The Serpent's Scales

[Bardan Kex]

Things had been going so well too, Bardan really didn't know he had that kinda flying skill in him. Then they'd been hit, engines out his companion had yelled. The ship's display agreed, they were in serious trouble. With the increasing difficulty of flying he'd managed to smack into a smaller rock, he swore, loudly. Soon the barrages of laser fire ended at least they'd taken the two fighters out if they were gonna go down.


Ral called out asking about his crash landings. He turned, shooting his friend a very concerned look. "You really dont remember how we ended up on Onderon do you?"

He didn't wait for a response as he fastened his own restraints and put on his helmet, ignoring the discomfort it caused him. Assessing the situation he shut off the rapidly overheating engine pod, they were already in a rapid descent thanks to the gravity well and it was highly likely they'd need it to attempt to slow down. If we don't shake apart..

They plummeted through the upper atmosphere and he wrestled with the controls, applying the air brakes as much as he could with out snapping them off. It was helping, a little. He fought the control yoke, he needed to get their nose up it would give them more air resistance. The landing repulsors! he thought, fighting off that familiar feeling worming its way into his mind.

"Now isn't the time." he'd mutter, sometimes he could really hate how the force worked. He briefly fired the nose repulsors and felt the craft shift slightly. "Oh come on you son of a bitch! Get your nose up!"

He activated the repulsors again, longer this time and the nose came up slowing them but not enough. He didn't need the instrument panel to know they were still falling to fast, but he watched them anyway as he worked quickly, setting the repulsors to fire at maxium, and prepping their remaining engine, hoping changing their momentum would help. He watched their altitude plummet, it was now or never.

The anti-gravitic tech strained against their downward fall, rocking the ship, buckling plates on the outter hull. The interior would have been chaos, shaking violently, it took most of what Bardan had just to maintain his grip on the controls, yet alone control of the craft. He fired their remaining engine, it too on maximum out put. It changed their momentum but only just and the ground was racing towards them.

The ship hit a sand dune, skipping over the top of it carried by the last leg of life in their engine until the ship slammed hard into the ground. Bardan opened his eyes slowly, half expecting to be dead. The interior was a mess, loose items were strewn about and emergency alarms were blaring. He was sore and probably had broken a rib or two on his restraints even through his armor. He offered silent thanks to what ever designer that had had the thought to make these seats able to survive something like this. Then again, the Mando designer probably had come up with it as a means of aggressive boarding.

"You alive?" he called out to Ral as he undid his restraints. He fell from his chair as he suddenly realized why the world looked so strange, they'd ended up on the ship's back. He landed with a hard thud and as he sat up was clipped with a datapad he'd tucked into his seat after fiddling with it in hyperspace. He laughed beside himself, as he clipped it to his belt and pushed himself up. "Careful getting down."

 

[Kori Buor]

The impact had slammed Ral into the top of his restraints, and he was sure that had his neck and shoulder armor hadn't been there he would be suffering from two broken collarbones. Groaning loudly as the ship finally came to a rest between two sand dunes, the Mand'alor looked around the crew compartment of the transport. Something felt odd, but the crash-landing made it rather difficult to focus.

Hearing his friend ask if he was alive, Ral smiled from behind his helmet. "Yeah, at least I think so. Pretty sure I have all my parts and pieces still." He answered patting himself down. Looking over at his old friend, Ral watched as he unclipped himself from his seat and dropped to the floor. Raising an eyebrow, the Mandalorian quickly realized what had happened. "Oh, that will explain why everything feels funny."

Gripping onto the edge of his chair, Ral hit the release for his restraints, and thankfully, his own bionic arm managed to hold on to the seat to prevent him from crashing to the ground. Letting go, he dropped to the "floor" of the ship. "Well, we'll need to find a new ride, but at least we're on a Dominion world, and for the most part the Geonosians like the work we've been setting them to. There shouldn't be too many things we need to worry about here. We just need to find a hive cluster and make our way to the location where our tech is."

Leading Bardan out of the crash, it was more difficult than he anticipated, the space battle and crash had really done a number on the Mandalorian craft, though Ral had to give it to the designers, it wasn't in as bad of a condition one might have expected it to be. Forcing open the rear airlock, Ral could see the fading light of dusk and the dark red sands spread out before him. The trail of their crash had scattered debris and sand all over the area, even cutting like a knife over the top of one of the dunes which created the small valley they were in. "Looks like it's almost night. At least it won't be hot. Let's get moving." Bringing up a holodisplay of the world, he zoomed in onto their location. "There's a hive cluster about six hours away. You ready for a walk?"

 

[GABA]

The path of debris made it easy for the Jedi to follow, she ran as fast as she could through the sad and regretted not taking her own shuttle over. The ship had cut through a sand dune, reshaping it as it made a new home in the valley below.

Her heart pounded in her throat as she stopped to catch her breath, her eyes wildly scanning for any sign of movement from the crash site, "No. No. No..." she gasped and started running down, well, sliding mostly and staining her leggings and tunic red like the sand. Thoughts ran just as a fast as her feet that carried her, showing her the worst and reminding her of her failures. The pain in her chest from her heart thumping was met with a new pain, the potential loss she was about to observe and her eyes started to water.

Reaching out, she begun to look where her eyes couldn't, however, she caught site of the first figure and suddenly she felt very confused. She knew that blue armor from anywhere.

"Mand'alor?" she questioned in between breaths, she was dead certain she felt Bardan. A thought passed through taunting her of how she may have forgotten how Bardan's signature felt and now she was confusing it with someone else. Maja shook her head and placed her hands on her knees, struggling to catch her breath as a panic begun to set in, "What-" she breathed, "How?" The Echani questioned throwing out her hand indicating the ship wreckage.

"I swear," she sucked in air, "I felt someone else-" And then she saw the second Mandalorian figure and rolled her eyes, "Oh, ok, just one of your maid protectors." she said waving them off as she felt a twinge of disappointment; she was starting to believe her assumption was correct, her senses were off, and quickly the Jedi pushed aside her thoughts. "Are you hurt?" she asked feeling her heart slow just a little, but enough for her to say something without losing her breath. She pulled out a hair tie, pulling back her white hair from her face as she approached Ral, "I have a camp not too far from here."

 

[Bardan Kex]

Ral was fine, that was good. As much as he would have hated to lose his friend he would have hated even more to have had to tell Moira what had happened. He nodded as he spoke, his friend having a good point that at least they had gone down on a dominion world. Still though, it being a Dominion planet hadn't prevented them from finding themselves in this position in the first place. He stooped to grab a survival pack that had been thrown loose in the crash as the Mandalore guided him to the rear of the ship. Checking it as the other man stepped out into the sand and started scanning, a six hour walk wouldn't be too bad, manageable even with the broken ribs. "Yeah that sounds doable."

He froze as he examined the pack, feeling the force, someone in the force, reaching out trying to feel for him. She was here, near by. Then he heard the voice and for a moment thought it was in his head as it was clearly her but she addressed Ral. He pushed himself up and walked around to where Ral was, holding his injured chest. He froze dead in his tracks as he saw her, Maja. He just stared, confused as she brushed him off as one of Ral's maids in a familiar tone. They knew one another? He must have hit his head in the crash. Shaking his head, he attempted to clear what was obviously just his mind messing with him, but she was still there, mentioning a camp. Then it struck him as to why she might not have immediately recognized him, House Kryze's colors.

"Maja?" he asked, finally breaking free of the initial shock of seeing her again, but still rooted firmly in place. He could distinctly feel her there but still couldn't believe it.

 

[Kori Buor]

Hearing the shifting of sand as though someone was approaching at speed, Ral drew his blaster pistol and aimed it in the direction he heard the noise from. He saw a form with white hair and robes stained red shuffling towards them, and suddenly a familiar voice addressed him by his title. Behind his helmet his eyebrows cocked and his grip on his pistol relaxed. Looking at Bardan as he addressed the Echani Jedi, Ral chuckled and looked back towards the small girl. "Maja? Do you two know each other? What in the blazes are you doing here? Do you have some kind of weird compulsion to hang out on Mandalorian worlds?"

Grunting, Ral rolled his eyes and placed his pistol in its holster. "I'm fine, Maja. We're both fine. Maybe you two wanna explain yourselves? Might be nice before we make any decisions on where to go now... while I would like to get to a camp and maybe take a speeder to our destination, I'd to know what's going on with the two of you." While Ral was no Jedi, he could see by their reactions that something was up, like this was some big joke he had missed out on.

 

[GABA]

If Maja's jaw wasn't connected, it would have fallen through the sands and out the other side of Geonosis when she heard the Mandalorian speak her name.

"Yeah...we do..." she was in shock and disbelief as now she lost her doubts, it was really Bardan. She stepped towards him, her eyes scanning him from head to toe in his new colors. The Echani's face scrunched up in bewilderment as the wheels in her mind begun to turn as to why he was was with Mandalore.

"Your armor..." she looked at Ral and then back at Bardan feeling her heart sink. He went back to the Mandalorians, she shook her head, forcing a smile, "You're ok though!" she said quickly trying to cover her personal disappointment and then embraced Bardan, "I feared the worst when I watched your ship come down." she said breaking quickly from him.

"C'mon, my camp is over by those clay spires." she said pointing over the dune, showing no interest in enlightening Ral about how they know one another.

 

[Bardan Kex]

"It's a long story..." he replied around the same moment Maja spoke up to answer Ral's demand that they explain what was going on with them, there was more than a little hint of regret in his tone. His voice caught in his throat though before he could say anything further, besides there wasn't anything going on with them. Anymore at least.

He could feel her shock, her confusion and her disappointment when she'd realized what his change in colors meant. It echoed through the force and the last part struck him exceptionally hard. She threw her arms around him and he grimaced slightly, feeling the pressure against his ribs. He barely had time to return the gesture before she was already pulling away. "Hardly our first missadventure. Besides any crash you can walk away from right?"

She continued to avoid the subject as she pointed the direction of her camp, that was like her. He glanced toward his friend. "Lets just say I lied to Moira at the party..."

 

[Kori Buor]

With his eyebrows still cocked, Ral looked back and forth between his two companions. The Mandalorian might not have been a Force user, but he could see by the tension that had formed almost out of thin air in a matter of seconds, that those two had a history together, and it was certainly more than a simple encounter like Ral had with Maja. He was sure it was a long story, and he was guessing by the way neither had wanted to continue the topic that it ended poorly, or at least, it wasn't something that brought joyful memories to mind. "Riiiight..."

Watching with interest as Maja gave Bardan an embrace, a mostly one-sided embrace. Is that what one looks like when they get told they had a kid they don't know about? Ral thought as he watched Bardan's rather stunned response, or perhaps, lack of. Chuckling at Bardan's dry optimism about still being alive, Ral nodded. "Very true, my friend. Well, I'm glad I don't have to do introductions at least... Maja, can you take us to your camp? We're supposed to get to a Geonosian hive cluster and pick up some tech."

As they started to walk, Ral glanced at his old friend when he mentioned that he lied to Moira. It took Ral a few moments to process what he meant, trying to recall what Bardan had said when Ral himself already had a few drinks in him. Then it clicked. He had said that to Talia after she had asked him why he wasn't married or something like that. "Wait... she's 'the boss's daughter?' NO WAY! Here I thought you were getting frisky with some random tramp, and here I find out the tramp is a Jedi! HA! I didn't know you still had it in you, Kex, would have thought you wouldn't go near a Jetii with a ten foot pole after everything you've been through!"

 

[GABA]

Maja had already started back up the sand dune, leading the way back to her camp. She purposely kept ahead of the two Mandalorians, attempting to collect her own thoughts and regain her composure within Bardan's presence. They had not seen nor spoken with one another in the past six months. At first, she was glad she broke it off, knowing it was a hard choice, but the better one. Though as the days turned into weeks and finally into months, there was an emptiness and regret she felt as she begun to realize how hypocritical she was being not only to Bardan but to herself also.

Bardan had come clean about his involvement with the first attack on Tython which lead to the destruction of the temple. Though she was not present at the time of its happening, she certainly had learned about the destruction and about the Jedi who were behind it. She could understand it was his opportunity to seek revenge but the thought of knowing that he was there and no real justice was served against those involved, Maja had felt betrayed and deceived. The shock of it was too overwhelming.

The Echani glanced over her shoulder catching Bard's violet armor in her peripheral before focusing on the campsite. It wasn't a far walk, and Maja thought it felt faster returning to the camp than it was leaving when she chased after their ship. Though it could be also it was mostly all downhill. The sun had finally set and the air in the desert dropped drastically. Maja shivered as she dropped her bag down at the foot of the ramp to her shuttle and started to work on a campfire.

"If you need any bacta patches, there are some on the ship." she said adjusting the the kindling and added more until a good burn light the site.

 

[Bardan Kex]

Bardan did his best not to focus on Maja as she lead the way, looking anywhere but at her unless he needed to to catch his bearings. That turned out to work better in theory than practice.

His jaw had tightened as Ral connected the dots, and began vocalizing it. Teetch clentched together hard as Ral called her a tramp and he could feel anger welling up. "She's not a tramp." he snapped back in the quietest stern tone he could manage. Knowing it would only egg Ral on further, speeding the turning of gears up until he came to the inevitable assumption. He shouldn't have said anything to begin with.

"We don't... never mind. It just worked out that way. " he said, mostly in response to the Manda'lor's genuine surprise that the someone he had met was a Jedi, especially due to his past. For a time, near two and a half years, the past hadn't mattered they were both happy. Then the past came back to haunt him, and the relationship had crumbled. Tython, things always seemed to come back to Tython, how he hated that place. Should have kept my goddamned mouth shut. he thought, simultaneously thinking about every thing he's said since she'd showed up at the crash, and the day a healer had broken his heart. The past six months had been not his best, and upon his return to Mandalore a short time ago keeping up a front had been difficult. Well, I guess I don't need to worry about that anymore...

They'd reached the camp surprisingly quick and rather than feeling relieved he felt a sort of dread wash over him. Sitting in a camp with his best friend and the woman that still held his heart, the Mand'alor and a Jedi Knight. "Great..." he muttered, going onto the ship to find the bacta patches for his ribs.

 

[Kori Buor]

"Ohohoho! Somebody is defensive, you must have really had feelings for her!" Ral chortled loudly as they continued to walk. As Kex managed to get something out, the Mand'alor raised an eyebrow at him, sniggering in the process. "Well, you're not together now I see. So, what happen, Kex? Was everything peaches and cream until you opened your mouth and started to speak? What did I tell you about that?"

Ral was merely punking Kex, of course. He knew his friend could be quite charming when he wanted to be, but the fact that he had a fling with this little Jedi that ended up, and he felt that this was only fair after all the grief Bardan had given him over Moira. Perhaps the Mandalorian was enjoying this little revelation a little too much, but he didn't care, this was pure gold.

Luckily, Maja's camp wasn't too far away, and the three managed to get there quickly, and Manda be praised, she had a shuttle there. That made things easy on them. It was a small, spartan little camp; something he'd expect from a Jedi on her own. Though, that did bring up a rather important question in Ral's mind. "No, I'm fine, thanks, Bardan might need one, he looked a little more beat up from the crash. Anyways, what exactly are you doing here, Maja? And don't give me that Force crap."

 

[GABA]

Maja sat back once the fire was steady, she watched Barden pass her to search for the first aid kit and Ral questioned her about why she was present on Geonosis. She opened her mouth and then paused, knowing she probably shouldn't tell him how nosy he is being.

Outstretching her palm behind her, she called her bag to her, and pulled out a couple vials of pink goop.

"I'm collecting Athropoda morillismorm." she said holding up a vial to the campfire's light, "There's a family on Ryloth who is struggling with keeping a scaly rash under control. Its genetic, but this will help. When synthesized, it can create a vaccine that can keep the symptoms to a minimum for up to a year." she smiled, seeming happier with her thoughts not lingering back to Bardan, "They'll have to keep receiving the vaccine every year, but it should make their lives easier and not having to worry about being ostracized." explained the Jedi as she wrapped each glass vial in cloth before setting them back in her bag.

"This is the only place in the galaxy where we can find it, so Mand'alore Vizsla, it is definitely not the Force this time that has lead me here...just coincidence." closing the flap on her bag, she smiled, and then it turned into a small chuckle, "But, there may be some Masters who say the Force had this all planned, we were all destined to be where we are at, at this time." However, the Jedi's smile faded as her destiny joke turned into inner questioning. She glanced over her shoulder and frowned.

"He's taking a long time, I'm going to go make sure he found the kit ok." she said jumping up and walked onto the ship. Setting her bag down on a storage crate, Maja found Bard with the first aid kit.

"Are you doing ok?" she asked, approaching him from behind. She of course meant patching up, but it could be easily interpreted on how he was doing mentally.

 

[Bardan Kex]

"You could say that..." he replied to the jab about how he must have really had feelings for her. He was trying not to rise to further baiting from his friend, he knew it was meant to be the playful ribbing he'd been the victim of years before regarding Moira. It's why he let it slide, cooling down. If anyone understood what was going on in his head it would have been Ral.


Entering the Jedi shuttle he'd begin removing his armor. It was slow going as the shock from the crash was near fully worn off and the pain in his ribs grew more pronounced. Leaving the armor in a pile he'd find the medkit and sit down on a stack of crates looking away from the cargo ramp, letting out a long pained sigh as he unzipped his flight suit to allow access to his ribcage. Staring into the kit his head would hang, he didn't know what was worse, the pain in his heart or the ribs. He sat there for sometime, head in his hands feeling the emotions swirl.

He'd felt her approach, coming up behind him, he shouldn't have been surprised to hear her voice but he was. He sat upright, probably a little too quickly as he grimaced. A flood of responses to her question flowed through his mind, caught up in the emotional tempest he wasn't equipped to handle, he wanted to snap at her, to get mad. He took a breath, forcing it down using techniques he'd learned long ago for aggression control. It was barely working.

"No..." he finally said sounding defeated. He tried to look at her, to make the answer more about the injury, she'd see through it he knew she would, but he tried anyway holding out the patch. "You know I was never good at this."

 

[Kori Buor]

With a snort, Ral let out an amused laugh at what Maja told him she was doing on Geonosis. It was noble, he wouldn't knock her for that, but the whole concept seemed rather silly to him. Still, he wouldn't say anything too negative. "That sounds like some bug fungus. Are you scraping it off the asses of the bugs that live here? I'm surprised anything of importance could grow on this dustbowl. Well, at least you're doing something useful. Not sure I can say the same for some of your friends."

When Maja dismissed her being there as chance, Ral rolled his eyes, and even scoffing when she mentioned how some of the older masters might have concluded that the will of the Force had been what caused them all to have come together. "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it. Though, I am glad to see a familiar face here, one that is friendlier than the ones that shot us down."

Waving Maja off when she said she was going to go check up on Bard, Ral snickered, "Yeah, right. Go on then... Go figure out whatever's going on with the two of you already. Friggin' Kex and his taste in women..."

 

[GABA]

Maja approached him and smirked, taking the bacta patch she sat on the crate next to him, examining the intense bruising along his rib cage. "Yeah, you were never good at this." she replied, her smirk disappeared as she examined his side, carefully not to touch it. "A patch isn't going to work on broken ribs..." she said, "External injuries, yes...you have more internal...typical of a crash..." Maja rested her palm on the center of his chest and was silent for a moment, listening as the Force told her exactly what was wrong with him. She knew she sounded very matter-of-fact, but it helped her focus long enough for a diagnosis.

"Three broken ribs, lungs are fine..." she whispered, listening to the whispers of the Force, "Lots of inflammation, sprains... some whiplash and..." she gently turned his head to look into his blue eyes, noting his pupil dilation, "Minor concussion..." she nodded and dug in the kit, pulling a couple bacta auto-injectors. She rubbed a disinfectant swab just below his rib cage, cleaning the area.

"I can feel how mad you are at me." she said, hitting his side with the auto-injector; she held it there for a few seconds, letting the medicine enter his body, "You can be mad. I know I was mad...and fearful, hurt..." she lifted the pen and then wiped a spot on his lower neck and hit him with the second auto-injector.

"I am still hurting, I am still angry, but more so at myself. You may have said those things on the whim of your anger, but you're right, I am a hypocrite and a murderer. I have thought about it a lot over the past months." she hovered her palm just above his center, the warmth of the Force leaving her finger tips as she looked to pull some of his physical pain away due to his injuries as well as to listen for anything else concerning. "A Jedi should know forgiveness, I should know forgiveness regardless of our mistakes, big or small, but I see now where the Order lacks, where I lack." The Echani paused, letting her words sink for a moment.

"And now I've hurt you in my own ignorance." she then took his hand into her own and begun to wrap his sprained wrist. Maja was silent, she didn't look at him. When she was done, she gently raised his hand while she bowed her head until the tops of his fingers rested against her forehead, presenting Bardan with an Echani forgiveness stance. "Ni ceta." the Mandalorian words fell softly from her lips. She then gently tapped his hand against her heart and returned them back to her forehead, and continued to speak quietly in his Mandalorian tongue, "/I hold no honor if I continue to hurt the one I love./"

 

[Bardan Kex]

As she sat beside him he instinctively wanted to slide further away, as counter productive as that would have been to her assisting him with his injuries. She examined him as clinically as ever, even when they had been together the moment it came to an injury she was all business, all focus. Strangely he'd found that as endearing as most people found it off putting. He flinched as he felt her palm on his bare chest, recoiling for a moment before she set to listening to the force. His eyes locked with hers as she continued her assesment, he found it difficult to focus on them but she mentioned a concussion. That made sense.

She spoke, commenting on his anger on how she was mad, how she was hurt. He grunted as she jabbed him with both auto-injectors, it somewhat served to prevent a response. He listened as she spoke, afraid to interrupt as she brought up her own self anger and the spiteful words he'd said to her as he walked out. "At least I know who I am." he had yelled, "You? You're a killer that hides behind being a healer."

He'd regretted saying it almost immediately, a pointed attack at an issue he knew wore at her. He went to speak but she continued, and he held his tongue, this time listening to her. She took his hand and wrapped his sprained wrist as she continued, before lowering her head and pressing his fingers to it. He knew this gesture, during their time together they'd taught each other more than a few things about their respective cultures. She guided his hand to her heart and back to her forehead; I'm sorry my love. He barely heard the start of the apology in Mando'a as he processed. His hand slipping away from her forehead as he stared at her in stunned silence for several long moments.

"I'm sorry I hurt you, I truly never intended that." he'd say, his own apology as lacking, but not un-meaningful, as ever. He brought his hand up and pressed his fingers to her heart. "Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum." He'd say moving his hand up from her heart to hold her cheek, guiding her gaze to match his he'd lean in and kiss her.

 

[Kori Buor]

Watching the fire as it consumed its fuel source, Ral thought on everything that had led up to that point. Life was definitely interesting and convoluted if he ended up being with the woman he loved since he was a boy after nearly dying and losing his memory, and his best friend ended falling for a Jedi, the same people who had left him for dead. The Mandalorian loved the thought of karma coming back to bite his friend after all the grief and jabs he had given Ral over his love for Moira. The role reversal was almost too ironic.

After a few minutes, Ral got a little bored, and the man decided to go see what they were talking about. The man chuckled quietly at the thought of walking in on them kissing or having some intimate moment. Getting to hold that over Bardan would be perfect. Sneaking up in his Mandalorian armor, he was certain he looked like a ridiculous sight, but he didn't care, not like anyone was watching him at that moment. Stopping just before he reached the ramp of the shuttle, he poked his head around the shuttle door to see Bardan and Maja speaking to each other. It took him a moment to realize what was being said, but his ears quickly recognized the sound of Mando'a being spoken. An apology, a really emphatic one, and then two declarations of love.

The Mand'alor had to hold back a loud snort as he peeked in and saw the two a little too close and a little too friendly. Seeing Bardan place his hand on Maja's cheek and lean in for a kiss, Ral couldn't resist anymore. "D'awwwwww! Aren't you two just adorable! You really do love her, don't you Kex? Manda man, you must have lost it!"

 

[GABA]

A weight lifted from her chest as Bardan accepted her apology. He returned his love for her, sealing it with a kiss. To taste him again filled her with warmth and joy, only to have it all sucked out by the Mandalore who decided to jeer at the couple.

Maja growled from the back of throat, but pulled Bardan in for one more kiss as she used her free hand to give Ral a rather rude gesture. She had six months of missing him, she wasn't going to let some boyish punkster Mandalore ruin it for her now. However, a new doubt begun to burn in her mind with him being back with the Mandalorians and her being a Jedi. She pulled away the hint of concern could be read in her eyes, but the Echani shook her head, knowing it may need to wait for some other time.

She held his palm to her heart, not needing to whisper any words and just letting him feel, "I should probably finish getting you patched up." she smiled and released Bardan's hand, grabbing a couple patches to place on his leg.

"So who by the Forces will decided to shoot you guys down? I thought this was your territory?" she asked.

 

[Bardan Kex]

He felt a similar weight removed as the pent up anger and mixed emotions were washed away in that moment. Right up until he'd hear Ral, jeering him in a manner that only a friend who'd suffered similar at the other's hand could manage. His temper flared, and he'd began to pull away from Maja.

"Ra..." was all he managed to growl before Maja had pulled him into another kiss both for their own enjoyment and it seemed to spite the Manda'lor. His free hand gripped a nearby piece of something and chucked it at his friend. He saw the faintest hint of concern for something in her eyes, he had an assumption as to what it could be based on one part of their previous fight. Jedi and Mandalorians. Her being a Jedi had never bothered him before, it wouldn't bother him now. They could have that talk later. She took his hand, placing it to her heart and he grinned before looking briefly back to Ral. "Yes Tu'lips, I do really love her." that felt alot less strange to admit to his friend than he would have imagined.

She released his hand, and commenting on finishing the patch job, "Might be a good idea." He shrugged as she asked who shot them down, he had no clue but neither one of them seemed to have any shortage of enemies.

 

[Kori Buor]

Ral hooted loudly as the two started to growl before kissing each other again, Maja flipping him the bird in the process. "Oh man, Talia is definitely going to hear about this! She's going to lose it! Hey, Kex, man, you gotta tell me what Jedi cooties taste like!" He fell back onto his ass as he started laughing hysterically. Even as Bardan admitted to loving the Echani Jedi, Ral kept laughing, "Yeah, I can tell! That's some snogging you've got going on right there!" The man started patting the ground enthusiastically as he laughed.

Rolling over, Ral picked himself up and fumbled his way inside the shuttle. "Man, this ship is small." Looking at Bardan and Maja, folded his arms across his chest. "You two done yet? We're on a bit of a schedule, and whoever those mooks were that attacked us might come searching for our crash. I'd like to not be in the same hemisphere when they do if we can help it."