Ask [Sevarcos II] Field Experience

[Zayn Talis]

.

All in all, Zayn had high hopes for this expedition. Since his elevation to Knighthood, the Corellian had taken a far more active role in the Jedi Order - conducting missions across the Galaxy and supporting the budding Resistance wherever he could. With the Free Worlds Alliance on the verge of collapse and zero support from the remaining Galactic governments, the Jedi were forced to build from the ground up - often traveling to far-flung, neutral worlds to rally support amongst the populace to oppose the Sith Empire. It was a movement slow-built, but it was one that Zayn was committed to with every fiber of his being.

It was for that very reason that Zayn had traveled to Sevarcos - snagging himself a Temple-issued shuttle and making off for the Outer-Rim planet. Reports had indicated that the villages and communities across the surface of the planet had come under assault by some band of Marauders recently migrated to the isolated planet. While it wasn’t much to go off of, the Corellian had confidence they would be filled in further on the situation once they arrived at their destination.

Only after hours of hyperspace travel, the shuttle finally dropped into orbit above Sevarcos - rapidly beginning to descend into the atmosphere. As they dropped beneath the clouds, both Jedi would be able to see the reddish-brown deserts and badlands that stretched on for miles in all directions - trees and grassland biomes scattered where the few bodies of water bubbled from beneath the earth and flowed as narrow, winding rivers.

“Should be landing soon,” He said, finally glancing over toward Maura. While he knew the girl from that Skimboard race long ago, the Corellian would’ve been lying if he claimed that he wasn’t somewhat nervous to have a Padawan accompanying him for this expedition. It didn’t seem so long ago - because it really wasn’t - that he was sitting in her place, and the thought of being responsible for anyone other than himself wasn’t an idea the Corellian had entirely gotten used to. All the same, he was grateful for the assistance and trusted Maura to be able to handle herself.

With a droid to oversee the last leg of the flight, Zayn allowed himself a few extra minutes to relax - having already gone through his pre-disembarking equipment check. He was dressed in his standard tunic and pants, hair combed neatly into place while the hilt of his gold-bladed saber was clipped to his waist. He kept a pack nearby and against a corner of the lounge, filled with supplies for the upcoming journey.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura loved going on missions. She loved anything that involved hyperspace travel, especially when she got to go to places and planets she'd never gone to before. She was even more excited to go on the trip with Zayn; he'd always been a cool kid to her. His tattoos were cool. His hair was cool. The fact that he had a skimboard and had gone skimboarding racing too was cool. This, of course, meant she really really wanted him to think that she was cool too, which culminated in her talking for most of, if not the entirety of, the trip.

"...and I had to crawl through this really small hole in the ground to get to it, and the crazy part about it was that I had no idea where I was going! I could've just been crawling down to my death, led on by some inkling of a feeling I had, but that didn't happen! Although one of the other girls...or both of them - I don't remember - ended up having weird hallucinations. I'm glad that didn't happen to me because—"

The padawan paused to catch her breath, granting Zayn the opportunity to get a couple of words in before she continued her story. After he spoke, she blinked, then leaned over the control panel to gaze out into the blue-streaked space around them with big, black eyes. It wasn't like there was anything else to see out there, so she didn't stay stretched out like that for long before she continued her story.

"Anyways, I'm glad that didn't happen to me because I already see stuff when I touch things sometimes, and it's kinda scary- well, not scary but just kinda like, disconcerting? Anyways, long story short, I got my crystal and it was purple!"

Without warning, Maura procured her lightsaber from thin air and set it ablaze with a snap and a hiss. The purple blade hummed softly in the air - the tone joining the background noise of the ship's ventilation systems. Her mouth widened to a toothy grin, and her eyes had a wild, mischievous look to them. "Purple is my favorite color, right after rainbow!"

Speaking of rainbows, her colorful mane of hair was tied back at the nape of her neck, keeping the volume of it out of her face, at least. She was dressed in her slightly-too-big Jedi robes, with the metallic glint of her gold chain necklace hidden just under the brown fabric. Her stuff was in a duffel bag thrown on the ground somewhere in back, packed a little too full.

"How long is soon?"

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

As they descended through the clouds of Sevarcos, Zayn reclined a bit further into his chair - allowing himself a few minutes to properly relax before the mission ahead of them. Those few moments of relaxation - quite like the past several hours of their journey - were filled by Maura’s long-winded and endless stories that filled the cockpit. Of course, the Corellian didn’t actually seem to mind too much - maintaining a small smile as he nodded along to what she was saying. He could remember all-too-well his own years as a Padawan - years that felt like only yesterday - and since that skimboard race, the rainbow-haired Padawan was someone that Zayn actually enjoyed way more than he’d ever let on.

Zayn couldn’t help but arch a brow at one thing in particular that the Padawan mentioned, turning to glance over in her direction. “See stuff when you touch things? Like visions?” He asked curiously, his gaze lingering for a moment. He had his own suspicions, but he didn’t press the matter any further - instead cracking a bit of a grin when the Padawan’s attention turned to her own, recently constructed, lightsaber. Beyond glancing down to make sure the damned thing wasn’t accidentally pointed at him, Zayn didn’t flinch when Maura went on to ignite her saber - taking a moment to bask in the brilliant, amethyst glow that filled the cockpit. “Not bad,” He said with an affirmative nod.

Without warning, Zayn unclipped the hilt from his belt - turning the blade vertical before igniting it. Within a split second, the golden blade of his lightsaber sprang to life, its own iridescence clashing against Maura’s as he tilted the blade ever-so-slightly. “Gotta say, I still think gold is better.” He snickered a bit, continuing to hold his blade up for a moment before flicking it off and clipping the hilt to his belt once more.

“Soon is like.. Eh,” Zayn squinted down to the horizon. The outline of the village was far more visible now, and it steadily grew in size as their shuttle continued to both lose attitude and glide in that direction. “A good five minutes.” He said with a nod, “Whatever you gotta do on the ship, do it now.” True to his words, it only took them another five minutes-or-so to touch down for a landing. As the landing gears sank into the earth and the ramp extended to meet the ground, Zayn rose up from the pilot’s chair - stretching a bit before turning towards the exit. He snagged his own pack from where he had left it, slinging it over his left shoulder.

“Lets get movin’,” He called out to Maura, wherever she was at that precise moment, before making his way towards the exit to the ship. Almost at once, the two would be able to feel the heat of the planet that bore down on them - immediately bringing a faint sheen of sweat to Zayn’s skin. The red wastes were dotted in sparse stretches of pale trees, while Dewbacks could be seen roaming off in the distance. The village was only a few paces ahead, and inhabitants could already be seen gathering at the outskirts - clearly intrigued by the new arrivals.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"Yeah... it's called like, psychosis? Psychology? Psycho...met...rius?"" Maura's face scrunched up as she tried to recall what the thing was called. In the end, she just shrugged and clarified, "I dunno. Master Voran said it's me feeling the past of objects I touch through the Force. It kinda just happens randomly though. Usually at annoying times."

That aside, Maura's face lit up at the sight of the golden hue of Zayn's saber. At his comment about gold being better, she stuck out her tongue and retorted with, "No way! That's basically yellow and yellow is dogwater compared to purple!" She giggled afterward, indicating her words were made in jest. Purple was one-hundred percent better, but his saber still had a cool color. It reminded her of illustrations of the temple guards from the Clone Wars era.

When they landed, Maura dashed off to grab her duffel bag, slung it around her chest to rest on her back, then scrambled after the Jedi Knight. Her movements were erratic and spontaneous, and she was blanketed in the electric aura of excitement.

"Sooo what are we doing again? I kinda forgot." The girl trotted after Zayn, keeping pace despite being over a foot shorter than him. She seemed relatively unbothered by the heat at the moment, though sweat began to collect on her brow and lip the further out from the ship they went. It wasn't long before her Jedi robes were ditched into her bag.

"Ugh, I hate these stupid robes. They're brown and itchy and ugly and they make people look at me weird," she complained.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

Zayn couldn’t mask the look of surprise on his expression when Maura explained her gift further. The Corellian had heard about some Force Users gifted in Psychometry, but he’d never witnessed the gift in person. It was an exceedingly rare talent, and one that could often prove debilitating to the untrained. After a moment of pause, he gave a small nod, flashing Maura a smirk. “Psychometry. It’s rare,” He said, giving a nod. “Pretty dope.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at Maura’s lightsaber-color opinions, flashing the Padawan a playful smirk in response - a bit of amusement bleeding through, while also making it totally clear that he thought she was absolutely dead wrong. As soon as they disembarked from the ship, Zayn began gradually guiding them towards the village just up ahead.

“We’re here to help the locals. From what he know, there is a band of Marauders who have been harassing the locals - stealing goods and raiding homes. It’ll be our job to help drive them off,” It was almost a guarantee that there wouldn’t be a diplomatic conclusion to this mission, and that they were putting themselves in danger by facing the marauders head on. Even still, Zayn was confident that he - and Maura - would be able to handle themselves.

“My hope is that they’ll agree to help us in return,” He said with a small nod. The Grandmaster had called them to action - to fight the Empire and rally support to the Resistance wherever they could. And that is exactly what Zayn hoped to achieve here. “I don’t blame you,” He smirked. “Can’t remember the last time I willingly wore those robes..”

Within only a few minutes, the pair arrived at the entrance to the village - ramshackle, metallic fortifications doing a lousy job of defining the boundaries of the settlement. There were scorch marks and clear signs of damage - evidence of past raids on the town in recent weeks. Villagers and their children gathered near the entrance, while an elderly woman hobbled her way towards the front of the group.

Ancient as she appeared, it was clear that she the leader amongst the group - the rest of the village leaders gradually falling into line behind her. “Young Jedi,” The woman offered a small dip of her head, extending a hand to shake both of them. Both were younger than she had expected - likely less experienced than she would’ve hoped.. But she was in no position to be picky. “We were beginning to fear you might not come. I am Ophelia.” There was a weary, tired smile that tugged at her lips - the weight of age and leadership plain to see.

“Of course not,” Zayn offered her a charming smile. “We are happy to provide help wherever we can. I am Knight Zayn Talis,” He then gestured a hand towards Maura. “This is Padawan Maura Starwalk.”

She smiled. “We are all thankful for your arrival. Please, come with me - you must be tired from your journey. And there is much we need to discuss.”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Rare? Dope? Maura could feel her opinion of the ability lift the moment his words hit her two pointy ears, especially as it was a compliment! "Oh, yeah! It is pretty dope! I guess." Still annoying - and a little scary - though.

"We're gonna drive them off so hard they'll tell horror stories about us to their grandkids! We're gonna strike fear into their hearts! They'll wish they'd never attacked this poor innocent village!" Maura declared to Zayn as they approached the village. She mimed boxing, pretending to sock an invisible enemy in the jaw, then spun around to kick the air in front of her. "And then the villagers will be so grateful they'll throw flowers at us! And uh, help us fight the Sith too."

They arrived at the village edge to be greeted by an old woman who introduced herself as Ophelia. Maura gave her a polite smile and put on her listening ears, but she was instantly bored. Introductions were boring. Couldn't they get to the action already?

At the mention of her name, Maura gave the woman a quick, playful salute and opened her mouth. "I'm not actually tired at all! Can we discuss where the bad dudes are? What else would there be to discuss?"

"There's no need to rush, young one. It's better to be prepared than surprised."

The teen sighed, murmured her reluctant agreement, then began to follow the woman as she led them to the place of discussion. She didn't lead them far thankfully, and they were then ushered inside a homely house characterized by colorful flower beds of native plants and damaged, painted walls. She sat them down in some old wooden chairs, then had hot tea brought forth to be enjoyed by the both of them.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

Despite his best attempts to the contrary, Zayn couldn’t help the smile that worked its way onto his lips - hazel eyes flicking down to regard Maura as she kicked and punched and proclaimed the upcoming fate of the resident Marauders. If he was being honest, she wasn’t entirely off-base from what his actual plan was. Give or take some thrown flowers. In the end, Zayn gave a very sagely nod in response.

“Damn straight,” He said, constituting his very profound answer to what the Padawan was saying - followed by a wide grin in her direction.

After the initial greetings, Zayn began to follow after Ophelia and walk alongside Maura - moving through the village and towards the colorful house where tea was being prepared. He settled himself into the ever-so-slightly uncomfortable chair - giving Maura a look and small shrug as if to say ‘this ain’t so bad’. Of course, they weren’t left along in the room for very long - promptly rejoined by Ophelia and an oversized teapot filled to the brim,

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Zayn said with a smile, picking up a teacup once it had been filled by the elderly woman. The same was done for Maura, followed by a little dish of sugar cubes passed in her direction.

“It is the least I can do, given the situation.” The elderly woman said, waving a hand. “There are some here who fought me on asking for your assistance.. Said that the Jedi and Force users only make things worse.” She shook her head. “But truly.. We had no one else to turn to.”

Zayn nodded. “I understand. What is the situation here?” He asked. The Corellian had a rudimentary understanding of the situation, but he certainly didn’t have all the details on who the Marauders were or their motives.

“Bandits and the like have always been a problem here on Sevarcos, for so long as I can remember anyway. One of the realities of living beyond the eyes of the Galactic Senate here in the Outer Rim,”

She rubbed her temples. “Never quite this bad, though. In the past, they only targeted travelers on the road - occasionally would come sniffing around to demand ‘protection money’ from villagers. But there was never enough of them to stage an attack on the village - they were just as poor as we were, couldn’t afford any expensive weapons,”

“But things have gotten worse recently. The savannah’s aren’t good for growing much, but Nysillin does remarkable well - and it has been a drastic new source of income for the people here,” She frowned, “And the Marauders have only gotten more aggressive since then. I don’t know how, but they’ve gotten their hands on a steady supply of new weapons - better than anything we have - and have started launching regular attacks. They wait for us to grow the crop until ripe, and then attack when the harvest is at its peak.”

Ophelia sighed. “Some have proposed harvesting early, but doing so only diminishes the medicinal qualities of the herb. Makes it unsellable.”

“You said they’ve come into new weapons. Is someone arming them?”

“I don’t know.. But if someone is, they certainly are well funded. We try to defend ourselves - put up barricades or arm ourselves but makeshift weapons.. But nothing ever quite works.” The elderly woman scowled deeply.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura accepted the tea cup with a quiet "thanks" and took a small sip. The hot liquid hit her tongue, and she fought with a reactive expression on her face. It was bitter, and she did not do bitter. The kid reached out to pluck a couple of sugar cubes from the dish and stirred them into her tea as the old woman and Zayn spoke. The tea was still too bitter for her, so she decided to add a few more. Then a couple more, and another three after that. By the time Zayn asked Olympia something about someone arming the bandits, Maura had put about the entire tray of sugar into her tea. Granules of the sugar floated about in the liquid, no longer able to be absorbed by the now-syrupy and diabetes-inducing tea.

"We'll work! Me and Zayn are like Herlock Solmes and Dr. Datson! I'm Herlock, obviously." Maura took a long and loud sip of her simple syrup tea, then assumed a thoughtful look. That made Zayn her assistant, right? "Yup, seems legit." Her brain was super big and super wrinkly! "We're gonna kick these smooth-brained bandits' butts and find out who's funding them! And then, we'll kick their butts too!"

Maura tossed back the rest of her tea, then stood up abruptly. "Do you know where their base of operations is? How many do you think there are? Do they have a leader?" The girl might've continued to fire off more questions, but Olypmia held up her hand to silence the babbling padawan.

"One- one question at a time, Padawan Starwalk. Please." She quirked an eyebrow at the padawan, then moved on to answer her questions. "The raiding parties usually come from the West, but we don't know exactly where they come from or if they even have a place they convene at. I'm sure there is a leader, but- I'm sorry, we just don't know all that much. It's work enough trying to recoup from their raids."

After Olympia finished, Maura turned to glance over at Zayn while still standing. Her only thought at the moment was, "Damn, this lady doesn't know anything. I mean dang! Dang." She was trying to gauge if Zayn felt the same way, but she quickly threw that out the door and just decided to ask. "I think we should do some recossance! Rec- Reconnoss- Reconnaissance? Scouting! We should do some scouting to find out more! What do you think?"

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

While Zayn made a deliberate effort to pretend otherwise, the Corellian couldn’t help but notice how Maura dumped an entire tray of sugar into what was once a nice, herbal tea. Health-nut that he was, he couldn’t help but screech internally before promptly focusing back ahead. He listened intently to whatever little bit of information the elder had to offer, nodding along as he sipped from his cup.

While Maura was certainly more jumpy.. The Corellian couldn’t help but agree with her internal thought process. He knew that they weren’t likely to get any more useful information from the elder, and it was about time that they started to work on their own. “Thank you, Ophelia,” He smiled. “You have been very helpful. We will take things from here - and I promise to do all that we can.” He gave a nod before rising up from his seat, nodding for the Padawan to follow.

One look from Zayn confirmed that he felt largely the same way that she did, and he gave a firm nod when she suggested scouting ahead. “Agreed.” He said, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he walked ahead and through the village. “If we can pinpoint where they are congregating, we may be able to glean more information. Find out who is funding them, and disable them before their next attack.”

He glanced back at Maura, “We’ll be heading out into the countryside,” Zayn pondered for a moment. “Should be able to borrow a speeder from one of the locals.”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"A speeder? Can I drive? Please? Please?"

It didn't take long for the two of them to find someone willing to lend them a speeder, especially after word got out that Ophelia had brought them here as a solution to the endless raids on their village. It certainly wasn't the shiniest speeder, but it at least didn't look like it was going to break on them halfway into the trip. They were given a warning about not damaging it and asking to please return it in one piece, but were otherwise ready to set off and find the bandits.

"I'm actually very good at driving speeders and I've done it loads of times so that's why I'm gonna drive," Maura began again as she hopped up on and swung her legs over the speeder. Her fingers curled around the handles and squeezed the gas, causing the vehicle to let out a short-lived roar as the acceleration spun while parked. The child look surprised for a moment, then giggled and added, "See? It likes me!"

Zayn would have to physically remove her from the driver's seat if he didn't want to let her drive. Which was... a course of action maybe for the better.

"So we should look for trails probably, right? They probably take the same path here all the time since no one has stood up to them, right?" What were the chances they were hiking over big, unpathed hills instead of taking a worn, easy route to their cash cow everytime?

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

Much to Zayn’s own delight, it hadn’t taken the pair more than a few minutes of exploration to locate a functional speeder - and more importantly an attached owner who was willing to temporarily part with the vessel. Outside of a few ‘Please don’t break it’ warnings, most of the villagers were ready and willing to help the Jedi in dealing with the Marauder problem.

“Uh..” Zayn expertly fought back a wince, staring out towards the speeder when Maura declared her intention to drive. At once, the Corellian played through all the different scenarios of how that was probably going to be a horrible idea - and was almost certain to end in either the vehicle or them not arriving back in a single piece. Perhaps he was exaggerating? While Maura wasn’t his Padawan, this could be a learning experience, right? Right..?

“Alright fine.. Just easy on the thrusters, take it slow.” He muttered, watching as the Padawan climbed onto the front of the speeder and took the proverbial reins. A quick prayer was muttered to whatever deity was listening before the Knight latched on, taking a deep breath to settle his nerves.

“You’re probably right,” He said with a nod. “Villagers haven’t made any counterattack, so no real reason to change up their route.” The Corellian squinted a bit. “Which also likely means that they keep close eyes on those trails, so we’ll need to be cautious.”

With that, Zayn braced himself for whatever was about to happen. Assuming they didn’t spontaneously combust, it wouldn’t take the pair long to spot the beginning of a trail that led towards the village - easily visible was a flattened strip amongst the loose, dusty terrain. The trail tightly hugged against the side of a rocky outcropping, leaving a sheer drop several meters just to their left.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

As soon as Zayn sat down on the back of the speeder, Maura squeezed her hand into a fist around the throttle, and the speeder roared with the sudden acceleration. They went from 0 to 60 (or whatever the top speed of a speeder happened to be) as fast as the little throttle-that-could, could.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT 'SLOW' MEANS!" she called out, leaning forward into the handles as she did. Zayn could hold onto the kid or handlebars on either side of the seat. "HOLD ON!"

Caution was thrown to the wind as Maura sped off toward the path they'd spotted earlier. "HOW CAUTIOUS SHOULD WE BE?" she called back to Zayn as they approached the hills. The downward force of the speeder sent dust and dirt up into the air behind them, marking their path from the village.

Assuming Zayn didn't fall off at any point, the padawan would continue on, racing through the hills until her eyes settled on a foreign object on the road. Just as quickly as she'd accelerated off, she broke. The speeder would've screeched to a stop if it had brakes, but instead, the back skidded to and fro until then, throwing Zayn around in the back. It threw her forward too, but she was a bit more prepared for the impact than he was.

"Do you see that?" On the path in front of them, off to the side a bit, was a crashed speeder and a bunch of broken crates. "Is it a wreck?" Curious, Maura rolled off the speeder and crept over to investigate.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

Nope. Definitely not a good learning experience.

For all of Zayn’s previous calm and nonchalant demeanor since landing on Sevarcos, the Corellian couldn’t help the way that he grasped onto both Maura and the handlebars when the Padawan proceeded to gun it at full speed - blitzing through the sand and carving haphazard trails that only vaguely resembled driving in a straight line. Regret flashed across Zayn’s expression at the same time that his lunch threatened to jump back up his throat. It took a conscious effort to keep himself from barfing onto the back of Maura’s rainbow hair or otherwise losing his shit during the ride.

Hold on? At this rate, Zayn was convinced he was going to squeeze the life out of the daredevil Padawan behind the controls.

“CAUTIOUS!” He called back, leaning forward and attempting to keep himself balanced on the back of the speeder. Of course, that did little to help when Maura abruptly cut off the throttle - causing the entire vehicles rear to veer side to side jarringly. He did his best to hang on, even as his body dangerously hang off towards the left of the speeder and threatened to fly off at any moment, “MAURAAAAAAaaaaaaaa!” He called out until the speeder finally skid to a halt, at which point Zayn released his grip and unceremoniously flopped onto the ground next to the speeder.

He groaned, looking for a moment as if he was going to hurl while recovering from.. All that. His eyes snapped up the moment that Maura mentioned something up ahead - his hazel eyes lifting to inspect the wreckage. His eyes immediately narrowed upon the speeder - unstripped and relatively intact, and the cargo left untouched by passersby. Suspicion flashed across his gaze, and it was rapidly followed by sick realization.

“DON'T!” He called out to the Padawan before she could get too close. He lifted his left hand towards her, the flow billowing forth and coiling tightly around her torso. With a yank of his wrist, the Corellian yanked her backwards - likely causing her to fall back onto her ass and a few feet away from where she had been standing. Just as a plasma bolt was loosed from higher on the ridge - striking into the stones where the Padawan had just been standing.

Putting himself back to his feet, Zayn drew the saberhilt from his belt - igniting the golden blade as he took a defensive stance. This was an ambush, and they had walked right into it.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

"HEY—" Just as Maura was about to voice her opinion about Zayn yanking her backward like a kid on a leash, a plasma bolt zipped through the air and struck a pile of stones just past where she'd been standing. The padawan's eyes widened, and a moment later realization hit the girl as the whine of more blaster bolts filled the air. "Ambush!"

Maura fumbled around on her belt to grab her lightsaber and ignited it just in time to hastily deflect a couple more bolts sent flying her way. She scrambled back over to their speeder - and Zayn - as soon as she could get on her feet, her eyes searching the hills as she did. At first glance, she could see three figures atop a hill to their West, but she was pretty sure some of the blaster bolts had also come from the East. When she looked, she didn't see anyone up there.

"IF YOU SURRENDER NOW WE WON'T HURT YOU!" she yelled out, then glanced over at Zayn to give him a look that so clearly conveyed that she thought that was a great idea. To her surprise, but absolutely no one else's, the ambushers continued to fire their weapons toward the pair.

"Oh come on!" Maura grumbled as she brought up her violet weapon to deflect a series of three bolts. The figures aimed a series of shots at the two's feet, and Maura jumped backward instinctively. Though she was safe from the shots, she'd jumped back into the speeder. This caused the girl to stumble, and one of the figures took advantage of that to sent a series of shots aimed at the staggered padawan.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

Zayn couldn’t help but grit his teeth in frustration. Even if they had known to be cautious, the pair of Jedi had walked right into the marauder’s trap - victim to the same ploy that had likely claimed the lives and valuables of countless travelers before them. Of course, he had little time to ponder any of that, promptly springing into action as blaster bolts arced down from the ridge above. Golden plasma hummed to life, and Zayn made a point to position himself in front of and ever-so-slightly to the left of Maura.

It didn’t take the Corellian long to spot a few of the figures along the ridge - the top of someones colorful hair to the east, and the barrel of a rifle pointing from–

Deflect.

..From the west.

It was impossible to tell just how many were lying in wait, but Zayn attempted to calculate the different positions where shots were coming from and the aggressive rate of fire. None of it was particularly encouraging and it all eluded to the fact that they were heavily, heavily outnumbered. Zayn glanced over to Maura after the Padawan yelled out her ultimatum. He had to commend the fact that it was the very ‘Jedi’ thing to do, even if the Corellia knew it was more likely to snow on Tattooine than for Maura’s request to hit home. His saber carved to deflect a few of the following blaster bolts, shooting her a glance that could be summed up as the Knight effectively going, ‘I’m not saying I told you so, but..’

His eyes narrowed even further as the snipers began aiming for their feet - and his head snapped back to catch sight of Maura stumbling backwards instinctively. Without thinking, the Corellian shifted his position ever-so-slightly - blocking line of sight to the Padawan with his own body. Unfortunately for Zayn, it meant that all fire was promptly directed onto him - and while he was able to deflect the majority of bolts, one of them found its mark in the muscle of his shoulder.

“FUCK!” He groaned out in agony. Though his saber moved defensively, Zayn could feel his other arm go stiff - pain radiating out through the extremity and his entire left side. He lifted two fingers off the hilt of his saber, using it to send a decent-sized stone hurtling in the direction of the snipers. “We need cover!” He barked back to Maura, speaking while not daring to take his hazel gaze off their attackers. The Corellian did his best to deflect or dodge what he could, but it was only a matter of time before they were both overwhelmed.

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura's eyes widened to saucers when Zayn made his explicit comment, though she was even more surprised to see the blaster wound to his shoulder. "Oh crap." He'd been shot!

"I'll- I'll cover you! Get behind the speeder!" Maura stepped forward, flipped her saber to its second phase for extra coverage, then focused as hard as she could on sending the blaster shots right back where they'd come from while Zayn hopefully did as she told. She did her best to avoid deflecting the shots to hit their attackers, but one of them did end up striking one of their assailants in the shoulder. It gave her the pause she needed to join Zayn.

"Okay, before you say anything, I was told it's important to always try to solve problems nonviolently if I can!" she blurted out as soon as she slipped in next to him. She didn't like his "I told you so" look from before and felt the need to justify herself. "But, um, are you okay?"

He'd been shot, obviously, but she was hoping it was a not-so-bad kind of shot rather than an "omg I'm gonna die!" kind of shot. "I-"

Just as she was about to present an idea, a barrage of shots violently shook the speeder. Maura ducked down and covered her head, bracing herself in case anything flew her way. For the moment though, it looked like she would be okay.

"Doyouthinkyoucouldhelpcatapultmeontothathill?" she asked, spewing the words out as fast as she could manage before they were interrupted by bullets again. She figured in Zayn could get her up there, she could take care of their attackers on a much more level playing ground. In the position they were in now - trapped - they would never get the upper hand.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

Injured, Zayn didn’t hesitate to duck for cover when Maura took up a defensive posture - bending forward and hustling behind a large boulder of red sandstone. He pressed his back against it, bringing his free hand up to clasp the injury that burned through his shoulder and the muscles of his upper back. His breath was a bit more labored than before, pain evident on his face just then. All the same, he managed to peek an eye over when Maura started explaining herself - giving her a slight nod.

“Never better,” He said through gritted teeth, exhaling a shallow breath. It wasn’t the worst pain in the Galaxy - but it certainly wasn’t good. And it meant the Corellian was moving a bit slower than he was comfortable with in the midst of combat.

When the Speeder exploded, Zayn instinctively clasped an arm around Maura - yanking the Padawan closer and turning to place his back between any incoming shrapnel and the rainbow-haired Jedi. Fortunately, nothing came hurtling their way - and the Corellian instead merely stared down at the Padawan when her ‘brilliant’ plan was hatched.

“I…” Zayn thought about it for a long moment. He didn’t like the idea of throwing Maura up the ridge whatsoever, but he knew their position would only worsen if they stayed there. He weighed the pros and cons of it, the risks of what she intended, and in the end…

He exhaled through his nostrils before taking a step back. “Be ready to jump. I can only boost you along the way,” The Light billowed forth at his comment - flowing from his fingertips and coiling around the Padawan’s extremities. Just as she jumped towards the ridge, Zayn unleashed the Force to carry her several meters farther - easily allowing her to clear the ridge and get the drop on the six assassins perched above.

One of them immediately whipped around, going wide-eyed as the rainbow-haired gremlin descended from the heavens above. "What the–”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura closed her hand into a fist and brought it violently down in a straight line; it was a gesture of victory when Zayn agreed to her absolutely totally awesome and completely foolproof plan of helping her catapult herself over the ridge. "Let's go!"

"Okay!" she responded. The padawan backed up several steps, keeping her legs bent and her body crouched low to the ground, then tensed up as she waited for Zayn to draw on the Force. As soon as she felt the Force surround her limbs, she took a deep breath and drew the Force into her own body as she did so. "Three... two... one..." "GO!"

Just as sprinters spring forward at the beginning of their races, Maura exploded onwards toward the ridge. She braced herself, paused for a moment to gather her muscles, then sprung up into the air with Zayn's aid. As she flew over the ridge, she activated her lightsaber. Their ambushers looked up at her with a mixture of surprise and shock. Maura took advantage of this to reactivate her lightsaber so that by the time she came rushing down, she could cleave the weapon straight through the rifle of the closest man.

"Get her!" The men scrambled to aim their weapons, minus the one that was now weaponless.

Maura swung her saber up to the side, cutting through the weapon of the next nearest guy. She shifted her body as she did, extending her reach, but that was the last gun she could get to before shots were fired at her. The gremlin of a girl quickly brought her lightsaber up to deflect the shots away, taking a few steps backward as she did.

Unbeknownst to her, the one shooter on the other side aimed at the girl down his sights. The glint of the glass and the metal on the gun would flicker in the corner of Zayn's eye, potentially alerting him to the man's intended actions.

tag: @Altaris

 

[Zayn Talis]

Gods this is an awful idea..

Despite his internal musing, Zayn had no addition time to question the validity of the Maura-influenced plan - watching as the rainbow-haired Padawan flew across the ridge. He exhaled a single breath through his nostrils, waiting until she landed and distracted the men to spring from behind his cover.

Vaulting over the boulder, the Corellian broke into a full-fledged sprint towards the ridge - the Force flowing into his lower extremities as his golden saber moved into a defensive guard. To her credit, Maura managed to do her job beautifully - catching the attention of every Maurauder and allowing Zayn to scale up the rocks and gradually make his way into position.

Confusion enveloped the gang, and it took them far longer than normal to lift their weapons and attempt to fire upon the Padawan. Blaster bolts zipped by the rainbow-haired girl, just missing her as they attempted to track her erratic, quick movements. Most of them were already reeling away from the saber she wielded - knowing full well what such a weapon could do.

Before the other man would fire a bolt into Maura’s bolt, Zayn finally crested over the ridge, landing onto the platform into a crouch. The Force immediately sprang forth from his hands, billowing into the Marauder to send him crashing against the canyon wall.

“To your left!”

@lizziie

 

[Maura Starwalk]

Maura could just barely hear Zayn's shout from across the ravine, but she caught it in time to bring her saber up to protect her chest and deflect the shot off into the sky. She then turned her attention back to the group of men in front of her and steadied her blade in her hands. Her eyes darted from person to person as she tried to decide the best course of action here. Now that she'd lost her element of surprise, the ambushers were getting their feet back under them, so she needed to act quickly.

Bursting forward from a complete standstill, Maura released a hand from her lightsaber and send a pulse of the Force out at the group. This caused most of them to stagger, and she took advantage of that to bring her saber down vertically through the barrel of a gun. She brought her saber back to protect her head as the whine of another blaster bullet hit her ears, and the sun bullet was absorbed into her violet saber.

"Stun bullets?" She couldn't deflect those, so she had to be careful. It also meant they weren't exactly trying to kill her anymore, at least, not with their shots.

"Our offer still stands!" she reiterated in a cheerful tone as she leapt up with the Force and spun a kick into one of their heads. The man was knocked unconscious and collapsed to the ground, taking one of them completely out of the fight.

Meanwhile, the gunman over by Zayn had regained his footing. Unfortunately, Zayn's force push had unarmed him, so he rolled up his sleeves and took a running start. The man attempted to tackle the Jedi knight, reaching for his vibroblade as he did.

tag: @Altaris