Private Light Fingers

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"So...if you want to learn to fly then watch closely in silence. Then, take in everything I do and don't do that. I am a truly terrible pilot. I actually know someone who can fly. I'm...we're going to see him now."

A wry smile crossed his lips. Serya's enthusiasm was a big change from her mistrust. However, if he wanted a nap then perhaps Coren could be the subject of her newfound, insatiable passion for learning.

There wasn't much room on the ship. In the two cabins you could reach the far wall with an outstretched hand from the bed. Jacen tossed his bag in his cabin.

"I mean it all by the way, strap in for the take off," Jacen warned. He flicked a whole row of switches up and the engines hummed softly.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya left her bag against a wall, her smile faltering towards concern as she reached out and edged herself into the seat.

"You aren't doing much to inspire confidence..."




The shuttle through Kattada was long. The train glided smoothly over the tracks, unmoving under their feet as Serya settled in.

Her curious nature had fallen back to silent, a natural layer of tension sitting in her shoulders as they found their cabin and settled their bags inside it.

“Who is this friend again?” She asked, wary.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"His name is Coren Starchaser," Jaden said.

Starchaser and Voidstalker. At least the other main family of their group had had a sensible name in Talith. They had led that crusade all the way to the core from the rallying point in Sullust.

"He's a good man, though can be a little extreme on the topic of the dark side. Like me he's been kind of out of the Galaxy for a long time, though he's been getting stuck into big matters again."

It wasn't something he would normally warn someone about, but Serya had become a font of curiosity since she had started to open up. Many of her questions where about the nature of the Force itself.

Jaden looked out of the window, seeing the city fly past at an almost unbelievable speed. They had inertial dampeners in the carriages to make the ride feel unbelievably smooth.

"Want anything if I go and get some food?" He asked.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya snorted. "How do you eat so much?" It was becoming a pattern of theirs-- his penchant for coffee breaks and frequent small meals throwing the street rat's stomach through loops.

"No thanks, I'm still full from breakfast." It was well past lunch. She leaned back into the seat unbothered, her attention turned towards the landscape as it flew by. Her expression softened at once, as if struck by a memory or a sad realization.

If he was expecting more from her, he didn't get it. She wasn't particularly forward thinking or well-mannered. It was a dismissal if there ever was one, the sun streaming through the window warming her pleasantly.

Jacen Voidstalker

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen stood up and turned into the aisle. They didn't leave much room between the seats on these trains to try and maximise the number of people they could get on board. Being a broad shouldered man, there was a lot of turning sideways and apologising on his way out of the carriage.

When he stepped through a sliding door into the space between carriages he was afforded a little more room. Or he would have been if six men weren't coming from the other direction.

"Scuse me," he said politely and they kindly moved aside, pressing their backs to the wall. Jacen moved past them and through the next set of doors. There was a droid manning a particularly small stall at the far end of the next carriage.

Behind him, two of the group jammed the door. The other four headed into the carriage with Serya.

 

[Serya Talith]

Serya stretched out inside the carriage, her feet going up on the bench across form her as a pleasant lull fulled the small, private space. A calm descended upon her, that kinda rare, blissful stillness that sticks in your mind for years to come.

And then the doors opened. She blinked up at the men, pushing themselves. She pulled her feet from the bench and looked wildly around. Two stepped in. The others remained by the door as it clicked closed behind them. She sat alert, half confused and half thrown for loops. They moved so methodically.

"I'm sorry, are these your--" A hand lashed out, covering her mouth with a foul smelling cloth.

Fear shot wildly through her, a simple pulse of the force sending all flying sharply into the carriage walls. Bone cracked, one man landing awkwardly. The door opened again, another man filing in and lifting a gun.

Serya sat panting off on the ground, her head thick as she stared at the barrel pointed her way.

"Stand up."

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Are these warm?" Jacen asked, pointing to some pastries visible behind the counter.

The serving droid looked at him and then he turned his occular sensors to the pastries.

"Infrared says room temperature sir," it replied.

"Could I then have..." Jacen started, but he stopped the moment he felt the use of the Force. So close, it was impossible to miss. "...crap."

He hoped that she hadn't just launched a bottle through the train window. If she had done that there would probably be a very loud noise. Jacen could imagine plenty of options between that and nothing that involved Serya accidentally damaging their carriage.

The door between sections of the train was shut. Feeling the urgency of the moment he yanked hard and used the Force to slide it open. Two of the men were standing on the other side. They stopped aside.

The Force gave him a sharp warning just a moment before one of them punched him in the side of the head.

 

[Serya Talith]

"I don't have any credits," Serya uttered sharply, raising her hands before her as she slowly stood.

The man holding the blaster didn't respond, instead gesturing for his peer to stand up and take care of her. "No, nonono-no!" Serya scrambled back, half tripping over the unconscious partner as the other sluggishly stepped towards her. There carriage was spacious, but not that spacious. She reached for her bag, intending to beat him back with it.

It only took a single step for him to be on her, his rough hands batting away her arms and pressing the cloth roughly over her mouth.

She gasped in shock, she couldn't help it.

The chemical hit her brain at once, her grip going slack from its attempt to claw him off.

The world spun, a spark of primal fear spiking through her. She knew what came next.


No.

The force pulsed off her, a bubble erupting around the carriage. Time around them slowed, but the outside?

It kept moving.

Metal tore and rendered, flying in a distorted pattern past the window as she fell slowly backwards, her hair floating around her.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Jacen's shoulder hit the far wall. There want much space in the tunnel between the sections of the train so he struck it hard. He knew how to take a punch. He'd spent so much of is life taking a beating and not knowing when to quit.

"Want to talk about this?" he asked. Jacen pressed his back to the wall, using it to stay upright. He could taste blood.

They did not. One of them swung another punch, the other reached for some kind of taser.

Jacen shifted his weight to the left. The sound of the fist striking metal was oddly satisfying. He delivered a body blow in return then three his weight forwards into them both.

It was a tangled brawl in the small space. More knees and elbows than fists. The urgency struck him. They were keeping him from Serya. Not trying to bring him down.

That thought was punctuated by the sudden shift in the Force. The uncontrolled burst of power.

"Frak," he grunted. He struck out with an open palm, but it wad the Force than finished the blow, sending one of them men into the door hard enough to buckle it.

"I'm coming Serya!" he called out. There was a sharp buzz as the other thug extended the stun baton he'd been trying to free.

 

[Serya Talith]

The breath left her lungs as she hit the ground, the bubble bursting in an instant.

The front of the train tore on ahead, disconnected and wrenched free from the carriage that had been slowed in the stasis. The carriage behind it, however, slammed into them as if nothing had occurred. According to its momentum, nothing had. Their carriage jolted, the back end rending up off the tracks. It only took a moment for the rest of the carnage to pursue, the occupants inside the train tossed around like limp cargo as the carriage derailed.

Before she could so much as scream, the ceiling rushed up to meet her.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

It was a twisting feeling in his gut. The sense of time itself being wound around them using the Force. This discontinuity between here and there. Unnatural, the Force itself resisting being used to change the natural order this much. It was also the threat of what was to come.

Jacen watched his own hand moving slowly. Not to block the stun baton being swung on an arc towards him. Instead, seeing an image of what was to come, he grabbed the hand rail.

The whole carriage jolted as the train was pulled apart from itself. The stun baton hissed angril as the man wielding it was thrown from his feet.

The entire metal carriage screamed as the wheels derailed. They started to tip ominously to one side. There was no time. Not any more.

Jacen launched himself forwards. The world was turning. Everyone was screaming. More men around her, Serya falling. Jacen reached out an open palm and drew the girl too him. He held her tight and steeled himself to try and protect them from what came next. The carriage tipped, going over onto its side at a deadly speed.

Glass exploded from the windows as the carriages buckled. Smooth safety shards joining a wealth of weapons that had been carried by the thugs. Jacen held her close, wrapping them in a protective barrier. A barely visible ripple in space, as hers had been in time, that shielded them.

The carriage must of struck something. He skidded across the floor towards the front door. The barrier collapsed. He reached out with the Force to slow himself before the wall could break his legs.

Everything shuddered. The world seemed to still.

"Girl?"

 

[Serya Talith]

Even when the dust settled, nothing was as it should be.

"Girl."

She groaned, her limbs shifting as she felt for injury. Miraculously, she was unscathed. That was not to say the rest of the train was. A bag rolled off her as she reached around. The disorientation was profound, her ears ringing fiercely as she she tried to sit up.

Was the train on its side?

The world spun, the ground coming up to meet her. She surrendered herself to it, taking another moment to collect her thoughts. They were attacked. The train... somehow... derailed. And she- still in danger-

"Jacen," she uttered, clawing past a handful of metal as she fought against the ground. Darkness sucked at the edge of her vision. Adrenaline kept her moving.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

"Yeah, yeah just stay still a moment."

He wasn't sure if he was talking to Serya or the train. The carriage was definitely still, but it didn't remain that way to his eyes.

Feeling her raw confusion, he started to reach out for her.

The Force warned him before he heard the crush of glass. One of the thugs slowly standing up, drawing a knife from his jacket.

Jacen's hand turned towards the man. The knife flew from his grip, flipped around and shot back at him. It was a crack, the sound of it splitting his sternum.

There was no mercy or shock on Jacen's face at having killed a man in a heartbeat. He simply turned back to Serya and tried to place a hand on her shoulder.