Building a team

[Gherron Dragovalor]

"Hey Rael, get your stuff ready, we're heading to the surface. Take us in, Sunrele." The twi'lek nodded and did just that, bringing the ship into Tatooine's atmosphere. Gherron and friends had gone to this planet for two reasons, actually. First, Gherron had picked up an assignment to take down a gang there. Why the Republic cared about a gang on Tatooine, he didn't know. He did, of course, but he knew better than to think that the higher authorities cared much about such a small threat unless it was tied to something big. Especially in these times. The second reason, though, was to see if the planet reminded Rael any of his own. Once the ship landed in the hangar, he got up and motioned for Rael to follow. "See ya in a bit, Sun." Both Jedi were then immediately cut off by the twi'lek girl running in front of them.

"Ohhhh no. You aren't going anywhere without me. I am not spending all day on this ship again! I need fresh air. Besides, you could use me." She put her hands on her hips then, not budging. Gherron gave an amused look to his padawan then. "I like her. Okay, tell you what." Disappearing for a second, Gherron came out a few seconds later with a small hand-held blaster. "Can you use this?" She took it in her hands, testing it with a nod. "Alright then", Gherron said with a grin.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

Rael nodded as his master told him to gather his things. He went into his room, and changed, not into his armor, but into his native robes. Robes made for the desert sun. Long pants, fingerless gloves, a loose shirt, and a tight, brown hood, that left only his bone mask. He picked up his two lightsabers, and brought the bottom of their hilts together. He twisted, and flipped a little latch. His lightsabers were now combined into one double bladed saber. He clipped it to his belt, and walked out to the ship's exit. He laughed at the exchanged between Gherron and Sunrele, and exited the ship.

They had landed in a Mos Eisley spaceport, and Rael stepped into the hot air. He took a deep breath, remembering the heat of his homeworld. He walked out of the spaceport, and looked around for a place to rent a speeder. He saw a small shop, and walked over to it. Rael started haggling with the owner, and eventually, got it down to a fair price. The Kaleesh walked back over to Gherron and Sunrele, and threw Gherron the keys for the speeder he had rented.

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Gherron shot his padawan a grin when he caught the keys in his hand. "Nice going man!" Sitting himself down in the driver's seat, he checked his datapad for a few seconds. "Says here they're somewhere in the dune sea. Figures. Alright boys and girls, pile in!" Turning the vehicle on, he patiently waited for Rael and Sunrele to get in, before taking off.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

Rael smiled, and then looked back at the speeder. Kark. He thought. The dumb Kaleesh had rented a two seated. Sunrele looked at him, and chuckled, seeing the look on his face. "Don't worry big guy, you go ahead." Rael nodded, and hopped into the speeder. He was surprised, to say the least, when the twi'lek jumped into his lap. "Punch it, Gherron!" She yelled. "Er....what're you doing...?" Rael asked. He put his hands out to the side, trying not to touch her. Even through the bone mask, anyone could see how uncomfortable he was. "Sitting in a speeder. Now, let's go!" She said again, this time more emphatically.

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Laughing a little at the conversation, Gherron did just that. Speeding off into the massive sea of sand, he made sure to do plenty of turns so that the twi'lek would have to hold on to Rael. If asked about it, he would give his most innocent face and say 'he had no idea what they were talking about'.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

Rael looked at Gherron after he made the first turn. Sunrele giggled, and wrapped her arms around the Padawan's neck. You Huk. Rael sent to Gherron through their mental link. As they sped out into the desert, Rael looked around. It was nice, being out in the hot sun again. The pretty twi'lek in his lap wasn't too bad. Off in the distance, he noticed a sand crawler. "Guys, look." He pointed to it with a clawed finger. Sunrele raised her hands, and let out a whoop. When Gherron swiveled, she had to grab onto Rael again. "Can we stop by them? Please? Please? Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeeaaassee?!"

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Smirking at his padawan's comment, he looked at the two. 'You'll thank me.' "Of course we can go." Besides, his tracker was pointing in that direction. Could it be possible that they were actually in the sandcrawler. Well, of course it could be possible. But they were usually filled with Jawas and droids. Oh well, only one way to really find out. Spinning around, he took off in the direction of the hulking vehicle.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

Once they were stopped at the sand crawler, Sunrele jumped out of the speeder, and off of Rael's lap. The jawas were stopped at some sort of small town. Dirt huts, and people walking around, looking at droids. "Ooh!" Sunrele ran over to a fancy looking astromech, and started talking with a nearby jawa about it. Rael climbed out of the speeder, and started walking over. By then, Sunrele was walking back to them. "It's way too expensive...I wanna get a least one thing.." She whined, and turned to look at the rest of the droids. Rael looked to Gherron. "Are we closer to our target?"

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

"Very close. It says this general area..." He put his tracker down and scanned the area. Nothing but jawas. Walking over to one of them, he asked if they'd seen any gang members or pirates around, to which it let out a small scream and waved it's arms around wildly. "Woah woah woah, calm down, little buddy." The jawa began rambling on, causing Gherron to look at Sunrele. "What's he saying?"

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

As the jawa squeaked on, Sunrele tried translate. "Uh...A bunch of somethings, stupid gang, something....uh....stealing something
somethings..." Sunrele looked back at Gherron, giving him a crooked smile. The twi'lek had clearly not said the rude words the jawa had used. She didn't think the Jedi would find that very appropriate. "Well, have fun!" The girl turned, and jogged off towards where most of the for sale droids were gathered. Rael looked at Gherron, and shrugged. "Uh...should we go take a look?" The jawa seemed to understand, and pointed emphatically to the sand crawlers ramp.

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Gherron nodded at his padawan's question, turning to face the ramp. "I guess they're up there right now, huh? Makes it easier." Looking over to the twi'lek for a second, he was actually glad she'd run off to look at the droids. He didn't know where she stood emotionally yet, and wanted to keep her safe. That in mind, he headed up the ramp, lightsaber in hand but not ignited. The sound of voices could be heard.

"Why do we even bother with these things? They're scrap!" "They're worth a lot of money regardless. We take the good ones, scrap the rest. Simple as that."

Gherron would look behind him at Rael then, bringing his finger to his mouth.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

'These will just be henchmen. We should interrogate them.' Rael sent the mental message to Gherron. He hadn't needed the signal from his master, he knew exactly what to do. He slipped his saber into his hand, and once they were fully in the crawler, he headed to the opposite side of Gherron. There was no point in not surprising them from all sides. He heard Sunrele's voice outside, "That's absolute KARK!" She shouted, undoubtedly still arguing with a jawa over prices. 'I'll go on your signal.' The Padawan thought. He stayed crouched as he moved, and wound up behind a crate, and some clumps of droid pieces. The two gang members were humans in scraggly clothes. Their hair was long and uncut, as were their beards. They seemed to be harassing a couple droids, and looking them over

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Nodding, Gherron called out to the force, lifting up a small piece of rubble and tossing it down the hallway opposite them. "What was that?" The sound of footsteps went farther down, and that's when Gherron made his move. Quietly stepping behind them, he grabbed one and bound him by his wrists behind his back, expecting Rael to do the same to the other. Once both were subdued, he would force them against some crates. "Alright then, what are you two doing here?"

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

Rael knew what his master was planning when the two thugs got confused. He jumped out from behind the crates. The Padawan, however, did not have cuffs, and instead, he turned on of of the blades of his saberstaff. He ran up behind the one Gherron had left for him. He grabbed the mans collar, and held his blade close to the man's neck. The pirate flinched when he felt the close heat of the pain, and knew the pain it would cause if he made a move. He raised his hands, and Rael pushed him over to the crates where Gherron had shoved his. As the man stumbled, Rael took his pistol away, and threw it on the ground.

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

The two men seemed completely surprised by the takeover, and even more so when Rael pulled a lightsaber on one of them. "J-Jedi! What the hell are you doing here?" "I could ask you the same thing", Gherron replied. "Who so you two work for, and why do you keep ruining business here? At least jawas make a.... semi-honest living. You're just making it harder on them." The man in Gherron's custody looked over at his friend, scared for his life. "We was just doing what the boss told us is all. We sell the better droids for ourselves, and destroy the others. Don't ya know that's why those little rats always have cheap stuff?" "What's your boss's name?" The man looked at his buddy for a few seconds, before dropping his head. "His... his name is Dranon. Dranon Fleck. Now will you let us go?" Gherrom looked to his padawan, as if asking, 'what do you think?'

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

"Sounds like they're telling the truth." Rael responded to his master's look. Rael turned to the both of the men, and gave then an angry look. One of them wimpered slightly when the Kaleesh's yellow eyes seemed to pierce his soul. Rael brought his saber across the neck of the man he had grabbed, chopping. His head right off. Rael spun, igniting the second blade, and cut a deep wound across the others chest, careful not to hit Gherron. He looked at the two slumped bodies on the metal floor. He looked at Gherron, turned his saber off, and started to walk outside.

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

Gherron stood in subtle shock as his padawan killed both men right in front of him. "Rael!" Stepping in front of the kaleesh so he couldn't go any further, he stared him down as though he were about to give him a verbal lashing, yet his tone was sincere. "We are Jedi. We do not go around killing whenever we feel like it. Sunrele was one thing. They were murderers, and we were protecting the lives of others. These are just people harassing the Jawas. Sure, that's a bad thing. But we don't just kill them!" He took another look at the bodies, before shaking his head. "At the very least, we could have tracked them and found the leader. Put him to justice the right ​way. Subtlety is how we do things. You understand?"

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

Rael returned Gherron's voice with one just as, stern and combative, yet just as calm. "They were thieves, master. I did as I saw a Jedi Guardian would do." He pointed a clawed finger at the two dead men. "You know as well as I do, that if I didn't kill them, they wouldn't stop. They would've found a different sand crawler or village to raid, and steal from. They would never stop. They're filth, it's what they do. In my book, thievery is just as bad as murder." He looked back at the raiders, then to Gherron. He sighed, and shook his head. Any sort of anger suddenly fell away from him. He spoke again, this time quieter, and more soft. "In allowing them to live, we tell them they can continue their crimes..."

 

[Gherron Dragovalor]

"That's not true. There is always another way other than death", Gherron chided. "You'll have to learn that, as I did. Do you remember what master Karr said about conflict?" He looked at his padawan, referring to the day the two of them had gone to the group session to learn about concealment. They had both learned more than they had expected. After all, there was never just one lesson to be learned.

[member="Rael sul B'an"]

 

[Garik Reed]

[member="Gherron Vael"]

"You know I can't remember that far back. Besides, what does it matter. Do you think there was anything we could have done or said that would've stopped their crime. If so, tell me what, and I will do that in the future." Rael truly was not the killer he appeared to be in that moment. He didn't kill them out of rage, or anger, or fear. No, he killed them because he sincerely thought it was what a Jedi should do.The padawan sighed again, and looked outside to the hot desert sand.