Inescapable

[The Sentinel]

In the desolate wastelands of Tatooine's deserts, a beat up ship sat in the wind strewn sands, like an ugly blemish. The twin sun's were setting over the horizon, and they turned the rusted colors of the ship into dark grey and pink exaggerations of themselves. Wisps of dust lingered on the still vessel as the winds wiped around it. Through the cockpit view port, a man dressed in his undergarments could be seen walking back and forth between the lights on the inside. He was tugging on wires, moving panels and then hustling over to another area where he would then stuff what appeared to be second hand parts into a hole, and furiously work with a hydrospanner and plasma welder, all the while swearing so loudly and creatively one could probably here him from 20 meters away.

Dirk, dressed in nothing but loose fabric underwear and his dirty grey tank top, swore loudly and threw his hydrospanner down the corridor leading into the ship. He then kicked a box of tools over and stomped to Axiom's pilot chair. He sat down and stared past the archaic instruments panel, and out viewport begrudgingly. He'd been on the run for the past four days, it would have been a week and four days if those bantha loving dock workers on Daedalus hadn't busted up one of his engines and then proceeded to blame it on a "Technical issue". But no, he was forced to sit in rancor's den for an extra week after learning that after his last encounter with his nemesis, Daniel Hax, a bounty had been put on his head, quite possibly by the same man, and that terrified him. He didn't even know how much it was for, ain't that a kick.

He picked up a canister of water and unscrewed the lid. Pouring the cool liquid down his throat. He was sweating profusely, since his cooling unit has gone out when his instruments panel shorted shortly after landing. He'd only recently gotten the former fixed, and now only had to worry about the latter, he was happy to have landed first before things started breaking. As was often not the case. He finished drinking and put the lid back on, then on a whim he leaned forward and flipped a few power switches. Nothing happened. Dirk sighed and flipped them off, He barely even knew where he was, which was apparently some however many kilometers from some unnamed settlement. He put his right hand on the stabilizer controls on the arm of his chair, and put his left hand on the silver hair on his left temple, thinking. He could go and check it out but he'd have to walk, and he something inside him said it was probably a bad idea. He did have the parts to probably fix whatever the problem was, but first he had to find the problem. He grumbled and peaked around the back of his chair. Thick cables, and thin wires snaked and ran along the walls and ground, bits lay here and there, and panels were stacked against the side of the co-pilots seat. Thoroughly not enjoying life, Dirk stood up and slowly made his way to the sleeping quarters, to put on pants, and boots, before getting back to work.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Atarek always trained in the desert. Ever since he had fled Coruscant and the Sith, the quiet serenity of the sand hills comforted him. No death, no horror, no cruelty, no Sith, just softly flowing sand. His training saber hissed to life and he found a suitable place. He always used his training saber to, well, train.

He utilized his newest forms opening stance, a high guard position, with the lightsaber hilt held in a two-handed grip above the user's head and the blade angled upward and behind him. He slowly pushed his back leg behind him, used for step-through motions. He was halfway through a long, sweeping strike when an earslitting sound role through the air. Atarek quickly closed his saber and covered his ears, waiting for the sound to stop.. Free lots of crashing and sounds of metal breaking, silence reigned again.

Atarek clipped his Weldon to hai hilt and scuttled over the delicate piles of sand, finding a crashes starship. After a quick Force Sense, he found there were survivors. He ran faster now, desperately wanting to help whoever he could.

 

[The Sentinel]

Dirk sputtered, and swore, as he kicked little pieces of flaming hull away from his ship. He had been rewiring some external components, trying to at least bypass what ever got fried when he landed, when he'd accidentally brought exposed wiring into contact with a small power junction that was still functional. Luckily he had been able to dive away, and land haphazardly on the close edge below the top of his ship, he could already feel a bruise on his shoulder blade. He was on the left side of the ship, the cockpit facing away from the suns, which were nearly set. He clambered up to the very top, and looked at the hole, hands on his hips, frown plastered to his face.
A black, and smoldering ragged edged hole about the size of a rodian's head had replaced what was once a small square access area. It was a stroke of genius luck really. he should have been missing a few limbs, and maybe a third of his ship. He reached up and ran a hand through his scruffy hair, before checking the goggles he had around his neck. They were fine, he looked back at the hole. Luckily he enough scrap plates and the equipment to patch this, but he would need to replace the damaged section of wiring. Just great, he sighed and checked his belt. His plasma cutter was missing, so he turned around and looked down the side to the edge he'd landed on looking for it.

 

[Darkwasp]

The unmistakable wale of an old 74-Y speeder bike cut through the cooling air, as the twin suns made their final descent. It dived and swerved through the endless desert, kicking up a contrail of sand and debris as it sped along. Behind it, a pair of R-2000 Raptors gave chase. The riders pitched and turned; trying to maintain a clear visual on their target.

Long black hair flipped violently through the turbulent winds, as Mai skillfully piloted the 74-Y through the barren desert. Her almond shaped eyes squinted from behind expensive designer riding glasses; specifically polarized for the beaming suns of Tatooine, as she spotted the large, bulky ship in the distance. Leaning forward and pressing hard on the accelerator the speeder bike darted forward. A hail of blaster fire erupted all around her, as she began to slowly increase the distance between herself and her pursuers.

The three charging Speeders bore down on the stagnant ship; a storm of gunfire threatening to aerate the one in the lead. The petite Imperial’s timing was impeccable. She leapt from her Speeder just before a blaster bolt plunged into the vehicle’s exposed fuel cell. Mai sailed through the air with her arms splayed wide to slow her momentum. The 74-Y gained a good three meters on her before she hit the sand; rolling to absorb the high speed impact. It gained another ten meters, before rupturing into a 400km/h ball of flame.

Mai quickly rose to her feet, as the bikers sped past. With only a few meters to cover, she dashed for the closed landing ramp. The speeding bikes made wide arches in opposite directions, preparing themselves to once again bear down on her position. The woman jumped and waved her arms in the location that a camera was normally kept for freighters; especially when smuggling was involved.

”Let me in! Let me in!” she screamed in a panicked voice.

With the amber, designer glasses being thoroughly tossed from her face in her roll from the speeder, it was easy to see that it was Mai. This time she wasn’t wearing her skimpy party outfit. She was snuggly wedged into her Wildcat bodysuit with a deadly looking blaster strapped to her hip.

 

[Canora Sabresong]

Not too far away, Kanari heard the sound of speeder bikes, explosions, and yelling. Of course, at least this was much quieter than Korriban would have been, and she knew that much from experiance. More than Kanidaikke, more than the Sabresong cult, more than anything... Kanari loved the desert. in the desert she did not have to be a sith as on korriban, not a huntress as on ryloth, not a thief as on coruscant, not a supply runner as on kamino, not a soldiar as on yavin 4. In the desert, Kanari was simply kanari. A child of the force, trying to find her path. A traveller who stopped at the cantinas from time to time, talking to imperial and republican friends alike. Kanari was simply the girl who went into the desert with nothing but a vibroblade and the clothes on her back.

But now she looked up from her meditation and wondered: "how long have I been here? What is going on now?"
She saw the wreckage of a ship relatively nearby, and a crashed speder in the distance beyond it. she saw several beings spaced out among the expances visible from her seated place just behind the edge of a dune, wich must have blown over her while she was resting.

 

[The Sentinel]

It doesn't take a genius to know that when Blaster fire starts sounding off, things are gonna get hairy. So by those standards Dirk felt like a genius. First he thought they might be after him, but then he saw the blaster fire as they sped towards him. He was pretty sure his face blanched just a little. The two speeders in the back were firing on the forward one, and a split second before a bolt drove into the bike only some amazing acrobatics saved the rider. The flaming ball of scrap metal flew by the ship in an hot angry buzz.

Dirk was standing on top of his ship, all thoughts of his welding goggles gone. He ran to the front on the ship and saw a girl waving her arms frantically, and yelling demanding entry, as the other two speeders performed a pincer style turn around. Dirk peered down over the edge and saw something he couldn't believe. It was the girl from the club on Daedalus, dressed in some weird combat suit. He knew it! For a second he actually debated just letting her get vaporized, but then those Kriffin Bantha lovers might turn their guns on him... Plus she seemed to be in genuine trouble. All of this ran through his mind in a quick half second, and Dirk made a decision. "Hang on!" He ran back and clambered down an access shaft, locking it down before he ran and lept down the 2 meter ladder into the cargo area, he rushed and grabbed his blaster pistol on the work bench near the ladder and ran for the ramp, putting in the unlock code, and opening it.

He level his blaster, as the ramp started lowering, and got suck half way to the ground. He could just barely see Mai's face but it was enough, "Hurry up, ya kriffin trouble maker." He said it dryly, and with a little bit of humor. But his face remained tense and shielded, as he listened for the Speeders. They were increasing speed, which meant that they'd finish the turn and were coming back. He put his finger on the trigger and breathed silently, as a quiet tingle crawled across his brain. He slapped a switch and a set of flood lights turned on suddenly bright in the new darkness, illuminating the ramp, and a 4 meter radius. the first signs of real trouble from her, or anything else and everyone would get a fancy stun blast to the body.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Atarek saw the whole scene from his place among the shifting dunes. Immediately after he had heard the explosion, he had found the source, only to see speeders flying towards it at high speeds. He decided to keep himself hidden for now and assess the situation before acting.

He saw the girl who was apparently being chased fly off of the speeder seemingly on pure instinct, moments before it burst into a ball of flame.

He immediately suspected the use of the force. He assumed she had used it to make her movements so inhumanly quick, as he had seen so many Jedi do before. If she used the force, he, out of pure safety, automatically assumed she was a Sith in hiding.

She beat on the door, demanding entry, before a previously unseen amen let her in. The entry way slowly lowered, revealing him brandishing a blaster pistol. He glanced at the remaining speeders and ( using his many days on the sling racing track) immediately recognized the model as one commonly used by the Sith Imperium.

What should he do? The speeders were now dismiss their turn and were hurdling towards the ships doors. Should he do soemthing? Could he even do anything that would help? He didn't want to meddle in buisness that wasn't his, but he still decided to help. He needed to know why speeders were chasing who he suspected was a force user, and also the seemingly crippled ship was in danger from the speeders blasters.

He closed his eyes and let his conciousness dip into the living force. He easily grasped the force f the area around him, turning it into a Force Sight. In his time at the temple, that had always seemed strange to him. He struggled learning many aspects of the force, but Firce Sight had come to him unintentionally, an he easily grasped it since he first used it.

Strange; the girl seemed to have no more sensitivity than the shop around her, but hi attention was forced in a different direction, the speeders were nearing the ship.

He immediately flew his conciousness friends the closet speeders. He inspected it fully in a split second, grabbing the force signature of every nut, bolt, and frame price. He bet every fibre of his will against it and threw out his arms, pushing the speeder into its patterns. He incendiary lot fell to his knees, not seeing the outcome.

His breath turned into ragged gasps, his torso and face fell faint the hot sand. The exertion form it brought him into the cusp of lading out on the spot, for he was still a padawan.

 

[Canora Sabresong]

Someone. Someone strong in the force. Kanari a being whom was particularly oriented to the light side of the force "Ah frak... Kriffin bad time..." she muttered to herself, as untill then she might have been able to wait out the noise. She rose, seeing what was unfolding before her. The Zabrak sith scratched, as was a habit of hers, at one of the tattooes on her arm, and looked apon the scene of the apparent activity.
in her padded red suit, wich was open over her right arm and was half-sleeved over the left, did nothing to disguise the interlocking sith and traditional iridonian tattooes. She searched cautiously for the source of the sudden surge in the force, and was tempted to draw her vibrokatana.

 

[Darkwasp]

”Really?!” she spat angrily, as the ramp stopped halfway to the sand. Her eyes bounced between the malfunctioning ramp, and the man holding the blaster in her general direction. ”Oh Gods, its you!” she exclaimed as she hesitantly looked between Dirk and the Speeders that were completing their turns back toward her.

The various long looks in both directions was a visible sign of her indecision. She’d probably be better off facing the men on the Speeders. Sighing heavily, she reached out with her right hand. ”Well you’re going to have to help me up. You owe me, you know? That measly amount of credits that you left at the table didn’t cover the burgers that we got for you.” she said.

Mai began lifting her left leg. The leg she would use against the ramp’s edge to push herself up, if Dirk accepted her extended arm. As she did so the Speeder off to her right reacted in a precarious manner. It wasn’t as if it had been hit by a blaster or anything. The entire thing just seemed to separate. It spread out wide into all of its component pieces. The bike rider slammed, unceremoniously, face first into the sand; burying himself deep beneath the meter high sand dune that he created. Mai’s eyes grew wide, as she realized that the speeding pieces weren’t going to slow in time. They were now shrapnel heading in her direction.

”Hurry!” Mai yelled, as the speeding buckshot bared down upon her.

 

[The Sentinel]

He looked between Mai's extended arm, and the speeders. He'd be better off dipping his foot in molten carbonite, but something in him twinged. She was in genuine trouble, he could sense it. He was just stepping forwards when the tingly feeling in his head got suddenly, extremely disorienting, and he glanced up to what was his left, and he too saw the speeder bike just... Come undone. Almost immediatly afterwards the feeling was gone switched with the customary numbness that followed it. The first thing that ran through his mind was a saying about Rancors and grandmothers, and the next was the math. Those parts weren't gonna slow, and the meters were closing fast.

Dirk dived forwards, and grasped Mai's forearm with a steel grip, he immediately rolled his weight, and pulled on Mai's arm, bringing her up into the Cargo Area, quickly he leaped to his feet and pressed the switch to close the ramp. Unfortunatly he wasn't fast enough, as the shrapnel started glancing off the ship, and several pieces made it in. Luckily he'd run up the ramp and only got a few good rebound thumps from some bolts. He turned around and looked for Mai, he did owe her and he just saved her skin, so he kept his blaster at hip level.

"Are you okay?" There was something close to genuine concern behind his voice. Which was odd, because he never used to let things slip. Those thoughts were replaces by thoughts of his ship. What the hell else could happen to it?! He was sure there was damage to the hull after that, Dirk just hoped it wasn't anything that was going to keep the ship from being space worthy.

 

[Captain Canuck]

OOC: I hate to drop another round on you, but in reality Atarek would probably have passed out. That was on the very edge of his limit, maybe even over, so it would make sense if he passed out.

 

[The Sentinel]

OOC: We'll make sure he's found ^_^

 

[Canora Sabresong]

Kanari took a few steps towerds the gathering chaos. Her concentration had been broken, and she wanted to find out exactly what had happened, why, and who it was that disrupted her meditation. The young sith acolyte was now in full view, and had made her way dangerously close to the patchwork ship. She curiously looked up at the damaged areas of the ship, thinking... Boss Kiovarashee could fix this... she continued to walk, eyeing the breaks in the ship, the old modifications, the like.

A familiar mechanical voice called from where she had been standing earlier. "Kanari! Kanari, where are you going! stay back from that ship, it looks ready to explode! I swere I'd be melted for scrap if anything happened to you!!!"


Kanari looked back at the assassin droid that waved it's arms wildly behind her. Bother that old bucket of bolts... I swere it's more annoying than it's worth... "Back off, sharpshot, im fine." she called to it.


Cautiously, she walked away from the ship and towerds the source of the odd surge in the force, or at least where it had been.

 

[Darkwasp]

As Dirk grabbed her arm, Mai pushed with her left leg, propelling herself into the tattered looking freighter. Her body was splayed flatly across the surface of the loading ramp, as Dirk lunged to close the exposed entryway. The surface slowly began to move, but it was too late. Pieces of the disassembled Speeder ratcheted through the cabin like deadly shrapnel. Mai covered her head as piece bounced about. She grunted as one piece caught her on the back of her right thigh and another smacked into her upper back. Had it not been for her thick leather suit, the second impact might have been fatal.

”What did you do to that thing?” Mai shouted, as she pushed herself up from the floor slowly, being fully aware of her aching body parts.

Not waiting for an answer from the man, she made her way gingerly toward where she perceived the cockpit would be. She leaned heavily on every piece of wall that looked as though it didn’t having anything important hanging from it; which was surprisingly few. Not bother to look back for Dirk, she assumed the captain of his ship wouldn’t allow someone to haphazardly wander through their vessel without following them.

”Do you have any other weapons on this thing? she queried, still believing it was something that he had done to remove the first biker from the situation.

She didn’t know if it was luck, or if it was the typical layout of freighter vessels, but she made her way to the cluttered cockpit. Looking out of the window, she saw a strange woman approaching the ship. Behind her, the second Speeder rider closed in on her. His approach made it obvious that he felt that this mysterious woman was the cause of his friend’s untimely death.

”You might want to help that woman, before that rider turns her to paste.” Mai said, turning from the window and sliding down to the floor behind the copilot’s chair. She carelessly knocked over some stacked boxes, but she didn’t care at the moment. Her adrenaline was starting to wear off, and she was beginning to feel the affects of both her dive from her Speeder and the pelting that she took from the debris. The petite Imperial’s eyes began to glaze over, as she rested on the floor of the Axiom.

 

[Canora Sabresong]

Noticing the speeder's fast approach and sensing the rider's anger, Kanari drew her vibrokatana. If all else failed, she could deflect bolts with the flat of the blade. Her eyes began to glow yellow, and she let out a cautious growl. turning her head, she yelled back at her assassin droid: "Then again sharpshot, get over here, now."

The assassin droid leaped to Kanari's side and raised the repeating blaster that Kanari always kept with it but never actually used. As niether were sure what was going on, the Zabrak and her droid simply stood there defensively. they're probably after the people in the ship, thought Kanari.

 

[The Sentinel]

Dirk followed Mai, tryin to tell her he didnt do anything to that speeder, but he suspected she wasnt listening. She was going towards the cockpit, amazingly, since the layout of Axiom would be confusing to any sane person.

He wasnt worried about letting her wander the ship alone, because he was probably to only one who could successfully sabatoge it. And obviously he'd never do that. When they made it to the cockpit Dirk looked out the window with Mai, and responded to her question with simple, "I can't."

He saw the speeder and sucked in a breath, then Mai collapsed. Knocking over boxes of spare parts and wires. He kneeled and grasped her shoulder, he looked at her eyes and noticed she was probably going into mild shock. Something he was fairly familiar with, thanks to a few savage beatings in his early life.

"Hey focus, i just saved your kriffin hide." Dirk performed somequick thinking, taking his forefinger and thumb nails he pinched a non-vital area of her neck, then he picked up a stray stripped wire, and took his blaster up, he opened a little plater on the side and thumbed the power to its lowest setting. He stuck the metal between the power capaciter and the exciter. He put the exposed wire on the area he pinched, and depressed the trigger, giving her a quick 6volt shock, and putting a stun blast into the roof. The shock should give her a new burst of adreneline, without actually injuring her.

 

[The Sentinel]

OOC: The wifi around here sucks, so my posts are probably goi.g to be sparodic and simplified.

 

[Count Sam]

The past, it was sometimes the best idea to let go of your past even for awhile to understand things that you never understood. A lot of Sith and Jedi have found Tatooine a great place for exile and a great place to meditate and look to the galaxy from a different view. The planet was completely sandy and the yellow color that dominated it except for a blue cave made of ice. The cave was a strange view but many people did not dare to enter due to the strange dark force coming from the inside that scared people away.

The cave was clearly made using Cyroknesis and it seemed that someone inside it was regenerating the ice once in a while so that it would not melt. It was a form of training that the certain figure inside the cave was using to train and to try to feel that he is still at home again. If anyone would have dared to go inside the cave he would notice a mysteriously clocked figure inside and someone was even bold enough to go deeper he would notice that the figure inside was a Chiss.

Clearly, Tatooine was not a place for a Chiss but still it was still a suitable place for Nuru Krest to train. Nuru was once the High Immortal of the Chiss and he was considered to be one of the most powerful force users among the Chiss and he was a highly skilled Chiss trained a long time ago by the Sith. Nuru was meditating calmly inside the cave as he recalled past events of his life including his last encountered with the Imperator before he left the unknown regions and moved away.

The Middle aged Chiss has fought many battles with the Chiss and has stood side by the side with the other members of the council of Eminece before he decided to leave. After all, his lust for the dark side was great and he was seeking even more power as he left the Chiss space.

It was then when something broke off the trail of thoughts that Nuru had and that resulted in him finally getting up on his feet and moving out of the cage, only to notice a fight going on. Quickly, Nuru raised his hand and clenched his fist as the divine and invisible hand of the force griped on the speeder bike, resulting in the explosion of the bike and its rider being knocked away before he got to the force sensitive Zabrak.

Nuru then slowly approached the knocked of rider and got on his knees as he looked into the rider right into the eye with his glowing red eyes. The poor rider was surely scared from the Chiss, but before he could scream Nuru was already draining the life out of him using the force. This clearly resulted in the death of the figure as his skin turned completely pale.

For so long have Nuru been hunting down living beings to feed his lust and gladly he has been doing his best to keep this under his control back then on Chiss space, but this was not Chiss space this was Tatooine. The place where scum lived and where the survival was only for the strongest.

Nuru then looked at the Sith with his gloaming red eyes as he placed his hand on his lightsaber. He was not sure what a Sith was doing here but he decided to wait and figure that out.

 

[Canora Sabresong]

Kanari eyed the figure, clearly curious... who is this being, and how had he mastered the very ability I have spent countless hours attempting to learn? Perhapse the desert was not the place I should have seeked out...
Kanari stepped out of her defensive stance, allowing her sword to fall into a more basic, adaptable position. The silver-skinned Zabrak could sence the immense strength in the force this being possessed. Such power, near perfection. The young acolyte spoke: "Hello. Odd place for your kind, no offense."
Her eyes faded from glowing yellow-orange to their natural dull amber colour. Eyes... Eyes were odd. Kanari always thought it was odd how the crimson eyes of all chiss seemed to glow. Kanari sensed no immediate danger. After all, Kanari came to the desert to escape the hostilities and rage expected of her. Kanari came to the desert to be herself, not to fight and chant and all those other things adored by her fellow acolytes.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Atarek found his consciousness slowly return to him, almost hesitantly. He was currently lying on the sands of Tatooine in an almost spastic pose, his tattered robes used to hide his identity as a Jedi sprawled about him.

Oh force. It feels like Bantha’s are stampeding through my brain, and then I got one of Yuunda’s good punches to the forehead. Atarek groaned as he slipped his arms underneath him and lifted himself onto his knees. He tentatively opened his eyes, a view of base sand and olive hands welcoming him. He could hear some commotion, indicating something was happening.

“It seems I missed the party before I had a chance to attend.” Atarek muttered with a smirk. He slowly helped himself to his feet. Any onlooker could tell he was weak, his knees wobbled ferociously, threatening his balance. His quickly locked them and raised his head to full height, his eyes closed. He breathed three times, in through his nose, out through his mouth. In through his nose, out through his mouth. In through his nose, out through his mouth. He calmed himself down and slowly opened his eyes.

The girl that was being chased and the man with the crashed ship were nowhere to be found, although because of the closed ramp it was safe to assume they were safe and sound inside that hunk of junk called a ship. He looked at all of the pieces of the speeder bike strewn everywhere, glancing down at his own hands in disbelief. How had he done that? He had never achieved that level of Force usage before; he had separated a thousand force signatures in a matter of seconds. Was it the rush? The adrenaline? It seems he would never know, but now a more important matter arose. Atarek quickly flattened himself against the warm sand as he spotted the two figures.

He gasped as he saw the blue-skinned figure approach. Chiss. his mind spat the word as the figure strode across the sands. He seemed to walk with an air of authority, demanding surrender from anything caught within his radius. Although he was still a Padawan, a raw initiate could probably sense that he was force sensitive because of the very magnitude of his skill.

The second figure, the Zabrak, was beautiful. Although Atarek himself rarely felt that way about any species other than Twi’lek and Human, she was an exception. She stood out form her race’s usual war-like appearance, seemingly glowing with pure beauty. After a moment of focus, Atarek found that she too was force sensitive.

What was his next plan of action? The Chiss seemed so powerful he could probably kill him with the ease of swatting a fly. For his own safety from seduction, he also wanted to stay away from the Zabrak. Atarek instantly knew his only plan of action. As the two figures were busy in the early sparks of a conversation, Atarek bolted as silently as he could down to the crashed ship, spraying up sand from his frantic steps. He knew that some freighters of this size had cameras at their loading docks, so when he reached the ramp Atarek desperately flung his arms around him, trying to grab any shred of evidence he could.

He needed to stay away from the Chiss, and considering he had passed out helping these two; he had most hope in them. Although he suspected the woman to be a force-user, he would need to figure that out later.