Private A Helping Hand

[Tess]

He asked if she was sure and she gave a shrug. "Yeah. I mean, what else are we going to do with him? Just leave him sitting out here to gather dust?" she asked him casually before going about her business. As she was sitting in the cockpit she looked up to see him approaching. She held out a hand to take the food packet and sat back, popping one of the treats into her mouth. She shrugged and swallowed, looking over the stuff. "I think so. worth a shot. I know the boards they use in droids are sometimes interchangeable. I'm just going on a limb here to see if we can get lucky. If not, we're going to have to wait until we get back in town." she explained to him before taking another treat from the packet.

She looked up at him and sat back into the weathered seat. "So?" she perked up. "You want us to strip this baby, try our luck and see what's left? Or should we rather rig a sleigh or something and wait until we get back into the city to fix him up?" she looked up at the sun shining over them and then to the city in the distance. They were not that far out and they still had a lot of time to go back. But they also had a rather serious mission at hand and only so much daylight to get to the temple. She looked back to Cas as she waited to see what his input was.

An idea suddenly came to her as she waited for his answer. "What if..." she looked around the starfighter. "...we rig up the repulsors and tow the starfighter to the temple? I don't think I'll be of much help in the temple so I might as well sit outside and work on BB-5 while you do the Jedi joojoo thing. Do you think we can do that?" she suggested, though she wasn't sure how much he knew about starfighter mechanics and parts. She was simply trying to think of a solution to the problem they were now stuck with.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Cas' eyes focused on Tess as she explained to him how the circuit boards used in droids were interchangeable. In all honesty, he didn't know that. He nodded along nonetheless, once she gave him the two options to simply scrap what was left of his starfighter or getting the appropriate parts back at the capital - the Padawan knew it would make more sense to go with the former.

Parting his lips to give her his answer, another idea came to her mind. Full of ideas that one, in more ways than one. Leaning on the hull, Cas nodded and smirked - her most recent idea was the best one. "Y'know, if you're too scared to see a crystal cave - I'd understand." he teased before getting to work and helping her out with rigging up the repulsors and towing the starfighter.

When that was over with, Cas climbed onto the seat of the speeder bike and revved its repulsorlift engine - pressing his foot down on the accelerator, the Padawan propelled the bike forward slightly in order to test the capability of the towed starfighter. It was a roaring success and a huge smile formed on his face, turning to Tess who was a few feet away from it all, he gave her a joyous thumbs up; "You're a genius, babe!" he called out before clasping his cybernetic hand to his mouth - he'd never called her that before... awkward.

Once the two had collected everything back up - Cas would place BB-5 back inside the astromech socket before patting its domed head "I'll see you soon, pal." he whispered, gently resting his forehead on the dome. With that, Cas returned to the speeder bike and blasted off toward the site of his defeat with the starfighter in tow. He was in slightly better spirits now thanks to Tess - he was with her, he was going to get his droid back, and now he was going to attain a new Kyber crystal.

Arriving on the outside of the ancient ruins where Tess had found him, he slowed the speeder to a halt before getting off. Cas noticed things that weren't there before such as speeder bikes, camping equipment, food and a put-out campfire in the centre. They weren't alone. Hesitant, he looked back at at Tess - still reeling from the trauma of what transpired weeks ago, he lacked the confidence in his abilities he used to have, that and he was without a lightsaber. But after giving his cybernetic arm a look over, he clenched his metallic fist in determination. The Padawan had the Force as his ally, the most powerful one could ask for.

Tess

 

[Tess]

She smirked at his teasing, narrowing her eyes and leaning forward. "The only thing I'm scared about on this planet is your fashion sense." she quipped before getting out to work on the ship. Though it was more a case of her standing by and helping where Cas asked, given she knew about as much of what goes on in a starfighter than a rock. Though soon enough the fighter was floating above the ground and was hooked up to the speeder. Cas gave the first tug with the bike and Tess was somewhat relieved that it worked.

Cas seemed to be really glad as well, given the nickname he called out. Tess chuckled to herself and flashed a wink. "Anything for you, hot stuff." she teased right back as she approached him and got back on the speeder. Once they were all set, her arms wrapped around him again and she got ready for the rest of the trip. Though what they saw upon reaching the temple wasn't what either of them suspected. Cas glanced at her and she returned the look of confusion before getting off the speeder and reaching into her backpack to pull out her second pistol as well as its modifications. After assembling it she had a full-size rifle in her hands and was quietly approaching the end of the rock formation. She carefully looked around and peaked the corners, making sure they weren't being watched. However she knew that was likely the case given the lack of people.

Without a word, Tess pressed forward into the camping area with her blaster at the ready. She knelt beside the campfire and looked it over. "Doused. Not too long before we got here." she explained to Cas, standing back up. So far it looked deserted but Tess knew better. The entrance of the temple was still wide open and there was too many stuff lying around for the camp to be deserted. "Do you sense anything?" she asked him quietly, still looking around them at the rock formations, temple entrance and anywhere else someone might be hiding. This was definitely off.

She shouldered her rifle and, hunched over, stepped closer to the entrance. She flicked the safety off and got ready to shoot at anything inside.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Cas closed his eyes in reaction to Tess' question. Reaching out with the Force, he attempted sense something... anything, but with his connection still unreliable he struggled. "I... can't." he replied, shame in his voice, he would however attempt to do so again. Shutting his eyes and relaxing his mind and body, this time he would sense it - it wasn't what he had aimed for but he sensed something very faint, radiating the same signature as a Kyber crystal. There were definitely crystals inside these ruins.

The Padawan and the spy would then approach the ruins' entrance, Tess had her rifle at the ready while Cas hoped the Force was actually with him. The inside of the temple was what he had expected, nearly everything was decayed and broken, rubble was scattered across the ground, the wall and floor colours had faded into a sickly green. However, what Cas did not expect was the layout and appearance of the temple ruins' interior - the Kiffar half-expected it to look similar to that of a Jedi Temple of old or Silver Rest but instead, it looked as if, in the past, the temple merged with Lothal's nature and had less of a focus on modernity (at the time) unlike the other Temples. In hindsight, he guessed it would have Jedi on Lothal more in-tune with the Force.

Trailing deeper inside the dim temple, Cas felt his boot hit something on the floor. Cas parted his lips before getting down on one knee to examine it, although the light inside was dim, he could make out what it was - "It's a Loth-wolf." he placed his palm on its body and felt for its cause of death. Confirming his suspicions he felt a blaster wound, still warm, Cas turned his head to look at Tess "Whoever's in here has blasters." clenching his fist, Cas had a feeling he knew what they were here for. To loot this temple.

Putting his anger and frustration aside, he stood up and continued to wander the temple, Cas addressed the pale eyed spy "Do you have anything on you that can scan the area for life forms?" he asked, neglecting to inform her that he and the Force were on difficult terms right now. Despite this, he could feel the Kyber crystals' signature growing with each step he took.

Tess

 

[Tess]

Pushing into the temple, the dark interior was soon overwhelming them. But there was still enough light coming in for them to see fine enough. She stopped, though, when she saw a massive creature lying on the ground. "The hell...?" she muttered as she approached it. Cas knelt down and inspected it, coming to a conclusion as to what it was and what happened. "Loth-wolf?" she spoke, looking it over. "It's huge!" she whispered to him, rather transfixed on the dead creature in front of them. She snapped back to reality when she heard his question, answering with a shake of her head. "Nothing. Didn't exactly expect to run into anyone in an abandoned temple." she answered quietly as she looked at him. "Besides, usually you are on top of that department." she explained softly before remembering the problem. She wanted to apologize but this was not the right time at all.

She decided to press on, her eyes quickly adjusting to the dim light and darting around as she inspected the temple. Deeper into the temple several portable lanterns and floodlights were set up to light markings on the wall or the passages. While the floodlights sported Sith branding from the previous visitors, the lanterns were simple generics. Another clue of what they were dealing with was revealed in the form of some crates and tools lying around. Tess read the labels and inspected them before turning to Cas. "Tomb raiders, plunderers. Probably looking for some Jedi valuables to steal." she whispered to him.

In the distance echoes of voices could be heard. As they got closer to the voices they could make out what they were saying. "I'm tellin' ya! Withou' a Jedi or somethin' we won't find any of those fancy crystals!" one of the voices said. "And I'm telling you that we don't need a karking Jedi! These temples usually got more than enough good stuff that'll make a fortune! Besides, those crystals are only useful in a laser sword or something. Otherwise we might as well be selling these rocks to people!" another explained. "Now shut up and start looking for stuff that look expensive. This place is giving me the creeps. It feels like we've had eyes on us ever since we dropped that mutt upstairs." he continued. Whether by coincidence or not. a howling wind blew through the place. It was followed by a hearty laugh by a third voice. "Man you need to lay off the spice! I think the last time people came to see this place before that Sith troop was probably thousands of years ago." he teased his friend who didn't take too kindly. "Kark off." he fired back.

Tess was dead still and dead silent, fixated on the voices ahead of them. Once they fell quiet or talked about how to proceed, she finally moved again to look at Cas. She said nothing but she did give him a glance and indicated to the loose rocks on the ground, telling him to watch his step. With that, Tess silently moved forward, readying her rifle.

Ahead of them was a lit entrance to a massive lobby, with pillars around the center holding the high stone ceiling up. A natural light was flooding in from a perfect hole in the center of the ceiling leading to the top of the temple. The three voices were seen looking over markings and inspecting a few old skeletons sitting in a meditative position against the pillars. One of them was holding a lightsaber hilt in his hand, but it seemed to be broken. He spammed the ignition, but nothing happened. "You think these might be worth anything broken? Or should we go find the old man, see if he can fix them once we're done here?" one asked another who tossed aside one of the skeletons. "Yeah, he might know how to fix them. Why do you think they're all sitting like this? Some kind of cult sacrifice or something?"

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Cas let out a frustrated sigh once Tess revealed she didn't have anything related to what he had asked for, he wasn't frustrated at her but at the circumstances. What she said next caught him off guard slightly but he didn't show it with his facial expression or body language, he simply averted his gaze and didn't comment on it.

Tess pressed on, taking the lead and with a shrug, Cas began to follow closely behind as they wandered deeper - they would both notice the light equipment left behind both the Sith and the current intruders. After close examination, Tess confirmed Cas' suspicions that this was indeed the work of looters or, tomb raiders, in her words. The Padawan was close to responding before the sounds of whispers would echo through the ghostly halls of the ruins, from what he could hear were three distinctive voices, discussing and bickering over what to scavenge and what not to.

Cas stopped in place, closing his eyes and pressing his lips tightly together, growing increasingly frustrated at what he was hearing - the complete disrespect reminded him of the Sith desecrating these ruins as well and anger continued to swell within him. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and looked at Tess who directed his gaze at the rocks on the ground, while her implication was to be careful, the loose rocks gave him an idea. Extended his hand at a low angle, he established a connection with the Force and telekinetically lifted three of the loose rocks and orbited them around him.

While difficult due to the circumstances, he concentrated on keeping the rocks afloat. Coming toward the lit entrance, Cas stood close to it but still remained in the dark. Locking eyes with Tess, he nodded at her, signalling that he was about to engage and impulsively, the Kiffar rushed in and called out "It's called meditation, you moron." before raising his hand in a gesture similar to being handed something, Cas would use the Force to hurl the rocks orbiting around him at the three men's torsos. Letting out a strained sigh, one of the main exclaimed "Jedi?! Kill 'im, kill 'im!" before opening fire on him, followed by the two others. "Kark it all!" one of them exclaimed, tossing the broken down lightsaber away.

Lunging into cover behind one of the temple's pillars. He cursed at himself that maybe rushing in was a bad day, as if he hadn't even learned his lesson from the last time he did that. Regardless the damage was done. If he could get the raiders to lower their guard, he could use the Force to pull their blasters away from them.

Tess

 

[Tess]

His glance at her was all she needed to know what he was planning. She broke off to one side opposite him, flanking the three tomb raiders while Cas moved straight at them. He did a good job of distracting them, allowing Tess to get in behind one of them. A shot went off and a hole blasted through one's chest as Tess fired at him, before pushing the body aside and firing at another. She managed to kill the second one as well before having to duck behind cover as the third fired at her.

With his attention now on her, Tess fired her rifle blindly while sprinting in behind a pillar. Dust and debris burst around her as the blaster bolts collided with the pillar. "Kark you, Jedi!" he shouted as he fired away, totally ignoring Cas as he tried to shoot Tess. All she could do was remain hidden as her cover started to get smaller. She knew Cas would take care of him, though. This was about as easy a shot as he was going to get on the guy. She was also thankful she was as thin as she was, otherwise she would have been in trouble right now. Once Cas took care of the last guy, she stepped out from her cover and looked around at them. "That takes care of that." she commented, looking up at him. "You okay?" she asked him as she approached him. "The hand still holding up?" she asked him gently. She gave him a light bump on the shoulder before looking around the room. "Stunning architecture, especially for a place as old as this." she spoke before glancing down at the skeletons. One was still sitting in its meditative position. She knelt down in front of it and looked it over, making sure not to touch it.

"Why are these Jedi all dead in this position?" she asked him, glancing up at him as she stood up. "They get trapped down here or something?" she asked him as she rested her rifle against a pillar. She looked at a doorway with a stone sealing it, a bit confused as to what to do now. "...What now?" she asked him, glancing at him again.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

The sound of blaster fire receded slightly - Cas could only hear the sound of one blaster being shot off. Peeking around the pillar he had used for cover, he saw two smoking bodies on the floor and a smirk befell his face - that was definitely the work of one gorgeous spy. The remaining looter had his attention focused on Tess as he frantically sprayed down at the pillar he assumed she was hiding behind.

Thanks to Tess, he no longer needed to fall back on his Option B of using the Force to disarm them and throw away their blaster rifles. Cas had the perfect opportunity to surprise the looter, with about 5 metres between them Cas sprinted out of cover, the sound of blaster bolts silenced his footsteps which in turn allowed the Padawan to get the drop on the final looter. Curling his cybernetic fingers into a fist, he raised his left arm and called out "One way ticket to Dreamland incoming!" before throwing a knockout left hook square on his jaw as he turned around to meet Cas.

The looter motionlessly dropped to the ground and practically began snoring. Tess then emerged from her cover spot and asked him if he was okay "Yeah. You?" he responded, returning the concern. Taking her light bump on the shoulder positively, he chuckled, rotating his cybernetic wrist "See for yourseld." he quipped, trailing his gaze at the man he had just knocked out with his new arm. With that over with, Cas wandered over to the damaged lightsaber hilt that was thrown away at the start of the battle.

Half-listening to Tess, he knelt down and picked up the discarded hilt and looked it over, rotating it in his hand. Still staring at it, he answered the spy's question "This temple was abandoned after the Purge 800 years ago. When the Order was rebuilt, we kind of just... left it the way it was. To respect the dead and all that. I think we're in the meditation room." unsure if his last sentence was correct and even more unsure of why the deceased Jedi were in meditative positions. Standing up, he clipped the hilt to his belt, turned to her and pointed at a nearby door frame "This should lead into the subterranean caverns. I can sense the crystals in there." Cas then made his way toward the door frame, entering through it and trailed through the tunnels.

After what felt like ten minutes or so, the Kyber crystals' energy only grew stronger before finally, the two arrived at a Kyber crystal formation inside the caverns. They were beautiful and unrefined. A smile crept on the Padawan's face - he forgot how it felt to be among a Kyber crystal source. Cas wandered if the Force nexus this temple was built on had any relation to the Kyber crystal growth in these caverns. Closing his eyes, he listened out for the 'music' that the crystal he was meant for emanated, a few moments would pass before he heard a faint tune that called to him and once he opened his eyes he saw a crystal glistening at him in the distance.

Approaching it, Cas picked a small piece off of a colourless crystal formation and upon contact, the crystal that had chosen him turned a bright yellow colour. His brow furrowed and his lip parted slightly in confusion, Cas had expected it to change to cyan like his first crystal...

Tess

 

[Tess]

Tess smirked at his comment on his arm then glanced down at it and the knocked out guy. "Not bad." she quipped, giving him a wink. With the two alone in the temple now, Cas could sate her curiosity. She was rather surprised by Cas when he managed to get all that info by simply picking up an old lightsaber. "You got all that from simply holding something?" she asked him with a shocked blink. "I wish I could do that. Would make my job a lot easier." she commented. She looked at the broken lightsaber as he clipped it to his belt before speaking up again. "Isn't it broken or something?" she asked him as she gestured to the weapon. She was tempted to take the other one as well, but she doubted Cas would be happy about that.

They finally got moving, but Tess stopped by the doorway. She looked around a little then back to Cas. "You sure you want me to come along?" she asked him. With a shrug she blinked and fell in behind him. "Alright then." she muttered as she followed him deeper into the temple.

She kept quiet through the whole search. Initially it was for him to concentrate, but as the smile grew on his face it became more for him to enjoy the moment. She couldn't see or hear anything, but Cas seemed to be able to experience something that was making him very happy. She smiled as she noticed him seeing something and stuck close as he dashed off. They finally reached a stone formation and Cas plucked a crystal from it. She leaned over his shoulder to get a batter look, but was surprised when she noticed the look of confusion on his face. She wasn't sure if it was a Jedi thing or if he simply wanted a blue crystal again. She thought for a second before smiling and giving him a nudge. "Yellow, huh? I think it might look better on you than the blue one you had." she commented, looking at it again. She tugged at his sleeve and nodded to the way they came back from. "Come on, let's go. It's freezing down here." she spoke as she started to walk back again.

She stopped again and looked back to Cas. "Got a fancy new arm, a very nice new lightsaber. Your droid's gonna be beeping away again in no time...I feel like today's an absolute win." she spoke as she smiled at him. A mischievous glimmer appeared in her eye as she slid an arm around him to hold him close. "I packed some drinks in for us if we feel like celebrating tonight." she muttered to him seductively.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

"What?" he asked in response to Tess' question before shaking his head and laughing in earnest "No, no I don't have that skill if that's what you're wondering. I mean, yeah, a lot of Kiffar have it... but I was one of the unlucky ones." he shrugged, not willing to unpack the baggage he had with his own family "I just remembered reading about this temple in the archives." Cas would confirm. As Cas approached the doorway, Tess questioned the lightsaber's functionality - Cas responded with a simple but confident "For now." and left it at that.

********
​

Cas gave Tess a light smile at her supportive nature "Thanks. It conflicts with my qukuuf though, huh?" he quipped pointing to the X-shaped tattoo on the left side of his face. Before leaving though, Cas stared at the yellow crystal and pondered on why it would change colour - the Padawan wondered if it were at all possible that, due to the trauma he had been through recently - his nature had completely changed, resulting in a different coloured crystal? For now, all he would have was theories until he could get answers from someone with more experience.

He turned to look back at Tess, who was doing the same thing - her positivity was more than appreciated, he smiled at her softly before pocketing the crystal and returning to her. There, she held him close which Cas returned by placing an arm over her shoulder - what she muttered to him next turned Cas' innocent smile into a mischievous smirk. Cas' hand then slowly slid down to Tess' behind where he would lightly squeeze it, leaning over, he whispered into her ear in a sultry manner "Less drinks, more celebrating." he commanded seductively.

Although he had some things to work through regarding the Force, right now, Cas felt like he had gotten his groove back.

Tess