Ask An Ongoing Situation

[Crix Aran]

Crix would be the first to admit that he hadn’t, really, thought about what he was doing all the way through. Instead, he had acted on instinct as soon as he had taken in the sight of Rishe being threatened by active shooters, the hostages presumably behind her. It hadn’t been the only option when taking them down but Crix couldn’t bring himself to react with pity or regret at the current time, knowing that he had put down a threat without lethal force to save others.

For now, at least, he didn’t allow himself the luxury of second guessing himself. That would come later, when he had the luxury of time.

With the two prisoners now unarmed, Crix made sure to wave a hand, piling their weapons up in a far corner away from their reach. So that, in fact, he stood between them and their weapons. Both of them eyed their weapons before eyeing him and his still ignited lightsaber and shrinking in on themselves, thinking better of it.

“No worries.” He assured Rishe as he extinguished his lightsaber with a small grin, “Just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

Alex… looked like hell.

Crix was mature enough that he didn’t blurt out his first thought but he was reasonably certain that she could feel something of his surprise through the Force at the sight of her. He winced ever so slightly when she congratulated them before telling him to administer medical aid to the man he had removed the legs of. Grimacing ever so slightly, he clipped his lightsaber to his belt as he eyed the prisoner on the ground for a second.

Heroes second.

“Yes, Master.”

Crix reached down and physically picked the maimed prisoner up carefully before heading over to one of the medical beds. He could have used the Force but, well, this was probably one of those teachable moment things, right? Letting him face the realities of his actions or something? Felt like it might be so he grunted before laying the man down.

Honestly, losing a set of limbs in a medical facility… old as it was, there were some resources here like the beds that hadn’t been taken away at all. Reaching out with the Force, he held his hand over the nearly-shortened legs and began the slow process of knitting flesh back together. Taking the pain into himself before releasing it into the Force. Hans had taught him some healing, a bit of a specialty of the man’s actually.

Crix didn’t think he’d have to practice on victims of his own saber but he was adapting.

@Stick @Valen Pelora

 

[Rishe Vakren]

Rishe had thought through her plan of attack, but seeing Knight Voran, she tried to hide her relief that it didn't work. She'd thought diverting trouble towards the Knight's path would be more responsible than handling it herself, but... the Knight had seen better days for sure. So the praise felt slightly hollow with that knowledge, but she still bowed in reply to Voran's command, her saber fizzling away with an energetic pop, "At once, Master."

Rishe realized she was still amped. Adrenaline, perhaps, and it made her movement just a little bit too quick. She bent over to pick up two of the fallen weapons, handing them to a perplexed ranger - perhaps wondering why they hadn't floated up or flied directly at his face - then retreated to the deeper cells.

She was no technician. Actually, that was an understatement. She had no knowledge of electronics and even less patience to deal with them. Everyone else in the Order seemed a competent mechanic, so she'd never seen the point in learning, especially when she could do this.

Her lightsaber roared to life, and she plunged it into the door controls as she gave a nod to the nurse held inside. The field collapsed, and the nurse was no longer a hostage. Something the man himself reaffirmed as he looked out into the hall, then at Rishe again, giving a mixture of a laugh and a choked sob all at once. She could feel the torrent of his emotions wrapping about her, stifling in their intensity and stunning with their rapid change. It felt like fear, elation, hope, hesitation. Similar emotions were emerging from the other two cells as their inhabitants got the barest glance of what was going on outside.

"Oh, god - thank you, thank you, Master Jedi..." The man says, nearly stammering over his words. "But, my wife? Please, she was -"

Context was enough for Rishe to guess, and she tugged at the man's emotional state, inflaming a sense of calm. "If she was part of the other group, you don't need to worry. She's okay." She said, her tone carrying a calm confidence that still felt taped on. But at this point, something felt off. "You'll just sit with the rangers here until they've made sure the station's safe, your reunion's not long in coming."

She was dazed when the man hugged her, his thanks and promises all delivered by the potent drug of relief fell on deaf ears. She'd been humoring Crix with the hero talk, but this felt like something out of a movie, and for a moment, she did feel heroic. Is that why it felt wrong, even if it was a Jedi's place to reassure, to protect, to save? She had to extract the man as kindly as she could, but she barely remembered what she said as he walked towards the rangers, his hands bundled in curly hair as he tried to steady his breathing.

A glance at the prisoners settled where that feeling was coming from. She'd manipulated the Force to terrify one of them. The Jedi seemed a savior to the hostages, something made explicitly clear as she freed the other two. But to them, she wasn't sure that things would seem like an idyllic, victorious end to a movie. Also, wasn't there two explosions? The prisoners had seemed so competent when they got the briefing from the Rangers originally. They'd escaped from the former Imperial equivalent of a super-maximum security prison. But Knight Voran had been taken through the ringer, that harmed Rishe's rapidly growing mental conspiracy. She felt like they were missing something. It wouldn't leave her mind as the former hostages were checked over by the Rangers and comforted as the prisoners were trussed up and treated. But she'd been overly cautious before. She probably was again. And it wasn't her place to question it.

The other three hostages were retrieved by the Rangers at the same time. Surprisingly, there wasn't a friendly fire incident. The Lieutenant was less difficult than before, and seemed satisfied with the conclusion, even if the Jedi credit was begrudging. And over the next few hours, the parts of a hostage negotiation that you didn't see in movies reared its head. Cleaning up. Rishe lost track of her doubts amidst that work. By the time she was meditating and resting on the ship, she'd rationalized them away.

@Valen Pelora @Nefieslab
/end thread (candidate?)