Below the Wroshyr Trees [DragonsFlame]

[Tallia Farn]

"Hold that thought." Tallia shouted as she moved parallel with one of the landspeeders. She put her hand over Josh's and removed it from her waist. "Here take the controls!" she shouted as she leaped up, somersaulting onto the roof of the cage being dragged behind the speeder. Her violet lightsaber ignited and she spun around looking behind to spot two more swoops in pursuit. She threw her lightsaber into the front of the closest one, severing it in half and sending the pilot barreling into a nearby tree.

The second bike started to veer off but was clipped by Tallia's lightsaber on the return route. Sparks flew as the biker lost control and crashed into the dirt.

Her blade came back to her and she turned to look down over the edge of the cage at the speeders pilot. She picked him up out of his seat with the force and waved. "See ya" She said tossing him out into the dark jungle. She hopped down into the pilots seat and took control.

"I'm kinda not sure what to do with the Wookies now." She said into her comm to Josh. "We'll lose the other speeders if I stop and let them out, but I don't want to drag them into danger either."

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh released her hips and took the controls as she leaped onto the speeder. Josh kept the swoop going behind the speeder, keeping it steady in case she fell.

Luckily, she didn't. She stood her ground quite well, impressively, might I add. Once it was secured, Josh heard her over the comm.

"I'm kinda not sure what to do with the Wookies now. We'll lose the other speeders if I stop and let them out, but I don't want to drag them into danger either."

Josh considered his options, and sighed. He knew what needed to be done.

"Let them out" the Master said into the comm. "Saving them all is our top concern, but it'll be worth nothing if they're killed during it. I'll go on ahead, and go after them. Let the ones you have out, and catch up with me once you do"

The joking, teasing, flirting, whatever you want to call it tone had disappeared. Things were getting serious now. With the orders given, the Jedi Master sped off past the speeder, trying to get past the others.

Now he was in his element. The adrenaline was running high, and a grin crossed his face as he went at high speeds, dodging trees and obstacles. Finally, the speeders came into sight... There were two more, carrying cages... How was he going to do this? He almost regretted leaving Tallia behind, but the safety of the other Wookiees was a primary concern. An idea came to him, but the sound of blaster fire coming his way from both sides was also a problem.

Josh managed to hold a hand out, manipulating the tilt of one of the swoops that were coming behind him. Suddenly, it swerved into another swoop, and they both went crashing into a tree.

Finally, he was behind one of the speeders. One of his hands reached out toward the cage, but he couldn't get a proper grip with the speed he was going... It was time to take a risk.

The Jedi Master stood up on the Swoop, trying to keep his balance and make a grab for the cage. No go.

"Well, it was nice knowing ya, me" he snarked to himself, before leaping off the swoop bike, grabbing the cage. Climbing up it, he leaped off the cage into the speeder.

"Hi! Yeah, your shift is over, I'm punching in!" Josh said to his new "co-worker", before doing exactly as he said he was going to do... Punched the guy in the face, his superhuman strength paying off as the pilot went flying out of the speeder. Josh took control of the speeder, trying to keep it's pace with the other one. He could hear his old swoop explode. Sad.

"Talli, I've gotten control of one of the speeders" the Jedi Master said into the commlink. "I'm going to try and slow the other monkey down until you catch up. I need you to take over the other one. If you can get here in the next minute or so, I owe ya big time"

He gritted his teeth, before swerving the speeder hard, ramming into the other one. He could hear the growl of the Wookiees in the cages. He couldn't do this for long.

Quickly, he swerved again. Not as hard, but enough to keep the two speeders locked. It slowed them down, so he hoped that Talli would get there before the other swoops did...

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

The Wookies roared in gratitude as Tallia opened the cage's lock with her lightsaber. She didn't know if any of them understood Basic, but she called out "Good luck." as they headed back in the direction of their village. She turned back to the speeder and swung her legs over the side, taking hold of the steering yoke. "All I need is thirty seconds."

She hit a switch and the cage dropped to the ground with a crash. Hopefully that would speed her up a bit. She pushed up on the throttle and jolted forward. This vehicle was harder to maneuver than the swoop she had been piloting earlier, but without the cage to drag her down, she was able to catch up rather quickly.

Looking ahead at the two craft side by side, one with Josh at the wheel and another with a slaver, she came up with an idea. Tallia pushed her speeder as fast as it would go until it's front rammed into the back of the attached cage. She leaped out of her landspeeder, and into the next one falling next to the slaver. She drew back her fist and let out a force enhanced punch, sending the pilot reeling over the side. She slid across the row of seats, grabbed the wheel, and waved to Josh. "Was that fast enough for you?"

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh watched this display with a slight smirk on his face.

"Talli, I could kiss you" the Jedi Master cracked with a grin. "Is that all of them?" the blonde asked, before looking back to see more swoops coming their way. Welp, this was certainly getting annoying. But nobody said this was going to be easy.

"Ohhhh, so close!" he said with a sigh. Blaster fire was zipping by them, and he didn't like putting the Wookiees in possible danger. "Think we can pick them off?" he asked. He couldn't use his lightsaber from here... They'd just shoot them from the back, instead of getting to the sides.... Perhaps they could use the Force?

Josh took a deep breath before extending a hand.... Trying to focus on the force, but also trying to pay attention to the wheel.... One mistake, and they'd crash, possibly killing some of their rescuees.

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

"Oh stang!" She cursed, jerking her speeder apart from Josh's. Blaster fire peppered the area as the remaining swoops closed in on them. She swung hard to the right, spinning the speeder away from where the lasers could harm the Wookies. She leaped out of the craft and took a defensive position, readying her lightsaber. "Bring it on." She whispered under her breath.

Tallia deflected away the first volley of shots from the swoop cannons as they began to circle around her. A second group cut off to chase after Josh, who was still speeding away. She had worked herself into quite a situation, but at least she could take some heat off of the Jedi Master. She tossed her blade at a swoop that got too close and it exploded into nothing. As she concentrated on drawing her lightsaber back to her with the force, a second swoop shot past her and she lost her balance. She fell, and her lightsaber went soaring past her head and into some brush on the other side of the speeder.

Another volley came, and all she could do was try and dodge the incoming bolts. She dived to the left, leaving the majority of lasers to her right, but as she jumped up, Tallia felt hard plasma hit her shoulder. The young girl was knocked down again by the force of the impact. Her left arm went completely limp as piercing pain surged through her body. She winced in pain as she tried to stand up. She needed to get to her lightsaber.

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh sped off, hoping Tallia would be able to handle it once she stopped.

He activated his lightsaber again, deflecting a blaster bolt. It soared toward where Tallia had stopped the speeder, smashing the lock on the cage holding the Wookiees on them. The Wookiees seemed to take that as freedom, and ran off out of sight, away from the blaster fire. Josh tried to get as far as he could, but the second he looked back, he could feel a surge in the Force as Tallia was hit. His eyes widened as he saw the Jedi Knight go down, and contradicting what Tallia had planned on, Josh stopped the speeder.

He got out, rushing to the back. Smashing the lock open with his lightsaber, he freed the wookiees from the cage.

"GO! NOW!" he barked toward the Wookiees, who ran after their comrades. No sooner did they get out of sight did Josh brandish his lightsaber, taking off at a run after Tallia. He still had a ways to go, but he wasn't going to let them take her.... Not when they were so damn close....

Josh broke off into a sprint, using the Force to aid him. Determination was in his eyes as the Jedi Master ran as hard as he could, and the blaster fire got closer and closer. Finally, he arrived. Regardless of his lungs being devoid of air at that moment, he ran past Tallia and slashed through the side of one of the lizard people that were shooting at her. With the heat off of her temporarily, Josh ducked behind Talli's speeder, knowing they'd shoot at him, giving her some time to grab her lightsaber.

Josh took a moment to catch his breath.... His lungs devoid of oxygen at that moment... Exhaustion starting to settle in... But he didn't care... He'd be fine in a few moments. He wasn't going to let these lizard things harm her...

"I.... I freed the blasted Wookiees... They'll be heading back toward their villages now...." went through Talli's head, his voice, communicating with her mentally. "We can stall the slavers here.... They won't be able to go after the wookiees if they're all dead... I'd have preferred to get away from them, but.... -Wheeze- I'm not.... I'm not leaving you to die out here..."

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

It took all of her strength to stand up. The pain in her arm was unceasing. It made the gash on her forehead feel like a paper cut. "I.. I thought I had it under control." She thought, send the telepathic message to Josh. She slowly extended her right arm and sensed the familiar pulse of her lightsaber. Tallia tugged on it, reeling the blade in slowly. It's cool hilt touched her palm and she wrapped her fingers around it.

The snap hiss of her lightsaber igniting sounded, showing that even a blaster wound couldn't keep her down. "Thanks for coming back." She said, this time out loud, to Josh. Tallia smiled through the pain. "Now," She took a deep breath. "Where were we?"

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He smiled a bit as he got up, blocking a few blaster shots with his lightsaber. "Let's just get through this alive!" he said in response, sliding along the speeder and deflecting more shots as he landed beside Tallia.

"Miss me?" he joked as he stood back to back with her, lightsaber up and ready. He blocked a couple more shots, deflecting one between the eyes of one of the slavers. He flashed Tallia a smirk before lashing out at one of the lizards that dared come too close, slashing him horizontally through the torso. Switching to Ataru for a moment, Josh used the Force to leap over the head of another nearby, slashing them through the shoulder in mid-air, and then stabbing it through another as he landed in front of them, pulling his lightsaber out of the chest of his newly deceased opponent.

The Jedi Master was on fire as he finally let out that surge of emotions he'd been experiencing for weeks and weeks... That hidden pain, that hidden depression, grief, devastation, everything.... In Electric Judgement.

Lightning, colored a light blue, shot out of the hand of the Jedi Master, a war scream erupting from the Master as it engulfed two of the slavers. There was no mercy for those that would take the lives of others as their own, it seemed.... He had seen it on Naboo just weeks before, these exact same slavers... And he wasn't going to allow it to happen here.

Though Judgement didn't kill them, they were fried to the point that Josh was able to dash forward and bring his lightsaber through the side of one, and through the shoulder of the other.

Backflipping away from a few other shots, he landed on top of the speeder, taking a breath.

A shot suddenly hit him full in the back. A gasp escaped the Jedi Master, his eyes wide as he realized he'd been hit. Luckily, the Magnus Armor under his robes would fully protect him from the shot, but it would send him tumbling over the speeder and behind it.

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

Tallia's tool set was a bit more restrained than @[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]'s due to her injury, but she managed to hold her own. She wielded her lightsaber with her right hand while her left one hung useless at her side. She used her training in Soresu to hold the slavers back, and when it was possible, send their own bolts flying at them. It was difficult work, but together, they seemed to making progress. The remaining slavers slowly started to back off as they watched the skillful blades of the Jedi. They were clearly no match. Then Josh took a shot to the back. Tallia quickly moved back behind the shuttle in concern.

"Are you alright?" She said crouching down beside him, then muttered to herself. "Please be alright."

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh held up an arm and gave a thumbs up. "I'm okay!" he promised as blaster bolts soared over their heads. "I promise, I'm alright. I'm armored, it just scared the sodding piss out of me" he added as he sat up.

"Steer clear...." he managed to get out, before closing his eyes. Putting down his lightsaber, he held out both his palms toward the speeder they'd taken cover behind. Suddenly, the speeder hovered in the air a bit, soaring and crashing into several of the slavers. The others began to retreat as they realized that they were going to get murdered at this rate.

The speeder itself wasn't too badly damaged, just some scratches from scraping across the ground and some blood stains from splattering the slavers. Josh got up to his feet and dusted himself off. He looked over at Tallia, and held up a hand to help her up.

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

She took his hand and pulled herself up. "That was pretty brutal." She said a matter-of-factly. "Do we let them get away?" Personally, she had seen enough violence for one day, and she was worn out. It would be nice to get some bacta into her arm when they got back to the city, whichever direction that was.

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He nods a bit as he pulled her up. He was sore as all hell, and like her, had seen too much violence for today.

"We're Jedi, Tallia. No matter what the Grandmaster, or... Grandbooty as I like to call her, says... Or acts... Or represents us as... We're not killers. Yeah, they're slavers, and if we were still in a combat situation, I'd cut them down in a heartbeat... But right now, they're helpless, fleeing opponents. If they attack again, yeah, we'll cut them down. But for now... We can let them go" he said, taking a deep breath. He was breathing lightly as he looked around, still trying to catch his breath before he looked into Tallia's eyes.

"Are you alright....?" he asked, concernedly.

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

Tallia definitely agreed with what Josh said. The Jedi's goal was to bring peace, and even through all the chaos they caused today, It seemed as though she and Josh had. The Wookies would be safe for the time being. Their protection was really what mattered. It made her realize on a broader scope what war was doing to the Order. The more they fought, the more natural it felt to kill. Sure, you could say that the end would justify the means, but was victory worth sacrificing their beliefs? They were good thoughts, but she didn't have the energy to think on them any longer. Her adrenalin was all burnt out and the pain in her arm was back in full force. She hadn't had time to examine herself during their fight, but now she saw the cuts and burn marks she'd received earlier. She was in pretty sorry shape.

"Yah I think I can hobble forward a couple more steps." She said, laughing then wincing in pain. Laughing kinda hurt.

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He smiled a bit, though a look of concern crossed his face as he noticed the cuts and wounds.

"Sith spit... We'll get you to a bacta tank soon" he promised. It was there that he realized that he was still holding her hand, and had instinctively squeezed it when he'd realized that she was hurt.

He looked around. "Ah!" he said, seeing the speeder. Despite the fact Josh had used it as a wrecking ball battering ram to destroy several slavers, it was still in shape enough to at least get us back to the villages.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her arm with his shoulder as he led her toward the speeder.

"If you can hold on, we can drive back, if this hunk of junk will hold" he said, before helping her into the speeder. Josh hopped into the drivers seat and tried to start the engine.

The engine sounded like it'd been grated by sixteen rancors. But eventually, after several tries and several instances of cussing under his breath, Josh got it working.

"Just hold on, Talli. We'll be there soon.... Yknow, if I can figure out where the hell we're going" he assured... Kind of assured anyway, with a shrug as he sped off toward where he guessed civilization would be. He couldn't wait for a good drink, a warm bed and a bleeding bacta tank.

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

Tallia woke up under the thin sheets of a medical bay bed. There was minimal pain when she sat up. She believed she remembered waking from a bacta tank earlier then falling back to sleep in the bed. All she had on were the white undergarments typically worn by bacta patients when inside the tank. She slid a cold hand up to her shoulder, but upon examining it, she discovered that all that was left was a scar. It was a good surprise. She had heard that bacta was effective, but she had never used it personally before.

She looked around and noticed that the room was mostly empty save for a few medical droids going about their business. One approached her and asked. "Your vitals appear to be at normal levels. Are you experiencing any discomfort?" Tallia shook her head no. She felt fine. Brushing the bed sheets away, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. There was a strange coldness to the room and she realized she wasn't wearing her robes. "Do you know where I can find my clothes?"

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh had been submerged in a bacta tank as well, but luckily for him, his wounds weren't as bad as Tallia's. Regardless, he had spent a good time recovering. Eventually, he had been un-submerged, and had taken a nap in one of the medical bay beds.

Upon waking, he was fine, though sore as all hell. The Magnus Armor had absorbed the worst of the shots, but it still left Josh feeling every bit of it afterword, even now.

He had been wearing a white sleeveless shirt and shorts from the medical bay when he'd woken up, with little memory of before. But as he began to recall, his mind went back to Tallia, and the shots she had taken.

Worry overcomed the Jedi Master as he got up. One of the droids had come to check on him again.

"Your vitals appear to be at normal levels. Are you experiencing any discomfort?" it had asked, same as one had asked Tallia. "I'm fine" he responded, taking a breath. "How's Tallia?"

"Sir, we need to know, are you experiencing any discomfor-" the droid had began, but Josh stared blankly at them, with a look like he wasn't in the mood for games.

"Is. Tallia. Alright" the Jedi Master repeated gruffly, not amused at all.

"She is stable, Master DragonsFlame. She is sleeping currently, and should recover just fine"

"Thank you" he said. "No. No discomfort. Just sore" he responded, getting up and cracking his sore neck.

He looked down at himself, finally realizing that he was wearing clothes that were almost see through. Actually, his abdominals were visibly see through, if it got any worse, he would almost be able to see....

"Where the hell are my clothes?" he asked the droid. Being pointed to the storage locker, he sighed as he fished through it for his robes.

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

Tallia strode up to the storage locker. "Um, I think those are my robes." She said, pointing to the brown clothes in Josh's hands. She smiled sheepishly as she took the robes from him, and bent down to examine the contents of the locker. She pulled out her white tights and cream colored tunic and added them to the pile of clothes resting on her arm. She left her boots lying off to the side so she could put them on after she was dressed.

"I would say this mission was quite a success, wouldn't you?" Tallia asked as she slipped the tights over her legs. She finished getting everything on except for her robe which she threw over her shoulder.

"You know, I haven't eaten in almost twenty four hours." She observed. "And I've been thinking. What does Wookie food taste like?"

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He laughed a bit. "Sorry dear" he said, handing her the robes. Looking through the locker, he found his own, recognizing the insignia for Jedi Masters that confirmed what Tallia had said. "That might explain why the shoulders on yours are a little smaller" he joked with a smirk. "I don't think I'd have been able to fit in them"

He fished out the set of blue Magnus armor, minus the boots which were dyed the Jedi's natural brown, to look as much like Jedi boots as accurately as possible. Setting them aside, he cracked his neck as he took the rest of his items out of the locker, and started to dress in all except for his robes and armor.

"I think it went quite well" he said with a smirk as he started fitting the almost full body armor onto him, starting with the leggings, and then going to the torso, arms and shoulder armor up to his neck.

He adjusted the armor on his neck for comfort as he listened to her. "I haven't had anything to eat since the day we arrived" he observed as he cracked his neck, doing some more adjustments to make sure he could move his neck freely at all times.

"Well, I'd assume they eat lots of meats" he finally said as he started to slip on his robes. "Or.... At least, I'd like to HOPE so. Ever eaten dog food before?" he joked with a smirk.

@[member="Tallia Farn"]

 

[Tallia Farn]

"Right now, I could eat a mynock and I wouldn't care." Tallia said as they headed out of the medical bay. "And anything tastes better than those bland ration bars we get for missions."

She walked another couple steps out into the outside air. "Not that dog food is by any stretch of the imagination "good"." She waited a couple moments then turned to face Josh. "So what comes next? Usually I debrief after missions with the Council, or at least file a report, but since you are the Council..." Her sentence trailed off.

@[member="Joshua DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He laughed at her response as he got his boots on. "Agreed" he said. "I wonder what the hell those are made of? I mean seriously, I think blaster fire tastes better"

He walked with her outside, and took in the outside air with a sigh. Then she turned to face him and asked.

A smirk crossed his face. "I can brief the Council on the mission's success, no worries" he said. "We can hang around here a little while to get our bearings, then we can take our shuttle home"

"But hey..." he trailed off, putting a hand on her shoulder. He smiled faintly. "I just wanted to say... You did great out there. I'm proud of you" he said.

"Just.... Try not to worry me like that ever again" he said with a chuckle. "I think you gave me a near heart attack"

@[member="Tallia Farn"]