Ache in the Heart

[Thel Rhysode]

"You won't get away with that this time, kid," the man spoke, his raspy voice's tone hinting to his anger. His brown eyes stared right into the boy's white irises and the boy could tell this man was a little bit disgusted at the sight.

"I have always gotten away with that," Thel muttered. "What makes you think I won't manage this time?"

They were standing in practically open plains, yet the only thing which prevented the kid from leaving was the fact that the furious man was standing right between him and his starship, making it nearly impossible for him to get into the craft. He would have fought against the man, but he'd found out he didn't have a blaster on his belt. He'd left it in the starship.

"You are a naive little motherkarker," the man said.

"At least I ain't no karkarse who blindly serves his master," Thel had to comment. His little sadistic mind and a cocky attitude were, for once, able to reveal themselves. Because typically, the boy had nobody to talk to.

He walked around in little circles while trying to catch the right moment to go and kick the man on his feet or something. He had to leave this place because he was running out of time. According to his calculations, the chaser was only few hours away from him.

Which was a terrible knowledge.

[ [member="Reylan Abraxis"] ]

 

[Reylan Abraxis]

The forces of both coincidence and chance were peculiar things with neither conscience nor morals. Some days a stray asteroid would destroy a random planet and all the people on it. Others, a planet would form in the right manner to develop life. Ying and yang, a yo-yo of good and evil that bounced between black, white, and every shade of grey inbetween. Luck was the name given to these two factors when the outcome was good and in the case of the scuffle unfolding on this unnamed planet between thug and adolescent, [member="Thel Rhysode"] was lucky.

A nomadic nature drove Reylan to travel, a wanderer amongst the stars with only one goal - be a better jedi than his father was. The nature drove him to this unnamed planet, the goal encouraged him to help this teenager in whatever confrontation he was involved in. Reylan's freighter, obtained from the group of slavers who murdered his father, entered this unnamed planet's atmosphere a few hundred miles from the imminent scuffle and descended from the clouds in a bright fireball that slowly dissipated as its speed decreased. A loud clap of thunder signaled his arrival, which the standoff pair might hear. Coincidence and chance dictated that Reylan would pick a southeasterly direction in which to travel, intending to find a suitable location to touch down, which would lead him to stumble upon the confrontation.

The rumble of sublight engines would give away his presence long before Reylan's ship could be seen, though he would appear a minute later, decelerating as he neared the pair. A few thoughts of live and let live flashed through the rugged man's mind, which he discarded almost immediately with memories of his father's recollection of what it meant to be a jedi. Still, Reylan didn't know who was the aggressor or even if either of them were good people. He shrugged to himself and extended the landing gear on his starship, circling the location of the pair as he shed speed...

 

[Thel Rhysode]

Both Thel and the man looked at the starship which had arrived from seemingly nowhere. It could have given Thel the chance to get into his ship and escape, but he was just as full of panic and curiosity as the man himself, so the thought didn't even make it to his mind. After all, would it have been the best thing to do, the boy would have done it subconsciously.

That meant escaping now would have been a poor choice, for whatever reason. So the boy stood there, waiting to see the ship land to get to see who was in it.

The man, however, looked at Thel and continued, "You ain't goin' nowhere."

The young smuggler wasn't scared, though. He knew he wouldn't get caught, he would get away with this. He had never had a failed mission in his life, nor would he have one at that very moment.

"You really underestimate my skillset..." was all Thel could say. "... and the odds of simple coincidences."

[ [member="Reylan Abraxis"] ]

 

[Reylan Abraxis]

[member="Thel Rhysode"]

Having shed enough speed to come to a hovering halt, Reylan pulled down on a lever and engaged the landing protocols. From here on out, everything was automated, so he tore himself away from the leather pilot's seat and strode towards a small storeroom just next to the exit ramp. The storeroom was dull, with blank durasteel paneling and empty plastic lockers lining the walls. There was, however, a wooden crate embellished in intricate carvings pushed up in the far right corner that looked slightly battered but sturdy and its metal hinges creaked as Reylan opened the lid. He removed a mask that had similar decorative engravings to the crate as well as a tarnished, old, looking lightsaber hilt. He put the mask on, which was cold yet comforting on his bare skin, and clipped the lightsaber to the worn leather belt adorning his waist. Throwing the hood of his robes over his head, Reylan made his way the exit...

Long grass dispersed, folded over by the stabilising thrusters of the heavy freighter as it descended a mere twenty meters away from the stalled struggle. A dull thud accompanied by a slight vibration underfoot signaled that the starship had made contact with the earth and then eerie silence followed. A few moments passed before the hiss of hydraulics suddenly broke the tension, softening into a buzzing sound that was the motors and gears of the landing ramp turning. It descended slowly, steadily revealing a lone figure standing rather casually within the starship itself. The figure began walking as soon as the angle of the ramp allowed it, and stepped onto the planet's surface just as the ramp made contact.

Reylan regarded the teenager and the man with a slow up-and-down gaze, before speaking in a voice as rough as bark yet almost soft. "What's going on here?"