[Jedi Mission] Dragons, Danger and Dunes, Oh My!

[Raif]

Owyn gladly held her hand as she came closer, but then turned the expected shade of pink when she asked her question.

"I, uh...you, well - I mean..."

He glanced nervously down at his Eopie, fiddling with the reigns, while Tikk leaped across the short distance to Aria's saddle. There the small primate pointed and chittered in laughter at his friend's predicament. Owyn glared at his traitorous friend, then laughed a bit and looked back up at Aria. What the heck, might as well own the embarrassment.

"Well, your mischievous enjoyment of putting the pressure on me like this is pretty amazing." He winked at her and smiled some more before continuing. "You're kind, and caring, and get the most adorable look on your face when you're concentrating, like back there with the Tuskens. All of which are pretty amazing, at least in my opinion."

 

[AriaDran]

Aria grinned at Owyn as he turned pink and stumbled over his words, then giggled as Tikk hopped over to her Eeopie and ridiculed him as well. She shook her head slowly as he managed to string some words together sucesfully, but smiled throughout them.

"Oh come, I would -never- put you on the spot on purpose."

She grinned impishly over at Owyn, then brought her reigns up to playfully swat at him.

"And I do not make a face when I concentrate!"

She let out another giggle, but after a few moments she would fall quiet, looking over to the path ahead of them. When she spoke again, her voice was low and serious.

"Owyn, if we run into the big Dragon before the source of this Dark Side energy, we're going to have to kill it immediately. I know you want to try and save it, but if you hesitate to strike we won't stand a chance, and we'll all die. The young one was too far gone, and this one will be too. Alright?"

She kept her words as gentle as possible, knowing that they might hurt Owyn. She looked back over at him as she finished speaking, a sad smile on her lips for the fate of the Dragon. She knew what they had to do, she just hoped that Owyn could come to terms with it.

 

[Raif]

Owyn laughed and smiled as Aria spoke, but then became serious upon mention of what they would likely soon be facing. He had already had thoughts similar to what Aria had just said; the rational side of him knew that hesitation would mean death, and that he had to go into the conflict ready to put the Dragon out of its misery. Still, he couldn't shake the instinctual, irrational side of his brain from casting some doubts. When the time came, he would just have to trust himself and his connection to the Force to show him what needed to be done.

"You're right. And thank you, for everything."

Up ahead, Arrl had slowed a bit as they began crossing from desert into rockier terrain. If they didn't find the source they were looking for soon they would run the risk of losing the trail, which was easy to follow in the sand but trickier on rock.

~~~

Luckily - or unluckily, depending on how everything would turn out - they didn't have much longer to go to find the source of the trail. Cresting one last rise in the sand, the three travelers found themselves facing down into a shallow valley about 100 yards wide. To the left and right were sheer rock walls, rubbed smooth by years and years of sandstorms, and at the far end was another low rise. All in all it made a sort of bowl, and what was in the middle of the terrain caught all of their attention.

It was a ship. Or rather, the skeletal remains of what had once been a ship. Even without taking the time for a detailed inspection it was obvious that the craft had crash-landed in this 'bowl' quite some time ago. There were bits and pieces of the craft that had been shorn off in the crash that were half-buried in the sand, scattered about like discarded playthings, as well as the by-now-easy to spot Krayt prints. There was one detail of the 'bowl' that rose above all the others, at least for Aria and Owyn...

It was dark. Like a smack in the face, the dark energy rolled outward from the crash site, almost pulsing like a heart beat. It was apparent that they had found the cause of whatever had driven the Krayt Dragons mad.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria smiled at Owyn and continued on in silence as they started to pass over rockier terrain. She reigned her Eeopie to an immediate stop as the crested the last rise and the oppresive dark side energy fell over them like a wave. She glanced at Owyn, then back at the crashed ship, then her eyes darted around to search for the dragon. She didn't see it at first glance, so she relaxed just a bit. It was hard with the potent dark side energy pouring from the ship.

"I... I've never felt anything like this. Whatever was on that ship must have been -evil-."

She slipped her hand out of Owyn's as she dismounted her Eeopie, letting the creature retreat from the dark side energy, knowing it wouldn't stray too far. She held her hand out towards Owyn again, waiting for him to dismount, and waited for him to place her lightsaber in her hand. Or perhaps misread her intention and instead reach to hold it - which under usual circumstances would make her giggle. At the moment she wasn't in a giggling mood, though.

"W-well... what do we do? Should we go in and see if we can destroy it, or... well, I guess that's our only option. No Jedi could turn their back and let this evil influence spread."

 

[Raif]

Arrl looked ashen-faced as they all dismounted their Eopies. Though he hadn't been successful in his Jedi training, the man was still moderately Force sensitive so he felt the darkness just as much as the other two. If anything, given his lack of training compared to Owyn and Aria, he probably felt it worse. He glanced over at Aria as she spoke.

"Yeah...why don't you two take a closer look. I'll, uh, I'll stay here and watch your backs."

~~~

Owyn jumped quickly down from his mount and handed Aria her lightsaber when she held out her hand. He would have loved to have taken the moment to hold said hand, but he had completely switched over to seriousness. The malevolent energy was almost tangible, and Owyn couldn't afford to allow himself to be distracted. He had done enough of that so far on this mission.

When Arrl spoke, Owyn's initial reaction was that the older man was chickening out. After he looked over and saw how pale he had turned, with a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, Owyn understood that Arrl was terrified of whatever lay in that crashed ship and forgave the man his seeming cowardice.

"I think that's a good idea Arrl. Aria and I will go see what's in there, and you can keep an eye on things out here."

Owyn turned to Aria, took a deep breath and then forced a small grin onto his face.

"You ready?"

 

[AriaDran]

Aria looked over at Arrl as he spoke of his desire to stay bacl and 'watch their backs', and as she saw his face and how scared he looked, she would smile gently and nod. Owyn gave him a way out so he didn't have to feel like a coward - it was good of him to do so. Now Arrl could stay back and not feel like less of a man.

She looked to Owyn as he asked her if she was ready, returning a forced smilet o his forced grin. She switched her lightsaber to her right hand, then threw it out to the side away from the other two and activated it. The green blade jumped to life and she nodded, looking back towards the ruins.

"Let's hope the force is with us on this one."

With that she would start to move towards the downed spacecraft at a bit more thenw alking speed, enough to cover ground but slow enough that they could keep their guard up and keep alert for danger.

 

[Raif]

Owyn walked with Aria, down the sparsely-sanded rocky terrain towards the remains of the shuttle. His saber was in his hand but was not yet lit, though the dark energy was thick enough it seemed it could have been literally cut. Every step towards the source was like walking into an oven, with the darkness pulsing outward, seemingly trying to repel them.

Tikk cowered inside Owyn's clothing, feeling the darkness unfortunately thanks to his connection with Owyn, but the young padawan staid steadfast and continued walking towards the shuttle.

Final, after a relatively short distance that seemed like forever, he and Aria were standing at the gaping hole in the side of the shuttle. Sweat glistened on Owyn's forehead as he focused heavily on pushing aside the dark taint, and he took a deep breath before crossing the threshold into the shuttle itself.

There, half-buried in the sand which had blown into the damaged craft and leaning against the bulkhead like a drunk, were the tattered remains of...a human, or so it seemed. The person, whoever it had been, had obviously perished some time ago. Dark scraps of robe encircled the body, which had rotted and decayed to the point of being almost unrecognizable. On its waist hung an ancient lightsaber, connected by a chord to a power pack.

The most disturbing of all were the eyes, however. Though long-gone, the dark holes in the skull seemed to peer straight towards Aria and Owyn, like bottomless chasms of evil and despair.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria wasn't sure how she kept putting one foot in front of the other, but soon enough they had made it to the gaping hole. She also took a deep breath and somehow managed to cross the threshold with Owyn. It took only a moment for her eyes to be drawn to what was obviously the source of the darkside taint. She took in the lightsaber subconsciously, but her gaze was immediately stolen by those horrible eyes.

They bored into her, feeling like they were looking straight into her soul. Her breath caught in her throat and her lightsaber lowered until the point was nearly touching the ground. Why was the air in here so heavy? Her free hand came up and she concentrated on the force, asking it to help her bear the heavy dark side taint.

"O-owyn, I don't think we should be here..."

 

[Raif]

Owyn let out a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding. Goosebumps were raised all over his body, and underneath his poncho Tikk was shaking in paroxysms of terror.

As Aria spoke, Owyn blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head, as if to dislodge the cobwebs that seemed to have entered his brain. He had been staring at those eyes for only a few seconds...or days. Time seemed to lose meaning around this corpse. Deep down, in the part of Owyn that was still a small scared boy lost on a jungle planet, he wanted to run screaming from this crash site and never look back. But...

"No. We can't leave just yet. Whoever this...thing was, it was dark. We should at least try to figure out who or what it was, then we can call Master Keldroma and have her send...frakk, I don't even know what would be needed to clean a taint like this. A blow torch maybe?"

Owyn knew even before the words left his mouth that his attempt at a joke was a poor one, but he had to stay strong. The sooner they got what they needed, the sooner they could leave this Force-forsaken place behind them.

"I can look around, if you'd rather get some air or something."

 

[AriaDran]

Aria blinked, then shook her head and looked over at Owyn. She forced a smile onto her face and then nodded, her eyes moving back to the dead thing as she spoke. She didn't seem to react to his 'joke' however.

"I'm sorry. You're right. Let's look around. I'll see if I can find the cockpit, if you want to check that way."

She pointed in the opposite direction of where she thought the cockpit would be, thenretracted her lightsaber. She slowly clipped it to her waist. She knew it didn't compliment her outfit, but at the moment she didn't want to be without it. She turned then and started to move, managing not to look back at the dead guy as she made her way to the cockpit to see what she could find.

 

[Raif]

Owyn nodded as Aria headed forward. He was happy to not be searching the craft by himself. He was strongly tempted to ignite his saber; he tried telling himself it was only to shed more light on the situation, but the hull of the ship had been cracked open in so many places that natural light was more than adequate for his search.

No, the truth was he wanted his saber because he was scared. He stopped, and focused on pushing the fear aside, not letting it get the better of him. He had heard the phrase 'fear leads to the dark side' so many times and in so many versions that he had almost lost its true meaning. After this, though, the meaning was seared into his brain forever.

He opened himself fully up to the Force, letting it wash over him like a cool shower after a long, hot day's work. It steeled his nerve and reinvigorated him, body and mind, thus making it much easier to complete his search.

It wasn't all that fruitful, however. He found a decrepit and non-functioning old datapad, along with a handful of data cards that may hold some glimmer of information if they weren't completely corroded. Walking back up to the fore of the ship, his eyes fell on the dark body's lightsaber as he called forward to Aria.

"Any luck up there?" I found a couple data cards, but nothing else useful."

His hand slowly reached out towards the saber. Maybe there would be some sort of identifying information on the hilt that some archivist on Ossus or Coruscant would find useful...

 

[AriaDran]

Aria searched around the damaged cockpit, but wasn't having too much luck at first. Everything she touched was broken - likely due to the violent crash into the planet. She let out a sigh as she tried button after button with nothing happening each time. She turned her head as she heard Owyn call out, then shook it slightly as she called back to him.

"Nothing yet. Everything's broken - not too surprising."

She tried the navicomputer next, and was surprised to find a brief surge of energy as she flicked it on. She leaned in closer to study it but the power winked out again - it was so fleeting, she wasn't sure she hadn't just imagined it. She let out a disgusted breath and smacked it with her hand, then remembered it was metal.

"Stupid piece of crap..."

She was talking to herself now, her voice so low Owyn might not have heard it if he was standing in the same room. She shook her hand, then turned and continued looking around, seeing if anything else useful was about, though she really doubted it.

 

[Raif]

Owyn faintly heard Aria's reply to his query, though his focus was growing more and more intently on the old lightsaber. His vision seemed to narrow so that the hilt was all he saw, until all of a sudden he was right there, his hand inches away from grasping it. A rumble was building, though for Owyn it seemed to be more in his mind than anywhere else.

Finally, his fingers closed the saber and he began to lift it up from the corpse--

~~~

ROOOAAAARRRR!!!!

At that moment, like the physical embodiment of evil itself, a Greater Krayt Dragon came bursting over the far edge of the shallow they were in, bellowing in rage. Its eyes were set upon the shuttle with murderous intent, and it began to slowly but steadily move its massive bulk towards what it viewed as intruders. Its footfalls shook the ground and the sound of its cries only got louder as it approached. The scariest thing of all, though, were its eyes; black as night, they seemed to focus on everything and nothing at once.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria stopped everything when she first heard the rumbling. That was her imagination, right? But as it grew stronger, she knew that it wasn't. Something big was headed their way, and unfortunately she knew what it was. She wasn't sure if she'd have rather it be a surprise - usually not knowing added to the suspense, but knowing was pretty bad too when a Krayt Dragon was involved.

She reached for her lightsaber, but didnt ignite it as she turned and made her way back to the room where they had entered. She paused in the entrance and stared, mouth dropping open, at the enrmous dragon and its horrible eyes. They were almost exactly like the dead person's - except many times the size.

She looked over at Owyn, who seemed to be near that dead person for some reason, and then back at the Dragon. They had to kill it, she knew, but the real question was... how? The sinus cavity really wasn't much of a weak spot when to get to it you had to be eaten first.

"O-owyn... what do we do?"

She called out as loudly as she dared to him, keeping her eyes on the Dragon. He lightsaber was still unlit - she didn't want to draw too much attention, in case it wasn't looking at them yet. Maybe it didn't see them? Wishful thinking, but it was a nice thought.

"Please tell me you have a plan..."

 

[Sreeya]

Arrl had been standing outside, pacing around in circles. He felt like a damn coward for not going in. It wasn't his fault! He was inept with the Force! These kids were born to do this and he was a simple man that- ROAAARR! He jumped and looked up just in time to see the behemoth heading over. Arrl's eyes widened in fear. His first instinct was to run over to the space ship and lightly tap against the metal to warn the two inside. He also hoped the sound waves would interrupt the dragon's mind, causing it to be slightly disoriented.

"Get out on the other side of the ship! I'm distracting the damn thing!"

For reasons unknown to him, he felt a pang of courage shoot up his body, telling him what to do. He quickly gathered up his vibrosword and rifle, running off to the side to make the dragon come his way. He felt sweat running down his visage, and it took every fiber of his being to push back the fear that threatened to overwhelm him.

 

[Raif]

Owyn's eyes snapped fully open and he jerked his hand away from the saber, feeling for a moment as if he had just surfaced after diving deep under the water. The thrall he had been in had kept him from noticing the approach of the Krayt Dragon, but thanks to Aria's question he had been brought fully 'back to life' so to speak.

What do we do? That was a damn good question. As the dragon barreled down on them, time slowed for a moment as various plans flashed through Owyn's mind:

Hide in the shuttle? No way, the dragon would rip through the hull like a wet paper bag, and they would be trapped.

Make a break for it? Maybe with Force speed, but Owyn didn't know if Aria had been trained in that yet.

Stand and fight? The odds of facing that thing in open combat and succeeded were probably not in their favor.

Owyn was saved from having to make a decision by Arrl. The older man was distracting the Dragon, giving the two padawans valuable time to escape the confines of the ship. Turning to Aria, Owyn grabbed her by the hand and sprinted out the far side of the shuttle.

Come on! Arrl's only going to by us a moment, we need to move!

Owyn's mind raced faster than his feet; getting out into open ground should favor the Jedi, where their speed and agility would hopefully prove advantageous against the titanic beast.

~~~

Arrl's gamble worked...sort of. His rapid movement succeeded in drawing the attention of the Krayt, thereby giving Aria and Owyn time to get free. However, the giant was now baring straight at the man, all of its twisted power focused to wipe the small man from the face of the planet.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria frowned as she looked at Owyn - was she imagining things or had he been daydreaming while a freaking dragon was barreling down on them? She quickly dropped the frown and smiled just as he looked at her, then... sat there. Probably thinking, she was pretty sure. Please say you have a plan, already!

She looked quickly at the dragon as Arrl called out, then opened her mouth to call back to him not to. That was crazy, taking the dragon on himself! Before she could make a noise, though, Owyn had grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out the far side of the crashed shuttle. She took a quick look around to gather the layout of the terrain on this side, then looked back to Owyn as they continued to put some distance between themselves and the shuttle.

"We need to do something, we can't just let Arrl deal with it alone. He'll be killed!"

They were a fair distance from the shuttle now, so she tried to slow to a stop, unless Owyn kept on dragging her by the arm. She wasn't strong enough to stop him on her own, but she tried to get the point across anyways.

 

[Sreeya]

Arrl knew he was in trouble, however the thought that he may have offered the two a chance to escape or at least temporarily have the dragon distracted brought him comfort. He promptly turned and ran the opposite the direction, the dragon thundering behind him. It completely ignored Owyn and Aria, roaring in fury and slamming its forearms on the ground to trip Arrl. The older man was quick on his feet, turning around and firing off a few rounds. The shots hit near the underside of its neck, resulting in a roar of pain.

He whipped out his vibrosword, dashing right at it. The dragon swiped at him with its tail, but Arrl used a small measure of the Force to leap high above, the tail passing below him. He came down with the convex of the vibrosword facing down. With a loud cry, he put all his weight into the attack, dropping down and slicing through the massive chunk of flesh. The dragon spun around immediately, kicking out with its back leg and whipping the remnants of its tail about, throwing Arrl clear across the ground.

The man groaned as he rubbed his head from the impact, rising to his feet and staggering. The dragon was furious now, blood tainting the sands as it prepared another mad dash towards Arrl. He held his ground, knowing that he had to keep fighting in order to keep the dragon from chasing down the Jedi padawans.

 

[Raif]

Owyn slowed to a stop when Aria did, and panted slightly after the exertion of fleeing the shuttle- running in sand was damned difficult, even for a Jedi. He turned to look as Aria spoke, and deep down somewhere he knew she was right; though Arrl seemed to be holding his own against the titanic creature, he could not survive the battle without some assistance.

Owyn made his mind up as he looked over to Tikk; the little guy had left his hiding place and was sitting on Owyn's shoulder, his teeth bared and his fur a matte black, obvious signs that he was ready for a fight to save their friend.

Igniting his saber with a flourish, Owyn looked over to Aria with a serious look on his face.

"Let's go be Jedi."

Dashing forward, Owyn asked the Force to speed him along his way, and he could feel himself almost flying across the sand. He was still well outside of lightsaber range, but he knew he had to do something to get the Dragon's attention. Just then, Owyn had a flashback to his previous training; though Master Shingen had ultimately n ot worked out as his Master, the Jedi Knight had been an extremely talented practitioner of telekinesis, and had taught Owyn well.

As Owyn ran, he again called on the Force, this time acting on the sand around him. It seemed to swirl up momentarily like a tornado, then condense into a sphere of tightly packed sand particles. This Owyn sent flying at the Dragon; before it hit he was again creating another, and another. He knew the sand balls would not hurt the creature, but hopefully it would be enough of a nuisance to distract it for a moment and buy Arrl some time.

 

[AriaDran]

Aria smiled as Owyn ignited his saber and took off in the other direction. She was surprised by his speed as he closed the distance, and started to move quickly to try and keep up. she didn't know how to use the Force to speed her movements, so by the time she caught up he was already throwing his condensed balls of sand to try and distract the dragon.

She took a more direct route. As Owyn continued with his distraction, she darted to the side away from where Arrl was. Between the two of them she counted on them to be distracting the beqast enough as she ran in close, igniting her lightsaber as she reached the beast and slashing at one of its hind legs with all of her strength and momentum behind it.

She was likely inviting it to attack her with its tail, but she hoped that if the three of them stayed apart like this and attacked when it wasn't focused on them they would all have a good chance of keeping it confused.