Poster Child

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra had dared to think it was finally all over. Her wounds had healed, the press had died down, and everyone had moved on from her daring stunt back on the wookie field trip.

I mean, sure, it was brave of her to charge a slaver ship and take down 8 lizard people with nothing but a friend and a training saber, but it also was stupid of her. Really really stupid. Exhibit A- bullet holes in her body. Not half as sexy as it sounded and they didn’t even get to leave a scar. At least Acaadi had been able to walk off the ship on his own two feet.

He was clearly the stronger of the two. Out of both of them, he was the one most deserving of the assignment to escort the slaver scum to trial. As it turned out, the wookie and (this race I utterly refuse to try and spell correctly) had a complex past. The Lizard People that had survived the encounter were to now stand trial. A very public trial.

It was clear to Kyra that her and Acaadi were chosen to help escort them for political purposes. The remaining padawan to join them likely actually deserved the opportunity. She couldn’t help but to glance over said padawan as she walked down the path towards them, self-conscious.

No one knew what Acaadi and her actually had to do to pull out of that scrap alive, and if they did they wouldn’t be promoting them. Kyra felt like an imposter.

She glance to Acaadi next, trying to hold in an anxious squirm as they both approached their accompanying padawan together. “Heeeeyo,” Kyra cooed at them both, trying to keep her cool. For once, she was struggling.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie was both disturbed and amazed when he heard about a slaver ship succesfully being raided by two Padawan's. Disturbed because of the fact that there was a slaver ship there in the first place. The Padawan had always disliked slavers and couldn't understand why people would want to enslave others, it just wasn't right. He wasn't that naive kid that believed that anyone could be talked down from doing bad anymore though. There was evil in the galaxy and the reason for that evil couldn't always be explained or reasoned with.

Reggie was amazed by what he had heard because of the odds the other two Padawan's were up against. It couldn't have been an easy task, but they were able to defeat the slavers anyway. That was commendable, and now he had the honor of working with them. Reggie gathered his gear and went to meet his allies as soon as he was given the task. He was happy to get this chance to meet his fellow Padawan, but he was also determined to escort the slavers to their trial and watch them deal with the consequences of enslaving others. They would pay for the lives they ruined.

When Reggie arrived, he saw two people walking towards him, who he assumed were the Padawan's he'd be working with. He was greeted by the female Jedi, though he couldn't help but feel as though she wasn't comfortable with something. He pushed the thought aside, thinking that it's just his imagination.

Reggie took one of her hands with both of his and dawned a friendly smile. "Greetings. You two must be who I'll be working with." Letting go of her hand, Reggie turned to the other Padawan and grabbed his hand in a more formal hand shake, but had the same friendly smile. "My name is Reggie Faayare. It's nice to meet you both, and I look forward to working together." Reggie was being friendly as he usually is when talking with his peers, but part of his mind was still thinking about the task at hand.

[member="Kyra Perl"] | [member="Acaadi"]

 

[Acaadi]

The trandoshan were being escorted by a group of wookie soldiers. Acaadi had taken to calling them 'lizard people' because after fourteen times of saying 'tran-do-shan' to Kyra he had just about given up on her ever coming to learn the word. Hopefully they didn't get sent on any diplomatic missions themselves. There were species who could take great offence at a word pronounced the wrong way.

Everything had come fairly easy to Acaadi. Raided by loving parents he had excelled at school and excelled at the academy. Yet on the first time he was truly tested and put at risk he had cheated. Both of them had. All those warnings and they had dipped into the power that their emotions made easy to draw from. Acaadi had never cheated before and he had never been rewarded for doing the wrong thing. It all made him feel deeply uncomfortable.

He could fix this. He still had enough youthful energy and confidence to feel that he could fix anything. He needed this to be over and for everything to blow over.

"Hi there, I'm Accadi Tam," Acaadi replied, giving a respectful bow. Reggie looked a couple of years older than him at least.

"This should all be fairly easy. Sit in the airspeeder going in front of the armour one with the slavers and stand around outside the wookie's courthouse."

In this instance courthouse was a particularly large tree that had been hollowed out at the base.

 

[Kyra Perl]

“Eaaasy,”Kyra agreed, going up on her toes. “Simpleeee. No big deal.” She clapped her hands in front of her, as if delivering a pep-talk. She looked around them as the party began to gather, growing conscious of the two padawan’s gaze on her as she do so.

“Oh! Sorry. I’m Kyra. Hiii. Nice to meet you. Is that a training saber? Looks heavy. They aren’t gonna make us talk in the court room, right?” To say she was nervous was becoming a slight understatement. A small voice in her head chastised her, this wasn’t nonchalant.

She hoped they would chalk it up as general newbie nerves. She was clearly the youngest of the crew. Baby fat still clung to her cheeks for heavens sakes. For the first time, she ached for the meditation room.

Her eyes shot shot to Acaadi, desperate for his usual back up.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie frowned as Kyra's nervous state became more clear. He looked towards Acaadi as well, hoping that he could understand what was wrong.

Deciding that he should try to do something, Reggie shook his head and carefully placed a hand on Kyra's shoulder. "Calm down. Breath." Realizing that his words probably wouldn't help, he moved to answer her question about speaking in court. "I don't believe they'll have us speak in court. Its possible, but unlikely. We're just here to make sure they get to the trial." Reggie smiled again to try and reassure her.

It was almost time to get started, so Reggie hoped he was able to help. If he didn't, then he was sure Acaadi would be able to. From what he could tell, Acaadi and Kyra were friends and knew each other better than him. Either way, he didn't want Kyra feeling to anxious about what could or couldn't happen. He knew from experience how draining it can be and the problems it could cause.

 

[Acaadi]

"No, I don't think they'll make us do that. I think if we do have to talk it'll be on another day. Now we just come along. And, er...".

Acaadi trailed off and waved behind Kyra. Unlike the village that had been attacked this settlement was at ground level. In the less dense forests by the coast the light reached the surface and wookie dared to stray there.

"There are the tran-do-shan now."

They emerged with an escort of four armed wookies. They were loaded into the first transport. The padawans would go in the second with a few more guards. A pair of strange airspeeders were preparing to escort them.

Acaadi paid attention to those. They had repuslors as well as strange fluttering wings. He wondered if anyone made models of them.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra was left without backup, Acaadi’s eyes wide as saucers as they locked onto the aircraft in the distance. She snorted, the bitter sting of betrayal tickling her nose.

Boys.

She gave a slight startle as a hand laid down on her shoulder, not because it was unwelcome, but because touch wasn’t such a big thing here. She missed it. Reggie’s calm influenced her more than he could be aware, the little empath’s shoulders relaxing a little. She offered him a tight, appreciative smile, trying to heed his words and breath.

That went out the window when she caught sight of the Tran-lizard people. Her gut churned. For the first time she was glad she ran onto that ship, glad she got shot- glad she did it all because it stopped them from tearing those families apart. Staring them down as they were escorted past her to their fate made her feel like her mistakes were abruptly worth it.

And she realized she wanted to see them delivered to justice. Her fist clenched. She nodded, gesturing to their aircraft.

“Right. Fine. Let’s do this. Who’s driving?”

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie felt as though he accomplished his goal when Kyra relaxed a bit. He was happy to be of some assistance, even if it wasn't much.

Reggie's focus and expression was quickly altered when the Trandoshan slavers appeared with their Wookie escort. Now it was time for the assignment to begin. The Padawan took in the sight of the slavers, sizing them up and determining how to handle them if things got out of hand somehow. He had his lightsaber which, despite what most people thought when they saw a Padawan with one, wasn't a training saber. Using it didn't appeal to him though. He had learned not to take a life so lightly from a young age. In fact, the reason why he had a staff made that could go up against a lightsaber was to make sure he had a nonlethal weapon. It made things more difficult when fighting for his life, sure, but it was worth it. Unfortunately, it wasn't with him at the moment. Not that he would need it anyway. This was just an escort mission after all.

Reggie's continued to think and analyze, not really paying attention to anything that could have been said by others. It wasn't until he heard the question "who's driving" that he broke his focus. Reggie was a terrible driver and pilot. Simon had made it his goal to improve the Padawan's ability to pilot a vehicle, but it wasn't easy. Reggie didn't know what it was, but he just wasn't the best behind a wheel.

"Hopefully not me..." There was a nervous smile on his face, and an apologetic look in his eyes. He hoped his peers didn't judge him for his lack confidence in driving, it was surely embarrassing. Even so, Reggie would pilot the vehicle if he needed to.

 

[Acaadi]

"I can drive," Acaadi piped in quickly. Whilst a freighter was beyond him and a shuttle difficult, an air speeder was easy. The forests were dark and foreboding inland but out here by the coast there was an unmatched beauty in the trees. It would be a pleasant drive. Or at least driving through the scenery would take his mind off how unpleasant this all was.

The airspeeder was a fairly upmarket open top four seater. The kind you couldn't see the coruscant skies for. Acaadi spared one last glance for the tran-do-shan - damnit he was doing it inside his own head now - and hopped into the pilot's chair. The floating craft gently bobbed as his weight was added onto one side.

"Umm..." he went as he searched the console for the power switch. "Ah." The engines quietly thrummed into life.

No one wanted to rescue the trandoshan. Meira the Hutt was however keenly interested in their silence. Drasst, the leader of this small slaving operation, knew a little too much about Meira and her contacts and business arrangements. To the extent that she was willing to pay good coin to have him dragged in front of her to explain what he had blabbed about already.

In the trees along the route a squad of mandalorian mercenaries clung to the trees. Get the leader, dispose of the other trandoshan and any escorts. They relished this kind of challenge.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra watched Acaadi scrounge for the right button, a brow raised as he did so.

"Not inspiring the most confidence there buddy," she told him as she buckled in. She gave Reggie a silent look, one that suggested he do so as well. "Where did you learn how to fly one of these, anyway?" She craned her neck to see the landing pad as they hovered off it. A glance at the Thran-...lizard people's transport showed the last guard locking them in and banging on the door to signify they had done so. She wordlessly nodded in approval of this, her confidence slowly returning to her. They wouldn't think she was in out of her depths if she just acted like she belonged all along.

Best advice Yula ever gave her the first time she flunk out of academy.

"I really need to learn. Where did you learn?" She cut to Reggie, Acaadi given no chance to ask. She was exuberant like that.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie let out a sigh of relief when Acaadi offered to drive. He hopped into the shuttle and buckled up himself. The Padawan gave a small smile when asked where he learned to pilot a craft like this one.

"I learned a bit from Simon, a friend I met on Tatooine. Simon usually helps me get from place to place, but he thought it best to teach me how to fly since there may be times he can't help me." Reggie shrugged, thinking about how long it took him to get some of the basics down. When it comes to the force, lightsaber forms, and the mysteries of the galaxy, Reggie had no problems. But when it came to piloting, it's as if he can retain anything.

Reggie let himself relax a bit in his seat and kept his one good eye on the surrounding area, looking towards the slavers transport every so often. The Padawan was always vigilante when on the job. "If you really want to learn, you could ask him. He'd be willing to assist I'm sure."

 

[Acaadi]

"Your parents never got you both airspeeder lessons?" Acaadi asked over his shoulder. "It's not like I'm allowed my own, but how are you supposed to get around if you don't learn?"

Rather than being sensitive to the topic, Acaadi saw an opportunity to show odd his knowledge. Admittedly he was now held to driving very slowly after the convoy.

"Left lever is the repulsorlift, feet control the turbines and the wheel steers," he explained as they lifted off from the ground.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra unbuckled and scooted over to him, intently watching him point out the controls. "Huh. Okay. So which one's go and which one's stop?" A glint was to her eyes, the very one that suggested trouble was a brewin'.

"And hey-" she hit him lightly over the shoulder. "I coulda learned if I wanted to. I just didn't want to!" Not true. She just never thought to, a fact Kyra now deeply regretted. Being away from home meant there was no mother and certainly no drivers to escort her to where she needed to go. Kyra had never been pressed with the need to drive herself, before. Family money had taken care of her laziness for her.

That sentiment was hitting home now that her wealth was theoretically stripped from her. Jedi had no attachments, yada yada.

Above the convoy, in the distance, movement shifted in the treetops, just at the edge of the padawans' view.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

"My parents didn't see airspeeder lessons as an priority for me" Reggie responded to the question, trying to think back to when he lived with his parents. "I don't think it was on any of our minds back then. We never really needed a speeder, so I guess it didn't occur to them to teach me how to drive one."

As Reggie listened to Acaadi's explanation on what was what for the speeder, he saw a slight disturbance in the trees. Most would think that It was probably nothing to worry about, nothing to keep an eye on. Besides, no one would really take a risk in attacking an escort with three Padawans and a few Wookie guards, right? Reggie couldn't help but to think otherwise though. Because of his experience and training, the Padawan knew that unexpected things happen and seemingly minor things can turn out to be more than one would think. Maybe Reggie was just being paranoid, but he would rather be paranoid than let his guard down at crucial moment.

"Stay on guard you two. I have a bad feeling that I can't shake off." Unbuckling his seat belt as he spoke, the Padawan kept his eyes on the trees. Hopefully he was just being paranoid.

 

[Acaadi]

"We're on Kashyyyk, I can't really imagine there being any danger to us..." Acaadi said. His eyes still lifted to look at the trees above. His logic only held as long as he didn't consider the circumstances which had placed them here: a slaver raid on this very world. He was considering those circumstances.

"Right pedal is forward thrust, left pedal is reverse thrust," he said. He didn't sound as if he was thinking about driving the airspeeder very much.

A bright light flared to life ahead of them. Something gleaming arced through the trees on a pillar of white flame.

"Torpedo!" he shouted. The object curved in the air to strike the vehicle carrying the trandoshan. There was no explosion. A man in shining armour, wearing the distinctive t-shaped visor rode the roof of the dropship.

"That's...a mandalorian..." Acaadi mumbled.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra jammed on Acaadi's right foot for him, trapping it down with her knee. A quick jerk of the wheel kept control of the vehicle as Acaadi dealt with any shock, Kyra obviously thinking they should intervene and stop him. Chaos broke out over the comms the transport ship zig zagged to stabilize its flight path.

"They're gonna try to escape!" She exclaimed, indignant. Of all the effort the two had gone through to stop the slavers, the padawan couldn't fathom sitting back to watch it be undone. "Is this the guns?" She demanded, pushing at a button on the wheel.

It was in fact the guns. The shots rang out wildly, one actually dinging the hull of the transport ship.

The man dodged, jumping out of sight and standing on the opposite wing.

"You have to get us closer!" She ordered, releasing his leg.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

Reggie cursed underneath his breath. A Mandalorian? On Kashyyyk? Why did things always have to get chaotic? As Acaadi got closer, Reggie decided to take a chance on a dangerous plan. He jumped towards the transport, using the force to augment the leap. Even with the force helping him, the Padawan was barely able to grab onto the transport. There was a very big chance of him just failing and tumbling to the ground, but that didn't happen fortunately.

Reggie was having trouble pulling himself up and saw that the Mandalorian was pulling out a blaster to take advantage of the situation. Reggie brought up one of his hands and used the force to push the mercenary just enough to mess up his aim and give him a bit of time. He did it just in time considering the blaster bolt missed him only slightly. Not wasting this chance, the Padawan used all his strength to pull himself up and quickly pulled out his lightsaber, the green light of energy from the device appearing just in time to block another shot. Now the trick was to keep low so he wouldn't fall off, defend from blaster fire, and prevent the Mandalorian from sabotaging the transport.

Reggie would feel a bit more confident if he thought that there was only one opponent t worry about, but he was sure there were more. He pushed the thought aside, worrying about what was in front of him at the moment. "Now whats a Mandalorian like yourself doing here? Surely not to save some Slavers, right?" The Padawan wasn't looking for an answer, he was just hoping to distract the enemy a bit. Would it work? Probably not, but it was worth the try.

 

[Acaadi]

"Why does this thing even have guns?" Acaadi called out. He has thought the button was some kind of parking light. He had no idea this thing had been armed. Reggie wasted no time in leaping towards the transport.

Two thoughts ran through Acaadi's mind. First of all he was fairly certain that Kyra would be the death of him. Secondly he rued the fact that their appearance would lead to days of trying to teach her to pronounce mandalorian. Maybe trando and mando would do.

"Never wanted to see one up close in battle," Acaadi said. He was trying to pull closer after Reggie. The two wookie escorts were trying to pull ahead so their rear gunners could fire.

As if on cue another mandalorian landed on the bonnet of their airspeeder. Acaadi raised a palm and a wave of telekinetic energy launched the armoured soldier away. There was a loud roar and the mandalorian appeared again on a jet of flame. He twisted around and fired a pistol at their speeder, putting holes in the bonnet.

 

[Kyra Perl]

"We're important people, Acaadi, of course we have guns," Kyra confidently yelled over the roar of the open door. She herself had leapt to the same conclusion as Reggie-- managing the mander-crap. What where they called?- silver person. Managing the silver person would be best done outside their little speeder.

"Bring me closer!" She clung tight to the handle by the door as Acaadi was forced to weave away to avoid a series of trees, the wind wiping her robe chaotically around her. She coiled, her body preparing for the right moment to leap out as trees wiped back. "Stay on us, and figure out those guns." And then she was flying. She let out an exhilarating holler, the purple of her saber washing over her features as she landed squarely behind the mando-silver person and walloped him on the head.

Her training saber skidded off the metal, the paralyzing affects useless against the armor. Her mouth formed a solid 'o' as she realized this, no time left to respond as the silver person elbowed her fiercely in the gut and sent her flying across the hood of the ship.

 

[Reggie Faayare]

When Kyra was elbowed in the gut, Reggie moved in to cut the Mando's weapon in half with his lightsaber and then kicked the armored opponent off the transport. The armored warrior fell to the ground, but the Padawan was sure they would recover quickly if Acaadi or the wookies didn't knock them out.....or kill them, which was probably the more likely thing to happen. Master Dragonsflame taught him to disarm, not kill, so his first answer to combat was less lethal. Not all situations allowed that, which he knew. This wasn't one of those situations, not yet. If they weren't on a moving vehicle and there weren't more enemies coming after them, he would have put the Mandalorian in force stasis. Not the time to think of what could be though.

Reggie turned to Kyra, worried about the attack she took. "Are you alright Kyra?" Seeing another Mandalorian firing at Acaadi, Reggie through his lightsaber and guided it with the force. The green blade of light sliced through the leg of the Mandalorian, the warrior losing control of the jetpack because of the pain. The lightsaber came back into the Padawan's hands. "Please forgive me." Reggie didn't know how else to stop the mercenary's advance in time and saw that as the only option. It didn't make the Padawan feel any better about doing it though. Hopefully he didn't just kill the mercenary.