We Didn't Start The Fire

[Nima Tann]

The bubble was ready to go, and the second bomb was released from the sky just as expected, coming right towards them. One chance, they only had one chance or else they would have to deal with an a lot bigger explosion. The second bomb continued to descend and eventually was in the blast radius of the first bomb, so it was the time to execute their plan. Sol pressed the trigger of the bomb and the blast from the bomb impacted the second one, just according to plan! Success. Now the only thing that remained was to endure the blast of the first one and they were clear. The blast came down on the town and started its destruction, and soon applied its destructive force on the barrier. Nima took a deep breath, as she tried to keep the bubble intact.

Then suddenly, she felt something. It wasn't related to anything about keeping the explosion out. No, it was embarrasment in its pure form as she felt the man's body pressing against hers all of a sudden, practically hugging her. She felt the anxiety creeping up immediately after shock, almost about to let the bubble go since she lost focus. Why? Why did he just do that? What's he doing? Why? The thoughts repeated in her mind. Uncomfortably, she took a deep breath once more and tried to empty her mind about this, which was quite difficult as the situation still remained, to think clearly. She understood his intent once she calmed down a bit, and then reduced the size of the bubble, which helped her as she didn't need to give too much energy to keep the bubble strong. She just... had to endure this a little longer.

The explosion lost strength after causing its destruction. The village was now in ruins and the ground that the two stood on turned into a big hole, but they survived. She was more relieved when the man finally let go of her. The bubble vanished into thin air as it was over, and Nima immediately moved a few steps away from the man. And then they had a one way ticket to the awkward town, as silence reigned. Sol would notice the behaviour change, as he just met the Twi'lek without the ex Jedi Master mask.

The one which broke the silence was Nima's holocomm's beeping voice. "Y-yes?" Nima responded.

"Master Tann, the transports have arrived. Everyone is alright and we are helping them get on board. We'll send you an evac team once we are done here." The crew member reported, as she helped Sky to keep people moving.

"Okay, keep up the good work." Nima responded, and then deactivated her holocomm.

"It seems the villagers safely arrived to the ship. They'll send us an evac team soon." She told Sol, without looking at him.

[member="Sol Damerin"] [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Sol Damerin]

Sol didn't seem to notice just how uncomfortable he'd made Nima. Or at least, there didn't seem to be any outward sign that he'd noticed. He was acting as he had the entire time. Cool professional and utterly unruffled. Maybe, maybe if Nima looked very closely at Sol she might notice the slightest, slightest upward quirking of the lips. The stone-faced man had only done what he had to maximize their chances of survival. However, her stunned reaction to it after the fact was rather... amusing. He wasn't taking pleasure in her embarrassment or anything he just found it funny that the cool female Jedi Master was handling what amounted to a hug.

"That's good, I know who did this by the way. In one of the transports, I saw a message scroll across a screen before it got deleted. I've dealt with these people before they call themselves The Legacy of Ker'Aidyn. I don't know what their goal here was but from what I've seen that is why they tried to scrub the town. It seems to be standard procedure for them. No witness, no survivors."

Giving her another moment to compose herself he finally shrugs. "Sorry about the hug. Should have warned you first, but I was just thinking about maximizing our odds of staying alive." He turns back to stare down the road that the ground transports had taken, if anyone had been looking close they might have seen the faintest coloring of pink on his cheeks. Probably just a trick of the light. "Well, better get moving." He sets off at a jog and it isn't long before they meet Sky's transport that had circled back. A decision Sol mildly scolds the girl for. "They might have dropped another bomb, or done a sweep for survivors, you should have kept moving." There isn't any heat or anger in his voice, more just the stating of a fact. They'd done it saved the people if not the village, which meant they could finally sit back and introduce themselves. "My name is Sol." He finally introduces himself to the twi'lek woman.

[member="Nima Tann"] | [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Slowly the transports came to a stop near the large ship belonging to the Twi'lek Jedi, hopefully they were safe from anymore attacks, though Sukai always expected the worst out of any situation, and would not rule out said pirates bombarding the planet again, maybe this time with turbo laser, but the longer said raiders stayed around the more chance the Sith would finally show up, if not she had something to rub in the face of a certain Sith that duelled once.

Coming to s stop several of the armed men came forward, guiding the villagers off the transports in an orderly fashion, on that seemed to be in charge approaching Sukai as she jumped down to help, most likely the array of weapons hanging from her belt and flak jacket giving her away. "Are you one of the force users escorting the villager? if so did everyone make it"? Sukai looked around briefly before giving a nod, she did no sense any lost in life and it seemed everyone made it out okay, "Yes everyone made it through, though I suggest you check on your boss before anything else". The man gave a quick nod before calling through his comm-link, after wards he turned back to Sukai, "Well send out an evac now, it would be best to leave as soon as possible".

"Yes, that will make the most sense, I'll come with you, if not to help locate them but to maybe see why the raiders attacked this place to begin with, nothing makes sense so far, not even merc hired by the Sith or some order... no they were after something, and I intend to find out, no one bombs my home and gets away with it". A few of the armed guards gave an each other an odd look but ultimately decided to agree, there would not be any down side to bringing her along, "Alright well leave as soon as everyone is on broad be ready to move out in a few minutes".

[member="Sol Damerin"] l [member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

Nima was calmer now, as time passed. However, silence continued to reign as now her awkwardness plagued the air and affected the man also, which from his expression one could understand clearly. Nima wasn’t known for starting conversations especially after situations like these, so it was up to the man to break the silence, which, fortunately happened shortly afterwards. Luckily for the Twi’lek, it wasn’t about the hug, but she knew it was going to come up at some point. For now, she listened to his words, information to be exact, about the ones who was responsible for the destruction of the village.

“The Legacy of Ker’Aidyn, huh?” She said, trying to remember if she heard the name from somewhere. It was all a blank, though. From his words and the equipments they had, the group sounded like a threat that they should eliminate as soon as possible. “Do you have any ideas about their plans? Any common themes in their actions? They don’t seem like common thugs, with their equipment and all.” She commented. Even though they managed to save the villagers, there would be more innocent people hurt later if they didn’t stop them, but first they needed some information.

Waiting for the evac, she heard the man start to speak once more, and it was the subject she would’ve liked to avoid. She would see that the man was also uncomfortable talking about it, from his movements. Putting a forced smile on her face, she nodded. “I understood your intention. It’s just that I didn’t expect it, so I overreacted a bit. I’m sorry.” She said, then added. “Let’s just forget about it, okay?” It was her best defense mechanism in awkward social situations, act like it never happened.

After a while, the evac team finally arrived to the scene, with the young girl, Sky if she remembered correctly, tagging along. The man moved towards her and started scolding her. But before she could say anything, one of the crew members called her name.

“Master Tann. You alright?” The voice belonged to Leyla, and she was smirking for some reason.

“Uh-huh. How about you, are the villagers ready to depart?” Nima asked, trying to ignore the smirk because it probably didn’t lead to anywhere good.

“Well, I’ll need some therapy after dealing with the grandpa, but otherwise I’m still kicking.” She let out a laugh, then added. “The villagers are also alright. We didn’t have enough room for some of them, so they’ll need to share. Who knows, we might even help some get closer.” She said the last word in a different, playful tone.

Nima sighed, shaking her head. The three entered the vehicle along with the crew, and their journey towards the ship started, giving them a little peace finally. The man introduced himself to the Twi’lek, which she responded with “I’m Nima. Nice to meet you.” They would have to keep the conversation going, since Nima wasn’t the best at that.

[member="Sol Damerin"] [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Sol Damerin]

The quest for details was one he himself was on. He knew they'd taken something tainted with Darkside energy from the spice lord Garza, right before killing him. He also knew that they were after something in his possession that he'd recovered from Dxun. He doesn't bring that up to Nima, the fewer people who knew about it the better. Hell, even his companions had thought the real prize had been a little obsidian statue that had given off waves of Force energy.

Today though, he had no idea what they'd been after. However, he did know a bit more about them which, while not helpful, was worth noting. "What they did today seems to be standard practice for them. They don't leave witnesses if they can help it and the people who actually seem to know anything well... They have blaster gas capsules installed in their armor. The damn things go off and destabilize the armor, the body, everything that might be used to identify them leaving nothing but ash."

This was disturbing because not only did it mean they were disgustingly thorough, they were also dedicated to the cause. You had to be if you would willing stick something that could kill you inside your armor, that could also be activated remotely. It spoke volumes about this groups commitment to the cause and that cruiser he'd seen, that took serious money. Whoever these people were they scared him.

When she suggests forgetting about the hug he doesn't respond. Seemed like a good idea to him, it made her feel awkward and that had rubbed off on him just a tad. He'd felt almost like a padawan again briefly. Uncertain and off balance, probably because that had been as close to a woman as he'd gotten... ever. Being a Force hobo didn't lend itself to spending a lot of time with the fairer sex. (At least until he somehow starts picking up apprentices, but chronologically I think that's after this scene.)

Looking around Sol tries to spot their other Force-wielding companion as they come upon the transports. Never hurt to make sure the people whose names you actually knew were alive. "Nice to meet you." He responds to Nima as he eyes the transports. "Where are you going to send these people?" With their village destroyed they didn't have much left which meant it might be time for them to find somewhere new.

[member="Sky'ito Yumi"] | [member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Sukai rode along with the ship as they made haste back towards the ruined village, upon getting closer the twos force signatures becoming stronger and stronger, "Well, their alive, and seem to be unhurt, well from what I can tell any ways, maybe we can get some answers upon getting everything together, I don't want to wait around for them to come back, or the Sith to pop a visit". The man gave her a nod before calling in to the Twi'lek, getting a response fairly quickly, that was a good sign.

It didn't take long for them to land and get the two on broad, the in charge man making a quip about Mr snider, "Be nice to the man, hes a bit rough around the edges but he could probably teach you a few thing you did not know where useful, though that being said, yes he can be a pain in the ass". She followed the other two back into the ship as they departed the scene of destruction, hopefully that would be the end of it, but as always Sukai was prepared for the worst. Though now with that ordeal out the way it was time for introduction, she already knew Sol, who did not seem to want to share his name, perhaps the two had gotten acquainted while waiting for a pick up, which just left the out Jin to make an entrance.

"It is nice to meet you Master Nima, my name is Sukai'Ito Yumi, though most people just call me Sky" she performed her races customary bow, before continuing, addressing Sols question, "There are many places they could go, maybe into SJO space, or perhaps with the CIS, if not that I know of the Shrouded Republic, they take in many wandered and people without a home, and due to their nation being a fleet orientated system their is little chance who ever attack will find them". This talk reminded her on a begging question, why this place, "Talking about that, do any of you have an Idea on what reason bandits would have for attacking the village"? 'Especially ones so heavily armed"?

[member="Sol Damerin"] l [member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Nima Tann]

"It's nice to meet you too." She said to the girl, who decided to introduce herself with a bow. "You have done a good job leading the villagers to safety." She praised her with a smile. After all, even though age wasn't that important in a battlefield anymore, it didn't change the fact that the girl was still young, and deserved recognition when she did something good. And probably it would be good to hear after the scolding the man gave to her.

Sol then asked about where they were going to bring the villagers. Before saying something, she listened to Sky's suggestions. Nima knew SJO quite well, being an ex-Jedi, though her experience with them ended with her getting stabbed in the stomach by some fanatic Lightsiders when the Council decided to push the Darksiders out. CIS, she heard the name a few times, but wasn't entirely sure about what their agenda was. Lastly, she hasn't heard about the Shrouded Republic, but from Sky's words they seemed like a good choice. However, Nima liked to be absolutely sure before deciding on doing something. Thinking about her response for a second or two, she finally nodded and started talking.

"I appreciate the suggestions, but I already have a place in mind." Better safe than sorry, she thought. "The company I work for owns a planet, Arkas, and provides homes and work for those unfortunate. This way I can also check how they are doing easily." Once the home of criminal activities and now a tropical paradise, Arkas was quite the planet, a place where green and blue were wonderfully mixed together. There was one thing she didn't like about it though, and it was how crowded the settlements were, as a lot of people would come to the planet for vacation.

"As for the bandits..." Nima started, feeling the girl's confusion, which she shared to a point. Some pieces were starting to get together, yet they still didn't have enough information. According to what Sol said earlier, these people were quite determined to get the job done, and were extra careful not to leave any traces behind. "I don't know what their true motive was, but I can say that these people are quite calculated with what they are doing. If they were heavily armed, it means they expected this outcome. It wasn't a simple treasure hunt, no, if that was the case they wouldn't destroy the village. I think they were here for a specific target, they failed and thus decided to bomb the entire place for one last attempt. Leave no witnesses behind." She said her piece.

[member="Sol Damerin"] [member="Sky'ito Yumi"]

 

[Sol Damerin]

Crossing his arms Sol listens as Sky and Nima discuss the ultimate fate of the villagers. He has no strong opinion on where they would go because he did not have the authority to say who would take them one way or the other. The Confederacy might be a good choice but he only really knew one person from it. Then again he could say that about a lot of factions, he did know the Queen of Commenor. He'd gone on a brief mission with a man from the ORC. Helped a woman in the SJO recover a sithspawn. Fought alongside that crazy Metal Lord. Honestly, he should compile a list one of these days of just who he knew and where. Either way, despite knowing people in many of the various factions he really didn't have a handle on which one would take refugees so he left that decision to Nima and Sky, the outcome seeming to be Arkas because the company Nima worked for owned it.

"The best way to figure out what they want is to comb the area, see if anyone from the other villages that were attacked survived." Not that he thought that Nima's guess was a poor one, only that it was just that, a guess. If they wanted to get anything close to a clue it would be best to head towards the village that had been attacked right before the one that was leveled. There was a small chance that someone had managed to flee or hide from the raiders and could report on exactly what they'd seen. With that declaration, he looks at the other two. "I don't know about you two, but I think that's what I am going to do." With that said he strikes off in the direction, the land-based raiders had come from. There was still a pillar of black smoke in the sky from that direction.

[member="Sky'ito Yumi"] | [member="Nima Tann"]

 

[Sky'ito Yumi]

Sukai gave the Twi'lek woman a week smile, "No trouble, I doubt anyone would have let their childhood village and fiends just vaporized by a massive bomb, but thank your never the less". Either that or her more youthful look that got her said praise, it would not have been the first time, Sukai did look rather young for an almost 19 year old, but that was mainly due to her vampire heritage, and thus slow aging, but it was a nice compliment.

She listened to the Twi'leks counter proposal for the villager, true her own Idea could have worked but said village did not have a huge population, sending them all the way across the galaxy and in such small numbers, only to be swamped by mission in where ere they find shelter may be a bit to much for the simple rural folk. "Whatever you think is best, I am not really one for tactical analysis... might I ask about this company you own and what it sells"? She had gathered the woman was not apart of any Jedi order, probably similar to Sol, so this made Sukai interested in what she was selling as said company.

Whatever the case may be it was back to the mystery about the bandit attack, unfortunately the Twi'lek master did not know the reasons besides that said bandits where here for a specific reason, something she had concluded a while back, which did not get them any closer to finding out. So far Sols plan was the best, if they where going to such length, to bomb the place after a fail attack either what they where looking for was strong enough to survive a blast, or important enough to level an entire valley, "Agreed, I will accompany you back to the ruins, unless my presence is a bother to you, you seemed to be upset when we met at the start of the skirmish, have I done something to offend you"?

[member="Sol Damerin"] l [member="Nima Tann"]