Take the long road and walk it

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

The spider scrabbled back away from Trextan. Hearing Shamira's call he took a few steps away. The spider immediately reversed its momentum. It brought its stinger down towards him, the tip glistened with a drop of venom.

Trextan held his ground and thrust his blade forwards. It came close to the spiders eyes and it back away again. The exchange seemed to spur on the others. He caught sight of pale shapes moving around him.

With a sigh he raised his left palm. The air shimmered around the spider before it was sent flying away. It curled its legs up and rolled away. Trextan dashed for the treeline and broke through. The white spiders followed slowly, but kept their distance.

"Well that was fun. I wonder what tries to kill us next?"

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira brought her hands to her face, biting her bottom lip as Trextan’s lightsaber came ever so close to piercing the spider’s eye, only to back away. A small smile crossed her lips as it was sent flying away by his force push, and Shamira hoped that that message would ward off the rest of the pack from attempting to follow the pair.
The Togruta couldn’t keep the small smirk off her lips as Trextan ran up, asking the sarcastic question. “Well, there’s plenty of predators still in this area. I could even throw you back towards the spiders. They’ll probably be nice and mad that you went and hurt one of their pack. If you’d like that.” Her sly smirk grew as she started in the direction, or at least she hoped and believed, was the direction of the ship.
“I..believe this is the way. But you should lead. Ill cover our backs and make sure our buddies don’t follow us.” Nodding, the padawan took her place behind Trextan, watching out for the spiders to see if they got too close.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"They shouldn't stray far," Trextan replied. He was far from an expert on the matter, but he carries on. He used his prosthetic arm to move the vines from his path. If anything decided to take a bite out of that arm it was going to get nothing more than broken teeth.

"They become the trees apparently. They hunt in an area until they have enough food and then they settle down and become roots. Thought it was interesting. Interesting now they're not trying to eat me anyway."

Trextan slowed down and changed direction slightly to avoid another bog. He stretched out with his senses and tried to find a safe path.

"So how did you end up with the Jedi Order Shamira? What were you doing this time last year?"

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira watched as Trextan cleared the way through the tough brush for the pair. Every so often, her eyes would flick to the robotic arm Trextan used to clear, thoughts running through her head for how he might have lost the limb. Glorious Starfighter battles or great sith duels ran wild through her mind as the pair trudged forward.
The Togruta reactively pulled her hand back from a tree she was leaning on, staring at it in slight disgust and suspicion, as if it would spring to life suddenly and try to eat her.
Her gaze found it’s way back to Trextan, she smiled lightly and began to remember her time back on Shili. “Well, I came from Shili, from a family of diplomats, when I was ten years old. I was almost too old to begin training. So I have been behind since the moment I got into the Order.” The Togruta frowned lightly, sighing as she looked off to the side. “This time last year I was just beginning my padawan training. At 16. This is the year I have been able to finally leave the temple for missions.” Looking back to him, she shrugged lightly and forced a smile, looking different from her normal, soft smile. “I’m just glad to be out of the Temple, finally feeling like I am making some progress, instead of treading water.”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"Or magma in the case of Sullust," he replied. "I've never liked that place. As beautiful as the dome is that floats above the surface everyone has to live underground. Wasn't for me."

Her arm made a low whirring sound as he yanked down to clear some thick vines out of the way. He ducked under a thick branch. Every step he felt as if something was going to drop down onto him from the trees. It was the very real sense that he was being watched by many creatures, conveyed to him through the Force.

"I was trained from about twelve. Just... It wasn't with the right kind of people. Small confession: we picked a route that looked fairly safe from scans. Can't say the same about this path."

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


What Trextan was thinking certainly wasn’t wrong, and it was felt by Shamira as well. Thousands of eyes watched their movements through the trees and in the canopy, watching the pair of jedi make their way begrudgingly through the swamp. Even Shamira’s typical perky attitude was starting to fade, as the muck and heat slowly began to get to her.
Looking to Trextan, she nodded slowly before going back to observing their surroundings. “Yah..and if the thousands of eyes watching us means anything…then this might not be the safest path. Though I doubt that they’ll..er, I hope they wont attack. At least I would think so.” Frowning, her hand found its way to her lightsaber hilt, patting it twice for good luck, then continuing on into the swampy unknown.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"They don't tend to ohforForcesake..." Trextan growled in frustration at the ground. His foot had sunk straight into the soft ground and it had enveloped him half way up his shin. It sucked at his leg as he pulled it free. The youth paused to a second to try and shake some mud free, but it seemed determined to cling to him.

"What was I saying? Right animals. They don't tend to pick fights if they don't think they'll win. Getting injured can mean starving. But the top end of the food chain tends to be confident it can eat anything. The odd death due to overconfidence doesn't tend to think out their numbers enough I guess."

He checked the terminal on the inside of his prosthetic arm and changed his angle. They needed to get there before nightfall. He imagined some of the worst predators would roam more freely then.

"So what next for you anyway? I mean beyond training and stuff. Where do you want to go as a Jedi? What do you want to do?" It was a rather open ended questions but it seemed that - for now - they had a little free time.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


“Yah…they usually don’t seem to pick those a whole lot.” Her eyes continued to roam, listening the passing sound so of the swamp, attempting to reach out to the force and feel throughout the murky area. “however, we should remember this. There are two extremely dangerous types of animals; the hungry and the hurt. They don’t think straight. They don’t think rationally. They are angry, mean creatures…and they don’t get scared. Lets just hope we don’t run into any of those on the rest of our way.” She bit her lip, eyes trying to find any evidence that any animals were following the pair.
A tiny smile crossed her grey features as her eyes focused back to trextan, giving him a small shrug. “Don’t have a long term goal, honestly. Not to die in the fight against the First Order? To make a difference? To be able to wake up in the morning?” The smile faded, a heavy sigh emerging as they continued to walk. “I don’t know. Right now I am just trying to get through each and every day. Whether it be on a snow covered battleground, training in the temple,” her eyes glanced playfully over at Trextan. “Or stuck in a swamp with a old fart of a jedi knight.”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"That's not a... oi! There was no need for that," Trextan replied incredulous. He gave a shake of his head and chuckled. Something writhed in the trees above them. A snake struck for his face, picking up the scent of his breath. It came to a sudden halt a foot away, his prosthetic arm taking a firm grip of its neck. Trextan spared now time before flinging the writhing creature away through the trees.

"You can call me old when I'm over twenty one. Anyway don't think I was expecting a confident answer. I don't really know myself. Surviving the war and making a difference are about as good as I can do. However, seeing as I'm too old..."

Trextan broke into a jog as soon as he found some firmer ground and moved to a swift pace, taking long, loping strides. "Keep up with the old man!" He called back.

They ran parallel to some murky waters. Calling out and running had not been sensible things to do. Several sharp ridges of a pair of dragons snakes broke the surface as they followed the commotion.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira was having fun, laughing away at her little jib at the older knight, until he threw the snake in her general direction, which pulled a small squeal and a scowl directed towards the man. “Sensitive about the age thing, I see.” Her smirk returned as they continued to walk.
Her gaze was preoccupied before Trextan’s words clicked in her mind, prompting her to spin around and see the taller Jedi knight sprinting through the forest, leaving a confused padawan in his dust. “H-Hey!” With a scowling smirk, the Togruta sprinted after him, determined to catch up.
Even though it only took her a short amount of time to catch up, the path had become too narrow for her pass on either side. Frowning, still sprinting so shed keep up with Trextan, she tried to find another option. Looking up, branches of varying degrees of length and thickness covered the overhead canopy.
Shamira slowed down for a moment, bent her knees, then sprung upward, landing on a large branch. Taking her time for a moment, she began to leap from branch to branch, before slowly picking up speed. After a few moments, she was catching back up to the Jedi knight, just on a different level than him. She glanced down, giving him a mock salute, then forced back on running on the branches.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

Trextan resisted the urge to put something in the togrutan's path. He was grinning to himself as he ran, tracking her progress through the Force as she kept pace. It couldn't have been easy to maintain it though the trees. Leaps and bounds through an intricate obstacle course whilst he had a relatively flat and stable running track. At the least it was a good physical test for the padawan.

Rather than salute back he simply increased his pace. Training with both sith and Jedi had been intensive. Unlike Jacen he hadn't filled out his frame yet. It made him looked a little stretched out, a hint of gangly teenager still in his build. It made him quite a good long distance runner, light on his feet and with a long stride. He veered to his right, vaulting the decaying stump of a great tree.

The dragon snakes keeping pace were one of the two possibilities that concerned Shamira. They were hungry. Various conditions had left them shirt of food for the last three months and they danced their chances when Trextan neared the edge of the water.

The first one burst out of the river, sending a spray of water ahead of it. It smashed through branches and vines as if they were paper. Trextan moved aside quickly enough to avoid its snapping jaws. The second one came more carefully, rearing up and watching the prey carefully. Neither noticed Shamira above them.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


“Oh? Wanna race do yah?” The Togruta grinned widely down at the older Jedi knight and attempted to keep pace with him as they ran through the swamp. When he suddenly veered to the right, it forced her to make a hairpin turn, pushing hard off a particularly sturdy branch to make her ninety degree turn. It took a few moments, partially her being in the branches, and partially because Trextan was quite a fast runner, but eventually she was back over his head, running along the branches up above him.
It was pure luck that Shamira looked down to see the dragon snakes suddenly spring out of the water and attempt to attack the jedi knight on the ground. She halted to a stop, watching the first one spring towards Trextan, while the other one approached out of the water slower, more cautiously.
Taking a deep breath, and her lightsaber off her hilt, Shamira suddenly dropped, igniting her lightsaber as she fell. She landed on the armor hard back of the snake, but at that close range, the lightsaber cut through it like it was butter. The Togruta buried the lightsaber into the dragon’s back, killing it instantly. Her eyes flicked up to Trextan, watching nervously to see how he was dealing with the other reptile.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

Not very well was the simple answer to her unspoken question. The first dragon had caught him by surprise, crashing through the undergrowth and swiping for him. His reaction had been to leap away, but he'd struck several branches and vines in the way.

As stopped his role and brought his bruised and battered form back up he drew his saber. The bright blade gave the dragon snake pause, but it was hungry. And as Shamira had so prophetically said a hungry animal was a desperate one.

Trextan was at the business end of this creature and jabbed with his saber to keep it at bay. It didn't matter that his saber could cut its hide. If it could him with a sweeping claw or a snapping jaw his saber would cut deep, but he would also be torn in two.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira watched as the older jedi knight was having trouble getting a clean shot on the Dragon Snake, due to it’s massive claws and its singular focus on the knight. Pulling her blade from the dead reptile at her feet, she slowly began to approach the two, attempting to get behind the massive animal and kill it.
Even with her soft footed approach, the reptile still swung around, eyes now focused on the tasty little Togruta wielding the same stream as light as the other snack. Shamira spun her lightsaber and slowly began to back up, baiting the thing to follow her. It’s eyes flicked back and forth between her and Trextan, but focused mainly on chasing the girl.
Silver-blue eyes flicked behind her to see she was rapidly approaching a tree, and she would be trapped. A wide smirk began to grow on her features, and with her eyes still focused on the repilte, she began to speak slowly to Trextan. “If you would be so kind to kill this…thing, when I jump, that’d be lovely.” A quick wink in his direction and she was focused back on the dragon.
Her back hit the tree, and the animal, knowing his prey was trapped, began to raise a massive paw to take a chunk out of her. At the last second, Shamira suddenly sprang up, grabbing onto the first branch in her way. The dragon snake’s paw hit the tree, sending debris flying off. The togruta hung from the branch, hoping desperately that Trextan was about to kill the massive reptile at her feet.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

Trextan tracked the creature closely. No one could claim that Shamira lacked courage. Acting as bait in the face of such a monstrous predator took a lot. His eyes traced the lines of the dragon snake, studying the muscles that bunched under leathery hide. Which claw it struck with mattered.

It went for the claw on Trextan's side. As it raised it up and swung for Shamira he darted in. The Force guided his arm as he slammed his shoulder into its flank. He brought his saber up from down low, pushing the blade deep into its chest to find it's heart.

Trextan stepped away and let the creature fall. There was a single smouldering hole in its ribs but his aim had been true. The snake manages to drag itself two metres before collapsing.

Trextan stood with his chest heaving. There were bloody marks down one side of his face.

"Well..." He sighed with an arch of both eyebrows.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira grinned widely as the massive lizard was stabbed through the ribs, letting out a pained cry. She waited until had crawled away and collapsed a good way away from her, then dropped to the ground, theatrically brushing off her sleeves. Her grin practically disappeared when she saw bloody marks on her face, replaced by a concerned, sorry look. “Your face..” Reaching onto her belt, Shamira pulled a few bacta patched and began to place them over the cuts. “Lets put these on here. They should clean up the cuts pretty easily.” She smiled lightly, pulling away once the job was done.
The Togruta walked forward, back on the track to the ship. “We should only be a small bit of time from the ship. Lets just hope that there’s still a working comm unit.”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"Excuse me? Oh." For a moment he had thought he was being made the butt of some joke. He reached up gingerly to touch his face and winced when he felt the small lacerations. Trextan stayed quite still while she applied some patches. Regardless of Jedi training he was still an eighteen year old man and more concerned with his appearance than was strictly necessary.

"Let's hope so," he said as they set off. "That was exceptionally brave," he said in a heartfelt manner as they trudged onwards. The encounter had taken some of the spring out of his step as he returned to his more cautious approach. Silently he chastised himself for getting carried away with the little race. Shamira had ended up in genuine danger because of it.

He turned his built-in screen towards him. There was a small mark on his prosthetic arm where the dragonsnake had moved a little closed than he'd realised. Fortunately it would take a superlaser to put more than a dent in his arm. They were coming up on the crash site now.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira couldn’t help but shake her head, smiling at his compliment. “Thank you. Really. But I promise it wasn’t that brave.” Her eyes had gone back to roaming around their surroundings, but she continued to speak while they walked. “I suppose it might be to some who aren’t used to taking on those kind of creatures. Back on Shili, we would catch dragon snakes and eat them. A delicacy. I would always play the part of the bait.” She turned nodding to the area they had just come from. “Like back there. You took the role of the spearman. Killing the beast while I distracted it. Back home, we were lucky if we sent out six teams of two, and half of them killed their prey. It was dangerous hunting, but because I’ve always been so quick, I usually avoided permanent injury.”
The Togruta grinned back at Trextan, then continued on. Eventually the pair came up to the massive, smoking wreckage of the ship. Shamira frowned, crossing her arms while looking at the pieces strung all over the place. “Doesn’t look all that promising..”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"Oh," went Trextan. The tone of his voice made it clear he was impressed by her history in fighting predators. "I notice that you caveated that with 'usually' and 'permanent'. As if the fact that you only lost a foot once and recovered just fine from all your other grievous wounds makes it relatively safe."

The Justicar placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed the crash scene. The swamp was already healing the scar the ship was cut into the surface of dagobah.

"We either need the ship's engine...which looks unlikely, or one of the heavy batteries that was in the hold. Can't see the transmitter dish so I guess we hope the emergency beacon is in tact. It's normally mounted on the bulkhead behind the cockpit with the black box. Tough as nails, but it could have been thrown far. Or sunk. See if you can find it for me."

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


The ship was a mess, that was for certain. The engines were totally shot, and shamira instantly noticed what Trextan was talking about once he pointed it out. The transmitter dish was somewhere else, no longer attached to the ship. More than likely it was either swallowed in the murky waters of the swamp, or some monkey of some sort was now using it as a hat or a new home. At least their misfortune would be to the benefit of some smelly creature.
“Alright, I’ll go digging.” Grinning widely at trextan, Shamira pulled her lightsaber from her belt, igniting the blade. Shrapnel had completely covered both entrances to the ship, so the togruta began to cut her way through it.
It was strategic and careful work. Cutting a wrong piece could cause the entire thing to come crashing down on top of her head in an most unfortunate situation. After a few minutes of careful cutting, Shamira was able to slide her way into the ship, entering into the center of the ship. Nothing sparked, but the rumbling sound of the ship moving underneath her feet resonated throughout the ship. She wasn’t going to have long to the find this emergency thing before she needed to leave, otherwise be swallowed up by the swamp.