Forest Fires

[Acaadi]

Acaadi would have turned towards, his face a mask of pure shock. He didn't want to give in to the trandoshan, but he wasn't expecting her to call their bluff. If it even was a bluff.

It didn't matter what they said, he told himself. The slavers would do what they thought was the most profitable option and the pair of them would have to take the chance when it came. He hoped they couldn't space them straight out of this corridor. Acaadi didn't want to watch Kyra die with him out in the vacuum of space. She was a breath of fresh air after a very tedious year at the academy. Needed a way to get back at her for his fall and the more embarrassing aspect that followed.

The slavers raised their rifles. A brief burst of conversation in their language followed Krya's reply. Acaadi felt the grip of the Ray shield slipping only to realised that there was a trandoshan behind him. The oversized lizard took his saber whilst he was still contained and then grasped his wrists through the field. The light flicked off and Acaadi was free to move.

He didn't need the Force to tell him that this was not his moment. The array of blasters pointed at him and the Trandoshan's vice like grip on his wrists was enough. His hands were cuffed behind his back and then the slavers went to repeat the same process with Kyra.

The captain of the vessel hadn't decided to space them yet. He hadn't decided anything. All he knew was that the Jedi younglings had made him leave half his crew behind and he would find a way to profit from the situation. Perhaps the Sith would pay for them.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra tried to imbue confidence to Acaadi, but once their sabers were gone it was very hard to feel like she could do much of anything now. Being cuffed only exasperated this feeling further.

She swallowed hard, walking without resistance as the slavers lead them out of the hall. She knew with good confidence they weren’t going to be spaced. At least, she hoped. It felt unlikely, but Kyra was hard pressed to trust her first instinct now that it got them into this mess.

She was able to breathe a sigh of relief when doors to an empty room were opened and they were shoved inside. It hissed shut behind them, no doubt locked and sealed and guarded to prevent any further mayhem from the two padawans.

The first thing Kyra did was look to the ceiling, wondering if they could pull off the same trick again.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi followed her gaze towards the ceiling. He sighed. Unless they could shrink they were not fitting through the letterbox-sized vent present in this room. The adrenaline was still coursing through his veins. With no outlet his hands trembled lightly within the confines of his handcuffs. He took a long, steadying breath and turned towards Kyra.

Even if his confidence had been spread thin he would share some with Kyra if he could now.

"Fair to say that did not go as planned…" he grimaced before trying to smile. "Can you use a blaster?" he asked.

The force was not telling him that he was doomed quite yet. There has to be a way out and he just couldn't see it.

Acaadi closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing. The wall of adrenaline wasn't easy to push through but he tried to slow his breathing. Curling his fingers around the cuffs he let his senses stretch out, searching for some way to break free.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Acaadi's outwards attempts to control his breath were a constant reminder to control hers. Still, Kyra couldn't help but to look around with a wild edge to her gaze, her rapid heartbeat unmovable. Her head snapped towards him when he broke their silence, reminder her of the weapon she had stashed in her pant line under her robe.

"The blaster," she gasped, turning in a small circle as she strained to reach it with her cuffed hands. She turned to him jutting out her hip. "Take it out, give it to me," she ordered, clearly graced with an idea.

 

[Acaadi]

"Alright, I'll try."

Acaadi had just about worked out where the moving parts were within his cuffs. If he could just manipulate those he might have been able to free himself, eventually.

"I've never really used a blaster but they'll have locked our sabers away somewhere. Guess I'll have to work it out if we manage to bring down a guard."

Acaadi shuffled around until his back was towards Kyra's side. He couldn't see quite what he was doing as his hands groped behind him.

"Er, nope, not a blaster," he said in embarrassment. Bending his elbows he lifted his hands to her hip and managed to pull it free. He tried to keep his fingers clear of the trigger.

"Okay, turn around and I'll put it in your hands," he said. Green cheeks were able to find a darker shade as he kept his eyes away from hers.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"Careful, it's not on stun," she warned, twisting her body to help him access it.

She turned to put her back at his front, her hands reaching blindingly for the blaster. "Alright, okay- help me," she fumbled against him, her back pressing into his as her fingers fumbling to get a proper grip on the blaster. This was only achievable by holding it upside down. She gave a sigh of relief once it sat more comfortably in her fingers.

"Okay." She took a step away from him, letting out a shaky breath. "I need you to stay still. ... And trust me." She squeezed her eyes closed, trying to calm herself enough to let the force guide the blaster to just the right spot on his cuffs.


She had never shot a blaster before. She didn't tell him that, holding her breath and pulling the trigger.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi stayed still. He forced himself that way to the point that he could feel his muscles starting to cramp up around his shoulders and neck. All embarrassment at grabbing her backside before the blaster were long gone.

There was a flash that lit the small room. Heat washed over his wrists. The smell of singed hair reached his nose along with the scorched metal. Fearing the worst he whipped his hands around in front of him. Both hands were still in fact. He released a breath that he hadn't even realised he was holding.

"They'll be coming now. Stay still!"

He was able to use his eyes to place the muzzle of the blaster between her wrists and fire straight down.

"Take it!" he said, pressing the blaster back into her hands. "I'll use the Force as soon as they open the door."

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra rubbed at her wrists, eager to take blaster burns for their freedoms any day. She whipped around, trying to hold the weapon with some sense of confidence. But truth be told what training she had completed had very little to do with killing and all the more to do with finding the inner peace inside herself, blah,blah.

Not a single bit of her was prepared to pull that trigger. She held it out anyways, unthinking in her quest to survive.

“Hey Acaadi?” She called out, her voice shaking as she tried to keep herself herself breathing. Footsteps sounded outside, heavy and urgent, “Next time you grab my butt, buy me a drink first, will you?”

 

[Acaadi]

"That can be arranged," Acaadi said with a grin. It was ninety percent bravado. The other ten percent thought that those two things sounded just great. He was at a point where it seemed he had a new crush at the academy every week. Recently it had been Kerys, the demure master who took their meditation class. That wasn't conducive to calm meditation. Before that it had been Jarn, the twilek from the other class. He did, however, take physical training with Acaadi's class. Meanwhile it had been an entire year since he'd had a drink of any sort.

Acaadi tried to put all thoughts and feelings from his mind. Now he had to live in the moment and let the Force be his guide. His training didn't cover this, but it was the building blocks he had to react with. Acaadi closed his eyes and held his hand towards the door, palm open. He imagined a point of light in his palm and get immersing himself in the Force and drawing strength to him. The light he imagined grew brighter and brighter.

The door slid open. The air itself rippled as he unleashed it all. There was a screech as the doorway buckled. The two trandoshan framed in it were sent flying away. They struck the far wall so hard that they crumpled to the ground without a sound.

Acaadi opened his eyes. Some of the colour drained from his face when he realised he might have just killed both of the guards.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra was sparred the need to pull the trigger. She lowered the gun, half gaping at the mass of dropped bodies. She had never preformed like that, not even under the most conducive circumstances. She shot Acaadi a look before catching onto his horror. At the same moment, a ripple through the force warned her they needed to move. Now!

"No time for that!" She chastised, grabbing his arm and tugging him. "Let's go!" She darted outward, half hopping over the contorted metal door and skipping to avoid collision with the bodies. Frightening, that, but she'd think on it later.

She scattered down the hall, clutching the gun to her chest as she pressed herself into the edge of turn. Two more sets of heavy footsteps were echoing towards them. She knew at once that slavers wouldn't hesitate dropping them both now, money be damned. Hatred for them stirred in her gut as she flung around the corner and shot off of instinct.

Pew pew.

Both the slavers dropped. Her gut twisted, but there was no time for that. "Four down, four more to go," she uttered, darting forward again and forcing Acaadi to keep pace or be left behind.

 

[Acaadi]

As he ran he stooped low to snatch up one of the slaver's weapons. The stun rifle was a heavy, industrial thing. A big chunk of solid durasteel that he doubted he could have carried for long.

As she allowed anger to creep in, Acaadi dared to hope. If they could pull this off then they would be heroes. Everyone at the academy would know about this.

He lifted the rifle in the way he assumed one was to be held. The ship wasn't large enough to need any great accuracy, he just had to be quicker than the slavers.

The next corner revealed the cockpit. Two of the big lizards were framed against the cerulean swirls of hyperspace. That meant they had made the jump to lightspeed. The doors of the cockpit started to slide closed.

Acaadi skidded to a halt, dropping the rifle he had taken the time to sit comfortable against his shoulder. Stretching out with his arm and then the Force he gripped the doors. There was a squeal of grinding metal as they juddered to a halt, half closed.

"Get them!" he told Kyra.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Her next shots were less controlled, both rickashayed off objects and dissolving harmlessly. Kyra's charge forward did not lose steam, the girl sliding in on her knees as she gave a battle cry. She sensed the presence of her saber to the left of her. She held out her hand, calling it to her. She thumbed it open just as her slide came to a halt, the beam of light catching the spray of shots set right to her head and chest.

She swept her saber up, catching a slaver up his torso. A quick block and flick to the side disabled the next one just as efficiently. The room grew still, both slavers stunned and down at her feet. Kyra panted, staring at what she had done in nothing short of shock. And then the pain hit. She gasped, her saber flickering off as it bounced end over end against the ground. She gripped at her shoulder, the material there singed and exposing damaged skin.

Guess she had missed a shot after all.

And then the pain in her side erupted. She fell to her knees, a sheen of sweat enveloping her. "A-Acaadi."

 

[Rayth]

For the first time he allowed fear and anger to slip past his wall of control. He could see the look of shock on her face, the wide scorch mark where the bolt had struck her. Kyra seemed to fall in slow motion to her knees.

For a moment he thought a third trandoshan must have been around, but in the chaos one of those bolts had slipped through

"No!" he shouted, flinging up both hands. The doors that were still trying to close buckled and were permanently sealed open.

The mirialan was a green blur as he rushed forwards and skidded to his knees before Kyra.

"You are alright!" he said firmly, with all the confidence of someone who had not just been shot for the first time. "You're not bleeding!" Fabric was torn beneath his grip as he pulled it clear of the burn marks.

"I'll see if I can kind a bacta patch. Stop it scarring?" he offered, trying to hold her gaze and keep her calm. Acaadi was doing his best not to panic himself.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra quaked inside his arms. She tried to stop it, it felt so ridiculous too, but her body did not obey. The swarth of stars swirling by occupied much of her attention. Despite the pain and overwhelming panic echoing from them both, they still had something to do. She raised a hand, her extended fingers shaking. A subtle ripple in the force was all it took to pull the lever and cut the drive. Kyra went limp with relief when they fell out of hyper drive, noises of pain finding their way from her then.


”The-the Wookiee’s,” she implored, grabbing his hands and trying to make him stop. There were two shots, two holes in her body. Two bolts she hadn’t listened well enough to stop. There was no lecture in the world that could make her feel as incapable as she did in this moment. Sh tried not to cry, she swore she wouldn’t anymore.

Sobs hitched anyway, tears making their way down her face.

“There’s still- there’s still two more out there, you hav- you have to stop them.” As if on cue, the final two sets of footprints stormed down from the hall.

 

[Rayth]

"Hey, hey, you'll be alright. It's alright. It's just shock." Words that Acaadi didn't really understand. It was almost impossible not to let some of her panic bleed over to him. To open the door for fear. Acaadi placed a hand on her good shoulder and tried his very best to look confident in his words.

Anger flashed in his golden eyes as he turned towards the sound. As his expression shifted the geometric patterns tattooed across his cheeks changed form. As did the way the Force moved around him.

The two trandoshan appeared in the doorway and Acaadi raised one hand. The sound of triggers being pulled was impossible to hear over the sound of their blaster rifles crumpling in on themselves.

Acaadi finally stood as one drew a knife and the other a blaster pistol. Another flash and the one with a pistol had a neat, smouldering hole in his chest. Acaadi held Kyra's lightsaber in his hands. The trandoshan would never quite realise that his bolt had been deflected before he died. The second one pulled back the knife to strike. Acaadi used the most simple strike in the novice repertoire to strike his head with the blade and knock him out.

The blade snapped out of life. Acaadi didn't let go. He was breathing fast and hard, gripping the hilt tight enough to turn his knuckles pale yellow. He slowly turned down the Kyra and seemed to remember where he was.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra looked up at him in fear. She knew how both of them were suppose to feel when they fought. The emotions that coiled through the room would have put their masters to shame.

She held his gaze for a moment longer, until the pain stole her breath away. She cried out, dripping with sweat as she curled into herself. Well she had wanted an adventure. She had gotten one. “The distress signal,” she begged, hoping Acaadi had presence enough mind to stay on task.

“Ahh!” Oh gods. She was dying. “My fault, my fault, my fault.”

 

[Rayth]

"Not your fault," he said. His voice was soft but stern. He walked to the consoles. The basics were no different from a shuttle but he was glad there would be no attempt to land it. He found the emergency hyperspace beacon and set it off.

If Kyra had not been on the deck he might have taken one of the chairs and mentally vacated the area until someone answered the call. He could not leave her like that.

Acaadi dropped to one knee beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Kyra?" he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Let's see those wounds. We'll get you patched up and let the wookies out."

Whilst not the most sensitive Jedi he could feel her anguish. The most moved differently around them both. He touched the Force as it danced, trying to calm its movements. Kyra would feel that as a soothing touch to the back of her mind.

This was not the grand adventure he had expected for her first real action as a Jedi.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra calmed slightly under his influence, her mutters dying out into soft whimpers. With her bravado gone, all that was left to feel from her was insecurities. She tried to push him away for a moment, as if that could bridge a wall back between them, but in the end she fell limp under his hands.

“It is my fault,” she breathed back, growing quieter. “They always said this would happen, and I- you.” He gained access to her wounds. Nothing inherently lethal, not unless no one showed. Just a skim across her side and a direct shot at her shoulder. That was the worst, a literal hole burned in her. Her stomach threatened to upend at the sight of it, her head tossing the other way.

“Are they coming?”

 

[Rayth]

"I'm sure they will be on their way soon," he said. Acaadi tried to sound reassuring but his own voice was cracking. He had never looked at a blaster wound up close. The burned flesh of a human-zeltron was not so different from cooked meat. Acaadi tried to ignore that.

The mirilian stood up and moved towards a plastic box on the wall. He sifted through the contents and found the universal treatment: bacta patches. No matter what the medics would do to Kyra a bacta patch would start the healing process.

"This is going to hurt a little to press down," he warned as he knelt back down. Bacta had its own sweat scent, released as he pulled the wrapped away.

"You know, we saved a lot of wookies today," he said as he pressed it down over the wound. The gel quickly formed a seal over her shoulder. It would take Acaadi some time to unravel this all in just his own mind.

 

[Kyra Perl]

yra cried out into her arm, unable to do more than sob through the fresh pain that a plaster caused. “Then why do we feel like we failed,” she challenged softly, a mess of tears and snot.

She wanted to go home. For a long moment she yearned nothing more than to forget all of this stuff and to go back. To her room. To her mom. To the things she could do properly. She ached profoundly for it, grabbing onto Acaadi and hugging to him instead.

A beep echoed hoed from the dashboard, loud and urgent. Signal received. Another beep signified a call. And demanded an answer.