Crystal Picking

[Lucian Volante]

Lucian had to admit that he hadn't really ever worked with Ralaa Talus and he had heard from others that she had done some things that meant she wasn't exactly in 'good books' with the rest of the Order but at this stage it didn't much matter.

She was a Jedi and she was willing to help - that put her in limited company and it meant a lot to him at least, even if it might not mean all that much to the rest of the remaining Jedi.

Here on Dantooine, it was so peaceful that it almost felt like the rest of the Galaxy didn't matter, as if the rest of the Galaxy was just as peaceful as this place.

It was a lie but it was a nice lie to hold onto.

As they descended into the crystal mine, Lucian was ready with his lightsaber in case of trouble, though he doubted that anyone would actually be here.

Well.

He hoped no one was actually here at least.

"We're going to need to be quick." he admitted to Ralaa, "I landed the freighter with a false name but it won't take long before they realise it is a Jedi vessel and I don't want to have to trust in the faith of dock workers not to try and turn us in for the bounty credits."

Wouldn't be the first to try either.

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

It was quiet here on Dantooine, unlike many other places that she'd traveled. As members of the Jedi Order, neither of them were welcomed here, but Ralaa doubted that they'd run into much trouble. Even if they did, she was just thankful for the fresh air and the opportunity to be free of the Jedi Temple- it was nice to move, even temporarily, out from underneath the watchful eyes of the Jedi Council. This was a much desired chance to leave behind her mistakes and to forget, for a moment, all of the hardships that she had recently endured. It was quiet here, but the distraction was welcomed.

"Yes, lets be quick." Ralaa agreed, her voice soft as she followed behind him into the depths of the crystal mine. "I prefer not to leave Dantooie a marked woman, and I hope the same for you." she chuckled. The threat of dock workers was minimal at best, but still she hoped to avoid lingering on Dantooine long enough to be discovered- the last thing either of them needed was to be hunted. The no-longer Master had enough to deal with and running from another bounty was not high on her bucket list.

It was dark, but she kept a fair distance from Lucian, following the walls of the mines. Her boots crunched the gravel beneath her, the sound echoing for an immeasurable distance. Ralaa wondered how far back in the mines they'd find what they had come for, but decided it was better not to ask- her desire for conversation had slowly declined after her investigation, finding others preferred to talk instead about what she had done to have been stripped of the rank of Master. She wouldn't deny that she had deserved it, but it was still a rather painful topic.

"Place reminds me of the caves on Lothal, though far less frightening." Ralaa stated in a low voice, though the comment wasn't entirely meant to strike a conversation, only stir the silence. She took in a deep breath and exhaled, keeping pace with Lucian though her eyes wandered behind her to the now disappearing entrance.

 

[Lucian Volante]

The idea that he would be a marked man because of Dantooine was rather amusing - not least of which was the fact that he was, already, a marked man. The Republic had seen clear to applying a rather hefty bounty to him for his part in helping them out with their war against the Hutts.

Rather ungrateful in his opinion but politicians would do whatever it was that they did and the rest of the Galaxy would just roll their eyes and get back on with their lives. It was how the Galaxy, how life, just kept on going. Nodding in agreement rather than speaking, he lead the way further into the crystal mines.

They were rather too extensive to be called caves in his opinion.

"Never had the pleasure of visiting Lothal before a Sith Lord decided to turn it into his pleasure palace or whatever." he admitted as they stepped deeper into the mine, "Alright... I can feel them now..."

Indeed, the crystals were practically singing into the Force right now and as they descended into an open chamber, a large cluster of the desired crystals was clearly visible. As they approached however, they would be struck by visions of the future, dark visions of personal pain to torment them as the crystals and the Force surrounding them sought to test them.

Kyber crystals did not allow just anyone to take them.

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

They called to her through the Force, visions of darkness and betrayal threatening to dissuade her. These visions sought to test her strength and perseverance

, but in the wake of everything she had faced it wasn't enough to convince her to turn back. Ralaa took a deep breath, calling on the Force to calm her as they proceeded forward, deeper into the mines. The former Master meditated in silence, creating a barrier of serenity to protect her and to keep her from falling prey to these tests- she wouldn't let them slow her pace.

She did not doubt him, but Ralaa looked over to Lucian to be sure he could manage, barely able to see him through the darkness of the mines. "Almost there," she reminded him in a gentle voice, taking a deep breath. Ralaa hoped that her voice might provide a distraction, if Lucian happened to struggle with the visions that now presented themselves. He was more than a capable Knight, but her nurturing instincts pulled her to provide even a hint of reassurance.

"In and out and then we can return to our ship- shouldn't be too much trouble." she offered him a half smile, though doubted he cared much for what she had to say. Her words were more to remind herself that they wouldn't have to linger here longer than it took them to collect the crystals they sought. These mines reminded her of the darkened caves on Lothal, but what she hadn't mentioned were that her memories of Lothal were less than pleasant- in fact, she'd have rather forgotten them entirely.

 

[Lucian Volante]

Lucian felt the way the Force shifted and how it seemed to reach out to attack his mind. There was something that they wanted him to see... and he didn't have the patience to bother with it. If he had been here just to grab one for himself, he might have indulged the Force and fought through the mental attack. But this wasn't just for him and it never would be - this was about something far bigger than just him.

So he couldn't afford to mess around.

With a barely perceivable effort of his will, he rebuffed the mental attack with a narrowing of his eyes before he moved on. There was too much to be done to just sit around.

"Indeed - we're almost done here."

Seemed that they both realised the dangers and were willing to protect themselves with their full might. This was not the time to be pulling punches.

Pulling out a half dozen padded and armoured boxes, he gave three to Ralaa and quickly started to fill his own with some of the kyber crystals. They were not being gentle but that was to be expected - they didn't exactly have time to waste in being as respectful as they should be.

He had a massive bounty on his head and Ralaa, as a Jedi, had a smaller one too.

"The fates are kind to us so far." he breathed a sigh of relief before adding, with a small smirk, "I was led to believe you brought bad luck too."

It was a joke but... also true.

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

Ralaa took the boxes from Lucian and immediately began to fill them, sure to take as many as room allowed. These were important to the continued preservation of the Jedi Order and, while she might have taken her time under different circumstances, today time was too valuable to waste. The more they could save, the better- in her own, unpopular opinion. And so, Ralaa collected them by the handful and made sure to leave no space within each box empty.

"I agree, Lucian. We've been very fortunate." Ralaa responded before Lucian was able to add on to his statement. His words rubbed her the wrong way, but she hid her unease from her expression. Ralaa hadn't the best of luck, but most of what she endured was at her own hands- it was never her intention to involve anyone else, but that hadn't been the case. She had hoped Lucian would be different than the others, even allow her the chance to forget that she was unfavored for a moment. It seemed she was wrong.

"I try not to let my unfortunate luck rub off on others," she responded in a dismal tone of voice, sighing in slight frustration. "I would warn you from standing too close though. It's apparently contagious." She tried to add as a lighthearted side note, focusing again on the Force to calm her racing thoughts. It had been a challenge to accept her attachments to Silas, her own mistakes and the consequences that had resulted- Ralaa still wrestled with them from time to time, but she liked to think that it was getting easier. Perhaps, one day, she'd no longer be known as the former Master who had made a mistake.

 

[Lucian Volante]

Seemed that he had hit upon something of a sore spot but Lucian couldn't really bring himself to care too much. He was, after all, not someone who really lingered on the thoughts and feelings of people when he hadn't actually done anything to cause offence. After all, all he had done was what he was supposed to do - lighten the mood while not getting too personal or too emotional. Not his fault she got something of a snit on at the insinuation, jokingly made, that she was a jinx.

It mattered not however as they were both very professional Jedi and they would act behave as such.

"I'll keep that in mind." he joked drily as he glanced up at her, "Maybe my luck will rub off on you? I warn you, it seems to be only good for making crashes less dangerous."

Not exactly a bad thing in his mind.

Finishing packing the crystals into the boxes, he hurried handed Ralaa a backpack for her three and filled his own backpack with his own crystals. With the crystals secure, Lucian glanced around the crystal cave for a moment. With a sigh, he turned back to Ralaa.

"I think we should bury this place." he told her simply, "Make it harder for the Sith to corrupt it."

The Sith would come for the crystals at some point they both should know.

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

Ralaa doubted that Lucian had meant any harm in his comments and decided it was best to abandon the subject. Still, his words had rubbed her the wrong way. She wanted to be more than her mistakes and to be able to move past them, but it seemed there was still more to be learned- particularly, patience and an even temper. It was unfortunate that a simple comment could send her mind into a frenzy.

Taking another breath, she packed the crystals she had gathered and turned to face Lucian, speaking in a more even tone.

"We could cave the entrance and make it harder for them to access the mines, or bury them entirely." Ralaa pulled the bag over her shoulders, awaiting his answer. To cave the mines in would be dangerous, but would ensure no one would be able to access them without a fair amount of digging.

"Perhaps if we bury them, we could borrow some of your luck in hopes that we aren't lost as well. I don't know about you, but lost forever in a damp mine doesn't sound like a very exciting way to be remembered." Ralaa offered simply, offering Lucian a hint of a smile.

 

[Lucian Volante]

Seemed that they were of one mind - it was time that the crystal caves of Dantooine became a lot harder to access. With how dangerous the crystals were when hit by another with too much explosive energy, he could guess that the Empire wouldn't be able to use explosives or other powerful methods to dig through the damn thing and would need to go through a much slower excavation process.

If the Empire couldn't be bothered with doing that, however, it would still be possible for Jedi and future resistance to dig up the site without needing to use heavy machinery or explosives.

If there was even a resistance at all.

"Get ready to run."

Gathering the Force to himself, he took a deep breath before grunting as he thrust his hands up to the ceiling and then pulled his hands back, tearing massive chunks of the ceiling down, which supported other parts of the ceiling that began to fall as well. Indeed, he had pulled just right to start a chain reaction.

Time to not be here any longer.

Thankfully for Lucian, he was a powerful Force user and he knew the rocks were coming. He used a combination of Force speed and a telekinetic bubble around himself and Ralaa to make it to the edge of the entrance in almost no time flat. He managed to evade any and all damage rather well all things considered.

"That went well."

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

Lucian hadn't given her much of a warning before the mines began to crumble, large chunks of rocks falling from above. Ralaa could hear the ground rumble, shaking beneath them as they ran for the exit weighted only by the crystals they carried on their backs. She called upon the Force, using it to aide her movements as she kept pace with the other Jedi and dodged the boulders that fell around her. It seemed too far to run to avoid being buried with the mines, but Ralaa held faith in the Force that they'd make it out with their lives- their mission was too important for either to fail.

Just as light from the entrance began to fill the mines, one of the boulders came down on her shoulder and threw her off balance. Ralaa stumbled, but avoided falling behind Lucian- ignoring the pain that pulsed down her arm and instead focusing the remainder of her energy on surviving the mines before their collapse. It was a narrow escape, but she was elated to take a breath of clean air as the last of them closed behind her.

"About as well as I had hoped,"

she joked in response, breathing heavily. Ralaa reached up to her shoulder, feeling the tenderness of the bone that had been struck by the rock and thought for sure it had been fractured. The flesh was bruised and already she could feel the swelling around her collar bone. Perhaps she was unlucky, just as Lucian had pointed out earlier- it had been too simple a mistake, for one Ralaa was a tad embarrassed.

"Let's head back before more trouble finds us- seems I've proved your earlier statements. Would hate to see how I'd fair running from a bounty." She shook her head, pulling the strap of her bag away from her shoulder with a grimace.

 

[Lucian Volante]

Well she wasn't dead and they had made it out - seemed that his luck had done well by her as far as he could tell. He didn't mention it however, knowing that she would likely be at least slightly sore about the whole thing about luck considering he had managed to escape without injury and she had still managed to take a bit of a hit. He grimaced at the thought of mentioning it alone all things considered before sighing a little bit and shaking his head as he stretched his limbs out.

Being back in the fresh air did wonders for him.

"Well you're not living life as a small mole so I think you came off alright." he replied drily before smirking a little bit as he waited for her to get her breath back, "Alright well make sure that you stay in front of me then."

He grimaced again.

"They're looking for me by sight after all."

Ah the guys of being a wanted man.

They trekked back to the town and the spaceport that they had parked up the freighter in, nothing to do but walk and get there. Nothing happened on the walk because it was a, relatively, short walk if he was honest. There was one downside to a short walk however.

"Hey you! Did you see what caused the shaking a bit ago? It's like something collapsed!"

The spaceport guards were on high alert because of their actions to collapse the mine. Still, they didn't seem to suspect that it was them, which was good.

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

"No worries, I'll take the lead." she responded, rather matter-of-fact to his warning. It was unlikely that anyone would be looking for them on Dantooine, but Ralaa knew better than to risk letting her guard down- trouble found her in the most unlikely of places it seemed. To be quite honest, she wasn't even sure that she'd taken care of the bounty that had been placed on her before she'd returned to the Order, however, that no longer mattered as being a Jedi alone put a target on her back and Lucians too.

As the two approached the landing pads, a rather alert guard closed the distance between them. It was unusual, but by his words he had been startled by the rumble the mine had created in its collapse. Ralaa should have suspected that it wouldn't have gone unnoticed, but was relieved he hadn't thought to accuse Lucian or herself of any wrong doing.

"Minor landslide from the looks of it," she shrugged, her expression stoic. "Saw it just over the hill. It's already being looked at, though doesn't seem anyone was hurt." Ralaa offered the man a genuine smile as they passed, careful to keep his attention drawn away from Lucian. Whatever he had done to have made himself such an ideal target, she didn't want to be involved and sure as hell didn't want to be around when or if he was spotted.

She continued towards the landing pads, ready to make their exit before anyone realized why they had come.

 

[Lucian Volante]

Alright alright!

Seemed that they were getting through without too much trouble and he could appreciate that. Sighing in slight relief, he was able to get through without holding his breath as Ralaa managed to keep the security's attention on her and not on him or, equally as bad, what they were actually transporting. Not many people in the Galaxy who would smuggle out kyber crystals, despite the fact that they were rather explosive under the best circumstances it had to be said.

The guard waved them on and Ralaa and Lucian were free to be about their day. Groaning a little bit, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly as they approached the freighter.

"Nice work back there." he complimented her as he lowered the ramp to the freighter and hurried aboard, "You get the co-pilot and navigator stations and I'll do the flying."

Seemed that they were home free so he was free to speak openly.

"I get the feeling you want to know why I have a large bounty on my head."

He raised an eyebrow as he prepped the ship for launch.

"Feel free to ask."

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

It hadn't been any trouble to redirect the focus away from Lucian- it's what any respectable Jedi would have done for another. For as much as she was content to avoid confrontation, she would have defended him too, had the situation called for it. However, she was relieved that it hadn't and that the both of them had made it onto the ship without a hint of suspicion. Perhaps a few bruises and broken bones, but nothing the former Master couldn't handle on her own.

She took a deep breath, laying her heavy bag on the ground and took her position within the bridge as Lucian had requested, content to play navigator for the moment.

"I'm only surprised he didn't question it. Landslide? Honestly?" she gave a bit of a laugh, sinking into her chair to focus on the consoles and set their coordinates. It would be a long flight back, but Ralaa was still grateful for the time away from the Order- it had been too long since she'd be out on her own and she'd began to feel somewhat of a hermit.

"I didn't figure it was my business to ask. I try not to meddle in the business of others- I've too often been the subject of question and it can feel a bit overwhelming. However, if you're willing to satisfy my curiosity then I suppose it wouldn't hurt to listen." Her eyes wandered over to Lucian, stationed to pilot the ship and gave him a bit of a curious smile. "What have you done to have made yourself such a target?"

 

[Lucian Volante]

He lifted off from the spaceport nice and slowly, giving no indication at all that the ship was carrying both wanted Jedi and some precious cargo. The port authorities acknowledged his message confirming their departure in bored tones and Lucian knew that they were absolutely home free. There was no possibility of this being a trap in his mind now that he had heard just how bored the staff were at the port.

They were too bored, too natural, for him to believe there was something sinister going on here.

"I suppose he was just glad he didn't have to go and investigate it himself."

Probably would have forced him to move away from his Caf and god forbid that happen, right? He rolled his eyes a little bit as he thought about it before sighing a little bit as they began to cruise out into space as the navicomputer worked out the jump to lightspeed for them.

"I have a bounty on my head of 1 million credits dead and 1.5 million credits alive, placed on me by the Republic." he admitted before smiling faintly, "Why? Because I went to war."

Shifting in his seat slightly, Lucian began the jump to lightspeed.

"When the war between the Cartel and the Republic broke out, I stepped up and joined the Republic war effort. They were fighting the Cartel, enemies of justice and peace throughout the Galaxy, so I saw nothing wrong with it in regards to the code." he admitted before grimacing, "They cut a deal with the Sith... and suddenly the Republic I love hates me."

@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus

 

[Ralaa Talus]

"We've all been displaced by the Republic," she reminded him in a gentle tone, her back turned to face the navigation systems. "Of course, it's unfortunate that their faith has been misplaced, but I don't believe they've entirely trusted the Jedi Order since the war began. I'm not sure that they ever will."

Ralaa turned to face him, having set their course, and frowned. It was hard to believe the position that they found themselves in, but the best thing they could do would be to continue forwards. "I think you fought for the right reasons, Lucian. You couldn't have known that they'd be misguided or that they'd turn to the Sith and drive us away- none of us could have. I think all we can do now is move forward, continue to preserve our Order for future generations of Jedi and help where we can."

She leaned forwards in her chair, arms folded across her chest, and took a deep breath. Ralaa was by no means a perfect Jedi or individual, but she liked to believe little things like this made a difference in the preservation of the Jedi Order. She may have lost her way, but this was were she needed to be- the Jedi was where she belonged.

 

[Lucian Volante]

Maybe he had done it for the right reasons but that didn't much seem to matter. He had gone to war for the Republic and his efforts had been scorned. It... it hurt that the organisation that he had dedicated his life to before discovering he was Force sensitive turned it's back on him as soon as it was convenient for them.

Well damn them.

It didn't matter anyway - right now the only thing he should be focusing on was what he needed to do to try and preserve some elements of the Jedi Order. He wasn't going to disappear into the night with some younglings because that simply wasn't going to work very well at all.

Instead he would make sure the survivors and the successors of the Jedi Order would be provided with their most vital of tools in a galaxy so militarised.

"You're right Ralaa..." he agreed, running a hand through his hair, "Next stop - Dxun, the Demon Moon."

/End Thread
@MatureContentWarningx @Ralaa Talus