Fistful of Swoon

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Finger hit the hatch release above their heads. The kind of light where the sun struggled to shine through a cloud of dust hit them. The redhead scrambled out and quickly stood up. They were on a street corner in the business district, after hours. Not a whole lot of folks out.

"Jedi master. Founding member. Dagum, ma'am, as if you weren't intimidating enough," she teased with a smile on her freckled-face, scooching back so the blonde could escape the manhole too. Once Aela came up, Grits put on its boosters and soared up, landing softly on the duracreet above ground next to them.

"Not sure where we're gonna stay," she mused, hazels sweeping the area.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

Aela looked around for a few moments, lips thinning.

They were in the middle of the city, just as she had intended, though where exactly would be impossible to tell without a map. Her lips thinned, eyes scanning the different buildings all around them. Oddly enough, most of them seemed to be abandoned.

It wasn't too surprising given the economic state of the planet, but still..."There."

She pointed to a small building in the corner.

"The one with boarded up windows." It was beige, broken down, and generally looked like a dump. "No one will look in there."

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Right," she nodded, putting on a brave face. Fingers twitched near the blaster at her hip. "C'mon Grits, you heard her." The droids beeped and booped, then wheeled ahead. Giving one last glance around, she jogged lightly to catch up. Fist balled up when she got to the door, knocking just in case.

"Anybody home?"

They were met with silence.

Any squatters would probably run hearing voices. So she hoped. Better than the alternative of being met with the muzzle of a blaster. Her own blaster found its way into her hand as the door slid open, getting stuck halfway. Grits nudged it the rest of the way open.

"Busted power-cell," she muttered. Naomi, like most pilots, was a mechanic too. She was more familiar with ship parts but she did alright with recognizing mechanical problems in other things. "C'mon."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

"We won't be using any lights." That statement might have sounded a bit harsh, but they needed to be as quiet and inconspicuous as possible. The whole point of this was to be as quiet and unnoticeable as possible.

She motioned to Naomi.

"Upstairs." She motioned to the staircase. "Find a room with a window."

She wanted something where they weren't stuck, and she also wanted something where they could see the street below. As Naomi stepped inside Aela turned, her hand waving. The door quickly slid closed behind her, shutting with a soft click as Aela used the force to latch the lock.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Okay," she whispered back. Couldn't help the arch of rusty-red brows as Aela waved her hand. It was something the teen still couldn't get over, no matter how much she saw. Wet boots plodded up the stairs. Grits followed with echoing thumps. One-handed grip remained tight on her blaster. She swept the floor before returning back to the second room on the left. The door swooshed open.

Not much to look at. There was a stained mattress in once corner and a metal desk bolted to the wall in the next. There was a broken chair near the window. Holstering her blaster, she opted for the chair, giving herself a view out the window where she knew she'd still be in shadow. Streets were quiet. But was it too quiet? Was there an alert already out?

"Grits," the teen whispered. "See if you can find a feed into the public terminals and any news about us, kay?" Grits tooted, a little satellite dish escaping from its rounded head. Digging her comm from her pocket, she pulled up the older map of the city Grits had found. She held it up to the blonde, casting a small glowing, 3D image.

She was careful to keep it away from the window.

"We should be able to find a comms system on this map. Call the Alliance. I still say we go for a ship, though."

It was clear the pilot was feeling antsy from being grounded for so long.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

She frowned.

A ship wasn't a good idea. They had no idea what this planet had for defenses, and if they made it onto a vessel there was a large likelyhood that they would be shot down. She slowly shook her head in answer to Naomi. There was just too many risks. "No Ship."

Not yet.

"We can't." There would be too many defenses. "See if your droid can find any information on the ministry building."

Her hand went through her hair. "Bluprints, layouts, stuff like that."

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Yeah, yeah," palm pushed up against her freckled-nose. "I'll check. You heard her, Grits." Leg wiggled restlessly in her seat. The teen hated feeling trapped and stranded. Reminded her too much of the time between the First Order takeover of her hometown and her family's daring escape. The BB-8 unit warbled.

Hazels panned back to the window outside as she cast another anxious glance.

"I hate just waiting around," she grumbled and crossed her arms a bit petulantly. Freckled-face scowled. Grits warbled. The Alliance pilot turned from the window and pushed to the edge of her seat.

"Looks like an old layout. If we want anything more current we'd have to go to a data terminal."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

She frowned.

"Waiting is the biggest part of being a spy." That was sadly and depressingly true. Aela couldn't count how many times she and Jamie had sat in some empty speeder or apartment building just waiting for someone to do something. It had been infuriating then and it was infuriating now. Eventually you got better at it, but in truth it was still one of the most obnoxious things that Aela had ever experienced. Not that she was too upset about it or anything.

"Even though you're a pilot." She said quietly, almost as if in thought. "You're still a spy."

That's what the SIS was after all, spies. "Get used to waiting."

In truth this was rather good practice for it. They would have to be patient in order to get to a data terminal, more patient to get into the facility, and after that? Well they would need a little more luck than they did patience, but Aela figured they were about due for some luck.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"I know," hands came up to tuck coppery-strands of hair behind her ears. "I haven't really had to do any of those kinds of missions yet. Or, well. I guess waiting in my cockpit is a bit different. It feels....safer."

Was she prattling? Probably.

"But being grounded? I just...don't like it." She gulped and stilled her wiggling leg. "Sorry ma'am. I mean no disrespect." Thumb tapped against the holster of her blaster as she looked out the window again. "But we should try and get some rest." They would need it. "I can take the first watch, if you want? Then maybe...we try for the closest data terminal? Four blocks West of here."

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

"No you sleep." Aela stated simply.

That was one thing about being a Master of the force, sleep wasn't really necessary, at least not the usual amount. She would be able to stay awake for another few days before she even grew a little tired. She had trained that specific skill early on in her life.

Came in handy during war.

"I won't need to sleep for a while." She explained. "I'll be okay."

Plus, it was better for her to keep watch anyway. She was the better trained of the two and unlike Naomi Aela actually had experience when it came to fighting on the ground. She frowned slightly for a moment, trying to imagine the girl in any kind of combat situation and coming up far short.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

If Naomi knew about Aela's doubts on the teen's fighting skills, she would've been horrified and would have wanted to prove herself immediately. Luckily for them both, she wasn't a mind-reader. "Alright," she finally conceded as Aela offered to keep watch. Slipping from the chair, her hand patted Grits softly on its red and white domed head.

"Save some power, eh?"

It warbled softly before its eye-light dimmed slightly. Blaster was stuffed beneath the pillow of the single bed as she scooched on top. Fingertips remained touching the cool metal of the weapon as her coppery-haired head hit the pillow. The slight bit of awe and wonder didn't leave her freckled-face as her sleepy hazels remained fixed on Aela for a second longer.

"We'll get through this," she whispered, not sure if she was trying to encourage the jedi master or convince herself.

Rolling over with a slight creak of the bed, her eyelids finally closed.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

Aela nodded.

Of course she didn't sleep, but she did sit herself down and begin to meditate.

Meditation was of course the central core of being a Jedi. It was something that she had learned from an early age, and something she had mastered quickly. It allowed her to extend her senses, feel those around her, and most importantly recharge.

She didn't need sleep, but she did need some kind of rest.

Meditation offered that. She focused and allowed the force to flow through her, muting the signature that trailed within her so the Sith who ruled this city could not follow after her. She closed her eyes and simply concentrated, allowing time to travel by almost in the blink of an eye.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

The soft light of dawn filtered through their grimy window of the abandoned building. Hazels fluttered open s d with s creak of the old mattress, she sat up in bed. For a moment, disorientation remained on her face. Took her a second to remember where she was and then the why.

Fingers combed through tousled strands of coppery hair as she got sleepily to her feet.

"Plan still to go to the comms center?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

Slowly Aela opened her eyes.

Time had passed a little faster than she had thought it would, though given how events had unfolded since they'd gotten here her expectations were pretty much bashed against the wall anyway. The Jedi Master shifted for a moment, getting some of the feelings back in her legs.

"Terminal first." She reminded the young woman. "We need blueprints."

Some sort of schematics anyway.

Slowly Aela leaned over and dug through her backpack, frowning slightly until she pulled out a protein bar. "Eat this."'

Naomi was a growing girl after all.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

Hands rubbed together as she stood, stretching her tired limbs. "Terminal, right." Made sense. They couldn't rely on the information Grits pulled from the wireless archives. "Thanks," she smiled and took the bar, tearing open the wrapping. The teen was....hungry. After her Pop died on Barkesh, her family had know what it was like to go a day or two only eating one meal, or sharing a meal between the five of them to last all day. Those were hollow days, when it felt like her stomach would never be full again.

Thank goodness for wild herbs and game. And that job she'd gotten later. Otherwise, her family wouldn't have made it. But the Carolinas had always been a resourceful bunch.

The girl practically wolfed it down, walking over to Grits to flip on the power switch. "Wait. Do you need some of this?" She offers half of the bar back to the Jedi master a bit meekly.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

"No." Aela said with a small smile. "You have it."

She had a few more protein bars in her pack if it became necessary, but just like with sleep meditation curbed some of the hunger that pushed at her stomach. Eventually it would all catch up with her of course, she'd need to sleep for a week and eat a meal the size of a Bantha, but for now it was better to use their small resources sparingly.

That meant making sure Naomi was up and ready. "The force keeps me going."

The Jedi Master explained, not wanting the young woman to worry.

"Meditation." She went on. "It allows me to focus the force inward, drive forward longer than an ordinary human. There's a way to do it in battle as well, though its more concentrated and the effects are a bit different."

That was called force valor, though there wasn't a need to explain that.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

"Thanmfmfffs," she spoke her gratitude as she crammed the rest of the bar in her mouth and munched away. Grits ocular piece glowed to life as it began powering up. A few short beeps tweated and its head bobbled around.

"That's crazy," coppery-brows shot skyward. "So you're saying the force is like a stim-pack or an energy bar? Keeps you full and awake when you need it?" The teen was curious, of course. Everything with the force was such a novelty to her.

Even the scary parts.

Jamming the granola wrapper in her pockets, she swallowed the last bite. "We should go. Still early morning, before it gets crowded. You ready?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

"It can be." She explained. "Though it's dangerous to use it that way."

Aela didn't want to give the young woman an incorrect impression. The force was powerful, it could push you beyond your limits, but there were risks to doing it. Things were never all that simple when it came to the force, especially when empowering oneself. You had to be careful, lest you push yourself past a point that was safe.

She'd seen many Sith do that. "You pay for what you do, always."

It was a rather cryptic statement, but she expected Naomi would understand.

"Lets go." Aela said as she scooped up her pack from the floor and threw it over her shoulder. A moment later the Jedi Master headed towards the door, her fingers still wrapped around one of her lightsabers just in case.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Aela Talith"]

The redhead nodded back. She DID understand. Sounded like pulling a few day flight assignment, staying awake with sims. Helped in the short-term but the long term crash was mighty hellish. Took longer to recover.

The teen thought about the buzzing feeling she got when flying or just before they'd entered the conference room. Seemed like she felt that now, around Aela. But she was too uncomfortable to bring it up. Grabbing her pack, she motioned for Grits. The BB8 unit rolled forward and she quickly followed, going back down the stairs they'd come. Blaster remained within easy reach at her side. The murky light of dawn on the dusty coal world hit her pale and freckled cheeks.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

They moved quickly, and quietly.

The city streets were still mostly abandoned, people didn't tend to get up so early. Once or twice Aela caught a flash of someone walking by a window or moving to get a newspaper, but by and large they seemed to avoid everyone perfectly as they moved.

"This way." She said as they rounded a corner.

At the end of the alleyway that Aela had selected rested a data-terminal. The device was clearly placed there for security concerns, something that could help citizens find their way when they were lost or even report crimes to the authorities.

"Slice into this." Aela told the droid. "I'll watch for people."