Old Friends, Old Enemies

[Thiavi]

POV: Thiavi Wren

Krownest

0300 hours

It had been nearly 12 years since she had last visited krownest, the ancestral home of clan wren. With the red coronation at hand during that time, clan wren and house vizsla had abandoned their homeworld and scattered to the far reaches of the galaxy, leaving thiavi's home in ruins, collecting dust and snow on the mountain top.

The hike had left thiavi exhausted, and cold, but more importantly: Exposed.
Exposed to the group of bounty hunters and mercenaries who had been silently trailing her ever since she left kahlil's crew to find herself, now they were close.
Even thiavi's droid servant, the Red security droid known as "Kebo" had yet to detect the band of villains in the woods, but where machines failed, nature prevailed.

Crows, the very creatures this planet had been named after, always had a knack for alerting others.
A whole flock of them suddenly took off behind thiavi, attracting her attention just in time to catch sight of one. one of many.

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHz1i6CPGHM

"Run!" She shouted, taking off in full sprint towards the abandoned building ahead, with her droid, and a large volley of blaster fire not far behind.

After a hazardous run that would have gotten them killed if not for plot armour luck, they found themselves inside the old base.

"Kebo, Send out a distress signal.. It's a long shot, but maybe someone will come"

"Affirmative madame, though I must warn you that the odds of anyone receiving it are-"

"Can we not do this right now, please??"

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"So what I used the other day was a simple mind trick. Lesser minds are easily affected by it. It makes interacting with hostile forces far easier." Kahlil nodded once to [member="Kafh-en-ma-nofre"] in the training chamber within his ship, The Bastion. It had just been the two of them for now. Well, them and R6. Who came barreling down into the training room with a flurry of beeps and whines. Kahlil raised a brow curiously, before immediately rushing up the stairs.

"Distress beacon from [member="Thiavi"] ! Why didn't you send us there im- Okay you did. Alright. Kark. Kafh get ready to jump from the ship when we arrive. She's in a lot of trouble." Not much time to explain. It would still take them a bit to get there, but he needed to get prepared for what they were going into.

 

[Kafh-en-ma-nofre]

Kafh nodded to Kahlil as they stood in the training room. A mind trick? That interested the teen, but before he could ask further details on the matter, R6 zoomed in with a flurry of beeps and boops. Instantly Khalil explained it was a distress beacon from Thiavi: she was in a lot of trouble. Kafh felt his heart drop. He’d never expect to see anyone from the crew again. But meeting with Kahlil and having Thiavi send a distress beacon has surprised Kafh to say the least, and brought up a cocktail of emotions. He looked up to Kahlil and gave a worried look.

”O-ok.” Kafh said softly as he grabbed his jacket and ran towards the ramp and got ready to jump. He double checked his lightsaber and looked around.

The teen uttered a quick prayer to his gods. He turned on his commlink ”Kahlil. We gotta hurry.” Kafh said urgently.

[member="Thiavi"] [member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Kahlil stepped up beside [member="Kafh-en-ma-nofre"] once he had his gear all squared away. He gave a single nod to his padawan. "Stay calm. Focused. It won't do her any good if you arrive in panic." He reached out to pat Kafh's shoulder before clicking on the com to R6. "How much longer?" A couple of beeps. One minute. He took a calming breath himself and stepped to the exit ramp, pulling out his saber.

"We're dropping on the roof of the building she's in. Be ready to block blaster fire."

[member="Thiavi"]

 

[Thiavi]

Blaster bolts zipped past through the open doorway, kicking up snow in the hollowed-out ruins of the facility, making visibility low in the small corridor, something that actually worked to thiavi's advantage. She took the opportunity to slice into the door controls, plugging her bracer's datapad into the panel and locking the doors as they came to a close.

"Kebo, give it a good smacking for me will you?"

"You got it!" The droid said enthusiastically as he slams his fist into the panel with a burst of sparks and smoke. no way the bounty hunters were slicing it now.

Thiavi leaned against the wall and slowly sat down for a moment, trying to figure out her next move.

"Kebo, is the location still in your memory banks?"

"Yes ma'am, my memory wipes are behind by-"

"I know, I know! You know I prefer to keep you as you are. now let's get going, no telling when the hunters will find a way in"

K3 nodded with understanding, the droid was still a machine, but he had learned so much about the galaxy and himself thanks to her and the old crew, he knew that thiavi viewed him as more than a bodyguard, but the sentiment would have to wait. Whatever thiavi was after, she was in a hurry to get, and the arrival of bounty hunters had only rushed her further.

The two of them pushed further into the facility, walking the winding staircases and twisting corridors until they had entered a large room, a single ray of light from the collapsed ceiling revealing the large throne in it's center, with a display case above it, housing a weapon of some kind, wrapped in old cloth.

Thiavi slowly approaches the throne, taking a deep breath as she examines it in silence for a time.

"This is it alright. one last memory" she climbs up into the throne, standing on it to reach the display case above, dusting off the latch before opening it, and carefully removing the wrapped weapon, nearly dropping it in a panic as the sudden whine of thrusters echoed through the building.

"Ma'am, It appears a ship has landed somewhere above, it will take me some time to determine the exact nature"

"Maybe someone picked up our signal?"

"Or perhaps more bounty hunters have arrived."

Thiavi loosens some of the weapon's wrapping, using it like a sling to carry it on her back. "Than we'd best get moving.."

And with that, the two made their way further into the building, using K3's previous knowledge of the building to navigate the ruins, a task made difficult by the newfound status of the base.

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] [member="Kafh-en-ma-nofre"]

 

[Kafh-en-ma-nofre]

Calm and focused. Kafh took a breath and gave Kahlil a nod. The Force would guide them through this. The Padawan wondered what kind of trouble Thiavi got herself into this time. He turned to his mentor and gave a smile.

“When this is over we’re going to need a vacation. A beach planet perhaps?” Kafh said with a grin. Just the idea of jumping in the nice cold water on a hot day was relaxing. The ex slave shook his head and drew his lightsaber. Now wasn’t the time to be daydreaming. Soon enough they would be above the building. Kafh would make his way to the edge of the exit ramp. Feeling the cold bite of the crisp Krownest air.

He should have layered a bit more, but too late now. He would look over to Kahlil before jumping down onto the building below, igniting his lightsaber as he landed.
[member="Thiavi"]
[member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"A beach. Yeah, that'd be nice." Kahlil gives [member="Kafh-en-ma-nofre"] a kind smile. At least he was able to joke. Or he was serious. Either way the Knight welcomed the small bit of joy before the ramp opened. The chill of Knownest sent a shiver down his spine. Another lesson to teach, when time wasn't of the essence. Kahlil jumped down beside his Padawan, igniting his own blue blade as he glanced around for the nearest door to get in. Blaster fire already scorched the nearby railing, though they weren't in sight.

The Bastion, however, was. R6 chirped over the com in a panic before the ship started to lift off and away, retreating to safety. Kahlil clicked on his mic, watching the Bastion go. "Good. I'll call when I get in contact with [member="Thiavi"] and K3. Be sure to patch us into their mics if you can, or at least send a message to K3 that we've arrived. Don't wanna get shot on accident."

An affirmative beep and Kahlil clicked the com off. He gave a nod to Kafh before reaching out to the nearby door and pulling it open through the Force. No one inside, good. "Have I shown you how to increase your speed yet?"

 

[Thiavi]

With a ship landing above their target, the bounty hunters become unsettled, more so when the faint blue glow of lightsabers began to flicker in the distance.
One of the hunters lowers his micro binoculars and turns to the pack's leader worriedly, receiving orders in a guttural, alien language.
Perhaps the jedi were reinforcing this young mandalorian? or perhaps they were after the same thing as they were? jedi seemed to have an odd joy of hunting mandalorians these days.
Either way, they needed to hurry. and hurry they did, rushing from the trees and surrounding foothills, their numbers were difficult to count when moving from cover to cover, but by the time they started breaching doors, it was apparent that there were a lot of them for a single bounty, especially for some girl and a droid...

Back inside the facility, thiavi and k3 were making slow progress through the building, hoping to find an exit that wouldn't leave them exposed, a search that was proving fruitless with each step...

"Ma'am, someone is attempting to patch into our comms, how should I proceed?"

Thiavi paused a moment, eyes down the barrel of her rifle. Movement? No, imagination maybe...

"Ma'am?"

"We're not alone anymore... switch to an open channel and patch them through, I'll keep us covered"

K3 simply nods before standing straight, his stance stiffening, and his optics blinking steadily as he establishes comms.
A moment later he returns to normal and the lights on her antenna flash green for a moment as a signal is received.

*krrzzzt* "You're calling after hours, friend" she says over comms with a subtle chuckle
"Can't sleep though, so I've got a minute to talk"

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] [member="Kafh-en-ma-nofre"]

 

[Kafh-en-ma-nofre]

Kafh took in his surroundings, blaster burns on railings, but no immediate threat. Kathy stayed alert as Kahlil contacted R6. Soon enough his mentor used the force to pry open a door. As they walked inside, they’d find the room empty. Kafh felt slightly relieved at that, he wasn’t looking forward to engaging threats right away.

Kafh turned his attention to Khalil who asked if he had been taught how to increase his speed. The ex slave shook his head. “You have not,” Kafh replied. He was about to ask his mentor to elaborate when a voice came through the comms. It was Thiavi, a voice he hadn’t heard in a while. The teen quickly turned on his com.

“By the gods. I see your sense of humor is still intact..” Kafh said as he looked around the room. A broad smile on his face.

“Where are you? Are you okay?” Kathy asked as reality dawned on him. The teen turned to Khalil with a concerned look.

[member="Thiavi"]
[member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

 

[Kahlil Noble]

"Let's fix that then. Crash course, so to speak. Focus inward, feel yourself and the world around you as you surely already know how. Still yourself, your mind. Let yourself feel the world and take it all in. Let the world slow in your mind." He gives [member="Kafh-en-ma-nofre"] an encouraging smile. "It's easy, once you figure it out. Everything will seem to be in slow motion, slower the better you get at it. Gives you more time to think through your actions."

Then the welcome voice of [member="Thiavi"] over the coms. Kahlil lets out a sigh of relief, but lets the padawan do the talking. He nods once to the door before he takes off in a run, though keeping pace with Kafh. "We're on our way down. Don't shoot the pair with blue sabers, yeah?"

 

[Thiavi]

By kafh's fethining gods... that's a voice I've not heard in a long time. a long time...

She couldn't believe who'd called. The boy from the desert, the one she'd escaped Tatooine with, and later joined the crew with too. the last time she'd seen him had to be after felucia. she didn't remember much, only that she'd taken a bolt to the chest, and that it got her thinking... she'd distanced herself from... everyone, and left sometime after. she barely remembered any of it.
There had been a short pause while this whirlwind of thoughts and emotions spun on and on, she had to shake herself out of it, and get back on comms.

~I'm good! for now. how have you- uh... we should be near maintenance, Kebo will send you a ping or... something~

Do... do they have wrist cuffs with datapads? something with a HUD maybe?...

~There's bounty hunters after me, maybe close... listen for blasting~

Kahlil chimed in soon after, another welcomed voice that she didn't expect to hear.

~You got it! if you take fire, it's not me. probably~

Guess the missfits are back in business. before she could finish that thought, k3 crashed into the wall behind, kicking up snow while he tussled with a bounty hunter that had gotten close without her noticing.

"HEY!" She shouted, firing a few rounds into the air to get the hunter's attention. and just like that, both he and k3 stopped, staring at her worriedly, realizing that for the moment, he was the one outnumbered. that's what you get for rushing ahead of the team. without even looking, k3 smacked him atop the head, knocking him out.

"Why did you shoot?" he asks casually, walking past her towards maintenance. "By my calculations ma'am, I had him"

"I told them, "Listen for blasting", didn't I?" she shrugged innocently.

[member="Kahlil Zambrano"] [member="Kafh-en-ma-nofre"]