Roach Hunting For Healing

[Aliyah Phoenix]

Roach Hunting For Healing
--Music--

It is a period of Conflict and War.

As the Imperial War Machine continues to raze it's way across the Galaxy, the Order finds itself in desperate need of allies.

To aide their cause as best they can, Knight Grug has deployed two Jedi Knights to the tranquil planet of Ithor, to aide them in their efforts against poaching on-planet.

Among these Knights are none other than Aliyah Phoenix, an experienced Guardian who longs to help however she can. Accompanying her is Torin Kobber, one of the first among the newest generation of Jedi.

A bargain was made.
The Jedi would help capture Bossuck Roaches
Here is where our story begins....

​

@Weserwve

 

[Torin Kobber]

The Wandering Whisper dropped out of hyperspace above Ithor, the green of the planets forests striking from orbit.

Torin Kobber, the diminutive Jedi behind the controls sent off a message. <Arrived at Ithor, await instructions>

As a junior member of the Jedi Order he was following not leading on this mission. Despite his skills as a hunter and tracker he hadn't been a Jedi long enough to be entrusted, yet.

In orbit he awaited instructions...

 

[Aliyah Phoenix]

Aliyah sat in a clearing in the middle of the dense jungles of Ithor. Her foot tapped, tapped away the time she'd been waiting for her partner to arrive. As far as she knew, this was his first time on a mission, so it made sense he was running a little behind. Leaning back slightly against the somewhat uncomfortable tree, her lekku perked as she heard her commlink go off. It was a simple message, but it got it's meaning across rather nicely. Raising the commlink to her mouth, she began to respond, transmitting her coordinates at the same time. He'd be able to land his freighter beside hers, then the two of them could continue on to catch those roaches. She was wearing her usual Jedi gear, her lightsabers hanging at her hips. Outrider bow framing her back, and the usual blaster at her side.

"Torin... Torin torin torin.... Torin Kobber! Right, look I need you to meet me at the coordinates I'm sending you." Shrugging off a cool breeze, she got up while talking and started pacing around the clearing. This wasn't exactly a dangerous assignment, but it was important, and honestly she didn't like the idea of catching anything like roaches alone. Those things were freaky in ways that really repulsed her, but she could handle it if she had to. She just really didn't like the things. At. All. Looking up to the sky, she turned to her own freighter and thought about whether he'd have enough space to land. It would be a close fit, sure, but if they kept their fingers crossed she was sure it would work perfectly fine. Sighing, she started again.

"Just be careful of the freighter already here. This should be a blue milk run, so, let's get it done."

She dropped her hands down and let them swing at her sides, whistling a gentle tune. Ithor was a beautiful place, and she'd been here for the last few days. First to deal with some poachers. That was a fun little getaway, pretty action packed too. And now to deal with some medical stuff, and humanitarian efforts. Some people would think it was less glamorous, but as long as it helped she didn't mind. She'd keep looking around until she spotted his freighter. If she did, Aliyah would wave him down and signal until he got his freighter lined up to land.

@Weserwve

 

[Torin Kobber]

Torin acknowledged the message he received and plotted a course to the coordinates he had received. His flying technique had once been described as 'flying it like it was stolen', but he took care this time, bringing the Whisper in slow and steady, careful to avoid creating too much of a scene. Arriving over the clearing he eased his ship into place, it was a tight fit and he wouldn't be leaving in a hurry but at least he was down.

Climbing out of the flight seat he moved through his ship, collecting gear as he went, throwing on his armour and poncho, grabbing his light-spear and making sure his slug pistol and lightsaber were in their holsters. He didn't grab his slug-rifle, they weren't exactly legal and they weren't exactly looking to kill anything on this mission which is all the rifle was good for.

Straightening himself up he hit the release on the external airlock of his ship standing the door frame he would have looked like an amalgamation of disappointments to Aliyah. A particularly short bearded human in a worn and patched ponch holding a battered walking stick.

"Aliyah I presume" he stated with confidence he didn't feel as he stepped down the ramp, "Torin Kobber, pleasure to meet you"

 

[Aliyah Phoenix]

Rubbing the tired off her face with a yawn, she turned over to him as he exited his freighter. He was shorter than she expected for a human, but she wasn't one to judge. He looked like he'd been walking for days on end or something, it was confusing, this rustic air about him. But again, she didn't judge, she'd seen people in worse shape than he was in do some crazy things. His voice was filled with something she couldn't really place, maybe it was bravado, maybe it was confidence. But still, he introduced himself and was rather polite, causing Aliyah to smile gently and wave. "Well, yes, I'm Aliyah! Nice to meet you. So we're catching roaches today. I hope you're not squeamish." She perked up slightly and kicked off the tree, nodding towards a small tent outcropping just a couple meters away. A couple Ithorian scientists where prodding around on machines of some kind. At least. Not as squeamish as I feel.

"AHH! Master Jedi, so good to see you. Thank you, thank you for the long journeys, it means a lot to our people."

The ithorians were wearing translators! Perfect. Aliyah sighed audibly in relief, she didn't know how to speak their language and her force translation skills pretty much didn't exist. Most of her powers were geared towards emotions, so it would have been awkward if they couldn't even talk to their hosts. Aliyah didn't bother to sit down at the small table, this wasn't going to be a very long mission, and since it was probably not all that dangerous, she wasn't worried. Pacing around in a circle for a few seconds, she listened to the scientist talk about this roaches and how they were annoying little buggers. Not hard to spot, but decently annoying to catch. Twenty or so specimens would do, and they had an entire jungle to cover, apparently. "Well, I guess we better get to it then." Waving the Ithorians down and exchanging a thanks with them, before turning towards the jungle ahead. She kicked into a light jog. They had to find fallen logs, or something like that, and Aliyah was already finding the assignment a little boring.

"It this your first time off-world? Or do you do a lot of wandering around?"

@Weserwve

 

[Torin Kobber]

Torin listened attentively as he was briefed, he'd hunted all sorts of creatures in his time, eaten all sorts too so the prospect of catching the roaches didn't bother him.

He followed Aliyah, regarding the jungle as they walked, it was thick and lush, greener than the woodlands and forests of his homeworld.

"No, not my first time off-world, I travelled some before the Jedi found me, saw a lot of the galaxy from the inside of the Whisper" he paused, "I like the travel, not all that much to see back home, at least the stars change if nothing else when I move around"

He stopped, tilting his head, almost like he was sniffing the air, feeling the life of the forest and waiting for a tug from the Force to tell him which direction to go. It was a technique that he had used in his former life as a hunter and tracker and only refined as he had come to understand the Force during his Jedi training.

After a moment he raiwed his finger, "This way".

 

[Aliyah Phoenix]

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about travel much. We do that all the time. The Whisper?" The jungle was a dense place, but Aliyah was getting pretty used to it. Conveniently, she seemed to be spending a lot more time on jungle filled worlds doing Jedi business. Whether it's fighting Vornskr, poacher, or hunting beatles. She did her fair share of Jedi missions solo, but she was starting to pick up assignments from other Knights. Soon, she'd probably have her own plans in place... depending on how things went back at the Temple. But for today, they had roaches to catch. She was kind of surprised to meet another Jedi who came from outside the Order, like her. Hopefully his time would be a little more generous and positive that hers had been so far.

Torin seemed to pause and started tilting his head. Aliyah just sat nearby patiently and waited, knowing that her fellow Jedi was probably using his instincts and the force to guide where he was supposed to go. She's heard from his file, and gathered from how he looked, that he was probably a hunter. Aliyah was all about conserving life, so she wasn't really into hunting at all, but it wasn't her place to judge him for his pass-times. Nodding to him as he raised his finger and pointed off towards the forest, she gently walked ahead. Since she wasn't expecting any danger, there wasn't any problems in continuing the conversation. She's let him take the lead on this one.

"So, you travel a lot then? Mind if I ask you where you've been?"

@Weserwve

 

[Torin Kobber]

"Wandering Whisper, the bucket of bolts I came in", he offered before continuing his explanation, "Belonged to a former employer, 'acquired' by the Jedi when they arrested him and stumbled across me"

He stepped through the jungle, light on his feet, using his staff to keep his balance or move branches and vines out of the way. They were approaching their targets, he could feel them, scuttling through the underbrush.

"I don't mind you asking, I haven't been traveling too long and I've seen mostly the less reputable parts, Hutt space, outer colonies, mostly moving stuff that people had more of than they needed to people that were willing to part with credits for it", he turned to her and smiled, "We mightn't have strictly followed all the rules all the time of course"

 

[Aliyah Phoenix]

A former employee? Was he a smuggler before he became a Jedi? That must've been an interesting life, but Aliyah didn't want to impose or ask. The jungle wasn't really a worry to her, all she had to do was pay attention to her surroundings, and move accordingly. The Wandering Whisper was an interesting ship name to go with. But hers weren't much better. "I've had two. Both served as home away from home. First was the Rustbucket. About as lovely as she sounds. Second is the Riverboat Fantasy. Now that ship is great." She followed the smaller man as he made his way through a series of branches, sinking lower to avoid the creepy looking vines. He seemed to be pretty confident this was the way to go, and she couldn't argue with him right now. She had an idea as to where roaches might be hiding, under logs and such, but that would take forever.

And in a single sentence Torin confirmed her suspicions. Raising an eyebrow as he explained his reasoning, she decided it was okay to ask. "I've done a fair bit of travelling myself. Mostly busting slavers in the Outer Rim, but anywhere the Order's needed me I've gone. It's been a wonderful couple of years traveling, if I wasn't fighting for my life almost half the time." Aliyah paused, her hair standing on end as she heard the gentle sound of scuttling ahead. She was not afraid, but she really dislike the sound. Inching closer, being careful to remain above the grassline, Aliyah continued to talk. "Hunter or Smuggler. Or both? It's okay. I've met my fair share recently, they didn't seem too bad. As long as there's no killing innocent people along the way, or enslaving them."

@Weserwve

 

[Torin Kobber]

"Hunter before smuggler, we lead a barely subsistence lifestyle on my homeworld and I was better suited for the hunting than the farming and mining, smuggling was the only way off world", Torin had heard the scuttling too and was making his way towards a fallen tree, "I've never killed anything that wasn't going to fill someones belly and I've never killed anyone that didn't have it coming"

To describe what he was walking towards as a tree was possibly an understatement. Looking at it from the ground he felt like he would need a couple of days to climb over it. Walking over to it he placed his hands on the outside of the long dead tree.

As he placed his hands he continued talking, "I was pretty old when I joined the Jedi, which means I've seen things and done things that wouldn't exactly be appropriate for a Jedi", he stopped for a moment, he was trying to ease her concerns but didn't think he was getting anywhere, "You don't have anything to worry about with me, I'm definitely a good guy now".

Reaching out with the Force he could feel the life still strong within the tree, not from the tree itself but a whole ecosystem living in and on the trunk, including the roaches.

 

[Aliyah Phoenix]

"No harm done, then, I guess. I get that kind of lifestyle, grew up in it myself." Ducking beneath a branch, moving her lekku out of the way before they struck another, Aliyah followed him. This was going nice, quickly and quietly, something she was surprised to see. Almost everything she did ended up turning into a fight or an explosion of some sort, and then there would always be someone to save. He said something about killing people who deserved it - and that's where Aliyah could understand. She didn't think anyone outright deserved it, but sometimes they make the choices for you. "Done a lot of fighting... haven't killed anyone yet. Don't think I'm going to have to." The tree was huge, and it hummed with a warm and vibrant light and life. But more than that, inside of it's very surface tiny little blots of energy moved around in a series of connected tunnels, kind of like a city. Aliyah was fascinated.

Then she heard the scuttling again and shivered, shaking her head. "Hey, I'm not here to judge. I was raised by a living inferno, so I don't think I really have any place to judge." Smiling slightly at the joke, she watched curiously as he put his hands up against it. Before remembering her senses where not only attuned to the Force, but had a lot of knowledge about enemy force users too. Her sense where always combing an area, even right now, just in case something or someone unexpected decided to drop in. "There's a lot of them in there. Breaking the tree wouldn't really be responsible, but I do have an idea." Taking the lute off her pack, she gently sat down near the edge of the log and began to strum gently. "I'm going to play a song and lull the Roaches out. Neat little Vahlan trick I picked up. Catch them as they come - hopefully we have enough containers." Her hands gently began to strum, her right hand plucking a few quick notes, and again repeated until it became a melody. Humming for a few seconds, she reached out with the Force and called to the roaches with the song she was singing. In a way, it was beast taming, the same way Dad had taught her. "When flyin' the lane to sweet Ooine, hurroo, hurroo. When flyin' the lane to sweet Ooine, hurroo, hurroo, When flyin' the lane to sweet Ooine...

A holoscreen 'licks on and a drop in me eye, a doleful damsel I heard cry, Percy I hardly knew ye..."

@Weserwve

 

[Torin Kobber]

Torin heard he mention being raised by an inferno and was about to ask her about it when she stated singing. It was a technique he hadn't see before, head always been trained to keep his mouth shut and his footsteps soft and that's the way he did things. He watched with one raised eyebrow at first not expecting much to happen, soon enough the inhabitants of the log began to march out two by two.

Expanding his awareness to the Force again he could feel the energy pulling and tempting them. "Huh, righto", he said as he pulled a cloth bag off his belt, "You would have been popular back home, dinner would have marched right out of the forest and onto the plate"

He began to pick the roaches out of the crowd of bugs, using the Force himself to hold them in place and keep them calm, before he knew it he was running out of room in his bag. This was going easier than he expected.