Crash Landing

[Zetha Vesh]

Zetha couldn't believe it. She had done it! She had escaped the Jedi Order! The thrill of the escape still pumped pure adrenaline through her veins. She hadn't felt this high in a long time. In the dead of night, she had slipped from her quarters, leaving her Padawan beads and her lightsaber behind. She had stolen a ship belonging to one of the Masters and gotten the hell outta dodge. Or in this case, Tython. Now she was sailing through space. Her maps told her that she was in the Sluis sector, but she didn't know where that was or what it was close to. There was the Dagobah system, with the planet bearing the same name. Zetha didn't know much about it. The teachings at the Temple didn't really teach much about it.

But for now, she was smooth sailing. She didn't really need to land at the moment and if she did, Dagobah wouldn't be her first choice. She heard it was empty of any civilizations. She didn't need that. Coruscant was the first place on her mind. And according to her map, it was still a bit of ways to go. Leaning back in her seat of the 'borrowed' ETA-2 starfighter and stretched. Her eyes closed in successful content. She had done it. She was free.

Purple eyes snapped open when something rammed against one wing of the ship. It was soon followed by the flashing of a red light, and the shrill beeping of a warning alarm. Frantically, Zetha scanned the main console and the stars in front of her. Her eyes went back to her motion tracker to notice a fighter was following her. A quick shoulder-check confirmed her suspicions. It was another Jedi starfighter. They had noticed her escape and had now followed her!

Movement drew her attention to the right, and she stared out the right side of the cockpit window in shock. The fighter had pulled up next to her, and she was stunned to see the gloating Chiss face of Docamli. Docamli was a fellow Padawan who had a raging hatred and jealousy towards Zetha for her strength in the Force. He must be here to bring her back to the Temple.

But then the boy pulled back, disappearing from sight. The sound of blaster fire erupted behind her, and Zetha let out a cry of surprise when her ship was rocked from a hit. Docamli was shooting at her! Gripping the controls, she tried to evade, but he was fast. A few more hits and he had broken through her shield. Her left wing was now in flames, a plume of thick black smoke rising from the panels. Now, she really needed to land. Angling her ship down towards the planet of Dagobah, she braced for the impact.

After enduring the heat of entering the atmosphere, she hit trees, the branches snapping against the hull. Then she broke through the canopy. Marsh and a few curse words were the only thing that passed through her mind before the fighter did a nose dive into the thick swampy mud of the wetland planet. She smelled fire and smoke, felt heat against her back. But her eyes couldn't stay open any longer. She slumped forward, her head resting against the steering column. Everything went black.

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

The starfighter streaked through the sky its wings ablaze. BB having been on Dagobah trying to retrive a lost droid, which didn't go so well witnessed the crashing ship and was now racing back to the Starr hoping to help however he could.

The EA-2 was still in tact but badly damaged when BB arrived. He scanned the ship and saw one crewman still was inside, their life signs weak but stable. Ordering T7-S8E to put the Starr in hover over the crash site he lowered himself down to crippled ship along with a hover-stretcher and began carefully cutting away the smoke blackened canopy to free the trapped pilot.

Without his primary medical droid BB was unsure how to properly treat her. So going with his best instincts he placed the young pilot into a bacta tank for full body treatment realizing the healing fluid could help while he could not.

Not wanting to improperly treat her he ordered T7-S8E to set course away from Dagobah and to the best medical facility in the area, which was on the planet on Tython.

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

She felt....warm. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a fluid-filled chamber, a respirator over her mouth. She instantly recognized the bacta tank and pulled herself out, spitting the respirator out. It hit the floor with a clank, and she was soon to follow. Finding a towel nearby, she dried herself off, realizing that she was still wearing her Jedi robes. Feeling disgusted with the feel of the fabric on her skin, even if it was wet, she stripped herself of the recognizable tunic, leaving herself in the pants and boots, even though they were wet, and the covering over her chest.

Exiting the medical chamber, she made her way down the hall until she reached the cockpit. There was someone in there, she sensed was male. With bright red hair that stuck up taller than the back of the seat. "Uh..." She cleared her throat and hoped to get his attention. She opened her mouth to say more, but only a dry cough came up. "Where am I?"

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

BB stared into those deep violet eyes totally taken by the teenage Togruta who now stood before him. Having removed her Jedi robes her current state of dress combine with how tightness her wet cloths stuck to her body left BB in the love struck state one would expect from any young teenage boy. Seemingly entranced by his new passenger he sat gawking in his seat for some time before T7-S8E shocked him back into reality with her electric pike tool.

"Ah what the heck Sady!" he yelled jumping to his feet.

Now embarrassed BB reached behind his head and looked down at the deck plate, unable to make eye contact with the beautiful girl.

"A you're on board the Shinning Starr, my medical cutter.... Urrr, I saw ya crash and we kinda rescued you... Sorry your ship was toast, nothing I could do to salvage it, but we're heading to Tython now to get you better medical care, oh and welcome aboard my name is Bryce but most people call me BB. He stuttered as tried to answer the girls question.

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

He was staring at her. Awkwardly. A slight blush coloured her cheeks and she glanced towards the T7 droid, who was now proceeding to shock the boy. Who then called her Sady. This whole group was real...cute. Then he told her where she was. Aboard the Shining Starr, a medical cutter. He rescued her, but couldn't save the ship. "Thanks, and it's fine. Wasn't mine anyway." Then he mentioned where they were going and her mind went into red alert.

"No." she lunged forward, grabbing the controls and forcing the ship to stop. Then she turned on this 'BB' and grabbed him by the shoulders. Her grip was firm, but not in a threatening sense. In more of a scared way. "Please...please I can't go to Tython. Please don't take me there." She pleaded with him, her eyes staring back at her through the reflection of his thick goggles. She saw herself as pitiful, scared, alone, desperate. She hated it, but she knew people. She knew he would listen to her.

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

BB to fell into the command chair as his new passenger brought the ship out of hyperspace and to a full stop. Shaking his head he got to his feet and looked around to make sure everyone else was ok.

"Did you get some bad medical care there?" He asked confused by her alarming reaction.

As she grabbed his shoulders he felt, well things... things he had never really experienced before. Getting this close to a girl was new to him and he felt his heart begin to race and his palms sweat from her proximity.

"Please...please I can't go to Tython. Please don't take me there." She pleaded with him.

BB as this point would have taken her anywhere as he was still totally enthralled with her. He seemed to totally miss the fear she displayed as he actively tried to remain calm and not give into his raging hormones.

"Well, ok... anywhere you wanna go then?" BB asked.

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

So he was listening to her. That was good. He agreed to take her anywhere she wanted to go. That was better. "Thank you," she pulled him in, giving him a tight hug. Then she broke the hug, stepping back. Her hands slid from his shoulders, down his arms a little. She sat in the copilot's chair. "I don't want to conflict with your schedule." She told him, staring out at the space in front of her. The dead void of space. "Take me anywhere you need to. You're a smuggler right? Pirate?" As long as he wasn't a bounty hunter, but he looked too young. "Just not Tython."

He guessed she had gotten bad medical care there. She shook her head. "I wish it was only that." Sighing, she leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes. A small smile came onto her lips and her eyes opened, flicking towards BB. "I'm Zetha, by the way. But you can call me Z, BB." If he had a letter for a nickname, so would she.

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

She hugged him... BB legs were like jelly at his point. Only his will to look cool in front of her kept him on his feet as she slid down into the co-pilots chair. Z and BB, little hearts and music began to swirl in BB's head before another jolt from T7-S8E brought him back from dreamland.

After shocking BB again Sady said something in binary to the effect of get her some new cloths followed by a few off color words as she wheeled to the back of the ship to search the cargo hold leaving BB alone with Z.

"Ah I'm no pirate, I'm a medic mostly, sometimes a smuggler, and all the time freedom fighter." BB said proudly trying to impress Z.

T7-S80 soon though returned holding a bright orange engineering cover all in her grasping arm. Wheeling over to Z she held it out to her while saying something to the effect of "Here put on some cloths ya floozy." in binary.

"Well I was heading home but my main medical droid malfunctioned. Sucks because it went rogue and ended up getting disassembled by some crazy swamp lady.The good news is that was why I was on Dagobah in the first place and was able to help you...So it was a good thing I guess right? He asked awkwardly.

So anyway looks like I need to go droid shopping on the cheap, know any good shops?" BB said hoping she may know a place.

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

Zetha stared at Sady as she beeped about finding new clothes for her, inserting some more colourful dialogue. Zetha chuckled and glanced at BB, gesturing to the T7. "Now where did that one pick up her vocabulary. It wasn't you right?" She was slightly teasing the other now. BB explained he was a medic, a smuggler, and a freedom fighter. Zetha nodded. "I'm a..." Then she stopped. She didn't know exactly what to say. Just what was she? She was no longer a Jedi, but she couldn't tell this boy she just met she was an escaped Jedi. "I'm just a wanderer." That was simple enough, right? Maybe she would tell the other her story, when she trusted him a bit more.

The droid came back with something orange and beeped out an insult. Zetha stood and took the clothes from the T7. "I am no floozy." Obviously with no inhibitions, the Togruta began to change right then and there. She made it quick though, didn't prolong it at the cost of the others lustful agony. The zipper was about halfway up her torso when he asked about a shop for a droid. She knew of a good place; her friend Kola back home. He was a mechanic. But the thought of going back home turned her stomach. She didn't want to face her family knowing she was a runaway. They would see it as cowardice, as her family prided themselves on warrior's courage.

In the end, she shook her head. "Sorry no. Maybe try Coruscant? I don't know how far away it is though..."

She left the zipper undone

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

T7-S8E slapped her face with her grasping arm, completely giving up on trying to mitigate this foolishness any longer. She instead took Z's wet cloths and rolled away beeping something in binary to the tune of stupid kids... She probably chose not to zap BB this time because there was little hope of having any affect seeing Z just help BB cross a huge item off a teenage boy's bucket list.

"Ah... yeah, I didn't program her, I guess over a few thousand years she just picked up that stuff." BB said his mind still delayed by the girl in front of him.

She was flirting with him, she had to be flirting with him BB thought as he watched Z finish dressing. Date we should go on a date, that is what people do right. Thoughts of old holo flicks came racing into his mind as he tried to figure out what to do next.

"Well I don't know Coruscant to well but,... you hungry?" BB said.

It was all he could think of. BB was drowning in his own awkwardness now and hoped Z would say yes if nothing else but to save him from the situation.

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

Her eyes lit up with the thought of food. "I am starving." She returned to the copilot's seat, flopping back into it. She hadn't eaten since the night before. BB could probably hear her stomach growling, but she really hoped he didn't. That would be too embarrassing. "I'm not really familiar with space maps." Even using the term 'space maps' showed her inexperience. "What's the closest place with civilization? Coruscant?" She reached up to tap her lower lip with her index finger. "Although I have heard Tatooine or Nar Shaala is a good place to go for the parts you need. "

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

Location: Romping Rugger, Planet Nar Shaddaa

It had taken a few days for the Starr to fly all the way to Nar Shaddaa. In that time BB had done his best to entertain Z while they traveled. Personally hand making every meal, well with the help of GE3, and made sure Z was never hungry while she flew aboard the Starr. Once the made planet fall he docked the Starr at an Underground shadow port, not only for safety but when the folks working there saw his Rebel Signet Ring he like the instant respect people showed him.

Before going to dinner BB took Z to the main promenade and while he was pricing out medical units he gave her some credits to grab whatever she needed given he hadn't recovered may effects of hers from the crash.

Once their shopping was done the two slipped down into one of the more colorful parts of the lower promenade. BB led Z to an out of the way cantina called the Romping Rugger. When they entered BB were taking by the atmosphere. A three piece jazz band was playing on the main stage while races of all types danced to the music. Having worked a few connections BB was able to get the two a nice out of the way booth to relax and enjoy the scene.

Picking up the menu BB looked over the options before raising his voice over the music and asked, "So see anything you like?"

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

In the days that it took them to travel, BB had gotten a bit more used to Zetha's presence. She could tell, he was much more used to her. He wasn't going red-faced and pissing his pants every time he laid eyes on her, so that was good. They had even shared a few laughs, and Sady was ever-so indignant she couldn't insult Zetha without her knowing about it. When they finally docked, Zetha didn't leave the ship immediately. She took a few minutes to stare out of the cockpit window at this new world that had opened before her. This was the third planet she had been on in her entire life. It was a desert planet, and she could feel the mindset of society. Criminal scum dwelled here.

Turning, the ex-Jedi left the ship and followed BB to the market promenade, where she was stunned when he slipped her a few credits. She hadn't been shown this much hospitality in a while. First he cooked meals for her, now he was giving her money to buy anything she wanted. He really knew how to treat a lady. Even if he had never seen one before. Clutching the credits tightly, she slipped away. She knew exactly what she was looking for.

When she found BB again, this time in front of a place called the Romping Rugger, she had changed. She had replaced the bright orange get-up with one of black and dark burgundy. Black pants and boots, brown utility belt, black jacket with burgundy armoured patches along the shoulders. The jacket showed a lot too; cropped to expose her midriff, with only a dark crimson wrap covering her chest, tied tight along her cleavage.

Meeting up with BB, she was expecting him to gawk at her new appearance. Grinning mischievously, she linked her arm with his and pulled him inside the cantina. Once they were seated, she stared at the menu. So much meat! She had really missed eating meat; Jedi preferred a vegetarian diet. She pointed to the meatiest burger on the menu, leaning forward slightly. "What will you have?" Ok, now she was really flirting.

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

BB had tried hard not to give into staring at Z's new wardrobe but she was a head turner and had it not been for his bright flashing eyes he surely would have spent most of the time looking at her about a foot lower. BB was having a wonderful time, he had been a loner for most of his life not by choice but by happenstance. Laughing, joking, these were things he watch other people do not something he usually partook in.

When the Twi'lek waitress arrived for their order he make sure Z got her "Big burger" and he ordered the steak rare with extra veggies. After she left BB settled back into the booth just staring at Z again. Not in the confused lustful way he had when they first met but a more calm and friendly manner. BB had lived a life of adventure in his young age but had never felt like this. It was wonderful and he understood how fleeting life's moments can be so he was intent just to live in the moment and enjoy tonight.

Finally he broke the silence by asking Z, "Where did you come from?"

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

The two had ordered their meals, the waitress took their menus away, leaving the two of them to awkward silence. Zetha took the chance to scan the restaurant, her gaze lingering longer on the jazz band. Maybe later they'll end up dancing. Who knows?

The silence was broken by BB, asking where she was from. With a small sigh and a shrug, Zetha returned her gaze to him. "I was born on Shili, then taken to Tython." She didn't want or need to go into any more detail than that.

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

She was holding back a little but BB really didn't care enough to pry. People got their secrets, stuff they aren't proud of. BB knew a little about Tython as it was a planet now held by One Sith a sworn enemy of the underground, but even less though about Shili. Figuring it would not make a great topic of conversation he tried to think of something else but was drawing a blank. Luckily the food soon came and he began devouring it in his animal like way. Raised in the wilds of Taris proper eating habits had been something Cague had never gotten around to teaching him.

After eating BB sat back quite satisfied while scanning the cantina. The Jazz band had wrapped up their set and a new 5 piece band complete with a piano was setting up. BB eyes lit up when he saw the drum kit being set up. It read "Ellen Aim and the Attackers", not a well known band but one of BB favorites.

Anyone now looking at him could see he was excited as the band came on stage, looking over at Z he gave a wink and nodded to the stage area.

"Wanna have a go?" BB asked.

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

The food came and Zetha dug in. It wasn't that she was starving; BB had made sure she was taken care of every day she was with him. No, it was just that she missed her meat. The meal was relatively silent, as that is what happened when people were really hungry or the food was really good; conversation tends to stop. She finished with a content sigh and a little smile, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She didn't think BB would care. He seemed pretty wild to her.

When he asked her to dance, she froze for a bit, her eyes shifting to the dance floor set up in front of the stage. She stared at it. Then a huge smile broke across her face. "Let's do it." Grabbing his hand, she dragged him to the floor. When they got there, she watched the band play, but wasn't really sure where to begin. She turned to BB, to see what he was doing.

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

"Nowhere Fast"

The band's opening number was one of BB favorites, he considered it his anthem and had it on heavy rotation on the Starr. Having been dragged to the dance floor by Z, he was soon standing next to her pumping his fist and singing to the music. Z looked over at him with a slightly confused look on her face seeming to be a little out of her element. Noticing she was not having a lot of fun BB let the music sweep him up in a rush of unusual bravado. Taking her hand he pulled her close till she was on his hip and his hand around her waist. Continuing to feel the music be began dance with her while singing to the music the whole time looking into her sparkling eyes.

"And I don't know how I ever thought that I could make it all alone...
When you only make it better...
And it better be tonight...
And we'll fly away on those angel wings of chrome in your daddy's car...
Waiting there for you tonight...
I'll be there for you tonight..."

[member="Zetha Vesh"]

 

[Zetha Vesh]

Zetha kept watching the band play until she felt herself being grabbed. She flinched slightly at the touch, feeling like pulling away as her gaze darted down to BB's hand clasped around hers. She looked up at BB as he pulled her close, feeling a shiver go down her spine when his hands rested on her hips. He kept staring at her. She couldn't see too well through his goggles, but she knew. They began to dance and Zetha felt her heart skip a few beats. They moved around the dance floor, Zetha sensing everyone behind her so they could avoid bumping into anyone. Dancing with BB was something she had never thought she'd be doing, but here they were.

[member="Bryce Bantam"]

 

[Bryce Bantam]

BB heart was pounding almost in time with the music as he danced with Zetha. His scenes seemed heightened as the mixture of music and company left him feeling almost intoxicated. As they danced BB noticed Z seeming to weave them through the crowd almost like she could see behind her and though it was odd BB gave it little further thought as he was swept up in the moment. Z's eyes seemed to sparkle in the dim light as she met his gaze and figuring it was dark enough to not hurt his eyes he lifted his goggles to his forehead to he could have a better look at her. As the song came to an end BB notice she still seemed so concerned, and was not smiling as he was.

"Are you ok Z?" BB asked as he leaned over her shoulder to talk, worried Zetha might not be enjoying herself.

[member="Zetha Vesh"]