When I get out, I will...

[Irolia Shen]

Tatooine - Early midday

She couldn't believe the predicament she has gotten herself in. One moment she was minding her own business by her ship in the desert, near some mountains. The next she was swarmed by cutthroats and bandits, trying to take her by surprise. Parrot, her droid, fled inside the ship, watching his owner deal with the pirates. Irolia drew her two blasters and counter-fired and hit two in the chest while seeking cover behind her ship's draw-bridge door. "Parrot, hide!" Irolia yelled as she kept firing back. A sudden painfully thud against the back of her head and everything went black for her. Parrot, Irolia's droid watched from its hiding space, wanted to fly after his owner, but instead, sent out a distress signal to whoever would catch it.

Irelia woke up with a throbbing headache and, as she tried to feel her head, there was something metallic that kept her from it. Looking down at her hands, she could clearly see her wrists in chains. Her weapons were gone... great, things just couldn't get any worse, right?


@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

Usually, Vardon would find himself at a the most random locations because the light drew him there, but this time, he had just been forced to stop by on Tatooine for some maintenance to be conducted on the Solange. It was rare for the large vessel to touch down upon a planet as he often used the lighter Leger as a shuttle between the larger ship and his final destination.

The young man had hired a team to conduct the maintenance while all his own crew could simply take some time off, merely having to keep an eye on the hired hands. Vardon, however, very much enjoyed working on the ship and happily participated in the work, making sure to learn a little while working with the experienced team which he had hired. He was thanking his lucky stars for the cooling system in the grand hangar as working out in the open on a hot day like this would be unbearable to say the least.

Eventually, Joe Bethersonton picked up a distress signal with some surprisingly sensible text describing what seemed like a kidnapping. After the older man conveyed the urgent information to the Padawan, he rushed off and borrowed a quick speeder from the mechanics who fortunately didn't mind as they'd already built up a good relation with the Thyferran. It didn't take long before he was already out of sight and heading towards the location of the distress signal.

Upon arrival, Galland neither saw the ship, the pilot nor the droid. Clad in a white puffy shirt which covered his lightsaber and two vibroknives attached to his belt, he raised his hand in front of his eyes to look around for any clues. "Anyone there?" he asked loudly, letting his voice boom out over the vast dunes. It didn't take long until a hovering droid approached him, apparently the only one having escaped the ordeal with the pirates.

After some quick, yet effective communication, Vardon and Parrot mounted the speeder again and headed in the direction of the kidnappers until they eventually encountered what looked like a camp with two centrally located buildings, a ship and a few ground based vehicles. There were also a number of more primitive smaller and mid-sized buildings around the camp which laid right next to a sprawling rock formation.

Deciding to remain hidden, the padawan made sure to stay out of sight and travel to the rock formation, slowly approaching the village from an elevated position. Observing the camp for a while, the Thyferran noticed how people mostly moved in and out of the buildings and the smaller buildings while a mid-sized house near him remained relatively undisturbed. "Alright, buddy, wait here, I'll go down have a look" he said to the droid before hopping down from the rock formation.

Galland managed to make his way to the larger building without being detected prepared to open the door, thinking that he'd either find the person in need, or the clan chief. With that, he opened the door and entered the room, hoping that the occupant was the captive rather than the captor.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

When somebody finally came, 'Parrot' got really agitated, trying to explain in binary or droidspeak as some call it, that the person should follow it. Being able to hold on to stuff, thanks to it its pincers, the droid crawled onto the man's shoulder, acting as a guide. The droid followed the man up the rock formation and landed, standing like a spider. The droid looked down after the man and then over at the small collection of huts and buildings. Without a second thought, it crawled like a spider, down the rocks in an attempt to stay out of view. It had its advantages to be rather small, which meant, it could move rather unnoticed around in the outskirts of the village.

Irolia hadn't felt particularly well in her short time in the captures care. First, they took her weapons, which made quite furious, though in chains she was pretty useless. She tried to reach out to her through the force saber, feel its weight and shape in her mind. Unfortunate the damn pirates knew what she was and took her weapons from her before she could get them. Their leader wanted information and when she wouldn't talk, she got a beating and a pretty bad one at that. It didn't help, when they stopped to ask again, that she spat blood in the face of the leather.

They never got her alignment out of her, which is why they haven't done anything bad to her yet. The leader had even whispered how he would sell her off as a slave to the highest bidder. In a short moment, her red piercing eyes flared up in furious anger, sending a short burst of electrical energy as lightning out of her hands. The leader's face got caught in its path and cried out in short pain. Having his left face scourged, which earned Irolia a heavy beating. The leader left two guards in the hut to watch their force user and gave them permission to beat her, without killing her, if she tried to escape. Being half unconscious and half awake, she felt something strange, though similar to her own connection, it had a more lightness to it. lifting her head to look at the door, she saw a silhouette in the doorway. "Already told you to fuck off," she said in a voice that cracked a bit. Irolia sat on the ground with her arms over her head, chained to a thick stone pillar. Her face had a much more purple-ish colour than her usually light blue. One of her eyebrows had cracked with a thin streak of blood, running down the side of her face.

@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

The room was much darker than compared to the bright outdoors. But Vardon could clearly hear a wild scream for him to get out. His eyes soon adjusted, just in time to see the two guards and the cage containing the purple-blue female. The padawan felt quite stupid as he realized that he entered the room without a drawn lightsaber but there was little to do about it now.

The young Thyferran wanted to draw his saber, but the guard closest to the door was already swinging a vibrosword at him. Prioritizing the most immediate threat, Vardon dodged by pulling back his upper body while directing a kick to the attacking thug's torso, sending the man away to crash into a few crates. But there was no time for rest as the other guard came rushing at him with a vibrosword, apparently not having stood very far away from the entrance either.

Despite having got back on his feet, Galland's attempt at avoiding the slash by taking a quick step back failed. He was far from agile enough to succeed in completely avoiding the attack resulting in the weapon tearing through his puffy shirt and scratching his upper right arm. The padawan gritted his teeth but fought through the pain to quickly grab the opponents sword arm with his lightly damaged right arm, ensuring that the assailant wouldn't get the chance at another swing. With that, the well-built young man used his free left hand to quickly throw a heavy punch at the pirate's head, quickly knocking him out.

Vardon sighed in relief and walked over towards the door and closed it, not at all taking the first pirate into account. He then turned to the caged woman, he couldn't help but to feel pity for her as she laid in there, caged like an animal and seemed like she had been through a beating too. While the padawan was usually rather good at getting a sense of a persons alignment, this one was rather tricky. While he was slowly walking towards the cage, pondering over what he had encountered, the first thug who was sent into the crates regained full consciousness and had all intents on grabbing his blaster to shoot the padawan in the back.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

Everything felt like it happened in slow-motion when the two guards rose from their seats in the hut. There was no doubt that the stranger had the force with him, but unlike herself, he's felt like a much more calm river, than her own. She blinked a couple of times, trying to stop the blood from getting in her right eye, though proving a bit difficult chained. It looked like the stranger got the first guard down, being able to just bearly get out of the other guard's blade. Looking up at the stranger, with heavy breathing, she saw a young, rather handsome man. He had a very friendly face with some very kind blue eyes. In another life, where she hasn't gone through slavery, she would find this kind very attractive. Unfortunate, that life is long gone and any attraction is hidden behind her many mental walls.

Movement past the young man in front of her, made Irolia look and almost reacted on instinct. Using her agonizing pain and burning anger to keep herself awake, she forcefully put an invisible hand around the guard's throat. The guard dropped his blaster with a soft thud as it landed. Almost scratching his throat for air, digging his own nails in the skin as his eyes went wide, only able to deliver gurgling sounds.

It was visible that it was taking a rather heavy told on Irolia's body, a small line of blood began to run from her nose. Never the less, she kept the tight grip on the guard until he ran out of air. Laying still on the ground with his hands around his throat, open mouth and the tongue hanging down the side of the cheek. Irolia felt pain not only in her face or head, not after that, she felt pain in her whole body. That last force grip had taken a toll on her whole body. Looking back up at the young redhaired man, meeting his eyes with her own bright red.

 

[Vardon Galland]

Vardon's forhead furrowed as he saw that the woman on the floor seemed to concentrate on something. He followed her eyes and saw the first thug choking as he slid down to the floor with both hands desperately trying to relieve the pressure to his throat. Vardon noticed the blaster on the ground and realized that the captive had probably saved his life, both from the immediate threat of getting shot in the back, and from the indirect threat of the entire pirate clan crashing in on them after hearing the sound of blaster fire.

A rather bad memory flashed by in his mind as he remembered being choked by a Sith after the two had a rather long fight. There weren't that many conclusions which he could draw and after reaching out once again, now calmer than right after the battle, he could feel it - she was force sensitive and she certainly had that familiar darkness to it. But somewhere, deep inside, Vardon felt like he could see a light - perhaps she weren't truly that dark, or perhaps he was way too hopeful and convinced that the light could be found anywhere for his own good.

After the initial stun of Vardon seeming to understand the blue alien's nature, he looked back at the pirate after having looked on her for a while. It seemed as if he was beyond saving by now. Upon kneeling down, the padawan's eyes locked with the bright red eyes of the captive. He had never had such an experience before, the Pantoran's eyes had turned red because of dark side corruption. Such a corruption tended to be a disgusting sight to behold, but her eyes still seemed to posses a beauty which he found hard to describe.

A sympathetic look soon grew on his face as he could see the blood dripping from her nose and the stream running by her eyebrow. She had clearly been through a lot and the young man didn't even want to think about what punishment she had received. With that, he quickly tore off a small part of his lower left sleeve and did his best to wipe away the blood from her pan and eyebrows along with what blood had the chance to keep running down her face. The Thyferran had obviously treated wounds before as he the effeciently went on to clean the area below her nose.

The padawan looked the woman over, trying to see if she had any wounds which needed to be tended too while asking "Are you alright" he asked with a concerned voice. Galland glanced up at the ropes which tied her hands to the pole - even though he didn't want to think it, she was some kind of dark sided force users, a Sith, most likely. And before releasing her, the young man at least wanted to hear her speak; proof that she wasn't one of the more insane and bloodthirsty types which he had seen and heard about before.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

Everything was painful, even breathing screamed every kind of signals to her brain, that she needed help. She wanted to tell this man to piss off and that she didn't need his help, but even speaking proved rather difficult for the young Pantoran. When he tore some fabric of his sleeve to clean her face a bit, jerked her head back slightly. It was a weird situation she was in and didn't understand why he helped her.

Nevertheless, Irolia kept her eyes locked with the young human for a moment longer, before looking down at the ground again. Apart from Irolia's shallow breathing and Vardon's question, it was rather quiet in the hut. Finally, Irolia looked back up, locking her eyes yet again, with the young human, "why do you care...?" she asked, almost in a confused tone, eyeing the young man before her. Most of her life has been one after another not really caring about her, so the question was in a way, foreign to her.

Some muffled voices close to the hut they were situated in, thanks to the sudden sandstorm, making it rather difficult to even hear blaster fire. The door to their hut rattled violently, showing the bad shaped it was in as it tried to keep the storm from entering the building. They were actually quite lucky. Right before the storm, the leader wanted to get their young blue friend, since he has already found a buyer for her. One of the smaller Hutts, seeing the possibilities in having a force user as a slave.

But as the sandstorm came with a raging suddenty, everyone outside, had to seek cover. Sandstorms on Tatooine was notorious for their strength and speeds. They can easily throw unlucky people off their feeds and use them like ragdolls. What mostly happens, is getting people lost, if they are far from any civilization.

@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

There was something about the Pantoran's manners which confused the young man. There were so many things which pointed towards her being a Sith, someone who had to be destroyed in order to spread the light and quelch the darkness. Yet there was something about her which seemed vulnerable, almost pure and light, shining through as she asked why he would care about her. Whatever good the woman had in her did, however, have to be buried under layers and layers of darkness.

The Thyferran's blue eyes remained locked onto hers for both one and two moments as he looked down on her with empathy. The question surprised him, it was not one he was used to being asked. "What?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice as he kept scanning the blue skinned woman for injuries "Of course I care. Knowing about an injury is a good first step to treating it, right?" he noted.

Suddenly, the door started rattling violently as a sandstorm roared to life, forcing the pirates to take shelter. The two force sensitives were lucky that no one entered their hut or else another fight was bound to happen. Vardon drew his vibroknife with the left hand while considering how much of a risk he'd be putting himself in if he decided to free the Pantoran completely. Choking the air out of the thug seemed to have exhausted her, but she was still, what he presumed to be, Sith and after his encounters with their kind, he decided to remain on the safe side of things. With that, Galland cut the part of the rope which bound her hands to the pole without cutting the part which bound them together.

He looked down at her blue hands and then back up, gazing into her red eyes "You don't bite, do you?" he asked and sent her a friendly smile. Normally, he'd feel rushed at a situation like this, but the sandstorm outside changed the conditions drastically. The light did work in curious ways - the padawan who had always been a staunch believer in following the light was now locked in a room with a Sith who he had no intentions of killing or harming.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

Irolia tried to figure out what this guy's deal was. He had to have some sort of ulterior motive, he has to, why else would he actually stick his neck out for a stranger? "Why?" she asked between her shallow breathing, catching herself in looking away when he scanned her, almost like she was embarrassed. The violently shaking door to the outside made her tense body, relax a bit, knowing no one would enter. Man, she was not feeling well... She hasn't felt this much pain, since her time at the Sith Academy. Though, some of the other students have had it even worse than her.

Her eyes instantly fell on the vibroknife, following it with her eyes, preparing for the worse. When Vardon cut the part holding her bound to the pole, she felt her hands fall down before her. She looked down at her still tied wrists, "Hmph... like I would want to bite you" rolling her eyes at his little question. Irolia tried a bit to twist her wrists a bit, just to see if she could get out. Without luck. After given up, she looked past the man before her and at the violently shaking door. Seems like she was forced to stay in this hut with this goodie-too-shoe.

Irolia leaned back at the pole she had been bound to, moving her still bound hands to feel her face. Apart from her very visible deep scars on the right side of her face, she had escaped with only minor injuries. Well, maybe not fully escaped, she did have swollen areas and a cracked eyebrow.

@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

The Pantoran kept asking about why he wanted to help her. The padawan didn't know how to answer a question about something which came so natural to him. As he often did in similar situations, he turned fell back to the light "Because it will further the light." he said with a certain sense of zeal behind his words. Right after that, his attention turned to the rattling door.

***​

Vardon gave the captive a slight smile as she responded, retorting with a short "Many of your kind have wanted to bite me" His smile grew bigger as the young man revealed a more lighthearted side, standing in stark contrast to the more stoic and serious impression he usually tried to give. He felt like she might be trusted as she tested the strength of the rope and the knot which held her hands together.

She seemed to examine herself, mostly looking for injuries around the face. Galland couldn't help but to feel bad for her as he studied the injuries which her hands moved past. He holstered the vibroknife and threw glance towards the other end of the room on the opposite side of the door. A worn couch sat in the corner along with a couple of simple stools and a cheap table with two pazaak decks. He had an idea and did not want her to be capable of attacking him while he executed it.

With that, the broad-shouldered padawan scooped her up with a slight grunt as the pain from being slashed earlier could certainly be felt in his arm. He walked over to the couch without wasting too much time and tried to set the blue alien down on the couch on her back. Regardless of whether she were protesting or not, he soon sat down on his knees and ignored her words. "The light shall see us through" he mumbled, almost religiously. The young man was trying to concentrate on her wounds and channeled both the light side and the force as he made his best efforts to heal them. Despite not having practiced the technique very much or having had the opportunity to meditate, his affinity to the light side seemed to be effective in his efforts.

Vardon opened his blue eyes again while looking at the captive. Some of her minor wounds seemed to be gone, and while there were still spots of swelling, they looked smaller now. Unless interrupted, the padawan would once again bring out his vibroknife "Your hands please" he said shortly before he proceeded to cut open the rope which bound her hands together.

The young man smiled at her "I hope you're feeling better" he said. There hadn't been very long time since the ropes were cut and his knife still hovered rather close to her, fully prepared to act if she decided to attack. Vardon knew that large parts of his force reserves had been used up after the healing, but physically, he was still quite capable of defending himself.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

"The light is nothing, but a bunch of lies you tell slaves, to make them feel warm and fussy, keeping them from running" retorted Irolia with a distastefulness in her tone. The blue-skinned girl looked away by his lighthearted respond, focusing at a spot on the ground. Irolia kind of wanted to laugh at his sentence, because it could be misunderstood. But not feeling particularly great, she kept it on the inside.

Irolia wasn't a girl who often got surprised, thanks to her heightened senses, due to her being force sensitive and trained under a Mandalorian. But this time she cursed herself for not seeing it and even failed to stop the man from lifting her. Her Mandalorian mentor would laugh his ass off right now if he saw her, and her Academy teachers would punish her gravely. If looks could kill, she would have murdered this man a thousand times over. Who did he think he was?! How dare he just lift her like that!

Getting placed on the worn couch, she felt its leathery surface give away with her. She wanted to punch him, really hard for carrying her like some sort of little girl. Before she got a chance to actually do anything to him, he started to mumble religious words. A sudden lightness to her wounds came over her for a short second and when it was gone, she felt a bit better. Her smaller wound was gone and the swelling of the areas was now minor annoyance.

By requesting for her hands, she narrowed her eyes at him, "what is your game?" She asked suspiciously but slowly moved them towards the blue-eyed man. When he finally cut the robes bounding her wrists and the pieces fell to the ground, she felt such a freedom again. Feeling her bare wrists and the marks the robe had left behind. She looked from her free wrists and back up at the man before her. The sudden clash between Irolia's fist and Vardon's cheek left an electric taste in the air.

The blue-skinned sith had put her whole weight into her punch and adding some small lightning sparks to it, just to make it clear that she meant it. "That's for carrying me!" she said annoyed with an indignant tone, shaking her own hand a bit, as the impact hurt her own hand. Pulling her knees up to her chest and placing her arms around them, turning her eyes at the rattling door. "I'm going to murder. every. single. bastard. Even if I have to do it by hand..." she muttered to herself.

The rattling of the door wasn't as crazy and wild, as before. It seemed like the sandstorm might have calmed itself down, or maybe just started to move on. They could move in such an incredible speed. Though the craziest was the sheer size of these storms on Tatooine's dunes.

@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

Right after finishing his last sentence, Vardon felt the Sith's fist connect with his cheek and flinched back from the hit. His reflexes made his knife arm shoot forwards towards the Pentoran's abdomen and the sparks with which she had used to amplify the punch made the reflex that much stronger. Still, the young man managed to prevent himself from completing the action right before the knife would've cut at her. Instead, the momentum was used to bring the weapon back to himself while his free hand went up to his cheek. The padawan was a rather sturdy being and was quite capable of withstanding some punishment, but the sparks which she added did add some extra sting to it.

"I could've stabbed you!" he exclaimed with a slightly upset tone while still in relief over being able to divert his arm from guiding the knife into the Sith. The Thyferran rose to his feet and holstered his knife again whilst regaining his composure and continued "I am sorry, you looked weak at the time" His voice was stable as he expressed himself bluntly while looking down at the blue skinned woman.

The newly released captive curled up on the couch, rising from her former position and leaving a seat open for Vardon. He regarded her as she muttered about her vengeance with a concerned face. "We could just leave" he suggested with an encouraging tone. The young man sat down next to her on the couch which produced a low squeak, definitely having seen better days. "There could be innocents among them and if we just left now, we could avoid further bloodshed. I've got a speeder parked nearby." he spoke hopefully, almost as if making a plea for her to turn away from the violent path on which she was set.

After a short while, the rattling of the door stopped and not too long after that, the small village bustled to life again with people plopping out of their huts and the rowdy chatter hummed to life again. They were suddenly in more of a rush than just a few minutes earlier as there was a risk of someone stumbling into the room to find the two lounging force sensitives and the two pirate bodies on the floor.

Soon, two or three voices could be heard coming closer to the hut, and the padawan could feel how four individuals were getting closer to them - apparently one of them weren't very talkative. With that, Galland threw a concerned glance at the Sith next to him before rushing towards the door whilst preparing for a potential confrontation. At the same time, the pirate which he knocked out upon entering the room started to regain consciousness behind him.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

The blue-skinned Sith, ignored his little "upsetness" and as her anger for these pirates slowly build up. Irolia's eye to fluctuate between the last guard in the hut, regaining consciousness and the door. Feeling very deep hatred booming just beneath the skin. As the guard tried to get a bearing, still regaining conscious, felt something heavy on his throat. Irolia had risen from her seat on the couch and was now putting pressure down on the guard's throat, just enough constant pressure to keep him from screaming. The guard tried to push her foot off his throat, but everything she just pressed harder and harder down on the windpipe. A small smirk form in the side of her mouth, showing how much enjoyment she got out of the guards slow choking.

With the force of her boot, she snapped the neck of the guard. The sound of the crack the neck made filled the little hut they were in. Irolia looked satisfied down at the body of the now second dead guy. "They chose their path, and if that path is in my way, I'll kill them" replied Irolia as she grabbed the gun off of the dead guard. Inspecting the gun in her hand, she felt the weight of the weapon in her hand. Eh, she used better and was not very impressed by the weaponry of these pirates. The voices stopped just outside of the door of the hut. Irolia walked up to the other side of the doorframe and standing to the left of Vardon. "Sounds like they're distracted, good" commented the blue-skinned Sith nonchalant. Looking through some of the tiny holes, created by the years of weather hitting the sandstones most of the huts were made of.

Without giving Vardon a heads up, backed off from the wall and as soon as she did that, the door got pulled open. Not wasting seconds, the blue-skinned girl fired her first shots, hitting the girl in the head that opened the door. Another shot hit a second guy to the right in the leg. The last man by the door to the left felt a shockwave of energy hitting him like a truck and flew a good 30 feets backwards. Irolia just walked out of the hut and started to fire at the man she pushed with the force. Unfortunate he was faster than she expected and was already shouting orders and getting to safety. Multiple men and women emerged from huts, all starting to fire at Irolia and indirectly at the hut behind her. Irolia just got behind some lazy stacked crates in different heights.

@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

Standing by the door was quite the gruesome experience as his supposed ally decided to end the life of her previous guard. Vardon wanted to preserve the life of the man, but calling out to the Sith when it could be heard from the outside seemed like a thoroughly bad idea. Walking over to make her stop also seemed like a bad idea, considering that he was guarding the door through which the hostiles could come through at any moment. The padawan also considered nudging her a little with the force, just to throw her off balance, but realised that he had already spent a great deal of his reserves on mending the wounds and improving the condition of the Pentoran. He felt quite powerless as he felt the life slowly sip away from the foe which he had spared previously.

Vardon gave the woman a sad look as she approached him, both as a response to her killing the man and to her decision to kill the pirates. Suddenly, the blue skinned alien went on the offensive, making quick work of the surprised pirates who stood right outside the door. Although he regretted the loss of life which they were about to cause, the young man knew that it was necessary and left the building together with her. The guy she shot in the foot started to recover as the alien toyed with the third pirate. The padawan's lightsaber hummed to life producing a blue light around them and quickly swung at the recovering foe, granting him a quick death.

Soon, Vardon found a multitude of pirates emerging from their huts and the central buildings with weapons at the ready. This did not seem like a good time to linger for him "Common, let's go, I'll cover you, the speeder is just a few dozens of meters away!" he exclaimed, but his ally had already decided upon what to do as she kept fighting the pirates and eventually took cover behind a few crates. The padawan followed her in behind the crates "Why do you have to be so stubborn? Let's just leave this place" he said before returning his attention to the fight.

A couple of pirates wielding vibroswords soon appeared. Vardon rushed towards them, parrying both their overhead strikes with a single raised blade and made a quick counter attack which ended both of them. The Thyferran then left their cover with a strong defensive stance, making sure to draw their opponents attention to him who could deflect the bolts. He stretched out a hand towards his ally "I'll defend our retreat, let's go to the speeder" he exclaimed pleadingly as he deflected one shot after the other out in the open.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

"Screw you, I am NOT leaving without my stuff!" The Pantoran yelled in response and rose from cover to fire some quick shots at some of the pirates, who also were behind cover. There were a lot of pirates firing at them, some yelling orders or suggestions as to how they would defeat the stranger and their "prisoner". Irolia's gun, she took from the dead guard suddenly stopped firing... "Oh you got to be kidding me, these crap guns aren't worth a damn!" cursed Irolia frustrated and threw the malfunctioning gun away. Looking for a weapon, her eyes fell on one of the vibroswords, laying on the dusty ground. Kneeling down behind her crate, she reached out, concentrating on the weight of the sword, feeling its very essence.

Right out of the dead pirate's hand, the vibrosword flew into Irolia's hand, which made her smile a bit. Although a vibrosword wasn't as good as her lightsaber, it was better than nothing. Watching the Thyferran redirect and deflect blaster bolts, one after another, would have been impressive if Irolia wasn't able to do the exact same thing. A sudden beeping, a rather joyful beeping in this hellhole, came behind Irolia. Her droid, Parrot, crawled quickly into its owner's arms. "you survived Parrot!" She said smiling to her droid, forgetting for a short time Vardon, the pirates and the raging firefight.

"No shit, really? Can you find it again? Sta..." a blaster bolt past just over her head, hitting the wall behind her instead, "new plan, you stay with me and we find my stuff and then kill every single basterds her!" proclaimed the blue-skinned Sith to her droid. As the young man began to move further away from their cover, deflecting bolts after bolts of blaster fire, Irolia followed. "I told you Jedi, I'm not leaving without my stuff!" She told the Thyferran again. Then she sprinted across open ground following her small flying droid towards the biggest building in the small village. The pirate leader seemed to know, what his captive was after and ordered half of the men to fire at Irolia.

If it was luck or by the will of the force, was not imported to her, what was important, to get her stuff. A pirate with a vibroblade tried to stop her, by was parried and cut down easily. The Pantoran crashed open the biggest building's door and disappeared inside. A blue light illuminated the dark opening followed by a scream that half got drowned in the sound of blaster fire. Two more pirates ran inside to stop the Sith, but only one exited, Irolia. A piercing red illuminating colour surrounded the ignited blade, as Irolia, with her lightsaber in hand. The young woman had a murderous look in her eyes and faced the many pirates, taking cover.

 

[Vardon Galland]

Right before leaving the cover after having defeated the two sword wielding pirates, Vardon noticed how the Pentoran's blaster malfunctioned. Despite being rather certain of her answer, he let out a "That's a sign, let's go!" and then proceeded to move out of the cover defensively. Once out in the open, he noticed the droid which sent the distress signal in the corner of his eye and saw how happy its master seemed as they reunited. For a brief moment, a smile grew on the padawan's lips as he observed the woman show a more caring side. He did not, however, let his mind drift off for too long and soon returned to directing his full focus on deflecting the incoming shots.

The assumption that his new ally wouldn't come along to the speeder looked like it might be incorrect as she approached him. His hope on the blue alien changing her mind was, to his disappointment, rather short lived as she once again stated that she was set on retaking her possessions.

Suddenly, the Sith took off, heading towards a building at high speed "Hey!" he exclaimed as he saw her rush out of any cover she had, into the open field. She ran quickly while the pirates weren't too close and had poor discipline along with bad weapons which reduced the risk of anyone getting hit. Still, the padawan felt like some protection would be good at least and ran along with her, deflecting any blaster bolts coming their way.

The woman made short work of a thug standing in her way and soon made her way into the building. Vardon realised that there was only a matter of time until she would get her hands on her lightsaber and whatever else she considered to be part of her gear and consequentially turned to face the pirates who where mostly coming from the huts. The young man figured that the best way to save their lives would be to neutralize them as threats before she could get to them.

With a light jog, Galland made sure that he'd still be able to defend himself from the incoming bolts as he approached a small group of three pirates. Upon arrival, he easily slashed through their blasters and gave two of them a powerful enough punch with his free hand to knock them out and pushed the last one into a hut with the force which seemed to neutralize her as well. The Thyferran who had efficiently been using the huts and the pirates themselves as cover from fire from afar soon had another two pirates rushing at him with vibroblades and found himself forced to cut through the first, resulting in a quick death while he gave the second one a heavy punch to the head while their blades were locked.

It didn't take long at all until he could feel the dark sider leave the larger building, a fair bit away from the huts by which he stood. He grew a little concerned as he saw the red light glowing from her weapon. Kneeling down behind the hut gave Vardon a few moments of respite as the pirates wouldn't be able to hit him from their current angle. He looked back at her and pointed towards the rock formation where he had parked the speeder, hoping that she would finally agree to leave now that she had got her weapon back.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

The moment Irolia exited the hut with her stuff, she felt a great sense of relief. Her lightsaber and two blasters were just some weapons, they had great personal value to her. She could never just switch them out with something new. The remaining pirates started to flank Vardon, trying to get closer as other shot at Irolia. Deflecting shots as they came at her, she began to move at the pirates in the open. For a quick look at Vardon, she gave him a short smirk as her answer and refocused her attention at the pirates.

Some of the pirates seemed to start to panic as they were unable to get to Vardon by shooting and their shots got deflecting or redirected at them. "Chac chi buum!" One of them yelled to another pirate in an unrecognized dialect of Huttese. Almost halfway to the pirates, deflecting shots, Irolia suddenly ran backwards for her cover. A sudden rapid fire rate came from one of the pirates. A big brute held, what looked like a military grade machine gun, placed it on some boxes to function as a shooting nest. Irolia was completely pinned down and was no way in hell, able to deflect such a high rate of blaster fire. It pissed her extremely off, that she was unable to move from her cover.

Vardon didn't have it much better it seem, 'cause the pirates started throwing thermal detonators at him. The first couple of grenades was thrown too short a distance, blowing up big chunks of sand. Though the blast radius made the ground shake where Vardon was placed.

Irolia snarled at her predicament, randomly shooting with her own blaster at the pirate's general direction. She cursed the weight of the crates she used a cover, not being strong enough to push them. "Hey, Hey! You're still alive over there Jedi?" She asked loudly, trying to drown loud machine gun fire. She had a plan, but she was unable to really move from her cover as both sides of the crate were going in the open.

Having the blue Sith pinned down by machine gun fire, the rest of the surviving pirates continued to lop grenades at Vardon. Although the grenades weren't able to get all the way to him, it still shook the ground and cover he was behind. A woman in desert outfit jumped over a crate to the side of Vardon with a vibroblade in hand, slashing right at Vardon.

@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

No, apparently, they were not going to escape right now it seemed as his blue ally simply smirked and turned her attention to the pirates. The padawan let out a tired sigh and muttered "Why am I even still here?" under his breath while shaking his head slowly. He truly didn't know why he ran along with her towards the building and why he stayed afterwards while it would've been possible to just head in the other direction, letting whichever side was stronger to wipe the other out. Vardon did remember feeling some hope for the woman when they first met, perhaps the force had guided him to aid this agent of darkness just for that reason.

It was clear that the Sith had some murderous intentions as she approached the area with the huts where Vardon and most of the pirates were located and the young Thyferran felt rather lucky that she had her sights set on the pirates rather than himself. "If you don't come along now, I'm gonna leave you" he said, the joke barely detectable in his tone as he sounded more like an exhausted parent than anything else. But then, the strange Huttese dialect could be heard and his ally turned to run the other way. Soon, just as she got in behind her old cover, a stream of bolts flew a fair bit above his head towards the Pentoran.

Vardon grew concerned, since he knew that if he stood above the huts, he could become a target too, and if his ally did anything rash, she could find herself in quite a bit of trouble indeed. To make matters worse, explosions could be heard going off in the distance, destroying a tiny hut and creating a small crater in the sand next to it. The explosions kept creeping closer and the Thyferran got a good idea of what the pirates had in mind - they either wanted to blow him up or flush him out, none of which seemed like particularly desirable outcomes.

He looked around, not quite sure what to do, observing the bodies and corpses around him. Vardon realised that it was a mistake of him to destroy the pirate's blasters as they could certainly have been of use to him now. But then, little could be done about it now and pondering his mistakes could wait til after they'd got out of the battle. The padawan saw that his ally tried to communicate with him and could decipher what she was trying to say by hearing a few bits and pieces along with being able to read her lips. "Yeah, I'm still alive!" he screamed from the top of his lounges while looking back at her.

Soon, a pirate hopped over a crate, suddenly landing next to him with a slash directed to hit diagonally downwards across his torso. The assailant wore desert garb making her rather hard to spot on the approach, especially since the young man was trying to converse with the Sith through all the noise. He did however, have his lightsaber drawn and was able to put it in between himself and his opponent just as her blade connected with his left shoulder. His reaction was too slow to prevent the skin from being cut open and bleeding to start, but quick enough to prevent any major damage from being done. Their blades were locked for a few moments until the padawan managed to push the pirate's blade away.

Knowing that the other thugs would have a hard time firing at their own ally, Galland rose to his feet and stood in front of his opponent, effectively putting her between himself and the other pirates. This allowed him to see the machine gun emplacement and the grenadiers. With a slight force pull, the padawan managed to make a pirate who had just armed a grenade stumble and drop the explosive at the cost of giving his opponent the upper hand in their sword fight. The melee was still raging on but after a few swings and clashes, the padawan noticed how his opponent froze. It soon became obvious that she had been shot shot several times in the back by the machine gunner who had redirected their focus. With that, the Thyferran threw himself onto the ground to land behind the crates and the hut again.

Smoke appeared from both the dead pirate and Vardon as he laid on the ground after having a rather uncomfortable landing on one of the pirates he knocked out earlier. For a moment, it might have appeared as if he had perished but the young man soon got back up - the force had truly been with him as a bolt had hit his puffy white shirt whilst leaving the man inside unharmed. He patted the shirt several times to make sure that the thin fabric didn't catch fire while an explosion could be heard in the background as the armed grenade killed a couple of pirates. Galland then looked to his allies position to see what she had in mind, a bit worse for wear than a few moments ago.

@Raven_41

 

[Irolia Shen]

The blue-skinned girl had already used the opportunity to move position as all the focus was on Vardon. The machine gunner got a light tap on his helmet as to direct his focus at the Sith. Without losing the pressure on the trigger as the brute of a man, he started turning the machine gun after the Sith. Just right over Vardons head, he could see how to shots moved away from him as the machine gun turned. Fortunate for Irolia, she made it to the other side, where the pirates were seated. Igniting her lightsaber again, she parried and counter-sliced a charging pirate. It seems to really frustrate the surviving pirates because they started to bicker between themselves on who to fire on.

Having a multitude of huts between her and the pirates, it gave her an idea. Instead of charging head up and having a high chance of getting shot, she made her own way. Cutting a very rude looking door in the wall of the hut, she made her way, hut for hut, till she got to the last building between her and the pirates. Creeping about the building, Irolia finally got behind the pirates without them noticing her. Smiling joyously to herself, that her plan worked, seeing as they not only had split up, looking for her but still also trying to get to Vardon. The big brute rose from his machine gun nest with the machine gun in his hands. Slowly walking towards Vardon, he stopped in the middle of the open area, pointing his gun at Vardon's hiding spot.

"Buta ga chi!" The brute ordered in an unrecognized dialect of Huttese to the two other pirates, who started to flank Vardon. Just to make it even worse, the brute burst fired his machine gun over the cover, to keep him from getting up. The reminding split away, trying to find Irolia at her last position. Just as the two men would jump over the crates to Vardon, the big brute of a man screamed in pain and fell with all his with to the ground. He looked down to his lower leg, severed from the knee and when he looked up, he saw the blue Sith smirking devilish to him. The severed of the leg was completely cauterized, dropping almost no blood. Still screaming in pain at the top of his lungs, the other two pirates turned around. For the first time, they felt fear overwhelming them.

Fear can both be a powerful tool or a way to control others. This time the fear took over the two pirates, firing in a panicking fashion. It made blocking rather easy for her and quickly cut their weapons in half. The remaining 3 pirates still with guns started to fire at Irolia, who deflected shot for shot. Leaving the two scared-to-death pirate near Vardon behind and walked towards the 3 pirates. "Who oh who will I get to first?" She asked playfully, almost sweetly, like it was a game for her. The two pirates she left, looked at each other and saw the chance to run for the parked speeders, just outside of the other end of the village, Vardon came in by.

@Pyrenees

 

[Vardon Galland]

It seemed like the young man was rather fortuitous as the two pirates who just hopped over his cover to assault him suddenly turned to look the other way. The were distracted by a scream in agony from a voice which they both apparently knew and respected. He could see the fear on both of their faces and quickly rose to deal with them. But before he got that chance, the Sith had already disarmed them both and then turned to the last few thugs, leaving Vardon to contend with the two unarmed foes. Terror crept in their eyes as they looked first at the speeders, and then at the padawan between them and the vehicles. The Thyferran had seen enough death and destruction for one day "Leave the path of criminality and evil behind you" he said rather plainly before giving them a slight bow before gesturing for them to leave with the speeders in the distance. Needless to say, they both darted off without delay.

Despite wanting to stay on good terms with his new ally, the padawan's will to save lives and further the light still remained. With his ignited lightsaber at hand, Galland hopped over his cover into the open area on which Irolia stood. After jogging a few steps at first, he soon slowed down to a brisk walking pace, quickly making his was towards the Sith from behind. "We shouldn't harm anymore people than we need to, and we've harmed more than enough already!" he hollered out with a commandeering voice. The pirates gained a glimmer of hope in their eyes as he spoke and looked at the Sith with pleading eyes. The Thyferran kept his saber low in a non-combative position in his right hand whilst walking around the blue woman who was kept at the same side as his saber.

Eyeing both her and the pirates carefully, Vardon finally let out a "Drop your weapons and run" with a sharp voice. The survivors feared for their lives and did as the padawan commanded. They were far too slow and tired from the fight to run very quickly and would still be within the Sith's grasp, but the young man kept circling her until he stood between the two parties "Let's just leave them in peace" he said, hoping that she would show an ounce of mercy.

@Raven_41