Private A Ranger from the Past

[Kaitlyn Solay]

CORONET FRONTIER

Kaitlyn peered through her scouting macro binoculars and scanned the harsh desert-like landscape before her. This area of Corellia was called the Deadlands due to the Netherworld rift nearby which had left the ground dry, black, and cracked especially the closer you got to the Force anomaly itself. Almost all life had been sapped from the land except for reports of spirits and strange happenings.

The seasoned Antarian Ranger had been tracking a group of swoop gang raiders that had been on a terror of homesteaders on the Coronet Plains in the Wilds. CorSec didn't have the manpower at the moment to investigate so she was sent out from the Green Jedi Outpost where she had been assigned as of late.

The Jedi too were undermanned on Corellia so today the ranger captain was out scouting by herself, which didn't bother the Antarian one bit. It's mainly what Kaitlyn had been doing over the last decade or so ever since being abruptly separated from her Jedi companion and reassigned without explanation across the galaxy by the General, who was her father.

The brunette's hand raised to the sand panther tooth that hung from her neck on a leather tie - a Feté present given to her long ago. She signed heavily, then returned the binoculars to the saddlebag on the side of her speederbike before goosing the engine.

Kaitlyn sped off in the direction of where the tracks were leading her, cautiously though as she swore someone or something was watching her…

Judah Lesan Jr.​

 

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

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Wearing: xxx​

Weapon: xxx​

Tag: Kaitlyn Solay​

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Time had been cruel to many of the Lesan family. JJ Lesan could not say he was an exception to that. Had it just been dealing with an absent father as many other Jedi he knew seemed to share in common he could have accepted his lot. His mother Katara was dead. His first love Sasha had broken his heart, though he likely had broken hers as well when reflecting on his own choices. Another woman he had harbored feelings for had turned out to be his half sister. Corellia had been broken, and his home destroyed. In everything there had been a bright spot.​

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His Ranger.​

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Judah sighed as he turned back to the bridge which was half finished. It was a hot day on the foothills of Coronet Peak, and the young master was working hard at making the old trails he used to walk come alive again. While he was not as good as the agricorps, JJ had always been good with his hands… like his father. The rough calluses which covered his palms came from years of working with wood and building things of his own making. It was a form of peace not too foreign to the katas he often performed to find his center.​

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He tossed the ax to the side as he used the force to draw a towel to his hand. Wiping the sweat from his brow and shoulders the brown haired guardian smirked at the mental lecture he was getting from Master Cambria Zadira .​

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“The force is a tool not an excuse to be lazy…”​

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It amused him that he often said the same thing to young padawans now. More of his master had rubbed off on him than he wanted to admit. Most days he was proud to claim his heritage as a Lesan, but on occasion he knew he was also the sum of the Twi’lek’s tutelage.​

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Something was wrong.​

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Judah paused, his eyes looking about.​

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snap​

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Was it an animal?​

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Closing his eyes the young man searched through the force. Everything around him was moving, fluttering… no flurrying… running…​

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Escaping.​

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His eyes went wide as he suddenly felt the urge to duck. Blaster bolts tore through the woods coming from the direction of the plains. Judah quickly wrapped himself in his tunic and rushed for the old speeder bike which had belonged to his mother. Most of her vehicles he had kept in prime condition, feeling a connection to her in that way.​

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He raced for the scene of the attack. The wind whipped in his face as he took the bike as fast as it would carry him. Without a warning he came to a halt and used the seat as a platform to launch himself into the air. With the force enhancing his leap, JJ activated the green blade of his lightsaber as he reached the peak of his jump. Whoever it was that had been attacking the homesteaders would not know what hit them. They had not counted on the fact a Jedi Guardian was near.​

 

[Kaitlyn Solay]

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Kaitlyn followed the tracks of the swoop gang raiders around the edge of the Deadlands until they finally veered off into a forested area. And none too soon for her liking. The hairs on the back of the brunette's neck were beginning to stand up as the Netherworld Rift and its spirits were trying to play games with her mind, even if the Antarian Ranger had been trained to resist Force intrusions. It was not a place she would soon return to if it could be helped.

The mountainous terrain was a great location for a holdout with rock formations along steep cliffs which would be perfect to hide in and defend. She slowed her speeder bike, then stopped alongside a creek where a grouping of big boulders sat on the other side. It had been a long journey so a drink from a carried canteen was in order.

Suddenly, blaster bolts came out of the tree line at her. Kaitlyn dove off the bike, hitting the mossy ground, then rolling to a crouch position behind a downed tree. She returned fire at the raiders, but if her assessment was correct the lone ranger was badly outnumbered and some of them were probably flanking her position. How could she be so careless to allow this to happen with so much to live for?

Then, the unmistakable sound of a lightsaber igniting with its iconic snap-hiss brought her blue gaze toward a man leaping brashly off one of the boulders in a blur of green right into the firefight. He looked familiar, but there was no time to even think about it as the flanking raiders got her acute attention.

A blaster bolt grazed her arm but didn't deter Kaitlyn's efforts to reach into a pouch on her utility belt and grab a flash grenade. She quickly activated it, then threw the live grenade in the direction of the thugs; doing a little 'yes' pumping action when the offenders went flying in a spray of forest debris and there was no more fire coming from them. Which was a good thing as her blaster pistol had overheated; needing to cool down before being functional again.

A noise from behind made Kaitlyn reach for the Force-imbued sword carried on her back, then she spun around on her booted heel to meet the new opponent face-to-face in a full-on ranger fury... She would not go down that easy without a valiant fight.

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Judah Lesan Jr.​

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[Judah Lesan Jr.]

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Wearing: xxx​

Weapon: xxx​

Tag: Kaitlyn Solay​

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Everything happened in a rush. There was something about a fight which seemed to slow time, and yet no time passed at all. Without much thought the battle itself could take the fighter. JJ knew what it was to kill, and he did so with great hesitation each time. It was not that he delayed in doing what had to be done, but he certainly took a life if it was his last or only resort.​

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The first life he took was a constant reminder that ending the life, even to save the life of another, came at high cost. It had taken him some time to come to terms with what killing someone felt like. There was a guilt associated with it, even though he had done the right thing. JJ refused to be so absent in a fight that he killed without thought. If he had to take a life, he wanted to know he was doing it.​

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Today he would take two. The first had been one which refused to back down. The electro-staff seemed to make the gang thug think he was invincible, or there was just a level of aggression which put Judah in danger. Regardless of the motivation this life ended with only three movements. JJ pushed the staff upward while deflecting an oncoming attack. That was followed with a leg sweep, and as the man fell Judah slashed his blade through the man’s midsection.​

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Two halves laid on the forest floor.​

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The second man was a simple decapitation. It was a clean kill, again it had been to keep the brunette safe. She had joined the fight sometime after Judah leaped into action. Something about her was familiar, almost intimately so. The thought was given a brief moment before being pushed aside until after the battle.​

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He heard the sound of another weapon. Turning he saw the woman standing face to face with another combatant. JJ could not see her face, but the weapon was also familiar. Her stance told the Corellian she had training, ranger training, in particular. It should have dawned on him who he was looking at, but the sound of a speeder approaching from behind him pulled his attention away from the battle which was about to ensue.​

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Something told him he did not need to worry about the woman.​

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Leaping, JJ did a backflip onto the speeder. He brought the blunt end of his lightsaber hilt down on the back of the driver’s head before he jumped off. The speeder would have crashed had the force not been used to slow the vehicle. The guardian had a pair of cuffs which he used to subdue the driver. One arrest to two deaths, and whatever the ranger would add.​

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He turned in time to see her fight end. It was then he saw her face, and the necklace which hung from her neck. The sand panther tooth was unmistakable. JJ had carved the runes himself. His mind was taken back to the day he gifted it, and the night which had followed. She had been the first woman JJ had loved since things had ended with him and Sasha, and the reason he had taken his first kill.​

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They had loved each other, and then she was just gone. JJ had his theories, but he never knew why she had left. It did not matter. Now that she was here it felt as though she had never left.​

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“Kait…”​

 

[Kaitlyn Solay]

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Kaitlyn was amazed to see a swoop gang member with a blastsword but to each their own. She was pretty sure this one wasn't an Adumari nobleman who used such weapons for honor duels.

As the thug approached closer, he raised the humming melee weapon up into a high guard with its flared nozzle point aimed at her head. In his other hand was a dagger. He stepped in and thrust the dagger forward, which Kaitlyn dodged.

The Raider followed with a thrust of the blastsword this time, which the Ranger parried easily with the blade of her Force-imbued sword. When the tip of his blastsword hit the edge of her blade though, there was a crack like a blaster rifle firing and smoke rose from a darkened spot on a tree nearby.

With a flick of her arm and wrist, Kaitlyn disengaged her sword from his, then swung the hilt up in a punch that caught the thug full in the jaw. She finished the severally dazed man off with a powerful roundhouse kick sending him into a crumbled mess on the ground lights out.

The Antarian booted his dropped weapons out of reach in case he regained consciousness, then her dark head turned towards a familiar voice calling her name...

"Judah?" Kaitlyn responded in an awkward yet pleasant surprised manner, then she added with a soft smirk after surveying their battlefield with her grey-blue eyes settling back on the well-known Jedi to her. Well, at least in the past. So much had happened between then and now.

"You haven't changed a bit, JJ. That Corellian bravado of yours is as evident as ever."

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Judah Lesan Jr. ​

 

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

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Wearing: xxx​

Weapon: xxx​

Tag: Kaitlyn Solay​

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Even after their time apart, JJ could still feel the tension and surprise which the Ranger felt. Their bond was not as strong as that between a force user, but Judah knew Kaitlyn well enough to know the situation was both pleasant and awkward. It was for the Jedi as well.​

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Years had passed since they had last seen each other, and her exit from his life had been abrupt and unannounced. It did not take him long to figure out that their attachment to each other was likely the cause, but who initiated the decision was still unclear. Had Kait left on her own, or had she simply been reassigned.​

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His eyes fell to the necklace he had given her. The fact she was still wearing it after all the time which had passed told JJ there were certain questions he no longer had to wonder what the answers were. It made him smile in that crooked Corellian smirk which had been a trait he inherited from his father more so than his mother.​

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"I mean… there were bad guys that needed to be stopped… and I stopped them the only way I know how. With flair and an amazing entrance."​

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He chuckled, the comment meant to ease the air and the tension between them. As his eyes met hers, and then fell back to the necklace once more, Judah realized it had not worked.​

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"You're still wearing it…"​

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It was all he said, but the weight which hung on each word was profoundly evident. There was a sense of relief to his words, and yet there was a question with them as well.​

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Why? ​

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Who? ​

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What? ​

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It did not really matter which of those questions was the predominant one. Kaitlyn could answer any of them to appease the curiosity which poured from the emotional wound he thought had fully healed. It was clear he had missed her, and JJ was not going to deny it. Where his father had worn his feelings on his sleeves, JJ had always done so exponentially more. There would be no hiding what he was feeling in the moment, and certainly not to someone he had been intimately in love with.​

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"…that makes me happy."​

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The middle of a battlefield was likely not the place or time for this kind of reunion, but JJ was JJ. He smirked before regaining his composure.​

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"Do you think there will be more of them?"​

 

[Kaitlyn Solay]

"I mean… there were bad guys that needed to be stopped… and I stopped them the only way I know how. With flair and an amazing entrance."​

"Touché... and thanks again for the assist, Judah. I believe that makes us even if I recall correctly," Kaitlyn said fashioning the Corellian with a grin and a twinkle in her eye of old.

Course who knew really? It had been such a long time ago since they were partnered up, (and she was reminded of it every day... ) but saving his brash yet cute behind had always been her forte. What?! Someone had to do it! Trouble and the surname Lesan went hand in hand.

"You're still wearing it…that makes me happy."​

Kaitlyn had a quizzical look come to her face for a moment, then it dawned on her that Judah was talking about his sand panther tooth necklace still worn around her neck. The Ranger's hand came up to touch it. She had planned to give it to another when the time was right...

"Well the necklace was given as a gift with much care and thought behind it, and one just doesn't discard such things easily," the brunette offered with a small smile, then she looked away to seemingly re-evaluate their situation as the bodies of the dead swoop gang members lay about the forest floor in the dimming light of the day where the firefight happened.

Breathe, just breathe...

"Do you think there will be more of them?"​

"Well, this accounts for the ones I was following... I would assume when they don't show up at their destination with their loot, someone will come looking to see what happened to them. I say we retreat for now, cover our tracks, then I can give a sitrep to CorSec from a more neutral area and see if they want me to continue scouting or return to the outpost."

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Judah Lesan Jr. ​

 

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

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Wearing: xxx​

Weapon: xxx​

Tag: Kaitlyn Solay​

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Was she trying to appease him by placating his happiness? Judah did not ask the questions he wanted to, not yet anyway. The necklace had been a gift given with thought and care. Nothing about their relationship would have told him the gift would have led to her sudden and abrupt reassignment. Judah tried to think it had nothing to do with the expression of his feelings toward her, but after ten years the Master Jedi could not play the fool any longer.​

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"But after ten years to still be wearing it? The gift would still have to have meaning to it."​

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The observation had left his mouth before before JJ could prevent it from escaping. He hoped it did not sound harsh, but it was something he could not take back even if it did. As was his usual tendency, the Jedi wore his feelings out in the open. Kaitlyn would certainly know them. She had been too close to him before to not know what was likely obvious. His pain was evident, but his joy overshadowed it. They had crossed paths again, and with more of the gang still lurking about, the chance to work together again was still alive and well.​

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He smiled. The woman was ever the dutiful ranger. She would report in before pursuing, but had she forgotten who she was talking to?​

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"We should cover our tracks, but leave CorSec out of this for now," he said as if they had never stopped working together. "No one knows what happened here, and if you want the rest of the gang, keeping it that way will ensure success. The element of surprise my dear ranger."​

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JJ was already halfway to his speeder by the time he finished the suggestion. He was certainly not bound to the agency Kait felt the need to report to, nor was she, really. As a ranger she went where she wanted. Sure it was courtesy to work with the local law enforcement agencies of the planet, but as long as they reported after the fact, it would still fall under what was required. This was Judah's thinking at least. Whether he was right or not was beside the point.​

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They would eventually return to the outpost, but not until after JJ had his walk down memory lane. Besides, working together afforded him the opportunity to ask the questions he wanted to ask, questions that had been burning inside him for quite some time.​

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"You coming?"​

 

[Kaitlyn Solay]

The only response the Ranger gave to the mention of the necklace once again was a, "Mhm, perhaps."

Judah would just have to wait for a deeper answer to the larger question looming between them later. The mission came first, always. He knew that.

"I will defer to your request for now. Though I will submit a report to CorSec sooner than later... my dear Jedi. I don't have the luxury of fudging things as you do," the brunette teased with a soft chuckle, then began using a branch to cover her boot tracks right up to the swoop bike the Antarian was riding during her scouting mission.

"You lead, I'll follow," Kait nodded as she mounted the swoop and readied for the ride where ever the Corellian was taking her to.

 

[Judah Lesan Jr.]

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Wearing: xxx​

Weapon: xxx​

Tag: Kaitlyn Solay​

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Fudging!? It wasn’t fudging when it wasn’t his mission. Besides as long as he checked in on whether his assignments were, JJ had a lot of freedom to accomplish the tasks in front of him. It was very different work without a partner. He could not say it was better or worse, just different. There were days he missed having Kait with him, but was that because he missed her working with him, or just because he missed her. It was nuanced, but was it really? Judah was just happy she could not read his mind. There would certainly be a lot of truth to reveal if she could pry into what was in his thoughts.​

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For now they could regroup at the nearly rebuilt Lesan Compound. JJ had finished most of the work with the help of the Ren he had been housing, well former Ren. He should not have hidden her from the council, but he also didn’t see the need for them ti do anything when she had harmed no one. The woman just needed to get her life back together.​

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Maybe he did fudge…​

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It was a quiet ride. JJ did not snout the beauty of it as much as he would have had his mind not been preoccupied with wayward thoughts. Kait was back in his life, for this brief moment, and weighing out what that meant was enough to keep him distracted. Judah needed to focus, and that’s what he spent the remainder of the ride doing. They still had to finish her mission.​

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He parked his speeder near the front entrance. Judah could not recall if Kait had ever visited him on the Lesan’s family estate, so he did his best to remain near the part of the property most useful to them.​

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“There is still some work to finish. The training grounds mostly. All the lodging has been finished, and I added a couple more lodges to the domestic area. I figured there is enough property to take on a few refugees so…”​

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JJ shrugged. Like any Lesan he was an idealist. While he understood there was little he could do by himself to change the grim and bleak picture of the galaxy, he could do something to help one person at a time. It was something his father had ensured he understood. Helping one was enough.​

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They passed into the main house. JJ had rebuilt it from scratch. There was nothing of it that seemed out of place to him, though he had changed some things to better suit his needs. Part of him did not want to deal with the memories which certain parts of the house would conjure up in his brain. Mostly, he did not want to walk into the kitchen and have to remind himself of the reason the aroma of his mother’s baking no longer filled the room.​

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This was his home now. Judah and Katara had relocated to Naboo mostly, though JJ knew his father lived on his ship now that his mother no longer lived.​

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Judah walked straight to the back of the house where a small war room was situated. The senior Lesan never had it, but JJ was a guardian not a shadow. He wanted a planning room so he could be ready at a moment’s notice. The table in the center came to life with a map of the area they had just been.​

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“Alright, so before we report back to your superiors… this is where we were, now can you show me where the rest of this gang is rumored to be hiding?”​

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Right to business. Was it the best call? Maybe they needed to get it out of the way so they could deal with the personal questions JJ wanted to ask. They had a lot to resolve, but JJ knew himself too well. If he even went down that road he would be distracted. Kait had always been a mission first kind of girl, so for now he would play it her way. Even if his eyes betrayed everything he was thinking the moment he found the color of hers.​