Unexpected Meetings

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val walked through the emptied out streets of a backwater village, an unconscious woman sprawled in his arms, three dead men lying in the alleys behind him. There was blood steadily dripping down her forehead, cuts on her forearms, bruises splashed across her alabaster skin. The town around him seemed abandoned, or at the very least nearly empty. There was no wondering where they had all gone.

People didn’t want to get involved.

He understood the why of course. It was best to avoid trouble, especially if that trouble came from out of town. The three dead men were part of a pirate group, a gang that had stopped on this lonely little world as a way to hide from The Galactic Alliance forces chasing them. Val had recognized the patch on their arms.

It was the herd mentality that drove most people, sacrifice one so the rest may stay safe. He’d seen it many times over the years. There was a certain logic to it, but of course he’d never agreed. Gradually people started to poke their heads out of their doors, men first, then slowly the women came. A few tried to speak to him, though mostly he just ignored them. They were either vultures or scavengers, thinking to taking advantage. Eventually he approached a woman, stern faced and glossy eyed. ”I require a healer.”

The woman jumped slightly, as though she hadn’t seen him approach.

”D-down the street, there’s a clinic, set up by some out of towners.”

Val raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t question. A clinic meant that they would likely have bacta at the very least, and this girl very much needed some. He frowned for a moment and then offered the woman a nod, moving on and heading towards the clinic. He guessed it was likely some relief effort to provide more modern medicine to backwater worlds like this, or maybe just a passing healer, either way, it was what he needed.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

A half packed bag sat on a dilapidated chair in the corner. The healer empath had been here half a standard year, working with a few other rotating healers to set this place up and train the locals. It was finally getting some traction. Which was good. The clone could already feel the silent nudges of the force pressing her in a different direction.

"I wish you could stay. It's still wild out here. We could use your help." The clone smiled at BoJun. She would miss the Bothan the most. He had a gift with people and in the world of medicine that was almost more important than the science.

"You'll do fine. You have my comm and if you ever need...," voice dwindled as a hulk of a shadow blocked the doorway. Myrtle ellipses adjusted to the backlit figure. For a moment her heart quickened, thinking it was [member="Jaxton Ravos"].

It was BoJun who spoke first. "Here. Set her down on the cot over here. What happened?"

Hand on the strap of the bag released it and went for the medicine cabinet instead. Her own voice filtered through the air. "Are you two family?"

It was almost a silly question because outsider was etched all over his appearance. But maybe he was visiting a next of kin? A beskar looking baton item clung to her belt and a blaster at her hip. Weapons may have been odd for a healer to carry but they'd been having problems with outsiders raiding the bacta supplies. She wouldn't hesitate to use them on this man if she had to.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val set the girl down where he had been direct two, his armor clinking slightly as he did so. For a moment he let his eyes settle on the two healers, one Bothan, one seemingly human. He took a step back from the table, letting the girl fall gently into place. ”No. I don’t even know her name.”

He answered simply.

”Pirates attacked her.” He was no doctor, so describing exactly what her wounds were was out of the question, but at the very least he could tell them what had actually happened. ”Their intentions were doubtlessly bad. They beat her, sliced her, I don’t know anything beyond that.”

His arrival had saved the girl, though perhaps only barely. Val had no idea if she would survive, nor did he know if either the Bothan or the Human were actually qualified medical professionals. For all he knew they were both hacks using snake oil to lure innocent townspeople into spending their money on magical healing potions. He eyed them for a moment, blue and orange shifting between the two.

Trust. The notion was difficult to find out here. ”Can you help her?”

There was a calm to his voice, a stillness that denoted patience honed over decades.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Lips tugged into a frown and the smooth skin of her brow crinkled as chestnut brows knit together. The pirates were becoming more bold and hitting closer to town. They needed guardians out here but with resources already stretched, she knew it was a pipe dream. She handed BoJun the bacta patches while she began scanning the woman's body with a handheld device.

"Blood loss. Bruised ribs. Some damage to her kidneys. A moment longer out there and I would've answered your question negatively Mister...?" Myrtle ellipses flickered up to connect with the icy-hot orbs of the stranger before returning to the patient.

BoJun began disinfecting the wounds. Placing the scanner on the tray, her fingers stretched forward, hovering just above the woman's body. As though playing an intricate song with the air as her instrument her fingers moved rapidly. Eyes closed. The woman's internal injuries were slowly being healed with the force. Knit together, tissue by tissue and cell by cell.

But the only evidence was the slight return of color on her ashen cheeks and the stronger beat of her heart on the monitors. The healer's eyes remained closed as she asked the next question. "If you would be so kind to take me to the place where she was attacked...after this."

More of a request than a question.

If she had to take on the role of guardian, so be it. She had to make sure they didn't call others. Maybe find their ship.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

”Val.” He said simply. Being called ‘Mister’ made him feel extremely old, an odd thing really given that he was likely the eldest person in the room anyway.

The farmer watched quietly as the woman curled and twisted her fingers above the girls body, watching as wounds knit back together. His face remained impassive, though half of him wanted to ask exactly what she was doing. He had seen this before of course, you didn’t live as long as he did and not run into the force at least once. Still, it was a bit of a mystery to him and his curiosity had already gotten the better of him.

”I’ll show you.” He said as the girls wounds slowly knit together, the ‘doctor’ finishing her healing by applying a few bacta patches. It was an odd thing to discover a force user all the way out here, especially one that healed. The last time Val had met a Force Users he had had called himself a “Sith”, a title that now echoed throughout the galaxy.

He tried to remember the encounter, though it had happened nearly forty years earlier. The man had been egotistical beyond all belief, though he’d answered more than a few questions, more out of pride than anything of course.

He frowned for a moment, then looked at the ‘doctors’ weapons. ”You won’t be needing those.”

Val gestured and then headed out the door back the way he came.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Eyes opened. The woman was stabilized. Val was out the door. "I'll be the judge of that!" She yelled after him, not bothering to remove her weapons. She turned to her friend and colleague. "I'll be on channel six if you need me."

The bothan grunted. "But after that healing, won't you be..."

She cut him off. "I'll be fine." She had to jog lightly to catch up to the armored man's long strides. Puffs of dust from the dry ground shot up from each footfall. "I don't see armor like you're wearing every day. Who're you with? The Mandalorians? Hunter for hire? First order?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val looked at the woman, bewildered for a second at the flurry of questions that she had tossed towards him. It reminded him of the children on his homeworld when he had first come back from serving in the Planetary Defense Forces. They had practically jumped down his throat trying to find answers about what the rest of the galaxy was like. Val had hardly blamed them at the time, but this? Well it felt a little hostile.

”No, no, and no.” He’d never even met a Mandalorian before, Bounty Hunters were mostly idiots, and the First Order was a bunch of frilly nobles parading around pretending to have a righteous cause when in reality all they wanted to do was be rich. It was a rather cynical view of those particular groups but from personal experience Val could state that they were all perfectly accurate.

”I got this in a market.” He said simply. ”Little planet called Exocron.”

Val shrugged as though it were no big deal, and to him it really wasn’t. The armor was a bit fancier than he would have liked, but it protected against vibro-blades and the occasional blaster round so it would do for now. ”I left them over there.”

He pointed towards the alleyway to the right. A small crowd had already gathered around the three bodies, a dozen men and women who were either looting or just looking, Val couldn’t really tell with all of them pack together so closely. At the time of their death he hadn’t really done anything to the bodies, just having left the Pirates where they fell to the floor. The girl had been more important.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Exocron. The Kathol Outback. He was a traveler or wanderer. She sensed a shift in his mood but couldn't pin it down. Had she offended him? She had learned a lot in her few short years since waking up in the body of a full grown woman. Still...

"Thank you," she responded at his side. "That woman owes you her life. I won't keep you any further." She assumed he would leave and continue on. Men like him were rare out here. People fled from trouble or ran toward it for their own personal gain.

Stepping from his side, her smaller form began to weave through the people. She grimaced as an elbow knocked her in the arm. Another in her side. A few recognized the healer and moved aside but most were too busy plundering. She caught a glimpse of the first body. And then the second.

Both dead.

She frowned and knelt next to the third, the mob pressing at her back. He was dead as well but a comm missed by the crowds blinked at his side.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val didn’t leave, though he did nod when she said thank you.

He hadn’t done it for any reason other than the fact that it was right, but it was always nice to be appreciated. Even if it was by a stranger. He watched her quietly as she shuffled through the crowd and tried to squeeze between everyone else. Now that they were right there he could easily look over everyone else that had gathered around the corpses, height had its advantages.

Val watched as she plucked something from one of the corpses, her face changing from a grimace to one of determination as she pulled the item from the Pirate. He frowned for a moment, shifting and taking a step back so that the crowd didn’t bump into him as the girl made her way back out of the gathered group.

”What did you find?” His words were quiet enough that the others wouldn’t hear.

Val very much doubted that anyone here would actually try to take whatever Taheera had found, most of the people in this village weren’t criminals, just down on their luck. Still, there was an air of caution to him, one that had been born from years of experience of dealing with downtrodden people.

Lessons of the gulag plague.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]


Surprise briefly flickered across her face as she looked up. Val was still here. She didn't have time to ponder this further. Fingers tightened as they held up the device to the man with two colored eyes.

"They weren't alone. Probably a smaller band as part of a larger group. If they come here and see what happened...they could burn everything to the ground."

Fingers came up to rub at her temple in thought. "But maybe I can negotiate with them. Send a message. These people don't have weapons and aren't trained to fight. They'd be slaughtered."

Would she be walking into a trap? Probably. But she had to try. It was in her nature to play the sacrifice. It was her fatal character trait.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

”You could also just kill them.” He pointed out, though he doubted that she would pick that particular option.

From what Val knew of Jedi, they usually weren’t too keen on the business of murder, even if it was for a good cause. He’d never quite understood that himself, if only because the concept of imprisoning someone had been rather...comical back home. There was no government, there were no wardens or jails, so punishment for crime had to be more...medieval. It was harsh yes, but it had also kept the peace.

With this little village it was likely very much the same. He doubted that they had a prison nearby where they could send the pirates, and he doubted even more that these people could even throw them there in the first place. As she had said herself, these people weren’t fighters or warriors, they were farmers. ”You won’t get far with a simple message.”

Sad reality.

”Besides, I doubt they’ll listen to you in the first place.” He looked her up and down for a moment. ”No offense.”

She was tiny. ”I’ll go with you and see if we can’t find them.”

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"No offense?" Chestnut brows rose and her nose crinkled. "I'm stronger than I look," she huffed a bit petulantly. Even though he had a point, she wasn't going to admit it. She had seen wars, almost died multiple times, and all just within the first few years of her life.

But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

"If you insist on coming....looks like their last transmission came from beyond Devil's Ridge. I've got a speederbike back at the clinic we can use. Unless, you have something else in mind?"

She knew he was only trying to help but something about him irked her. Maybe the way he easily spoke about killing? Maybe because he reminded her of someone she ached to see.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He frowned.

Val hated speeders.

They were handy, yes, but they felt completely and entirely unsafe. Ships were one thing, a necessary evil when it came to traveling from planet to planet, but speeders? Why couldn’t people just walk on their own two feet? It was easier, safer, and a hell of a lot better for the environment too. Still, she seemed pretty adamant about the whole thing so he decided that it was best not to argue. ”No, but...”

He began with a smile.

”You’ll have to drive.” Somehow in his one hundred and twenty years of living Val had never actually gotten around to learning how to pilot. He’d always had others to chauffeur him around, or he’d simply walk. It took a little bit more time, though when he broke out into a sprint he did well enough for himself.

”Unless you want to walk.” He suggested. ”Either way I’m good.”

Apparently the prospect of clinging to the small woman on the back of a speeder bike didn’t offend his masculinity.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"Oh don't worry, I was planning on it. You know, for insurance purposes." But mostly because she didn't want him driving her speeder. She offered him a quick, worry tightened smile. The pilfered comm went on her belt and soon enough they were back at the clinic. Dipping inside, she retrieved her bag and gave the patient and BoJun one last check.

Bag went on the very back of the speeder bike. It was stowed around the side of the building. Straddling the machine, her feet kicked it into gear. Chestnut strands of hair were tied back into a loose braid. They didn't need to die because she couldn't see.

She looked back at Val. "Just hang on and watch for branches. I don't want to have to worry about healing you before we even get in a fight."

She smirked. But again, it didn't reach her eyes.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val eyed the speeder wearily, he barely registered what she said about healing, if only because he was more focused on the tiny death machine that would very soon be carrying him at two hundred miles an hour over land.

It just wasn’t right.

”Don’t worry about healing me.” Val said as he slowly moved over towards the Speeder Bike. He hesitated for a moment more, not because of her, but just because...well the things were so damned awkward. He shifted and then kicked up a leg before realizing something. His head shook from side to side and slowly he reached up.

One by one he undid the straps on his armor.

The process went by rather quickly, plates of cold being stripped off to reveal a loose gray undershirt beneath. He piled the armor neatly on the ground, stacking it up against the wall and hiding it with a nearby blanket. ”Too heavy.”

It was a speeder bike after all, not a full blown cargo ship.

Without further wait Val wandered up behind Taheera, straddling himself over the speeder bike and sitting down. His fingers immediately came to rest upon her hips, pads pressing gently as he clung to her. ”Ready.”

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Eyes narrowed as she faced straight ahead. Removing the armor was a necessity. But they were about to get in a fight. It made her nervous. With his touch at her sides, she shifted her foot and they shot forward.

"Here we go."

The small village quickly dwindled behind them. Countryside and farmland whipped by. There was a small path carved through a heavily wooded Forrest up ahead and beyond that they'd be at the base of Devil's Peak. If the coordinates were right, they'd find the pirate group camped out just to the southeast. She'd cut the speeder well before that. The noise would give them away.

At least Val would get his wish to walk.

Entering the Forrest, feet shifted effortlessly as hairpin turns were made. Left. Left. Right. One wrong move and they'd be impaled. But she drove like she'd driven this a thousand times before. Or like she had something much stronger guiding her.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Guide or no, sometimes things simply didn’t go as planned. Val was experienced in that, and as they zoomed along his fingers couldn’t help but tighten on her hips. For some reason his gut had flipped, his eyes searching almost frantically among the trees as they darted along the path. He didn’t have the force, but...he had instinct.

He tried to relax, thinking that perhaps it was just a figment of his imagination. Yet as they darted through the woods the feeling didn’t get any better. They turned along the path, cutting away from a thicket of trees and passing into a small clearing of grass. In the center of the clearing stood a monument, a pillar of some sort. They shot passed it, heading towards the trees on the other side of the clearing.

Then there was a sudden, very bright, flash that erupted from behind the shrouded canopy of trees. ”Look out!”

Val shouted as he wrapped his arms around Taheera and jumped off the speeder. A second later the Turbo-laser Bolt struck the small bike, causing it to erupt in bright red flames. The Farmer and the Doctor went tumbling, Val’s arms tucked tight around Taheera as he smashed back first into the rough ground.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She saw it and felt the icy prickle of danger as he spoke. Good thing he had quick reflexes. And good thing she relaxed her death grip on the speeder bike's controls.

She yelped as they went flying and the bike exploded. Along with all her meager belongings. On instinct and some training, the air shimmered into a light green around them as a temporary force bubble went up, cushioning some of their fall and protecting them from an immediate follow up shot.

But the bubble disappeared as her head smacked against Val's chest. They rolled. Hips hit the ground. Arms and legs hit against his limbs. Leaves and grass found their place in her earthy hair.

Groaning, eyes opened, searching the tree line. The ground shook from the rumbling of approaching transports.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

He cursed.

His back ached, but there was no time to complain. ”Go!”

Val let get of her, or more accurately, he half threw her up to her feet. He could hear the transports approaching, feel the vibrations of the earth as they drew closer. They couldn’t stick around, not when they didn’t have any idea what they were dealing with.

”Head to the forest.” Val said as he dragged himself up from the floor, blood dripping from just above his eye. ”Go!”

His head swiveled back, and from where the blast had originated Val could see the outline of a small tank. The vehicle was old, rust covering its formerly white body, but the swivel cannon atop the back of it still seemed to work. It slowly panned towards them. Another curse escaped his lips and he gently pushed on Taheera’s back as they both broke out into a sprint.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"I'm going, I'm going!" She grumbled back. He was just behind her. Her body ached. Adrenaline pumped through her system easing the pain that would surely come. There was a high pitched whistling as the tank fired.

She threw herself back and into Val as the ground exploded in front of them. Her force bubble went up again, protecting their flesh from melting off their bones from the heat. Bubble went down and they were enveloped by a cloud of smoke.

"That IS IT!" Ears rang. Face was ash and dirt strewn. A fresh cut carved into her chin. She wobbled back toward the tank, arms extended like a bedraggled crazy person as she sent a force push at the limbering tank. Val was right that they needed to head to the trees for cover. But she was a damn stubborn clone.