We Speak for the Trees

[Grug]

Ithor was a non-violent, beautiful, and wondrous planet. Grug hated it. The Gamorrean was violent, ugly, smelly, and dumb. He stood for everything this planet tried to avoid. These people needed the Jedi to help them with their issues as they were often too peace loving to do much about it themselves. Grug had decided to lead the expedition and show the Ithorians how the Jedi could be of value to them. Though he knew, and had been told, to keep the violence and eating to a minimum. That just made him upset. Eating and smashing was all he loved.

"Jubba, we go save trees?" He said, feeling a bit confused by the idea. "Can smash bads here yes?"

Grug and company had been sent to a portion of the Mother Forest where these semi-sentient trees lived. Apparently they were shiny and valuable to outsiders who came to poach their leafs and wood. Locals were really upset about it and the trees apparently were crying for help. That was pretty weird but Grug was willing to help. A local mystic directed them to the site where poachers had been coming and it would likely not take them long to find the band of loggers.

The Gamorrean Jedi wore his usual set up of grimy robes and duelist armor. He also had his lightsaber, rifle, and vibro-choppa as was standard. These poachers would not know what hit them when team Grubba and friend showed up.

"This am place? Ok. We are search." He said to the local mystic before leading the way into the forest. "...Hi trees."

@Xorism @Painus

 

[Jubba the Mutt]

Jubba loved Ithor and its trees.

The Jedi had been called to protect the trees from evil poachers who took advantage of the fact that the trees couldn't move like Jubba could. It was a terrible crime that they had arrived to stop but first they would need to find them and try to get them to move on.

Perhaps they were simply unaware that the trees didn't like being cut down and would stop when the trio asked them nicely. Jubba knew Grug would be very much interested in using his choppa to negotiate but they had been specifically asked to try and avoid upsetting the trees which Jubba liked best.

"No ams Mash breads after mission. First see trees." The unusual pair had a companion with them they had not been with previously but it seemed only natural that the heroicc pair would attract fans and sidekicks. Fiona would probably be the best negotiator out of them if the poachers spoke basic as it was not their primary tongue.

However, if the discussion broke out into a brawl then Grug would probably become the lead negotiator as he was most fluent in choppa.

Together they journeyed with the mystic in search of the poached eggs.

@Cazar @Painus

 

[Fiona MacBheathain]

Ithor.

A peaceful agriworld, one of lush and verdant jungles teeming with all manner of life. It was a peaceful place one could retreat to and hide from the dangers of the galaxy. Fiona considered coming her following the Battle of Prakith, but elected to wander the Outer Rim instead, before she made her way to Spintir to atone. So much had happened since her return. Spintir was lost to the Sith in an attack that came from nowhere. She was not sure there was even a fight to defend it – the Order simply did not have either the resources or heart to commit to its defense. That is what bothered Fiona the most; that is why she was here, on Ithor. These people called for their aid and, unlike the rest of the Order, Fiona was not one to sit idly by while the galaxy suffered. These poachers had to be punished for harming the planet and its denizens.

She just wished she was sent alongside two less…. Unsavory Jedi.

By the Force, the smell alone was enough to give her pause. A Gamorrean and a Hutt; alone, they were unconventional, but together? The combination was downright unheard-of in the greater galaxy. She was not even sure how the Hutt actually fought with his lightsaber. The thought made her shudder. Gross.

Still, they were pleasant enough, if a bit dim, company, once you got past the broken Basic and fetid stench. Negotiations were sure to be weird, if they managed to get the poachers to talk. That much was certain. She would probably have to be the team negotiator for this one. She considered herself well-spoken and eloquent in most scenarios, anyways. She had a way with words. She looked at the two as they exchanged words, then spoke up in her characteristic highland Alderaanian accent.

”Urr ye twa talkin' abit faed again? We're 'aur tae stoap cabre bandits, nae sloch sammiches.”

That would get the message across.

The trio and their mystic – who, sadly, was horribly, horribly confused – made it to a small grove of the trees. Stumps were scattered about in random fashion, with gouges of the earth leading away from the site like horrid, unhealed scars. The Ithorian bade them farewell and hurried away, leaving the three to their lonesome. Fiona looked around and spotted the grisly trails where the felled trees had been dragged. ”Thay hae tae be claise. Keek howfur thay dragged th' trees this wey?” She motioned with her hand towards the jungle, then looked at the other two.

”If we follaw thae trails, ah bit thay wull tak' us reit tae th' bastairds.”

She was clad in her usual expeditionary attire and duelist guards, lightsaber swinging loosely with her hips. On her thigh was her pistol, and strapped across the small of her back was her dirk. She had the rest of her typical gear, as well, including the grenades.

With a beckoning gesture, she set off along the gouges in the earth in search of their poacher prey.

@Cazar @Xorism

 

[Grug]

Grug stared at Fiona for a moment or two while she spoke. He listened as hard as he could but had no idea what she was saying. This was a language the Gamorrean Jedi had never studied in his entire life. She at least seemed to motion and move in a way he could follow. Clearly this woman would not be their lead negotiator if they had to speak to the poachers at all. Jubba always spoke best for Grug. Jubba would be his speaker again today if needed.

"Guess follow." He grunted quietly towards Jubba as they followed the scar in the dirt.

It truly did not take long for the small group to reach the poachers. Grug spotted them and tried to take count of their firepower. There seemed to only be four armed guards with the group. Seems they did not expect much resistance on Ithor. It would normally be a fair bet to make. The Gamorrean Jedi almost laughed as he stepped into their camp.

"Hi!" He bellowed loudly, a rifle in his hands pointing at a random guard. "Can talk? Have lunch?"

@Xorism @Painus

 

[Jubba the Mutt]

Jubba understood that Fiona had spoken but after that, he drew a blank. She simply spoke too quickly and in an accent that he had never heard before but with time perhaps he could grasp it enough to follow along. Jubba simply nodded and followed behind them dutifully enjoying the short journey through nature while they could. The world seemed so peaceful while the group tracked and followed the culprits.

Jubba hoped that the trees would be alright, the thought of someone willingly disturbing the natural peace of things on this world was heartbreaking enough without thinking about what they might have to do to ensure that it would. Jubba hoped that they could solve this without resorting to violence and that perhaps the poachers could be persuaded to move on just by their appearance alone.

Only time would tell, as Jubba waved to the four poachers in front of them.

@Cazar @Painus

 

[Fiona MacBheathain]

Her words seemed to have an effect, Fiona decided, when she looked back and saw the two motley Jedi following. The journey itself was relatively short; it was only a few hundred meters at the most along the trail. The trio of Jedi walked in relative silence for most of it, the sounds of jungle life masking their approach. This planet was rich with life; it would have been peaceful to walk the sacred surface, were it not for such dire circumstances. These poachers truly were scum out to make a quick buck, and it was this desire for illicit money that made people dumb and foolhardy.

The team approached the logging camp, if it could be called that. It was hastily-built and mostly consisted of fallen logs stacked in various places. Grug went in first, brazenly stepping into the camp, announcing their arrival. Immediately, the four rifles were raised and trained on him. Fiona and Jubba trailed behind, walking into the camp with their comrade. Grug had his own rifle raised and pointed at one of the four guards, so Fiona drew her own pistol, snapping her lightsaber into her opposite hand simultaneously through the Force.

The weapon ignited in an instant, the blue blade contrasting with the dark green of the jungle. For a few tense moments, they – the poachers, their guards, and the Jedi – all looked at each other, contemplating Grug’s lunch invite. Fiona spoke up next, her accent a little more harsh than Grug’s, ”We're 'ere tae halt tae yer crimes. Pit yer guns doon.”

She really hoped nobody would do anything stupid.

@Cazar @Xorism

 

[Grug]

It was a miracle of sorts that the guards did not freak out at the intrusion and open fire. Fiona's lightsaber, Jubba's presence, or Grug's rifle might have intimidated them enough. The guards glanced to their leaders who in turn seemed to slowly come to their senses as well. Even if it was not obvious that these were Jedi, it was a hard group to deny based on appearances alone. One of the men stepped forward with his hands in the air in a half surrender of sorts. He was older and seemed the least afraid of the Jedi crew.

"We did not bring lunch, but we can talk, sure." He seemed to be trying to buy time to figure out a plan until Fiona spoke up as well. "Crimes? Guns?"

Despite questioning back, he did motion for the guards to lower their weapons as well. Grug kept his rifle out and pointed it at this leader as he spoke. The Gamorrean did not trust him or these people yet. They were criminals, criminals who did not even bring food. That was the worst kind. Now his focus was on food and Grug forgot what was going on for a moment.

"No food? No... food?" He had to contain the anger before grunting out another answer. "First cut trees, make thems cry, now no food for workers or us? Criminals!"

Grug looked over and saw some of the chopped trees. He could feel the pain and hear the faint telepathic cries still coming from them and the surrounding forest. This was a crime that was hard to ignore. There had to be a punishment for not providing food while poaching. The poaching was a crime too but not nearly as severe. A moment passed before Grug could make himself speak again.

"Stop cut trees. Never return Ithor. Bye." He grunted slowly, his finger sliding to the trigger as a warning that he was ready to make them leave if he had to do so.

@Xorism @Painus

 

[Jubba the Mutt]

Grug was a master of words but it was not what he said that startled the poached eggs into lowering their weapons before the Jedi's finest. Jubba noticed the lack of wildlife in the area, these bad men had scared away all that could move and worse, those who could not would suffer a most undesirable fate.

Grug seemed to take it personally when they mentioned not bringing food, but Jubba always came prepared for dire situations like this and tapped his friend on the shoulder. "Grug ok. Jubba git food." while indicating that Jubba was storing food for the group within his thick fat rolls for later. Jubba had numerous foods for the various palates that the trio might have although Jubba's favorite was the hummus coated thick blue vein cheese.

He couldn't remember if he had put hummus on both sides or if it was something else sticking it to him but that wasn't that important just yet.

Then Jubba remembered they were here for something important which he spent a few minutes in silence staring at the poachers before remembering the group was here to stop the other group from doing something bad. Jubba wasn't happy with their presence here but as a nonviolent Hutt, he would try to use his lifelong diplomatic skills to use first.

"What Grug said."

@Cazar @Painus

 

[Fiona MacBheathain]

Fiona kept her cool, inwardly repeating the mantras of the Jedi Code. She appreciated the fact that none of the guards decided that this was the time and place for a fight. The last thing she needed was to hack through waves of mostly-unarmed poachers, especially when a peaceful resolution was on the table. She continued to brandish her lightsaber, more for the intimidation value of it, but also in case any of the degenerates around them got trigger-happy.

The forest was unnervingly silent. The gentle whisper of the wind was the only sound that pervaded the logging camp, aside from their speech. For a few tense moments, everyone stared at everyone – a classic Corellian standoff – until an older man approached, motioning for the armed men to relax. At his command, they reluctantly lowered their rifles, though Fiona kept her lightsaber up. Grug seemed to do the same, levelling his rifle at the apparent leader of the poachers, though his reasoning seemed to be more related to food than the mission at hand.

Grug demanded they leave Ithor; a reasonable request. Fiona gave a curt nod, staring daggers at the armed men around them, her lightsaber humming gently. The older man spoke up, "Now, what’s the matter here? We’re just cutting some trees. Nobody’s getting hurt." He flashed a slight grin, looking around at the poaching camp before speaking up again, "Besides. There’s only three of you, and plenty of us. You think we’ve only got these four with weapons?”

The man rotated slightly, still keeping his hands up, and showed off the blaster pistol tucked into the waistband of his pants. "Everyone’s packing, big guy. What can you three do against all of us?”

Fiona glanced around the camp. During their discussion, most of the poachers had made their way to the group alongside the four guards. In total, there were about nine or ten of them, though only the four had anything bigger than a pistol. She pointed the tip of her lightsaber at the leader of the group. With a calm voice, she looked him in his eyes and said, ”Dornt dae anythin' dumb. Ye ever seen a jedi in action? Yoo'll need mair than peashooters.”

She lowered her lightsaber and kept the blade closer to her body now in a defensive posture, continuing, ”Lae th' planit. We dornt caur whaur ye goh.”

@Cazar @Xorism

 

[Grug]

The man seemed to think the trees were not feeling the pains. Grug would not have known either until he heard it through the force. His rifle never left the view of the old man. For a moment everyone seemed to lower their weapons and the Jedi were slowly talking them down. One good push and they'd certainly leave the planet. He could feel it was close. Grug could sense they were still not confident in leaving quite yet so he wanted to say a little bit more.

"Hurt trees and break Ithor law. Both am bad. You ams bads." Grug grunted, glancing to his friends. "Jedi ams best fight. Not stand chance. Smart give up now."

Grug watched as the old man made a poor choice. His hand that had shown the pistol now reached for it and tried to fire a quick shot off at Grug. The Gamorrean didn't want to slaughter the poor guy but there was little else to do in his current stance. He waited for the last moment to be certain the old poacher was dedicated to starting this fight.

"This is our livelihood! We'd all die before leaving!" He shouted but a few in the group did not seem as zealous in their looks.

"Kay." Grug said as he fired his rifle twice to take out the old man, letting the bolt hit his armor in the arm.

@Xorism @Painus

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[Jubba the Mutt]

Jubba couldn't believe what was happening before his two very large and dilated eyes. The Jedi had come to the planet peacefully, hoping to save the day peacefully and without violence and yet it seemed that at an impasse, violence was the first instinct for both the old man and Grug. Jubba wasn't having any of it and ignited his lightsaver before feeling the deep terrors that had been brewing within him for hours, start to rumble due to the stress.

"Wait! not ams shoot." Jubba tried to save the day and prevent a fight from continuing but his body had other ideas. As Jubba shouted, the rawest most obscene burp burst forth from his deep within bowels, at least from the stench one could be forgiven from thinking that was its origin. The noxious flumes being guided unconsciously by the force shot across the gap between the groups and intoxicated them.

The horrid gasses and smell caused the group to immediately tear up and feel ill, it wouldn't stop them from continuing to fight but they would now be terribly distracted until it cleared.

Jubba was mortified at the unintended outburst, Grug had tried to teach him how to use the force in a natural way and it seemed his lessons were taking to Jubba like melted butter on a womp rat.

@Cazar @Painus

Spoiler

Sorry, ams slow