scooted close to the corner before diving on her side, acquiring her targets, and dropping them.

She sighed and held her side once more as she stood and looked at the smoking bodies, turning to the Force user.

"Ready to go?"

OOC: Reply sucks. Sorry.

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

Kae'Leigh feared for her life as she saw the barrels pointed at her. This couldn't be it. It couldn't be. And then she felt something. As if in slow motion she heard a gun go off and sail into the man holding his blaster at her. His body dropped along with the one behind him. And then time picked itself back up. Kae'Leigh spun her head and looked to see Astridia lying on her side holding her pistol up. She'd saved her?

Her new ally would stand and come over to the Twi'lek who also picked herself back up to her feet. Kae'Leigh scoffed with a laugh as she seemed to brush the danger of what had just happened away. Smiling, Kae'Leigh would wrap an arm around the girl's shoulder and give her a quick squeezing hug.

"Thank you. I feared the worst there." Letting go of her she would disengage her saber and then clip it to her belt. "Did you get the miners out? Were they any more pirates hanging around?"

Though she could not sense any in their area, she had a sensation that the danger was in fact over. Her gut wasn't usually wrong about these sort of things. But they weren't out of the caves yet and so Kae'Leigh would not relax until the bodies had been rounded up and restrained, and the miners back to a sense of security.

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia was surprised by the hug, and she looked at the arm around her with a slight smirk as the pain of falling on her side against solid rock started to register, especially after her time spent crawling around, bound up like an animal. Oh, not to mention the gag. She glanced down at the side tunnel, now noting the large outpour of miners, then returned her attention to the Twi'lek, nodding with confidence. The miners would find their own way out now that it was safe to leave. She holstered her pistol.

"Miners are leaving right now. And you're welcome for the save."

She knew their job was only halfway done, but halfway finished is still pretty close to good. Astrid looked around one more time and then took in a long, full breath of air.

 

[Kae'Leigh Tameris]

"Shiny," she'd reply in her usual excited way. "Let's go then. I want to make sure everything here is under control before leaving. I might even take a peak at their security measures. If a group of pirates can just swing in and I can't image what would happen if the Empire ever came this way."

And there it was. Kae'Leigh just admitted she wasn't part of the Empire at all. She was a Jedi for sure, if not a rebel at least. That explained the lightsaber. No right minded Sith would carry a blue gem and have no ounce of hatred in them. Least of all not a friendly disposition to the one who'd saved them. The Jedi would start walking towards the miners having no idea of the bombshell she'd just dropped. She would also put away her saber back onto her belt and essentially lower her guard altogether. What reason would she have to think Astridia wouldn't shoot her in the back....

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia stared at her for a moment as she realized what the Twi'lek was saying. The Empire, if for whatever Force-damned reason decided to come here...that would be infinitely worse. She took a few moments to pause and think while the...non-Sith exposed where her loyalties stood. Astrid watched as she holstered her weapons and then nodded, putting her pistol back into its holster after checking the energy cell. She readjusted her stance and took a shaky step forward.

"Let us go, then. That is, if I am to follow."

She took her side. There it was. Not like she was going to have any other choice in the immediate future. After all, Astrid had no intention of leading the Empire here. Not now, not ever. That wasn't what she was. Not anymore. She made a friend just now. Or...something. A real person. A good one. A wave of nausea rolled over her briefly and she regained her footing after a brief stumble once more.