Unexpected Meetings

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"The Tipsy Cat." Val said simply.

It was the name of the inn that he was staying in of course, a small building at the very edge of the village. Val took Taheera there, the village being somewhat devoid of life as they wandered through the dirt streets. He peered around every corner any way, making sure that nothing and no one was waiting to surprise them. Eventually they managed to find their way to the Inn, a wooden sign at the end of the building marking it as the correct place.

He smiled slightly. These little Inns were part of the reason why he enjoyed the Outer Rim so much. In the core everything was big and grand, here...it was smaller, more modest. It reminded Val of home, reminded him of simpler times in his life. "Come on."

Val told Taheera as he wandered through the open door.

Nobody was home of course, the innkeeper and his daughter having abandoned the place along with the rest of the village. They wandered through the building and headed up the stairs, Val having to duck as they slowly made their way up to the second story. The floor creaked as he began to wander to his door, a key being fished from his pocket and inserted into the lock. He swung the door open and then waved Taheera inside.

"Won't take long." Val said wandering over to a large pack in the corner. "Just give me a sec."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

She knew the family who owned this place. She'd treated his daughter for a broken arm just last week. She waited in the doorway, half turned to Val and half turned to the landing. They didn't need anyone sneaking up on them.

Boots stamped up and down on the carpet in the doorway, shaking off some of the excess moisture and water from the semi-rain. Hood fell from her chestnut-haired head. She made a mock-pouty face. "And shame. That was one of my favorite shirts on you." A creak on the stairs they had just come up silenced her. A hand fell to the hilt of her lightsaber.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val practically tore off the shirt, but he stopped half way through as she spoke. "I think you'd rather have me without it."

True enough probably.

"Besides, you can always just a-" He cut himself off as he heard the noise, ears twitching slightly. He had no weapon, though it appeared that Taheera was just about ready to pounce on whatever was out there. A frown pulled at his lips, but he stepped towards her. An odd need to protect her was still with him, even though Val knew that logically she could more than take care of herself, and also she was currently blocking the only doorway into the room.

Still he wandered towards her, moving quickly and with intent until suddenly he heard a loud

"MOW!"

Val stopped, breaking out into a loud laugh.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

The little cat looked like it might bolt at the sound of the sudden, booming laughter. Hand eased away from her lightsaber hilt. Ears went back and the cat looked away, then looked toward the interlopers.

"Reminds me of the ones on Lothal," the healer squated down and held out her hand. "Hey kitty." It gave a little chirping meow, ears going forward again, and trotted over, rubbing and purring against her hand. She scooped him up. "We're pretty lucky it was only you." She scratched it's chin and it continued to pur in her arms, tail twitching.

"I think I'm in love," she teased then looked at Val. "You ready?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val looked down at himself, perking an eyebrow. ”I know you want me to go shirtless, but it’s a little cold outside.”

Before she could respond he turned away from her, wandering over towards the bag once again and pulling out another undershirt. It was the same kind that he had been wearing a few days ago, though notably it was much cleaner. The cloth was thrown on without much care, then a few seconds later he pulled a heavy jacket from the bag as well. Part of him wanted to get his armor...but he knew it would be too heavy.

They would be moving fast still, and the armor would only weigh him down, he’d just have to retrieve it later when this was all over.

”Now I’m ready.” Val said as he slipped on the jacket, just in time to hear heavy beads of rain began to clatter on top of the roof. ”Looks like it’s going to be cold.”

Wind, rain, and pirates, he was starting to dislike this planet.

Val wandered up to Taheera and petted the cat, waving his arm so that she would head out the door.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"You said it, not me," she winked at the Viking. Frowning, she gave one last look out the window. She headed out of the door, booted-feet taking her quickly down the stairs and to the Inn's entrance. She gave the cat one last pet and chin scratch. "You better stay here, buddy. I don't think you'd like it very much outside."

With a final pur, the healer put the cat down.

She flipped the cowl of her jacket up. Myrtle-ellipses gave Val one last glance. "Here we go." Giving a cautious glance both ways outside of the Inn door, she headed outside and fell into a light jog. Eyes remained alert. A flash of light followed by several others broke through the clouds up ahead. She pointed.

"There! That's them."

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val had no idea if they would be enough, he certainly hoped so, but in truth there was no telling whether or not the Jedi had the required manpower. At the very least they would be able to evacuate the village, that was something. yet the Aurodium was still in play. As long as that was true...Val couldn't leave this place. He knew the pirates would eventually grow to be too much of a problem if they were simply left alone here on this planet.

There was simply too much money to simply leave. "So..."

He began as they wandered towards the landing site, jacket already wet from the pouring rain. The storm didn't look like it would subside any time soon, and overhead and afar he began to see bright flashes of lightning. His lips turned down into a frown.

"Will you go?" Val asked quietly. She was a healer, not a warrior, and the pirates weren't her fight. "Once the villagers are gone."

The rain made it difficult to talk without yelling.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

A hand went up to shield her eyes from the rain as a transport landed first, followed by two other cruisers. Warm air blared her jacket and helped to cut back on some of th cold seeping through her bones. She too,mad to yell back. Villagers were already huddled together, waiting to board.

"I don't know. I'll go wherever they need me. They might...," voice trailed off and her face lit up. "We don't have many fighters but maybe we can do a strafing run. Destroy the mines. The Pirates would follow us and leave this planet and village. We'd be their targets!"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val shook his head. "Camp is too well defended."

The pirates weren't fools, they knew what they had. Three capital ships sat within those mines, and among them countless defense turrets, not to mention pirates with anti-air launchers and hundreds of blasters. No, any fighter, any ship flying over those mines would meet in disaster. Val knew that, he had seen it first hand. There was a reason he was so concerned about all of this. The Pirates were well supplied, well armed, and apparently well organized.

"It would be suicide." Val told her as the ships landed. Immediately people began to pour into the cargo holds that dropped open, either seeking to get out of the rain or desperate to flee from the threat that had already been made on their lives by the coming pirates. "Nothing can get close."

He was already concerned about these ships here, if they could even make it off world.

The Warrior stepped towards Taheera, putting a gentle hand on her hip and drawing her closer. "I have to stay."

There was no leaving for him. There was no assaulting the base with starfighters or ships, there was only one way to do this. It would take time, but if the Jedi were willing to give him supplies he could do it. There was a methodology to this. Val would do this the same way that any smaller force took out a larger one; fear.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

Hands came up and rested on his chest. She gave one cautious, sideways glance at the group of Jedi exiting one of the transports. They were more progressive in that not all relationships were forbidden. But still. Jedi liked to gossip just as much as the next person. Myrtle-ellipses found their way back to Val.

"What're you going to do? Working alone is the same thing as if I flew a star fighter into their camp."

Lightning flashed across the sky as the rain continued to pour down but she couldn't look away from his orbs of fire and ice.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

"Maybe." Val said quietly, almost too quiet to make it over the sound of the rainstorm. She was right in a way, it was probably suicide. He could take down dozens of them, destroy their equipment, perhaps even collapse one of the mine shafts or two, but eventually their numbers would simply be the end of him.

They would find him, probably kill him, but at least he would slow them down.

He had to believe that eventually someone would find out what was happening here, that either the Alliance or another government would send help enough to wipe out the pirates. Yet someone had to stay, someone had to slow them down. They had likely already taken enough Aurodium to fund a small army, and with each passing day that sum would only increase. There was no way he could just stand back and let it happen, not when he could do something.

"I'll be careful." Val told her. "Go slow."

His fingers gently pressed into her hips as he tensed slightly. "I'll keep them hunting me as long as I can. Do as much damage as I can."

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

"You sound like I did, a few days ago and you alluded that it was foolish."

One hand went down to her side. Fingers twitched near her blaster. She seriously thought about shooting him. On stun of course. He'd forgive her, eventually. She exhaled in frustration.

"Give me three days. I have contacts in the Outback. Feth, I think they even have a stat destroyer. Just. Can you promise you won't do anything foolish for three days?"

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Three days.

Was that enough time? Too much time? The pirates would likely suspect something was up as soon as they realized that ships had landed just outside the village. They already knew that both Val and Taheera were here, and now the village was being evacuated. He frowned slightly, the pirates would know that something was wrong. If they were smart they would stash some of the Aurodium away, enough to rebuild after they lost what was here, if they weren't smart...well they'd just keep digging.

Val banked on the former happening.

At the very least The Outback would be able to wipe away what remained of the pirates at the mines, but he would still have to make sure they didn't get away with any of the Aurodium, otherwise it would all lead to the same place. What was he supposed to tell her? That he would just sit around and do nothing? That he would watch as murderers and killers got away with billions? Enough to fund the creation of an entire fleet that would likely used for slavery and worse?

No. He couldn't do that.

"Three days." Val said simply, neither acknowledging nor denying her request. There was no point to doing so, they both knew that any promise he made would be broken as soon as he saw the pirates do something he didn't like. It was who he was, Val was no coward, he couldn't stand by and watch something happen. "Bring a nice outfit."

He smirked at her and slowly let go of her hips, turning to walk away.

 

[Taheera Sollo]

[member="Valkyrien Aurelios"]

It was the best she'd get out of him. She knew better. "Shut up and take care of my cat while I'm gone," she called after the giant of a man as he turned to go. She went in the opposite direction and boarded one of the transports.

She'd debrief the Jedi guardians, then get on her way to the Outback. The villagers were safe and hopefully, soon, they'd get their homes back with some extra income for their troubles. The transport shuddered as it lifted into the pouring and rumbling sky.

If Val was still alive in three days time, he'd see fifty times as many ships with battlement turrets and shielding. A destroyer would hover above to intercept any escaping pirates and provide ground fire for any of the fighter squadrons.

 

[Valkyrien Aurelios]

[member="Taheera Sollo"]

Val was still alive, if only barely.

The three days had not been easy or kind to him. The Pirates had, predictably, begun a more aggressive bit of activity after Taheera's departure. Somehow this peaceful little paragon world had turned into a hellscape in the time that Taheera had been gone, and Val had not been able to do anything to stop it. He had tried, but in the end the pirates had simply been too many, had simply outnumbered him. Val was not a god, not a Force Master, he was only human.

First they had come for the village. He had tried to keep them at bay with traps and tricks, but they had hardly cared. On the first day they put the village to the torch, burning every building, every home, every inn until it was naught but ash.

On the second day they pressed the slaves to work harder. Each and every one of them had been half worked to death. Val had watched from the plateau as cart after cart of Aurodium had been transported from the Mine and onto one of the ships, men, women, and children worked to death as The Warrior had watched. He had tried to intervene then, killing several of the pirates on the outskirts of the camp to try and free some of the slaves. He'd been caught of course, and the ensuing fight had left him bloodied and half broken.

The third day had seen the departure of one of the pirate vessels, loaded with Aurodium.

Val had watched from the mouth of the little cave he and Taheera had stayed in, his eyes following the vessel as it disappeared into the atmosphere and vanished into the dead of space. Hours later The Outback came, but it was already too late.

So Val sat within the little cave, eyes closed, defeated.