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[Mikkial Zapal]

Now...

Mikk staggered over to his data screen, scowling at it as he tried to work out how best to find her. Like all perfectly balanced individuals, he'd rigged up a team of data analytics droids to scour the holo-net for any reference or mention of his niece - it had been that way for years. Ever since those force-wielding schmucks had taken her in, he'd been keen to ensure he knew where she was 99 per cent of the time.

So when he'd received a notification from a wide array of beeps and bleeps from the gang, he'd sat up and taken notice.

Beeps and bleeps typically meant terrible news, that or a microwavable dish and just finished cooking. This was usually bad news depending on the plate (and the microwave). He'd read the screed; she'd only gone and got herself kidnapped and now appeared to be up for sale at some auction on Jakku.

He'd looked at the asking price.

One-million credits? He didn't have that cash on hand.

Standing up, the gentle clatter of bottles hitting the floor accompanying him, he slugged on his hip flask, picked up his lab coat and walked toward his speeder. "Oh boy." Mikk opened the cockpit "Here I go killing again."

---

Then...

One eye crept open, crying at the morning sun. It beat down on the malfunctioning Skyhopper and its two inhabitants, natures alarm clock. Another eye crept open, and their owner rolled over and groaned. "Ow."

Mikk Zapal could not remember why he was on this planet. He couldn't even remember what planet it was. Finally, he picked himself up, and decided to forgoe the effort of standing, deciding instead to remain on his knees and crawl for a bit. He sniffed the air, and then licked the hard rock upon which his ship had 'landed'.

"Ithor." he stated hazily.

He licked the ground again just to make sure. "Yep. Ithor."

"Morning Boss." a guttural voice from the Skyhopper called out to him, causing the scientist to near collapse from shock.

"Who the -" he remembered his this was a PG forum, "Who on Ithor are you?" he squinted, an adult Trodatome appearing from the ship and grinning at him as it made its introductions "Glomms the name, I'm your new first mate - your 'best pal' you said yesterday. Said we'd go on adventures and explore the Galaxy together."

Mikk looked at Glomm, a perplexed look on his face as he slowly stood, a deep groan and several unnatural sounding creaks coming from his body as it protested against the action. "Yeah sure." he replied, pretending to remember. "So, you crashed my ship then?" he didn't wait for an answer, instead pointing to a repair kit "Fix it, first mate - that's your job. Did you not read your contract?"

Glomm looked sheepish, and got to work, fetching a spanner with his mouth - as lacking arms, he had no other way. "You heading off to collect your niece then?"

Mikk, who was midway through lighting a stim, dropped it.

Shit.

---

Slightly later...

He'd been walking for about an hour in the general direction of the Jedi Temple on Ithor. However, the place was a little more secure than he remembered, so he had been joined on the path by a particularly 'peppy' young Jedi, who introduced himself as one of the local 'guards'.

Mikk hated him already.

"If you want to worship the by-product of a naturally occurring microorganism, that's on you pal. You can move rocks and shoot fancy lightning from your hands if you get mad, but I don't think that constitutes the basis of an entire belief system." he ranted at the Jedi, as they walked toward where he had been told his niece was practising.

He lit another stim.

"Those things will kill you, you know." the Jedi 'Guard' reminded him.

"Good, hopefully quickly and then this conversation can end. Wouldn't that be great?" he raised his hand to silence the man "That was rhetorical. Now, she here?"

 

[Liana Mason]

...some time ago....

Lia had decorously finished off all of her duties before she had hectically started pressing clothes and other necessities in her bag. She was overly excited for the little time off and to see her family again for a few days which was why she had been gleefully hopping around in the temple all day. After having said goodbye to all of her best friends, she frolicked through the halls and towards the entrance while she had already seen the notification on her commlink. He was here!

"Uncle Mikk!!", the bubbly padawan excitedly exclaimed as the very familiar features came into sight, immediately breaking into a sprint that ended with an excitedly jump in which she pulled the grey haired man into a tight embrace. "It's been so long! Omg how have you been?! I can't wait to have a little time off and as MA messaged me you'd pick me up, I was sooo sooo soo excited!", she started rambling, unaware of her uncle's rather grumpy mood.

Lia was never in a grumpy mood and she knew Uncle Mikk probably wouldn't stay long in it either, but as she let go, her gaze immediately flicked down to the stim he had just lit. "But Uncle Mikk...you know these things are baaad", she let out a sigh, throwing him a reproachful look for a moment before her regular grin tugged at her lips though. Mom often said she should keep an eye on her uncle and she had even warned her about him, but Liana never truly understood why. Her uncle was always fun! He had plenty lf fun stuff and no matter where they were, they always found a cool adventure to pursue and people to help! Uncle Mikk was neither 'unstable' nor 'difficult', he was the fun uncle! Mom probably just saw it that way because siblings always had interesting relationships! Liana simply couldn't wait for him to update her on what he had been up to! "I'll be back in a week! Thank you for keeping him company!", she gratefully thanked the other Jedi with a wide smile before she excitedly glanced back up to her uncle. "Isn't Ilthor beautiful?!".

@Nor'baal

 

[Mikkial Zapal]

Mikk was nearly bowled over as his niece ran into him, pulling him into an enthusiastic embrace. He grumbled to himself, but let her continue, before gently breaking out of her clutch and crouching down to her height. She was only a little shorter than him, but still enough for him to look quite comically oversized when the two stood next to one another. "Glad to see you to pal." he reached into his coat and withdrew a small box "I got you a present." he added, opening the box to reveal a can of Emyrc Energy soda.

"You press the top, and then you drink it. Do you have that here? They let you have that? It's got his face on it look." he held the can up to her face "Look at that, a politician on a can. Isn't that neat?" he took her hand and started to walk away from the rest of the group. "Let's blow this joint." he suggested, before coming face to face with the Jedi 'guard'.

"You can't just take her away from her studies." the man stated a dour expression on his face. Mikk rolled his eyes. "I'm armed." Mikk stated bluntly "This is a kidnapping. You can have her back, but I want, I want," he paused, his hand dropping to his hydospanner on his belt "One-hundred-million credits, in untracable chits." he scowled at the man, as he drew the hydrospanner to his nieces head.

"Sir, that's a spanner."

"Shit, he's onto us, run!" he grabbed her hand again, and the pair of them sprinted away from the training ground, leaving a perplexed looking guard to wonder how he was meant to explain this in his report.

 

[Liana Mason]

She smiled from one ear to the other, gaze not leaving him as he squatted down and reached her a can with the newest Emryc energy flavour. "OMG NOOOO", she excitedly grabbed it, staring at it in awe before she turned back to him, "thank you thank you thank you!!". She started jumping up at down before she realized that shaking wasn't the best idea for a soda. Little did Mikk know that giving Lia energy drinks was an even worse idea.

"We do get them sometimes...but it's been a while since I had one and I haven't checked out the newest flavour!", she declared happily, holding the can tightly as she hugged him another time before he suddenly grabbed her hand and broke into a sprint after that little exchange of words.

Lia knew Uncle Mikk well enough to understand the bigger picture. He had never been good with following rules and generally had a problem with authority, so he was planning on escaping, even though there was nothing to escape from. "Wait! Waiiiit", she squealed as he started running, half amused and half serious as she had to defuse this situation first. She followed for a few steps, leaving the startles guard behind, but this situation had to be defused no matter how much she sometimes enjoyed shenanigans as well.

"Don't worry. I've got the permit from my master", she dutifully showed the Jedi guard the digital document signed by the master after jogging back. The man just quickly nodded and that was enough for Lia to start darting back to her uncle, however the guard kept eying Mikk warily as the duo ran towards his ship. "Soooo, tell me. What are we up to first?", she immediately asking, catching her breath with a wide grin before another thing crossed her mind. "Did you get in trouble again?", she added gigglingly, knowing that he often got into trouble with his fascinating science.

@Nor'baal

 

[Mikkial Zapal]

Slowing down from their run, now that Lia had shown her permit and got the guards off of their case, Mikk caught his breath. Are you in trouble? he shook his head - of course, he was in trouble; why else would he be here? "Nope." he lied, slowing to a walk as they headed back toward his downed ship.

"I came to see you of course." he shrugged "Can't an Uncle come and see his favourite niece?" Mikk neglected to point out she was also his only niece. Of course, technically he had only ever come to see her when he was in trouble before - and they usually proceeded to go and get into more trouble, but hopefully, she had forgotten that.

Of course, he had come to Ithor mostly because he was looking for a specific brand of artefact, which could only be accessed by using what he affectionately called 'space magic' on the door behind which it was secured. "First, we are fixing my ship." he pointed to the lame vessel, which Glomm had seemingly done remarkably little to rectify.

He came over to greet them, a stupid grin plastered on his face.

How he moved when he was effectively a sentient thumb was too hard to explain, so Mikk did not bother to process it. Suffice it to say he was over there, and now he is over here.

"Lia, this is Fromm."

"Glomm, Sir."

"Lia, this is Glomm. He is a good friend of mine, and he broke my ship." Mikk gestured to Glomm dismissive, as the alien looked marginally more dishevelled than before. "So first we need to fix it. I understand it fell from up there," he pointed to the sky "- to down here, and therefore think the engine is probably caput." he nodded, his analysis clearly cutting edge.

 

[Liana Mason]

The situation was defused and the duo on their way back to the crashed ship. Mikk always crashed his ships, so it was no surprise she found his ship broken on the ground again, however she was also optimistic they'd fix it within a few moments. She was convinced by his answers and was happy he wasn't in trouble here yet, but as long as she was there, she was also confident she'd avoid any troubles here anyway.

As they reached the ship, a friendly alien was already greeting them which soon got introduced my Mikk. "Hey Fromm! It's nice to meet you!", however, Mikk then got corrected by Fromm - uh Glomm. "Oh, well then hi Glomm!", she corrected herself waving happily before she attentively listened to her uncle. He was a man of keen intellect, however somehow it seemed like he hadn't managed to gather many details for how.

"Okay, so you've got your spanner...have you taken a look at the engine yet?", she suggested, stemming a hand in her hip as she rubbed her chin with the other hand. She didn't know much about ships and only knew the basics about flying, but maybe they'd find some broken parts or whatever. "There are mechanics not far from here though! We could ask them as well", she added as an idea.

@Nor'baal