A Short Hop

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

Asmus once again watched the decision play out on the scarred face of the human that addressed them. A Jedi was more than he’d bargained for, but perhaps their skills were exaggerated. Kairon spoke up to try and prompt the decision.

“Perhaps we’re not worth the trouble?” Kairon called. “We have a few crates of spares from a job we lost, perhaps you’d consider taking those and letting us be on our way?”

As he spoke, Asmus continued to appraise what was before them. Few looked to Joza, perhaps thinking that if they kept their eyes away she might not single them out for attention with the lightsabre she carried.

The autoblaster would fire from right to left. Those three on the left would be eviscerated. Those in the middle would be busy diving for cover. It was the ones on the left Asmus decided to worry about. He fixed his attention on two standing close together.

“I think…” the pirate started. “I’d rather take all the cargo and let you go.”

“Can’t do that,” Kairon responded sharply. “Reconsider.”

“No.”

“Then I guess the situation is irrevocable.” Kairon called. That last word was the signal to go. In hindsight, Asmus thought he probably should have told Joza that…

The autoblaster dropped from its hidden panel in the Quintessence and started to fire. A stream of blaster bolts lashing across the deck. Asmus drew his pistol and fired two quick shots. He caught both pirates in the chest before they could raise their weapons. Before he could fire again and finish the job he was forced to fire at a third pirate to force him into cover whilst he found a small container to dive behind to hide.

“Joza, Asmus, Jarrick! Head for engineering and take out their tractor beams. We’ll head for the bridge and disable the navcomputer!”Kairon shouted as he fired his heavy scatterblaster.

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza did her best to maintain a battle-ready posture while the two men exchanged tense worse. Though, she tried not to appear too hostile because that might be bad, so she did her best to look as coolly confident and maintained as possible. How did Masters remain calm enough to think decisively in times like this? Maybe they’d just learned to control their fear and anxiety, but Joza wouldn’t know much about that, green as she was. The best thing she could probably do was defer to Kairon and follow orders.

Something about Kairon’s tone in the last word caused Joza to alarm, and though she wouldn’t yet recognize it she had sensed the Force’s warning. The Padawan would ignite her saber perhaps prematurely, but only by a hair’s breadth before the autoblaster descended and began firing rounds. The sudden disturbance caused Joza to jump, her mind racing for a moment before remembering the chip that Asmus had given to her.

Even with the knowledge that she wouldn’t be shot by friendly fire, the young Jedi still had their opponents to worry about. In quick jerking motions that would have been far smoother if she was practicing with a remote, Joza blocked a pair of shots before skittering to the side, looking for an opening between the pirates. Puffing her cheeks in an almost childish manner, she darted forward, saber jabbing out in a sharp motion to catch the nearest pirate in the chest. The burly man gasped in surprise, a gurgled cry rising from his throat as she yanked the weapon out from him. Both the smell of burned flesh and the act of harming another sentient so savagely caused her to become nauseated, but she fought it down for the time being. It was one thing when fighting vicious Sith and masked troopers, but this felt…different. Not exactly right. Joza couldn’t help but think that there was something she was supposed to do that would have defused the situation and avoided this. Violence was supposed to be her very last resort, right?

Clamping down on any moral discussion in her mind, the young Zeltron would whip her body around, ducking ungracefully to dodge a shot aimed at her back. She nearly stumbled in the process, but didn’t have a few moments to right herself. Instead, she used her momentum to lunge forward, delivering a wide diagonal slash that would sear through the barrel of the gun. Another arching slash would follow up, slicing through the foe with unsettling ease. Swallowing the bile in the back of her throat down, Joza looked around frantically to take stock of Asmus and Jarrick.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

Whilst the half-zeltron might have felt that her movements were ungainly, Asmus was wide eyed on appreciation of her skill. She'd actually plucked blaster bolts put of the air and dodged another one before it was even fired at her back.

Realising that it wasn't actually a good idea to be watching the Jedi whilst he was under fire, Asmus returned to the task at hand. He knew this old model of freighter well enough to head towards engineering.

"That way Joza!" he called. He rolled around the crate he was behind and snapped off two quick shots towards an exit. The men through that opening ducked back out of sight, but a blast door started to close.

"Quick!" he shouted, firing sporadically to keep them pinned.

 

[Joza Perl]

Turning on her heel at the sound of Asmus’ voice, Joza’s eyes moved rapidly before finally locking onto the scoundrel, somewhat in relief. Thankfully he seemed to have an idea of where they should head and she quickly scrambled after him, awkwardly dodging and blocking what she could with her blade. Probably should get my hands on one of those. She mused as he fired off a pair of shots. She’d seen some of the other Alliance Jedi wield blasters and rifles in battle, and at first she thought that it was “un-Jedi” like. Then she realized that it was probably necessary.

No! Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the blast door as began to close, not keen on having what seemed to be their only route cut off. Think Joza, think. You’re a Jedi! You have to do something! Her face a mask of concentration, the pink girl would reach out with her free hand, attempting to force the door open with some space wizardry. Her arm trembled as she let out a breath…no luck, they door continued smoothly on its path, and Joza felt somewhat slighted by the piece of machinery. But the gap was narrowing, and something had to be done.

Lunging forward, the Zeltron would wedge herself between the door and the wall, raising her leg to press a foot against the door and push at it in vain. Grunting, she jammed her saber into the locking mechanism causing a brief shower of sparks before the door began to shudder, finally coming to a stop. Exhaling dramatically, Joza let her head hang before straightening up and then tucking down into a roll away from the door. Had she been unsuccessful, she would have been Jedi mincemeat. “Is this a normal Tuesday for you?” She called to Asmus, a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

Oh, but she looks good hot and bothered...for kark's sake, this is not the time! went the little internal discussion as Asmus turned towards Joza.

"Thought you were getting squashed for a...moment then..." he replied, taking a pause to line up a shot. It missed, but he hit the lip of the crate the pirate had been hiding behind, sending him back into cover. A firefight was as much about keeping the other side suppressed as finishing them off. He really had felt a sudden surge of worry when Joza had wedged herself in the door. Should have known better, he supposed, a Jedi would always have a plan.

"And no, with my winning personality, I don't normally get shot at by pirates this much."

"Because with that personality the crew is normally trying to silence him instead," [member="Jarrick"] interjected. The soldier had a rather no nonsense approach to fighting, but had apparently found the time to pick on Asmus again.

Jarrick lined up his rifle very carefully. As that pirate peeked out, he nearly had his head removed by it. "Move on!" the soldier called.

Waving for Joza, Asmus jogged towards the door that was sealed open. He pressed his shoulder next to the door and then rolled around, bringing his pistol up. Two blaster bolts skimmed just over his shoulder.

"Two pirates down the far end of the corridor now!"

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza wasn’t entirely sure why she’d thrust herself between the door as it was closing, as she was pretty certain that she couldn’t fend off the blast door one strength alone. She did it probably because it was the most dramatic thing to do—again, probably not the best trait in a young Jedi. Either way, it would be best to go over her mistakes later when there were less bloodthirsty pirates around, if possible.

The Padawan couldn’t help but snicker at Jarrick’s remark, but didn’t have time to come up with a clever barb herself. Instead, she took the cue to follow Asmus shortly after he’d rolled to the other side of the door, ducking down closer to the ground as she moved inside.

Instinctivley, she brought up her saber in a traditional Soresu orbit as she heard the shots go off, pupils flaring as her mind scrambled to settle herself into the situation. She’d come to learn better later that often in battle, you didn’t have time to center yourself all mystic-like. Mostly it was just quick thinking and instinct.

“Cover me!” She called to Asmus, stalking forward in a crouched manner. Perhaps if she had more Force capabilities and was creative enough she’d manage to do something at a distance, but for now she was all meditation and lightsabers.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

Asmus rounded the corner and fired wildly. It at least forced the two pirates back, if not putting them out if sight entirely. Not in his wildest dreams had Asmus expected to fight alongside an actual Jedi. There were only a few thousand of them in a Galaxy of trillions. Swinging a sword around in the middle of a blaster fire seemed a sure fire way to get yourself killed to him, but she was actually swatting blaster bolts out of the air. That should have been impossible.

As Joza advanced Asmus was forced to keep his fire focussed on pinning the pirate on the left or risk putting a bolt in the Zeltron's back. That would have been a crime against both the Jedi Order and Sullust dance clubs.

Keeping his rifle up, Jarrick arrived and took the other side of the door. He kept his head out of sight for now. "Asmus, when she's moved up and dealt with those two, keep me covered as I follow."

"Got it!" Asmus replied. The pirate on the left tried to get a clean shot at Joza and Asmus reacted quickly. His shot skimmed the pirate, leaving a flash of orange across his shoulder as it eviscerated armour and skin.

 

[Joza Perl]

It occurred to Joza that for the first time, she was engaging in combat without her fellow Jedi. While this unnerved the young woman, it didn’t cause her to become as anxious as she expected—probably due to the adrenaline pumping through her system. Still, a lump formed in her throat with the knowledge that she had no fellow force-wielders to watch her back. During her skirmishes with the Sith, there’d always been other apprentices and at least Master Voidstalker present.

Of course, that didn’t mean that she was in poor company. The crew was likely more experienced at defending themselves than she was, despite the amount of time she spent in the training rooms on Sullust. Twirling her saber hilt in her hand in order to re-establish her grip, the Zeltron surged forward and delivered a clean slash across the pirate’s chest moments after Asmus’ shot streaked through the air and sent the pirate stumbling back. She’d have to thank him for the opening he created later.

Turning her attention to the other pirate, she felt as if she could fight with more confidence knowing that [member="Asmus Janes"] had her back. Glancing around rapidly, she caught sight of the remaining target as he’d weaved through the corridors, crouching behind a crate and firing off a shot at the Jedi a moment before she noticed him. Startled, Joza raised her blade to block the incoming bolt, but moved too late. It struck her shoulder, sizzling against the fabric of her robes and causing her to drop her saber. Damnit! She winced as pain spread through her shoulder and radiated down to her arm.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

Whilst Jarrick was a veteran soldier who knew the ins and outs of nearly any type of gunfight, Asmus was merely skillful and enthusiastic. Which was why his instinct was not to open fire on the lone pirate and force his head down, but to barrel into the seemingly defenseless zeltron. His upper arm caught her round the waist as he tried to carry them both to the deck and out of the line of fire.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, forest green eyes full of concern. Perhaps a tad foolish and maybe a little misogynistic too, but the young scoundrel meant well. What he didn't notice was the pirate priming a grenade.

Jarrick stepped over them both, rifle to his shoulder. There as a reason Kairon had sent the seasoned soldier with his nephew instead of keeping him by his own side. Advancing carefully, every three round burst was placed with precision. A scream was the last cry from the pirate as Asmus leapt back to his feet.

 

[Joza Perl]

“Wh—!” A surprised squeak worked its way from Joza’s throat as Asmus wrapped an arm around her waist and urged her away from the live rounds. The heat of the pain in her shoulder caused any protests to die on her tongue, grimacing as they moved along. “I-I’m fine.” She bit back, voice low to match his. In truth, the Zeltron didn’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t saved her, and she didn’t want to think about it. Would she had come up with some last-minute cool way to dodge the danger and take down the pirate? Or would she have been too distracted by the shock of being hit to move?

Either way, she was embarrassed that she was seen as unable to take care of herself, regardless of how true it may have been. Had she been a more humble person, she likely wouldn’t be feeling this way.

As Jarrick took care of the remaining pirate, Joza inhaled sharply and pushed herself to her feet. Left hand outstretched, she concentrated on her saber that had rolled away. The hilt shook for a few moments before flying into her hand, and she huffed in relief. “Thank you for the, uh…save, I guess.” She muttered, tossing her head towards the expanse of the corridor. “To engineering, then?”

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

"No problem," Asmus replied, looking rather proud of himself. "But if you weren't here we'd all be getting stuffed into body bags to be airlocked back in that cargo bay right now."

Jarrick was running a bead of explosives down the joint of a blast door already. There was no explosion, just a quiet hiss and the obstacle was removed from their path. "Let's get going. Shout if you're going to run ahead, like you did before," he asked as they moved up. Jarrick wasn't firing so it seemed the route ahead was clear for now. "Whilst I appreciate the view, I wouldn't want to ruin it with a blaster bolt."

He turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye. Long black hair fell between them, but she would still see the spark of mischief in those emerald orbs.

"Two up ahead!" Jarrick called interrupting Asmus' foolhardy attempt to be charming in the middle of a battle. "Then we'll be in engineering!"

The corridor was wide here, to permit heavy loads to be taken from the cargo bay to engineering. Plenty of cover for both sides fortunately. If the pirates had tidied this corridor up it would have made advancing to the engineering section all but impossible.

 

[Joza Perl]

“You don’t know that.” Joza huffed. Part of her wanted to wipe the prideful look off of his face, but she had enough tact to know better. Still, she didn’t want to think about what would have happened had a wrong move been made. Body bags weren’t very fashionable.

She cast an appreciative glance to Jarrick, glad that he’d come along with them. His experienced, seemingly fearless demeanor was something she hoped to have herself one day.

A nod of understanding was given to Asmus, and Joza consciously reminded herself not to run out in front of friendly fire without giving a warning. “I’m not sure what kind of view you can get in these robes.” She met his mischievous gaze with an arched brow, almost turning around to see if the fabric of her thick robes concealed or framed her behind. But that would be too comical, and she supposed she could always figure that out later with the help of a mirror. “Surely the one you saw on Sullust was better.”

Jarrick’s observation gave her cause to snap back to the task at hand instead of teasing the young man, as much as she was enjoying. Not that she would admit it, certainly not. Joza hated giving people—especially clever people—satisfaction in anything.

Advancing alongside Asmus and Jarrick, Joza ducked in and out from between various debris when she could, using her blade to intercept bolts when necessary. The young Jedi was looking for any sort of opening she could use. Jerking sharply, the pink girl dove behind a crate before taking a shot to the head, glaring as she peeked up from her cover. Her eyes caught sight of the man who’d aimed for her, and then traveled behind him to a pile of miscellaneous mechanical parts and crates, stacked precariously high. Reaching out with her free hand, she concentrated on dislodging what appeared to be a non-functioning console from the middle of the pile, hoping to topple the upper half of it onto the pirate below.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

There was a loud cry as the pile came crashing down. The pirate was left trapped up to his waist. For a few seconds he made a futile attempt at dislodging the pile. Then he gave up and started to reach for his blaster rifle. Asmus carefully lined up is sights. A single stun shot brought the man’s struggle to an end.

“Well I have both an imagination and a memory!” Asmus retorted. Now really wasn’t the time for flirting, but his adrenaline was pumping. Back on Sullust he’d been a deer in the headlights at the mesmerising display. He wasn’t forgetting that in a hurry. It didn’t, however, mean that he wasn’t going to tease the zeltron back. The quick witted Jedi dancer had his full attention.

“Grenade!” Jarrick called.

Odd, Asmus thought. Jarrick had no grenade in his hands. The remaining pirate darted from cover for the exit. A bright flame erupted from his back as Jarrick put him down with a three bolt burst. Ah, the wily old veteran had even more tricks up his sleeve.

Asmus let Joza lead the advance down the rest of the corridor. Better someone who could sense danger and deflect bolts with a blade. He still couldn’t wrap his head around that. How could anyone move with such speed and control to pluck a blaster bolt out of the air?

The doors before them had not been sealed. Jarrick went in first, firing his rifle in the air to disperse the three engineers in the room. “Find the controls!” he called to Asmus and Joza, turning back to guard their backs.

 

[Joza Perl]

“Just don’t act on it when we’re fighting a gang of pirates!” She shot back, a tinge of frustration evident in her tone. If Joza had been truly and completely irritated with him, she’d either ignore him or—more likely—snarl at him to leave her alone. Seeing as how she didn’t do either, it was fair to say that on some level, she was enjoying their banter…at least, a little teeny tiny bit, right? Hopefully Asmus wouldn’t catch on.

Her head whipped towards Jarrick, eyes narrowing in confusion when she saw no grenade. Oh. It all made sense after a few seconds, and if she knew what to say she would have praised his tactful mind. Thankfully, the remainder of their little venture was pirate free. Which was good, because Joza was beginning to feel the fatigue. Adrenaline could only keep her primed for so long, and the use of her novice force powers and saber swinging started to take its toll on the apprentice.

As they poured into the room, the Jedi’s head would snap back and forth, taking in everything she could about the room as fast as possible. Blue blade still held at the ready, she braced herself for any potential attacks. Realizing that she didn’t know what she was after, she refocused on Asmus for help. “What are we supposed to take down? These all look the same to me.” She gestures to one of the many consoles full of flashing lights and displays, having little idea what it all meant. Had she made it alone, the Zeltron would have been liable to start slashing at anything that looked to be of importance. As much as she wanted to end this as quickly as possible, Joza didn’t want to accidentally cause them to implode…or something.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

"So act on it later, message received," Asmus replied, pretending to sound like he'd received a serious admonishment. Unfortunately for Joza, Asmus had something of a sixth sense for detecting when someone was enjoying word games or being wholly serious.

Asmus moved to a console and started hitting keys. Much to his chagrin he had no effect. "Damnit, they've actually locked up the consoles. These inebriates don't tend to bother. Right..."

Asmus paced back and forth looking at the systems around them. "Right. Put your saber through this," he said posting to a metal case connected to several pipes. "Right where I'm pointing thrust straight in. That should do it, but you really don't want to severe the coolant!"

 

[Joza Perl]

“You know that isn’t what I meant!” The flustered Jedi groaned back, and probably would have continued to berate him if they had the time.

At a loss for what to do, the young Zeltron moved to Asmus’ side and watched with anxious eyes as he tapped at a console. She had no idea what he was doing, but based on his piloting skills earlier, Joza had to trust him. Idly she switch her lightsaber to her other hand for a moment, wiping the sweat of her now free hand on her robes before transferring the weapon back into her good hand.

“Through that?” Joza pointed at the casing, looking to him as if it were a joke before her face hardened. “Alright, I’ve got this. Get your hand out of the way unless you want to be three fingers lighter!” She would attempt to shoo him from her target, pursing her lips in concentration as she eyed the spot. With one smooth motion, she would jab the blue beam into the casing, hoping that she’d hit the mark and didn’t sever the coolant—though she wasn’t sure exactly why that would be such a bad thing, given her lack of knowledge.

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

There was lots of noise from outside of the room. A crunching sound, followed by a screech of tortured metal. Several red lights started to flash.

“What’s most annoying,” Asmus reflected. “Is that although I know that did something because I’m locked out of their system I’m be certain it’s actually disabled the tractor beams. So…I guess we run and hope?”

His suggestion was immediately reinforced by a blast door sliding open at the far end of the engineering section. A number of pirates crossed that threshold, armed to the teeth. This time when Jarrick called “grenade” he meant it. Asmus fired some wild shots into the smoke from the explosion before turning to retreat.

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza gawked. “What, you’re telling me that you don’t actually know what that did? You’re the smart one!” She figured that Asmus had all of his mechanical hubbub down, whereas she placed her faith in him and simply followed orders.

Oh…that’s not good. Eyeing the pirates, it didn’t seem that this would be an easy—or even doable—sort of fight. “Run and hope works!” Hissing out a response, the Jedi apprentice would hand wave some metal debris towards the pirates before turning on her heel and following Asmus back through engineering.

Saber still ignited, she’d wave it over her back to intercept any potential errant shots as they attempted to move back through the corridors. “Good job. Seems like we alerted the rest of the bloodthirsty pirates to our location.”

[member="Asmus Janes"]

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Joza Perl"]

"I'm ninety..." Asmus started as he fired some more blind shots back into the smoke. "...let's say eighty percent sure that will have done it. Locked out if their systems the proof will be if we escape. Or not."

No one seemed to be emerging from the smoke yet. Asmus wasn't surprised at that. Even if the pile of metal debris and the grenade hadn't put them out of action, no amateur shooter was keen to advance through blaster fire.

No more blaster bolts harried their escape, but Asmus called for them to stop on the other side of some doors. Jarrick immediately took up a position to fire as Asmus tapped the controls to shut the door.

"Can you seal that, with you saber?" he asked. He figured if the blade could melt metal with such ease it could effectively weld the line where the doors met.

 

[Joza Perl]

An audible irritated huff was her response, which likely spoke just as much as actual words in this situation. She didn’t have time to come up with a sassy remark right now.

As they gathered behind the door, Joza twirled her saber in her hand. Not as gracefully as a combat veteran, but at least she didn’t make a fool of herself and drop it.

“I’m eighty percent sure that I can.”

Grunting, the young Jedi jammed her saber at the corner of the door once it closed, aiming to solder it shut indefinitely. Dragging the blade down the length of the metal, she grimaced and grit her teeth. It was hard with her lack of upper body strength, but more importantly it was working. At last she would make it to the bottom, leaving an inch or two bare as the majority of the door was now sealed.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Joza tugged the blade away with no small amount of difficulty. “I should go into welding.”

[member="Asmus Janes"]