Private Just a Little Detour

[Viers Connory]

//: Aeris Lashiec //:
//: Dantooine Space //:

They had been traveling for some time now. The Jedi Knight that accompanied Viers was none too the wiser of where their actual location was going, was still under the impression they were heading to Tython. It had been a blessing in disguise that the young Corellian was decent with the nav computer systems, being able to hide their entire route. Viers felt a bit guilty, dragging Aeris into this, but the padawan needed to get her hands on what she wanted. ​

While the internal guilt rose slightly, Viers could hear the old woman’s voice in the back of her head - calling her brash and headstrong, but with a wave of her hand, the ghost of her dead guardian disappeared. ​

This trip was a necessary endeavor. Looking over her shoulder to make sure Aeris wasn’t in listening range, she waved to Deco to do what he needed to do. The small anthropoid droid plugged its tail into the ship’s console and installed the Sith transponder she had lifted a few weeks prior. ​

Maybe she was too good with technology. She waited, biting her thumb as she could feel the signal bouncing back and forth with the planetary defenses. If it wasn’t accepted - she might have flown both her and Aeris to their deaths. ​

<Welcome to Dantooine, please dock at A-1458-Z> Exhaling, Viers responded and began to guide the small unmarked freighter into the dock they were given. Over the comms, the padawan announced their arrival. “Hey Aeris, we’re uh here!” ​

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Viers Connory

Slow in, slow out. Her mind expanded across the room as she took in the calm and relative quiet of the small freighter. This wasn’t quite what Aeris had thought knighthood would be, but perhaps babysitting duty was the natural step in the right direction. A routine mission to Tython was a routine mission to Tython after all.

As Viers voice called out, Aeris found herself brought back to reality. For the last few hours she had been in a deep state of meditation, going over the different aspects of what she had just signed up for in an effort to not let the perceptions of what a Jedi Knight was put a damper in her wheels. With a calm push from the ground she approached the cockpit and took a seat next to the padawan with a quite curious look.

“This does not look like Tython, Padawan Viers.” She simply said and slowly turned towards Viers before her eyes set on the Padawan. “Tython is a bit more green.”

Yet, as the Padawan pushed out of her seat, Aeris did the same. Her feet quick on the follow as she stepped down the loading ramp and caught sight of a red fabric swaying in the wind. While initially nothing strange or out of the ordinary, the symbol that soon showed itself upon it most certainly was.

“Viers!” Aeris exclaimed and held the younger girl by the shoulder. “Why is there a Sith symbol on that banner?”

 

[Viers Connory]

//: Aeris Lashiec //:
//: Dantooine Space //:

Viers stiffened slightly as Aeris made a comment about Tython being greener. The knight wasn't wrong, but she was wrong in this aspect because they weren't on Tython; they were on Dantooine. A nervous laugh and Viers climbed out of the pilot's seat and shrugged while walking backward and nearly stumbling over her feet. "Eh, maybe it's like winter here or something - who knows, Tython's always been weird. Ask the Je'daii" ​

Seems Aeris was still confident they were on Tython until she saw the red flags. Hearing her name, the padawan tried to widen her stride and get away from Aeris, but the woman was faster. A grip on her shoulder made her stop, and thousands of lies and stories spiraled into her head. She had to figure out something to say, or it was a good chance that Aeris would drag her back onto the ship. ​

"You have to promise to not be mad." Viers started as she turned and patted Aeris' hand. A bashful grin crossed her face as she shrugged and began to explain. "It's not Tython per se, I um swiped a Sith Imperial transponder code" Her guilty smile continued to widen, hoping that it would garner some sympathy and forgiveness from Aeris. "So we took a detour to Dantooine so I could maybe recover some sliver of wood from Master Vodo's quarterstaff."​

The last shrug and Viers' attempt at looking as adorable as any padawan could do to the Knight or Master in charge of them. "Don't be mad, please?"​

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Viers Connory

Even in moments of stress there was a measure of peace to be found in the force. Aeris kept herself composed despite the fact that her senses began to burn enough fuel to throw her into a hyperspace jump all by herself. There were signatures all around them, but none of them seemed to have paid them any special attention yet.

Her hand remained firm against Viers’ shoulder as the younger woman began to plead her case. Not with a painful grip by any means, but one that was more than adequate in ensuring that Viers was aware of the rank that Aeris was willing to pull. She was a knight, Viers was a Padawan. Their places were not equal, and Aeris spoke with an authority that Viers did not.

At least, she would have if they were still at home. Here, on Dantooine, nobody gave a rat’s behind about who either of them were. At least not for as long as they could refrain from telling anyone.

“I am not angry, I am just incredibly disappointed.” Aeris frowned at Viers. The sympathy she had hoped for had not phased the slightly older Jedi Knight. “Do you have any idea what you are asking? Do you have any form of proof that this item is even here, or still exists?”

“Viers, we have to—”

“There. That’s the one.” The tinned voice of a sith trooper called out as a small group of them entered the port. “That’s the one with the outdated codes.”

Aeris hid behind a crate and urged the Padawan to do the same. The expression on her face was not one of approval. The sound of a tractor beam locking their ship in place echoed around the yard. This was not good.

 

[Viers Connory]

//: Aeris Lashiec //:
//: Dantooine Space //:

Before Viers could explain that she literally had no proof beyond what she had read in some ancient Jedi text, Aeris dragged her behind a crate. The sound of the tractor beam locking onto the ship made the young padawan cringe slightly as she bit on her thumb. The vessel was something she had borrowed, but at least the ship wasn't registered to anything that could tie back to the NJO, Alliance, or the Enclave. In reality, the girl had stolen it from some junker on Jakku. ​

But, Aeris didn't need to know that part. ​

Hiding behind the crate, Viers watched the security team encircle the freighter. She glanced towards Aeris and whispered sharply, "I'm sorry, but I did wipe the ship's identifications - they'll -" The conversation between the guards grew slightly louder as they moved closer to the crates. ​

"Don't know who it belongs to, but we should have the flight path downloaded fairly soon." The guards leaned against the crates they were behind, and Viers grabbed onto Aeris's arm as she held her breath. The conversation continued, "Perfect, should take some time, though." ​

Viers sat behind the crates waiting and felt the containers lean against them as the guards relaxed against them, waiting for the data to be downloaded from the ship. The one thing she didn't think of was the flight path; they would quickly pick up that the ship had flown from Jakku to Coruscant and then to Dantooine. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the ship carried potentially two Jedi. ​

At that moment, the little droid that usually sat on Viers' shoulder crawled out of the cargo hold of the freighter. Poking Aeris, she pointed at the anthropoid droid as it crawled along the floor and pounced at the guards taking the tablet from its hands. "HEY!" The first guard shouted as D3-C0Y ran off with a trill of beeps mockingly. "We have to help Deco."​

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Viers Connory

“The droid?!” Aeris hissed with an incredulous look at the padawan next to her. “No!”

The men ran off and Aeris kept her head down, lips silent as she sought cover behind the crate that had somehow managed to keep unwary eyes off of them. Green eyes glared at Viers with a headshake.

“No. We focus on deactivating that tractor beam and get the hell out of here.” Aeris hissed yet again and peeked out over the crate to ensure the coast was clear. “And then, we go to Tython.”

After that, Aeris was not quite sure what she’d even tell the masters. This was not what she had signed up for in the slightest, even if Viers had a bit of a reputation for these things. The librarian shook her head yet again and pushed in the opposite direction that the droid had run off in.

“Come on.” She whispered and motioned for Viers to come along. “This way.”

 

[Viers Connory]

//: Aeris Lashiec //:
//: Dantooine //:

​

Viers frowned and looked at Aeris as the droid that just saved their lives was quickly dismissed. “What do you mean?” Her attachment to the droid was evident as she followed at Aeris command. The droid was something she had created with her own two hands; it was her companion when she was alone. It sacrificed itself so that she and Aeris wouldn’t get caught. ​

“We can’t just leave him on Dantooine. Also, tractor beams are easy to disable, so it’s not a problem.” Viers needed to convince Aeris to stay on Dantooine for both the potential treasure laid hidden and Deco. She moved quickly and stepped in front of the blonde woman. “Please, Aeris, we can’t leave him. I promise we disable the tractor beam, and then we get deco and what I came here for.” A hint of the Padawan’s desperation lingered in her tone as she tried to think of something quick to say to the Knight. ​

“We get in and out, and we can go to Tython. No one finds out about this little detour, and we’re all safe and sound. I promise, please, please, please, Aeris. Without you here, I can’t be roaming around. I don’t have a Master, and I’m not a Knight.” ​

It was moments like this she wished she was a bit younger; when she was barely ten years old, all she had to do was pout. Aeris wasn’t going to fall victim to her pout, especially from someone only a couple of years younger. “Please.” The Corellian reiterated the best she could.​

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Viers Connory

“I mean that it is an artificial construct.” Aeris shook her head and remained crouched on the spot as Viers seemed to struggle in the other direction. “No. No, no, nonono. No.” She then stood up and approached the kid with her hand up to point at her. “We find the droid, we find the tractor beam controls, and we get the hell out.”

There seemed to be no arguing that. Aeris liked procedure and she liked control as well as structure. There was no plan here beyond maybe finding something that may or not even have been here. There were channels for these things, and a way to perform an operation such as this with Order approval. Beyond that it would be a non-combatant and a mere padawan going on a non-sanctioned mission. They were well and truly dead if they were captured now.

Just then, a revelation:

“Viers.” Aeris said and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Unless you can hack a tractor beam terminal, we will need that droid. I am meeting you half-way here. No treasure hunt, just us two fixing this mess and getting out of here.”

Viers would probably stress the staff. Aeris raised her finger before she could.

“No.”

 

[Viers Connory]

//: Aeris Lashiec //:
//: Dantooine //:

​

Viers looked at the Jedi Knight with shock, her hand clutching the center of her chest dramatically. "Decoy is more than an artificial construct." She iterated to the woman who seemed to not understand the bond between a girl and her droid. Listening to the rest of Aeris' lecture, Viers picked up the settlement she proposed. She thought about it, knowing that she could easily hack her way into the tractor beam without the droid - but Aeris didn't need to know that tidbit about the padawan.​

​

With the weight of the blonde's hand on her shoulder, Veirs looked over to Aeris. Once more, she let her wide eyes full of admiration for the older woman staring at Aeris. Her lips parted to protest and press the subject on the staff, but as quickly as the admiration appeared on Viers' face - it faded. Aeris's sound and the image of her finger to reiterate her stance made the padawan groan and shake off the hand from her shoulder.​

​

"Fine." Crossing her arms, she turned her back to Aeris. The good thing about Decoy was that he had a tracking device attached to him. Viers could locate the monkey anywhere on the planet as long as he was still active. Rolling up the sleeve of her field jacket, her fingers moved along a small comm device. As quickly as Aeris denied the girl an argument for the staff, a tiny hologram of the area appeared over the watch. A red dot blinked as it moved, "There's Decoy, let's go." The map disappeared, and Viers paused, looking at Aeris.​

​

"You uh, should loosen up a bit, yeah? You have Jedi written all over your stiffness." Viers shrugged her shoulder a few times to try and show Aeris the Jedi Knight how to light up a bit. "This is fun?"​

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Viers Connory

The shrugged-off hand swayed by Aeris’ side before she merely clasped it together with her other free hand and took a deep breath to focus on what laid before them. Death was highly probable. Whether it be because of Viers’ stubbornness or simple bad luck was up for debate, and that was not to mention just how deep into enemy territory the two were by now.

Had Aeris been prepared, then maybe she would have brought something other than her Jedi jumpsuit, but as it were she had fully expected to stay within the Alliance borders. Disguises usually weren’t a requirement then.

“I wouldn’t have had to ‘loosen up’ if someone had been honest with me from the start.” Aeris said and calmly threw the shade back at Viers. “Lying, especially amongst ourselves,” She leaned in for only Viers to hear. “Is not what we do as Jedi. Keep that in mind, Padawan Viers.”

And with that she almost naturally seemed to shed the so-called ‘stiffness’. Her hands grasped at her jumpsuit to roll up the sleeves, hair tied up into a rough bun before she leaned down next to the fuel lines to smear a smudge of grease on her cheek to sell the point.

“Now, c’mon.” She frowned at her companion. “We's got a tractor beam to shut down.”

 

[Viers Connory]

Aeris Lashiec

While the padawan felt guilty about the lying, she suspected that even if she was honest with Aeris, the Knight would have disagreed with going on this excursion. Taking the lesson in stride, Viers folded her arms across her chest and sighed softly. “Master Aeris, I’ll lead the way since I can track Decoy.” Stepping in front of the woman, her small comm opened up again. A small blinking light moved about the screen, and Viers made a quick calculation of where the droid was heading.

“He’s not far.” She answered and then started to head off in the direction out of the port. Little time passed in silence as Viers couldn’t stand it much longer. Sharp brown eyes peered at the blonde woman and sighed. “I know I lied, but would you have even entertained the idea of coming here?” If she was right about Aeris, then the answer would have been no.

“I’ve been looking a long time for these relics. My guardian and I were supposed to come here, but…” Her voice trailed off for a moment as the tiny blinking light stopped moving. Viers tilted her head as she didn’t understand why all of a sudden he would stop moving in the middle of what looked like nowhere. The white light turned a sudden red, and the color in the padawan’s face disappeared. “We need to hurry.” With that, she quickly took off towards one of the busier streets near the starport.

Viers figured Aeris being a knight, she’d be able to keep up just fine, unless being a Librarian meant you didn’t need to stay in peak Jedi physical form.

Elsewhere

Decoy ran down the longest alley it had ever encountered. It knew Viers was tracking it as now the smallest light on its underbelly was dimming in and out. It had to lose its pursuers, so it began to jump along with the trash bins over and under until it stopped.

Triumph as it noticed no one was following, but then it began to try and find a place to nestle in until the padawan arrived. A shadow loomed darkly over it; at that moment, the S.O.S. signal chimed through its system back to Viers.​

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Viers Connory

Wait, did she just— Aeris raised her hand to try and pull Viers back but by then it was already too late and she had entered the crowd.

“If we had gone through proper channels, yes.” Aeris frowned and followed after the padawan. “I don’t like hiding all this from our employers. It’s not right, and you know that as well.”

In truth, Aeris was on edge. There weren’t many times she feared for her life, but that didn’t mean she actively enjoyed being thrown into situations where that was very much a risk. Viers’ selfish actions had endangered not just one but two very valuable assets to the Order, and right now that was because they had to chase down a droid that had seen it fit to run out of the starport and into the city proper.

No, Aeris wasn’t happy, and even Viers could feel that one in the force.

“Have you found that blasted droid yet?” Aeris asked over her shoulder as she checked the coast when they dodged into a nearby alley. “At this rate we could probably save time by cutting that damned console in half.”