Private Get off my Lawn

[Cadere]

Cas' brown eyes darted in the direction Yenna had pointed at the nearby crates which were close to the landing zone. Promptly nodding, he turned his head to face her and gave her another thumbs up "Nice!" he proclaimed before following up with a lighthearted tease "Observing a prospect's routine; experienced in that area?" referring to her past.

********
​

With Cas' and Yenna's plan further detailed, he would wait in his quarters until they were alerted by Kiles that Val and his guards would be arriving shortly. After waiting for Yenna to gather everything she needed for what was about to come forth, Cas led his Padawan to the crates and barrels she had picked out earlier. Once there, Cas gave room for Yenna to leap off of his shoulder before crouching down behind the hiding spot. Ten minutes passed before the moment they had all been waiting for finally arrived - his transport was befitting of a man who was overcompensating, shiny, chrome, sleek architecture; it looked like a model that hadn't even been released to the public, that was his own explanation for why he didn't recognise it.

Peeking his head above from under one of the crates, he watched the brief exchange between Val and Kiles before the two eventually headed inside the palace. Not to his surprise, two of Val's guards accompanied him into the palace while six others remained behind to guard the transport. About twenty minutes would pass as he and Yenna periodically took turns peeking from the crates to observe the guards' routine.

Lucky... or unlucky for them, depending on how you look at it, the guards didn't move around much, if at all, only rotating their posts once every five minutes or so. Two guards were stationed at both the transport's loading ramps located on its starboard and port side, two more at the front and the final two at the back. They'd have to do this stealthily as to avoid alerting Val.

Turning to Yenna, Cas whispered "Think you can distract one of them somehow, preferably one guarding a loading ramp? Lead one back here where I can quickly knock him out and take his uniform?" he proposed, making a punching gesture right as he mentioned knocking out one of the guards. His idea seemed solid enough, although he was open to any objections or improvements.

Yenna

 

[Yenna]

Yenna chuckled at his little quip and gave a shrug. "A little bit." she answered with a knowing smile. Perhaps her former skills would come in handy in this situation...

***********​

Cas took her to their hiding place and she quickly hopped in behind some barrels. With her size she easily hid from view as the ship came flying in overhead. "One, I want." she muttered as she stared at the beautiful ship. Soon enough they disembarked and Yenna hid from view while watching them through a crevice. Her golden eyes scanned every angle, looking for a way in. Cas asked for her input and Yenna brightened up. "One sec." she whispered before closing her eyes. She raised a hand and focused the force.

Several seconds later Frumpy's fat form came wandering towards them. Yenna flashed a smile at him then looked to Frumpy. "Distract them." she ordered her cat, pointing at the guards. The cat groaned but she merely glared at him. "Move your fat ass." she scolded him softly, earning a hiss from him. She sighed and used the force to pick him up...before launching him into the face of one of the guards. The poor guard freaked out, scaring Frumpy who attacked him with ferocity. Soon the guards came to help their friend but Frumpy kept attacking them as they came. After several moments of watching the dumpster fire, Frumpy managed to lure them away. "Let's go." she said with a grin as she hopped out of her cover and scrammed for the ship. She fiddled with the control console for the blast door and managed to get it open. She waited for Cas to go in first before following and closing it back up again.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

"Me too." Cas replied, quickly adding to Yenna's previous statement. It was a nice ship. She told him to wait a sec after he suggested a plan of action, he wondered what was going on - was she thinking of a counter-plan? Thinking of a way to distract the guards or...?

Then her cat came, Frumpy, at least he thinks that's what it was called. His brow furrowed in curiosity as he wandered what the hell she had planned until he saw her levitating the cat with the Force. His eyes darted between Yenna and Frumpy before quickly trailing towards the guards and in an instant, she launched Frumpy at one of the guards. Cas' eyes widened in horror as Frumpy went to town on the guard's face, prompting the Jedi Knight to make a hissing sound through his teeth from cringing at the massacre that was taking place.

But it worked, Frumpy managed to draw the guards away from the ship. He then glanced at his Padawan and grinned "Brutal." he said chuckling, if Cas had to compliment Yenna on one thing - it was definitely for her ability to think outside the box. The little green creature was almost as crazy as him. Cas vaulted of the crates and made his way toward the docked ship. Yenna got to work on unlocking the ship's lowering ramp as he scouted the area for any returning guards. Soon as she opened it, he headed in first before waiting for Yenna to follow.

After placing his palm on a wall panel to close the loading ramp again, he motioned for Yenna to follow him as he made his way into the ship's main hold. After entering the hold, he saw a spherical table-like communications device in the centre of the hold which he approached swiftly. He turned to Yenna and jerked his head in the direction of the communications table, signalling her to get to work on disabling transmissions. While she did so, he'd head off into Val's quarters with the goal of digging up any dirt on him - on Val's bedside table, Cas found Val's datapad and brought it back to Yenna.

"Think you can hack this?" he asked, holding out the datapad for her to see.

Yenna

 

[Yenna]

Yenna flashed him a grin before scrambling towards the ship. In no time at all they were inside and trying to do what they were there for. Cas motioned towards the comms table and she gave a nod. She slid in underneath the table, pulling panels away and playing with the wiring. Every now and then a spark could be heard, followed by a jerk from Yenna. She finally emerged from underneath the table with her hair standing slightly on end. "Try, I can." she quipped softly, getting back on her feet. She grabbed the datapad and started to fiddle around with it.

"Oi! Who the kark are you?!" a voice boomed behind them. A guard stood by the refresher's door, reaching for his commlink. Yenna raised a hand and released a force push to knock him into a wall...though it was too late. An alarm blared throughout the ship in no time at all. Yenna looked to Cas then the comms table, trying to figure out what to do. "Kark it." she quipped as she ignited her lightsaber and hacked away at it. At least that part would be taken care of.

She slipped the datapad into her pocket and readied her lightsaber. "Any ideas?" she asked Cas as she hopped onto the destroyed comms table.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

The voice of a grouchy man sounded off behind them, Cas threw his head back slightly and sighed before turning round to meet one of the guards Frumpy had chased off earlier. Yenna attempted to solve the situation quickly but the guard managed to trigger the ship's alarm regardless. He looked at his Padawan, debate clearly on her face before she ignited her lightsaber and destroyed the comms table.

With a smile and an approving nod, Yenna did exactly what he would have done in the situation. Unbuckling his lightsaber from his hip he activated the amber blade as Yenna asked if he had any ideas - pouting his lips slightly as he deliberated. Cas narrowed his gaze to Yenna "No doubt that more guards'll be here. I'll hold 'em off, you see if you can't hack into that datapad before Val wises up and takes off." he ordered.

As if right on cue, they arrived. Not including the guard Yenna had knocked out, there were five of them, one carrying a blaster rifle while the remaining four carried electrostaffs. As the four staff wielders advanced on Cas, the blaster wielding guard shot at Cas which he quickly redirected at his blaster, short-circuiting them and causing a tiny explosion scorching his hands and knocking him out.

Normally Cas would be fine facing four opponents, but the current issue was that they were in a cramped space. He'd still fight though, he needed to buy as much time for Yenna. With a twirl of his lightsaber, the Jedi Knight approached the four and closed the gap between them before slashing his lightsaber at the guard in the middle, colliding with his electrostaff before quickly parrying three incoming attacks from the other three in a blinding yellow flash. The skirmish continued a while further with Cas managing to defeat two of the guards.

The Jedi Knight was then caught off guard when one of the guards jabbed the end of the electrostaff into his back. Cas felt his nerve endings burn as he howled in pain, dropping to his knees. Smoke erupted from his back. Panting, he called out to Yenna "How's... it going... Yen... ugh?" he asked through gritted teeth. Following his question, the two guards plunged their staffs into his bag causing him to cry out.

Yenna

 

[Yenna]

Cas gave her her orders and she gave him a nod. "On it." she quipped and slipped in underneath the destroyed comms table. She ignored the fighting around her as Cas held off the guards. Yenna worked as quickly as possible to try and unlock the datapad.

After several moments of tedious bios fiddling, she got it unlocked. But before she could even get a victorious word in, she heard Cas cry out in pain. Two of the guards were getting ready to finish hin off. She dropped the datapad on the floor and wrapped the force around the two guards, yanking them towards her and sparing her master some excruciating pain.

Naturally they tried to take her on, but she quickly dodged around their attacks, using her lightsaber to parry their hits and keep them at bay. All she needed to do was to make sure that Cas was alright.

Though her plans were rather rudely interrupted when she was sent flying into a wall by one of them as he got a lucky strike in. Her body felt like it was on fire and a horrible pain stung in her chest. She definitely broke something. With a last bit of fight in her she sent the one guard flying into the roof with the force, knocking him out. However she was completely helpless against the last guard...

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

The intense pain was over as he felt the guards being pulled away from him, no doubt Yenna's doing. As the pain from the shock ceded, Cas let out a pained exhale as he dug his hands into the ground - his muscles twitching from the residue currents from the staff lingering in his body. Thank the Force for Yen, his entire body ached and he struggled to even get to his feet.

Balling his hands into fists, the Jedi Knight planted his knuckles onto the ship's cold metal floor as he began moving to stand-up. Lifting his head up to see how his Padawan was doing, he witnessed her getting knocked into a wall "Yen..." he called out to her meekly. Growling loudly, the Kiffar pushed through his pain and aching body forcing himself to his feet in a stagger. Swaying slightly like a drunken pirate, he extended his arm to his side and used the Force to summon his lightsaber back to him.

Before the guard could finish her off, he weakly extended his free arm and directed his palm at the last guard. Gritting his teeth he summoned the Force around himself and as the guard raised his staff to finish Yenna off, Cas used the Force to restrain the guard's movements before making a fist and thrusting his arm inward to pull the final guard away from his Padawan. As the guard began to stand up to face him, the Jedi Knight forced a smirk "I'm still standing... just needed to catch my breath..." he remarked through pained breaths.

The guard immediately closed the gap and attacked him, causing the Jedi Knight to go on the defensive - fighting through his tight muscles. Blocking several attacks, Cas finally timed a perfect parry staggering the last guard before switching weapon hands and using his cybernetic arm to knock the guard out cold. With that over with, Cas slouched his shoulders and bent over letting his arms fall loose before awkwardly rushing over to Yenna. Crouching beside her, he placed a hand under her head to prop it up and the other to check her body for any serious injuries "Yen? Yenna... are you alright?" he asked, concerned, he knew it was stupid question to ask but it was a reflex.

Yenna

 

[Yenna]

Yenna's body was screaming in pain. Her breathing was raspy and the pain in her chest was excruciating. Even trying to move just sent more waves of agony through her. She looked up at the last guard, raising a hand to try and defend herself. All she could do was hope that Cas was able to help her.

A small smile formed as she saw the man being yanked away. Cas made short work of him, allowing Yenna to try and get in a better position. But any movements just hurt her more. Her tiny hand came up to the side of her chest, clutching the lower part. Something felt off in there.

She cried out in pain as Cas propped her up, but she managed to give him a weak grin. "For you...unlock the datapad...I did." she answered with a frail voice. She tried to move again but quickly stopped when another wave of pain crashed over her. "Weird in my chest, something feels." she muttered, keeping a hand on her chest. "We did it...right? Complete the objective, did we?" she asked him with worry in her voice. As far as she could recall, they did what they were supposed to. But it kept feeling like they were missing something...

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Cas ignored her answer regarding the datapad, more concerned for her wellbeing. The Jedi Knight held his Padawan's head firmly and continued checking her body for injuries, as she mentioned her chest he realised what she meant "Sounds like you bruised ribs, kiddo. Hold on." he said, using his free hand to take a stim pack out of his belt. Using the small injectable, he gently injected Yenna's green skin with the glowing blue green liquid. Looking into her golden eyes with concern, he smiled at her "How's that feel? You shouldn't be feeling anymore pain but you're gonna have to get that looked at." he informed her, moving his hand from her head to her shoulder and patting it.

Once she was well enough to stand, Cas would stand up himself and pick up the datapad before looking it over "Good job on the datapad" he praised the Padawan while reading the datapad "And for helping me out back there." Cas added, looking up from the datapad and smiling in her direction. Reading over the datapad's contents, Cas' face went through a variety of expressions while he did so.

A few moments passed as shock visibly showed on the Kiffar's face "Hey, Yen..." he called out, eyes still on the screen "To answer your question from earlier. I think we got him." Cas revealed, jerking his head in the direction of his shoulder for her to jump on it. When she was there, he'd show her the contents and explain to her what he found "Val and his allies aren't just CIS extremists, they're traitors. This shows information going back months, of him and his allies plotting a coup. They'd coerced other independent planets to join them under the noses of the rest of the Confederation - Milagro was next." Cas revealed all in a single breath, inhaling deeply afterwards.

Turning his head to face her, Cas flashed her a devilish grin "If we show this to Lord Kiles and the others, I'm betting they'll take it to the separatists and Val and his cronies are done for. Not to mention the planets they threatened'll go free, seeing as they didn't join lawfully." right now they had all they needed to end this crisis once and for all.

Yenna

 

[Yenna]

Cas mentioned bruised ribs, but Yenna merely scoffed lightly. "How bruised ribs feel, well enough, I know. I-I think...broken, they are." she muttered, her hand clutching her side a little tighter. Thankfully he had a stimpack on him. She leaned her head back and groaned softly as she felt the stimpack do its job. The pain subsided a bit, allowing her to carefully take a deep breath. Slowly she got back on her feet and used the wall of the ship as support to regain her balance. Even with the stim, it still felt like her body was kicking her ass.

She flashed him a weak smile as he thanked her before waiting to see what was on the datapad. Cas explained the whole story to her, earning a shocked expression from the little green Jedi. He offered her his shoulder and she -very carefully- jumped on. Her hand clutched at her side as she landed with a light grunt. "We got him." she said with confidence. "To Kyle, let's go. Bust this guy, I want to." she insisted with excitement building in her voice. If she wasn't in pain, she would be jumping up and down on his shoulder.

She held onto Cas as he walked to the palace. Once they reached the conference room where the meeting was going down, Yenna used the force to open the doors. They needed a solid entrance for this. "Kyle, to arrest him, feel free!" she hollered out, regretting it instantly as her chest flared up again. She waved over a guard to hand him the datapad and waited with a smug grin on her face as lord Kiles read over the datapad's contents. Understandably Val was rather angry. "Who are you? The kark did you do?" he growled, standing from his seat as he turned to face the two Jedi. "Sit down. Under arrest, you are!" she ordered as she used the force to push him back into his seat.

Val reached for his blaster, but the guards in the palace all turned their weapons on him. She watched with a sense of satisfaction as the guards got the word to arrest him.

With all of that out of the way, Yenna released a relieved sigh and looked to lord Kiles. "For us, a hospital you got?" she asked him.

************​

Yenna laid in the oversized hospital bed, staring at the holographic movie with a bored expression on her face. She hated it. To make matters worse, her habit was gnawing at her. The hospital thankfully had treatment for that but she couldn't help but feel like they were looking down on her for it. Though that was likely just her imagination. After being stuck in the hospital for a week now, she had a lot of time to think on stuff. The most overbearing thought being her position in the Jedi.

She stared at the holomovie but nothing was sticking. She sighed, clutched her side and used the force to bring the small glass of water closer. "Juice, couldn't it be?" she mumbled to herself before taking a sip. Even the water in the hospital tasted worse than usual. She hoped that Cas was on his way, she had something on her mind...

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

Yenna wasn't the only one that was excited, nailing a corrupt guy like Val was what the Jedi Knight lived for - well, that and other things. Once she was firmly on his shoulder, he made his way over to the palace in haste, but slow enough where it wouldn't rock Yenna's ribs and cause her pain. Nearing the conference room, the Jedi Knight had planned to kick the door down but his Padawan was a step ahead.

She blasted the doors open with the Force and the Jedi Knight walked in nonchalantly with a shit eating grin on his face. "Hope you've got a good defence attorney because, boy, is it over for you." he said callously, following up to Yenna's own comment. Cas watched as Kiles read over the information that was given to him, completely waving off Val's visible frustration and anger. As the enraged traitor reached for his blaster, Cas simply stood still and watched him, completely unfazed as his grin grew even larger at the guards turning on him as well. Cas cockily waved goodbye as Val was escorted out of the conference room.

***********
​

Cas had just got off a call with the Council, once Yenna was healed up they were to aid a Jedi Master, Adrian Valerius on assignment on Naboo. Before visiting Yenna, he quickly went into her room and got Frumpy, he figured she'd be pleased to see him during this time - the Loth-cat was distrustful of Cas and was only convinced to accompany him with the promise of a treat. After leading Frumpy to Yenna's hospital room, he opened the door and let the cat inside first before entering himself.

"Surpriiiiise." he said softly as Frumpy jumped onto her lap, scratching the bridge of his nose Cas continued "Stubborn one he is, if it weren't for the promise of a treat he wouldn't have come." he threw the cat a treat he had found in Yenna's room before leaning against the doorway, his face turning serious, "How're you feeling?" he asked, concern in his voice.

Yenna

 

[Yenna]

Yenna was sulking away when she heard the door creak open. Her face lit up when she saw Frumpy enter the room and jump onto her bed. As carefully as she could, she placed the glass back on the table and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him towards her. "Thank you!" she practically shouted as she hugged her cat. She finally looked up at Cas and grinned warmly. "Horrible. Bad, food is. Even worse, their choice of drinks are." she quipped as she nodded to the glass of water. "Not to mention a drink, do with, I can." she muttered, almost looking embarrassed by it. "At least, not so bad anymore, the pain is." she spoke up again, giving him a reassuring smile.

With Cas there, she remembered what she wanted to talk about. She petted Frumpy as she thought about the question. "Master...of Master Yoda, you ever heard?" she asked him softly, looking up at him with sincerity. "Almost a thousand years ago, the Grand Master of the Jedi, he was. The most powerful Jedi to ever live, some records claim." she explained as admiration was clear in her voice. "My age he was, when he became grand master." she continued before looking away again. "Live up to that, how can I?" she asked him as she looked back to him with watery eyes.

Cadere

 

[Cadere]

The corner of Cas' mouth quirked slightly as he scratched the side of his neck "I bet, I think the hospital water's heavily filtered." Cas surmised, folding his arms he looked at Yenna with a puzzled look "Would a drink be the right thing? Considering you're healing and all that. I mean, I'm not a healer - that's more Sakadi's thing but--" he then stopped himself as he realised he was starting to ramble, besides Yenna looked like she had something to say.

She asked him if he had heard of Master Yoda, Cas shot her a surprised look "Master Yoda? Of course." he answered, not only was he the greatest Jedi of his generation but he was responsible in training the legendary Luke Skywalker - a personal inspiration of Cas'. He then listened as she went on, his expression growing increasingly sympathetic.

Relaxing his arms, Cas kicked off the wall and approached the hospital bed. The Jedi Knight sat down on a seat next to it and leaned forward, resting his arms on the bed frame. His eyes met hers, he smacked his lips before he began to speak "Yen, believe me, I know what you're going through. Back on Kiffu, my clan expected a lot of me and my sister growing up and I felt like a complete failure, for forever I didn't think I could live up to anything..." he revealed, not a lot of people knew this about him and he felt Yenna needed to hear this.

A small smile formed on his face "Then I realised that it didn't matter. I'm my own person and I don't need to live up to anyone else's expectations but my own. So, what I'm saying is this... just because you and Master Yoda are both Jedi and come from the same species, it doesn't mean you have to be like him. You're your own person and you should take pride and freedom in that." he explained as his smile gradually grew, finally he gently poked her chest "You don't need to live up to him. Live up to yourself." he added, flashing her a wink.

Cas would then lean back and turn his head toward the holofilm she was watching "Cheesy pep talks aside, what're we watching? Looks boring."

Yenna

 

[Yenna]

Cas started to talk and Yenna listened closely. She rubbed at her eyes to try and get rid of the fogginess as he told her an interesting little piece of his story. It was reassuring to hear it from him. It didn't completely put her mind at ease, but it certainly lifted her spirits and gave her something to think about. She smiled warmly at him and gave a chuckle as he poked her. "The best, to be, you don't have to. Than the worst, only better. Right?" she quipped as she looked up at him, returning the wink.

Cas changed up the topic while Yenna carefully pulled her lazy loth-cat closer to her once more. These broken ribs were really getting on her nerves at this point. She looked to Cas then the show playing on front of them as he asked about it. "It is. About some dudes in an office, it is. For me, not very funny...but, it was the only thing on." she admitted with a shrug as she petted her cat. "Master..." she started again, looking up at him with warm golden eyes. "Thank you." she said softly as she gave him a sincere smile.

They were definitely not a perfect duo...but they could definitely make it work...

/End thread

Cadere