Funny Finding You Here

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt shook his head, wrapping his hand around her own and pushing the credits back into her palm.

"Don't need em'." It was true. While her parents didn't end up paying, his company still paid him. It was part of his contract that he got paid no matter what occurred upon delivery, as long as that delivery did occur. It would take a few days for him to get the paperwork all sorted out, but in the end he would get his money for the job. In truth, he didn't mind the whole thing all that much. Sure it had been annoying, but at the very least he now had a story to tell.

Kaile would be delighted.

"Just do me a favor." This was where he began to feel very much like an adult. "Call your parents."

He would hate to have another guy like him end up getting arrested. "At least let em' know you're alive"

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Ugh. The male bravado at its' finest. "'Don't need em'." In a span of 10 or so minutes, he had scared, intimidated, bewildered, and infuriated her, as if she was some sort of roller coaster ride of emotion. Her face scowled as he pushed the credits back to her and tried to coerce her into contacting her family.

"Look, I didn't ask if you needed them. I was giving them to you for finding me, even if on accident, and sharing that information with me."

Who does he think he is telling me what to do? He's not my brother, he doesn't even know me. While she was having this internal fiasco inside her head her face made a number of discontented expressions. She wasn't one to be told what to do by anyone other than her parents, and even then it was generally a bit of a stand-off. Perhaps it was simply her age, or the environment of her upbringing, or some combination of the two. Either way, she wasn't having it.

"I can't! If they find out where I am, they'll send people to take me back home, like I thought you were here to do. It's just better this way for now."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He perked an eyebrow.

"You think they'll find you from a holo-call?" That caused him some immediate suspicion as to the girls level of knowledge of how galactic communications actually worked. Sure calls could be traced, but coming from a massive Trade Station like this days away from Naboo? Yeah that was difficult, not to mention there were a hundred different ways of blocking that backtrace. The Holo-net wasn't exactly owned or even operated by any singular government, accessing it's sub-systems was nearly impossible.

There were perhaps a handful of slicers in the galaxy who could really track someone that way, and he was more than willing to bet that this girls parents weren't any of them.

"Do you even know where you're going?" He seriously began to question if this girl had a plan. "Do you have a plan?"

When he had left Tatooine he hadn't had a plan, in fact he had simply said he'd make his way and see what happens. That of course, had ended up with being running out of credits in nearly a week with his ship running out of fuel in the middle of a pirate raid, not his finest moment.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I don't know!" She said rather indignantly upon Kurt's questioning of her being discovered. "I'm not taking any chances."

She had no idea what she was doing, or what her plan was. She just knew that it did not involve Naboo in any kind of fashion. She knew calls could be traced, she'd seen plenty of holo-movies that depicted it. All they had to do was plug into an empty terminal and make the call. Then BAAM, you were caught. No, she wasn't taking any chances here.

"Of course I know where I'm going. Do you think I'm some kind of child running away from home because I got grounded? I know what I'm doing, thank you very much!" Her tone of voice was gradually increasing in the level of sass the longer she spoke. "Besides, what do you know about bounty hunters? You hid behind a table just as quickly as I did when those thugs came in, looking for whatever it was they were after!"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Yeah because I didn't want to get shot." That was just intelligent thinking. "What kind of an idiot runs at the guys with guns and tries to fight them?"

The dead ones, the dead idiots.

Kurt had had his fill of heroes, he had flown with his fair share against the One Sith. Inevitably those who sought to be heroic ended up dead, and Kurt didn't want to end up dead. Maybe that made him a coward, but he thought it was just the smart way of doing things. "What's your plan then, Princess? Gonna head to Coruscant and look at all the shiny buildings?"

Maybe he was getting a tad mean now, but he was annoyed.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Look at the shiny bui-" She repeated the question in a quizzical manner then paused, realizing that it was clearly an insult directed at her lifestyle and what he assumed she had interest only for.

With glaring eyes now focused on him she nearly shouted, "NO." Throwing her arms up into the air in a tizzy she turned away from him, staring down a long alley that likely led to other various areas of the station. "I'm going to learn how to use the Force. I'm going to protect people like you, people who are too scared to stand up and fight for themselves. I'm going to become something great, a Jedi." Jamie then realized she just blurted out quite possibly the most preposterous statement ever. What reason would Kurt have to believe that story? Regardless, that was her plan, as crazy as it sounded.

She turned back around with a determined, stern look. "That is my plan. I'm not some runaway bride or princess. What's your plan?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Oh? A Jedi? Well excuse me my lady mistress Jedi Pants." That didn't make any sense. "I didn't know I was dealing with a worshipful force using god."

Kurt took a deep false bow.

He had dealt with Jedi of course, though he'd never really seen them in action. The Navy had been separate from the Jedi, mostly at least. A few times he had seen them aboard his carrier either in the hangar or on the bridge when he had reported for assignment, none of those times had he ever seen them use the force. There had been rumors of course, what the force could do and what Jedi were capable of, but Kurt ascribed to the theory of not believing until seeing.

Thus, to him, Jedi were very much mumbo jumbo. "I plan on doing my job until I get bored of it!"

It was at this point that they began to draw a small crowd.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"What are you, four years old? For karks sake grow up." She clapped rather condescendingly for him.

"Oh and your job must be fantastic! Flying around delivering boxes! Impressive! I bet you're in high demand with the girls!"

Jamie looked around at the crowd of people that had slowly started encircling them. Were they really that loud that it was now a spectacle? Apparently so. She shouted at them to make them go away. "There's nothing to see! Leave us alone! GO!" When the number of spectators instead began to grow she turned away, pushed through the crowd and started to walk down the pathway towards anything that got her away from there. He's so...so....She screamed inside of her own mind. Her frustration with the situation and the revelation of her family's emotional state, coupled with his condescending remarks of her idea to become a Jedi brought her eyes to a glossy state as she walked.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt followed her, though slowly. "I DID PLENTY OF GROWING ON TATOOINE."

That didn't exactly sound right, though either way it worked out.

Tatooine had really been his prime time, mostly because he had been a champion and a star at the time. The Navy had also been good to him women wise, though in the end that had come back to bite him in the ass. He didn't quite know why he felt the need to justify himself regarding that, after all she was just lashing out because of her current predicament.

With a glance at the crowd around them, Kurt followed after her, though he wasn't quite sure why.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

She stopped for a second, turning to face him before shouting right at him. "YEA, PLENTY OF GROWING...INTO AN ASS!"

Why was she having a screaming contest with him in the middle of a busy trade station? How did that even happen? She didn't remember; She was seeing red. He was immature and condescending. Yet for some reason she was glad he followed her. She really didn't know why, given that all he had brought her thus far was a massive headache and sent her into a frenzy. She felt the water that had built up in her eyes slowly trickle down the front of her cheeks.

Great. Now he's going to see you cry. Fantastic, Jamie. Suck it up.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He kept on following her, though in truth he had no idea why. At this point he felt like he was badgering her, though in truth there was likely something different laying there. Perhaps he felt that she was ill-suited to being in a galaxy at large, perhaps he wanted to help. Kaile was rubbing off on him, he really needed to detox from her, maybe go to a strip club and throw money at half naked women. Yeah, thats what he would do.

Okay he probably wouldn't.

"NO. THAT ONLY HAPPENED AFTER I MET YOU!" His insults were getting less and less cognitive. "Now wait the kark up!"

He called her out, trying to get her to stop running away.

They had moved away from the crowd now, cut into one of the more secluded areas of the station. The hangar bay that they had entered seemed to be mostly devoid of life, there were a few droids working on ancient and broken down ships, but other than that they seemed to be entirely alone.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"An ass is still an ass!" She wrinkled her nose and wiped her face as he got closer. "Why?! What do you want?!"

She stopped and waited for him. What was another batch of insults anyway? How was it that this guy she had known only for such a short period somehow already managed to drive her completely insane? Nobody in the past had that capability. Jamie was almost always a calm and collected type. Perhaps all of the stimulation was simply overbearing. It likely didn't help that she had nobody at all to talk to. Everything she was feeling, all of her thoughts, and everything she wanted to accomplish. It was all stranded alone in her mind. She was truly alone in the galaxy.

Sitting down on one of the nearby crates she looked over at the droids as they went about their work, seemingly oblivious of the humans, before dropping her head into the palms of her hands.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"I want..." He was about to yell some more, but then he saw her slump.

Kurt couldn't help himself.

There was something about a woman in distress, about the sadness. Maybe it was because he had ultimately been raised to be a good person, had been taught by his mother and father to never leave a woman worse than when you found her. It was a silly thing to some, but to Kurt, it was what he had been taught. "...To help you."

Oh dear lord he was doing it again.

First Kaile, now this girl. What was next? He'd go into a strip club and offer the Dancers a place to live?

 

[Jamie Pyne]

She cocked her head to the side and looked over at him. Everything she was displaying that very moment was everything about herself she wanted to change, to bury in the past. She wanted to change. It was the only way to become stronger, a better person. Sitting on a crate on some space station teary eyed with some guy that wanted to yell, argue, and provoke her, while simultaneously wanting to help her to not be so alone was not part of her plan.

Who was she trying to kid? Herself? She stifled the tears and lowered her hands to her lap. "You sure have an interesting way to go about it."

Reluctantly the girl slid herself over on the crate to make room for Kurt, in the event that he desired to sit anywhere near her. She didn't know what to say or do. She didn't know where to go. Perhaps she just needed someone to understand. This was so complicated.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt let out a loud sigh as he sat down.

"Well, not everyone is perfect." That wasn't a snipe at her, and his tone denoted as such. He simply wasn't really all that good at communicating when he wanted to help. Of course it hadn't helped that she had started screaming which had made him start to scream. He was a very reactionary person, and that was part of why he hadn't done all that well in the Navy. Most of what he had done was considered entirely inappropriate conduct for an officer.

"Look." He said, trying to grab her attention. "You have a plan, great, but do you actually know how you're going to achieve that plan?"

That was really the concern here. She wanted to be a Jedi, great, but there were three separate Jedi Orders now and all of them were currently at war. It was dangerous getting to them, not to mention the Sith were always looking for young force users.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"I know...Roughly how I am going to achieve that plan." She had been offered to be mentored by a master, one that was unaffiliated with the various orders within the galaxy. The only order Jamie even knew of was the Jedi Order of the Republic, which her master had only been a part of briefly before departing to take things on her own way. It was probably for the best, to be unaligned and free to provide aide where one saw fit. At least, that was Jamie's take on it.

"I just wanted to take time to see some things in the galaxy I've not seen yet. Living on Naboo my whole life never gave me the opportunity to see anything. Space is foreign to me. I want to see more of it."

It was dangerous how ignorant of the galaxy she was. Knowing nothing, having limited funds, even if she still had access to her family's accounts, and having no training with a blaster, as well as her lack of any self defense measures whatsoever, she was rolling the dice on her safety. Slavers were not something she was accustomed to, but it wasn't like the galaxy was beneath abducting human girls in the slave trade.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

There was ignorance in that, extreme ignorance.

The Galaxy was a dangerous place, more dangerous now then it had been in years. Pirates, raiders, swoop gangs, half a dozen governments fighting wars over territory and planets. Kurt had barely made it through the last five years without dying. Granted he had been directly involved in one of those wars, but even since he'd taken on as a Courier he had met his fare share of Sith and Pirates. It was an unpleasant thought that Jamie might run into the same circumstances.

"What are you aiming to see?" He questioned. Naboo was pretty much already in the outer rim, or near enough anyway. Kurt himself had grown up on Tatooine, one of the most vile worlds in the galaxy, or so his squadron mates used to tell him. Apparently his homeworld had a reputation for the illicit and criminal, though in truth Kurt had never noticed it.

Perhaps that's why he'd survived so long on his own.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Everything. Anything. I don't know." She was clueless as clueless could get. "I don't know what there is to see, but I want to see it. Beaches on foreign planets. Homeworlds of the races that make up our beautiful galaxy. The trees that only grow on Kashyyyk. The vibrant colors and variations of plants and other flora on places like Felucia and Umbara." She knew of a few different planets. "I want to see Coruscant and Mandalore. There's just so much out there."

She was getting starry eyed. The excitement and thrill of the idea was probably far more than she would end up with upon actually seeing such places. But that was something she needed to get out of her system, to see and experience. No amount of persuading would likely change her mind. Ignorance was bliss. It was also an incredibly dangerous temptress.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Felucia? Kashyyyk? Coruscant?

She was liable to get herself killed in all of those places.

Umbara itself wasn't all that great either, the planet was independent of all galactic governments now and that meant that they had mostly reverted back to their old, more...xenophobic ways. The Umbarans were an interesting people, and if you didn't have cause to meet that interest...well it was best not to go there. His lips thinned slightly, and he found himself wondering if Jamie would make it to the end of the month. Did she even have a ship? A way to get to these places?

Probably not, she'd likely end up getting kidnapped half way there and put into slavery. "Do you know how to fly a ship?"

He had an idea.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Fly? A ship?" She bit her lip again. Should she lie? She knew how to pilot a land speeder and a few speeder bikes, even a small transport shuttle, but a starship? She hadn't the faintest clue. If it were similar to any of those smaller types of transports then maybe, but she hadn't ever seen the cockpit of a starship to know. "Uhhh yea? Of course I do. I mean, who doesn't know? It's simple."

Wow. If that didn't sound like the most unbelievable pile of word vomit.

On second thought, she probably should have just told the truth. Unless he didn't know how to pilot a ship himself, he probably could smell a lie from the hangar bay. Damnit, Jamie. What are you doing? Are you trying to impress him? Or are you just that stubborn? Her conscious was especially alert today it seemed.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]