Into the Jungle

[Vilaz Munin]

His crossbow was raised right at the door that led to the pharmacy and his finger was at the trigger of it, ready to fire a silent bolt at whoever opened the door. Then again, he had second thoughts of firing at a fellow Mandalorian. What if he just revealed themselves or at least himself so that they don't have to hide and run from the Mandalorians occupying this ancient fortress. There was a probability of getting shot at, but the chances would not be against him if he opened a conversation with them in the native tongue of all the Mandalorians. He could hear their dialogue in Mando'a. So far one heard the ripping of fabric coming from Kaili and his companion dismissed it as just an imagination. Perhaps there'd be a chance that these two Mandalorians on patrol duty would not bother checking the pharmacy and just move on.

Then there came a muffle coming from the wounded Talith which Vilaz and the two Mandalorians outside could hear.

I told her to bite down on the slug.

He hoped and prayed that the patrollers wouldn't notice, but alas they did and moved in towards the door. From the start, he knew that the odds were against him and his companion due to the lack of combat equipment they had. One lightsaber, one crossbow, one slug pistol, the Force, and two humans proficient in hand-to-hand combat. Even if they could take down these two Mandalorians, there'd still be more pursuing them that is if one of them alerted the command centre. He had to take a risk which had more a more surviva probability for him and the Talith.

"Don't fire on us," he began in Mando'a, "we're just two Mandalorians passing by." He could hear the cocking of rifles ready, but not a single projectile whether plasma or kinetic was fired. He'd probably surprised them that he spoke the Mandalorian language fluently. "I'm a Field Marshal with my kid," he added more to the sentence with his rank that'd probably make them lower their weapons and give some hospitality to him and Kaili.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili didn’t stop treating her wound. The doors opened and she couldn’t really have cared less. Her eyes set on the two mandalorians and their rifles and only at the sound of them cocking did she stop. Outwards she looked like she had stopped whatever she had done because of the fact that, well, she had a rifle pointed at her. In reality she was extending herself across the board, seeping into the rifles and learning the way of the lands. Springs, bolts and screws, Kaili visualized it before her as her eyes closed and her breathing slowed down. Something subtly clicked out of its hinges within the hostile mandalorians’ rifles. The trigger mechanism was destroyed and Kaili went back to covering her arm and shoulder with the bandages.

“Stop!” They shouted. Kaili didn’t stop. She rolled the bandage over the arm, round the shoulder, round the arm again, and then pinned it. “Your girl doesn’t seem to understand us.”

Her hand grasped the shirt-turned-tank top and put it over her head. The bandage poked out from underneath the fabric of her torn shirt and she approached the two mandalorians and their raised rifles. She didn’t allow herself to feel the comfort of a clean and properly tended wound. It wasn’t the time for that. Instead she raised her hands by her chest in mock surrender.

In reality she was digging into their equipment again. She stared at them unflinching. Her eyes set on their helmets. It was all about subtlety, she could see what they had and she knew what she could do to it.

The first thing that died was their commlinks. Their lifeline to the others in their group.

“Who are you, girl?” Kaili didn’t answer. “Is this your father?”

Still no answer.

“Does she even speak the language, Field Marshal?” The woman solider raised her rifle at [member="Vilaz Munin"]. “Does she speak at all? Make the girl talk.”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

The man didn't lowered his guard and instead aimed his crossbow dead straight at the visor of the female Mandalorian. Even to his own people he didn't lower his guard for anything. He was ready for anything to happen despite him being ill prepared in terms of equipment. Then again, it was a challenge for him which required no armor and no heavy weapons. How much he wished he was in his armor right now. Then the duo would have a higher chance of surviving against the chances of Mandalorians chasing them. "You don't see that she's injured, huh," Vilaz replied back to the two armored beings.

Now there was a problem. Kaili's lack of comprehending the Mandalorian language. He could pretend that they were a Mandalorian family with Kaili having armor, being educated as a Mando, able to defend herself, rallying to Mand'alor's call, and contributing to the clan, and able to speak the language. The one thing that needed proof was speaking Mando'a. For that part he'd have to say a lie to cover why the Talith couldn't speak or understand the tongue. And it would have to be a clever one because the two Mandalorians seemed to be trigger happy and not wanting a calm discussion with no weapons.

"She forgot how to. She got in a crash a couple months ago and forgot about it. I've been trying to teach her how to speak it again," the Warrior said as he lied to the two patrols. Indeed, he used elements of Kaili's crash in his lie which seemed to be reasonable and truthful. Well, to him; maybe not so much for the armored ones.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Their voice modulators spouted more nonsense and the girl’s guide responded. Had she known that he was trying to come up with an excuse, maybe she wouldn’t have kept on going, but this was Mando’a and Kaili was the exact opposite of a fluent speaker. To her it sounded a lot more like hostility and demands, reason and excuses. She didn’t need to know what was said to understand where it was heading. The rifles were still raised, their barrels pointing at both Kaili and her companion. She wasn’t going to have it. The comms within one helmet had been deactivated, all that remained was the man’s. Kaili set her eyes on him, stared him down through the visor and focused on his safelink to the others. The schematics were similar, the journey down blueprint lane was unhindered and with a crackle and a poof he’d find himself staring at fumes and smoke where his voice modulator once was. He tried to speak but quickly found himself muted. The woman turned to look and no sooner than that she too found herself enveloped in a thin layer of smoke. She started to gesture towards the Field Marshal and the girl, they both did.

Fingers on the trigger and ready to pull. The rifle was raised again, their heads leaned to look down the ironsights, but nothing happened. The rifles did nothing. The triggers fell to the floor with a clang and Kaili perked her brow with a grin. The other two Mandalorians looked at each other, assumedly confused at their situation before dropping their guns to the floor to retrieve their vibroblades.

That’s when they both heard a hissing noise. Something sealed. Something vital.

Life support was drained, yet helmets were sealed to the torso of their armors as air became a more and more precious commodity by the second. The man clawed at his neck to get it off, but it didn’t work. The woman reached out to Kaili’s instead, but it was in vain. The girl grabbed her arm and sent a punch in the direction of her gut. The flesh never connected, but the telekinetic force behind it did. The last few strands of air was forced out of her system and sent the gasping Mandalorian maiden to the ground as Kaili sent yet another punch in the direction of the other man’s face. Same idea, same technique. The girl didn’t touch him, but the full force and power behind it did as he too fell to the ground.

They hit the ground as soft as ever. Kaili flashed a grin over at [member="Vilaz Munin"].

“See?” She took a deep breath. “Pacifism.”

“They’re not dead. Just… Unable to breathe.”

She knelt down by the woman and placed her finger by her throat to check for a pulse.

“Don’t worry. Once she is out cold I will let her have her precious air again.”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Well, his attempt on making the two Mandalorians believe him was a waste as it didn't change their opinion on executing the two intruders. He would've demanded a blood duel which was the main way to resolve a situation. There were no courts in the Mandalorian culture as the Warriors of Mandalore thought of it mediocre and inefficient to see if one was guilty with lies or innocent with the truth. That was the judicial system in the Mandalorian way and it was also the way to crown a new Sole Ruler of the Mandalorians. The best thing about blood duels is that nobody denied them. Sure, it could be but that demonstrated that the person who denied the request was weak and had no sense of courage in them, and that was something that each and every Mandalorian avoided. It was better to lose with dignity than to cower with fear.

Just when the Munin opened his mouth something was happening to the two armored figures. They gestured at both Vilaz and Kaili, but no sound came from them. Then their rifles were raised which Vilaz did as well with his crossbow, and when the two armored Mandalorians pulled at the trigger nothing happened. No projectile was shot out from the barrels of their weapons. He thought that their weapons were jammed, but in reality the triggers we're screwed off and hit the floor of the room; however, that didn't stop the two Warriors as they dropped their guns and reached for their vibroblades which Vilaz could handle as he was proficient in close quarter combat.

Suddenly another thing happened. This time the armored Warriors seemed to be gasping for air as they tried to take off the helmets from their head. The Talith then took advantage of this and gave telekinetic punches to both the man and the woman which seemed to knock them out of heir conscious. Vilaz looked at Kaili with his eyebrows raised and his eyes widened in surprise.

"I thought you were a lightsider," the Munin said to his companion with a relieved chuckle. "I was gonna demand a blood duel from them, but I guess that works. Would've been a bit more nastier than pacifism."

"You all healed up," he asked his companion as he looked over at her injured shoulder.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Hardly.” Kaili responded. “The wound is infected, but under control. I have enough time to make it back to my ship.”

“And uh, I mean, what I did wasn’t exactly pacifism but I get what you mean.” She shrugged and released the woman’s helmet from her armor to allow her the chance to breathe again. “I studied at the Levantine Astronautical Academy, majored in Ship Design and Medicine. What I essentially did was that I forced her to hold her breath until she collapsed. We have maybe ten to twenty minutes to scatter before they can alert the rest of the castle.”

There was a pack nearby and Kaili swiftly moved to pick it up. Beads of sweat ran down her forehead and across her cheeks. The humidity in the air was starting to thin out and with a quick glance outside one could make the shape of a sun setting behind the tree tops. The kid moved around the room from one place to another, boosting herself with the force in order to do so as swiftly as possible. She had to strip the pharmacy of any potential supplies that she and her guide needed, because if one thing was for certain it was that they had long since worn out their welcomes.

“Grab one of their rifles and make sure you bring the trigger with you.” Kaili said and pointed over at the woman for Vilaz to disarm her. “Grab all plasma canisters you can find,” The kid boosted over to a nearby locker. Food. Good. “We are not staying here for long. Not with these two up and about within…” She looked at the chronometer on her arm. “Five minutes.”

She approached Vilaz and knelt down to pick up a rifle of her own, sweeped her hand across the ground to pick up the trigger and put it back into place.

“We’re heading back the way we came.”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Well, Kaili's wound wasn't healed completely as it was now infected, but with her tending it during their scene with the two patrolling Mandalorians she managed to clean off the dirt and whatever bacteria that was on the injured shoulder in the first place. If not, then she'd probably have a cybernetic arm to replace her organic one which she would find sweet and appealing.

"Let's get a move on then," the Warrior said to his Force Sensitive companion as the duo began to loot and strip down the pharmacy of any supplies that they would need for their road back to where they came from. The Munin could commented on Kaili majoring in medicine and ship design in the Levantine Astronautical Academy and what she did to the knocked out female Mandalorian, but there was no time since they had ten to twenty minutes before getting out of this ancient Mandalorian Fortress before the rest occupying this fortress came after them. They searched for food, medical supplies, ammunition for the blaster rifles that they were going to take from the unconscious figures that were on the floor, and anything that would help them against the Wild of Dxun and any Mandalorian that decided to pursue Vilaz and Kaili.

The Mandalorian was all packed up with whatever findings he found and had them stored in a pack and grabbed both the rifle and the trigger that the Talith pointed at which nearby the woman that the girl had knocked out cleanly. When they were done gathering whatever items they needed, they had approximately five minutes before the two armored Mandalorians woke up from their slumber.

"Alright, let's put our legs to work," Vilaz said to Kaili as placed the trigger back into the rifle, checked that the weapon was fully loaded, and then opened the door of the pharmacy for the two of them. "You remember the way back?"

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Yep.” Kaili gave the Mandalorian an affirmative nod. “I imagine the humidity and sunset won’t do us many favors, or the wildlife, but if we keep a brisk pace and move fast we should be able to conserve enough heat to not-die before we reach our ships.”

Indeed, the little girl had kicked her boss-mode into high gear and the Field Marshal was bound to have noticed. Not many could say that they had bossed the boss around, but Kaili wasn’t like many. She lacked the care to really contemplate the meaning of this man’s rank, at least in this very moment. They were fugitives right now, there was no law of order or structure of command anymore. Just do or die, and Kaili was intent on a whole lot of doing. Sure, she would regret that her lesson in Mandalorian culture was cut short, but there were more opportunities for that later. Right now said culture had her painted as a target. She needed to make sure it wasn’t hit.

“So, wildlife, if I am to remember what I heard from Auntie Quietus, we are facing more than just the one massive predator out here.” Kaili tried to draw a map of what she had heard but it was futile. “Feth it, we can’t ponder that.”

“If it moves, shoot it. If it bleeds, kill it.” Kaili looked over her shoulder and over at where the two Mandalorians had come from. “Even if it is them.”

“I don’t want to, but I am not going to deny we might have to.” She said with a firm nod. “Let’s go.”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Did he noticed that Kaili was acting like a boss or field officer? Yes. Did he felt like he was being submitted to her giving orders? No, not really. They were both partners in escaping out of this fortress which only spelled trouble and possible for the two. That being said, they were co-bosses or something like that. She would give orders, Vilaz would give orders, they would both come up with different ideas on dealing with something, and all that stuff. "Yeah, I definitely don't want to sleep under a tree during the night. A Mand'alor once died here with his armor, so that tells us how screwed we are especially at night," the Field Marshal said to his partner in crime as they both moved out of the pharmacy and back into the same corridor they were in. So far, so good. They weren't being chased nor were the alarms were activated to symbolize that there was uninvited company walking through the hallways and corridors of this ancient complex. They didn't tiptoed quietly or ran loudly, but they walked casually since everyone was walking around and wouldn't be able to tell the difference of who was a friend or a foe.

"Well, it is in the Resol'nare to teach yourself how defend yourself, so I'm not breaking any rules or going to hell when I'm dead," the Munin said in response when the Talith told him that they were going to have to kill and shoot whatever was stalking them, even if it was a fellow Mandalorian. After what happened in the pharmacy, that gave Vilaz a good reason on shooting a fellow brother or sister. Not that he wanted to, but he would if he had to. Besides, they had armor...they could easily survive volleys of blaster fire.

"I really wish that I had my armor on. This'll be the last time I do something like this without it," the Warrior said to himself, really regretting he didn't have his iron skin with him. That would definitely give him and Kaili a better chance of survival, and add that with Kaili's lightsaber and her usage of the Force. That's a true wombo combo right there.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

In the end, was there really such a thing as heaven or hell? Kaili had been raised by a Jedi mother with a former Sith Lord of a father and even she wasn’t certain. She knew that people lived in the force and that some were able to project themselves as ghost once they were dead, but was there actually something waiting in the Great Beyond? She didn’t really think so. Life was what happened here and now and no matter what happened it would all go away when you died. Nothing lasted, everything was the subject of change. Revision and division struck all, in the end all Kaili could hope to do within her five centuries of a life was to hope her legacy was allowed to remain the way she had left it. Deep down, she was skeptical about that. The galaxy was too cruel for anything good to last.

Nothing gold can stay.

“I don’t know about that, I heard getting eaten by predators in the dark is a nice way to go.” The girl said as she pushed through the fortress. Sleeping out in the open was never something she had considered, but time could be that the duo would have to pause. Food was useful for that. Snack bars, water to wash it down with. Water in general for just not going thirsty. The air might have been humid, but people still sweated. If you took that very moment as an example it was most likely hard to tell whether the girl was covered in a thin layer of sweat or if it was the humidity that had done its number on her.

People passed them by, not all of them armored. In fact some of them were unarmored just like them. Initiates, perhaps? Kaili shuffled the rifle around in her hands and did a headcount of how many guards she could see.

“Twenty of them, I think.” She said before realizing her vagueness. “Guards. I mean.”

A careful look went for her chronometer. It had been a minute since the other two were supposed to have woken up. She looked back over her shoulder and back towards the door to see someone get out of it in a rush.

“Game’s on.” She hissed and sped up towards the edge of the jungle again. “The woman whose rifle you are carrying? She’s walking on over to the others, and if I am correct she should be-” The merry noises from the camp stopped in an instant. Angry voices seemed to call out in the dark, order to be barked, calls for the intruders’ execution.

“Don’t know what they are saying, but we have about two seconds to get out of sight before things get ugly.” Kaili crouched down and proceeded to seek cover behind a crate. “You take the lead, I am still just a tourist.”

She nodded at [member="Vilaz Munin"] to go. “I won’t explode your rifle, I promise.”

 

[Vilaz Munin]

"I hope my bolt didn't change your mindset or loosen a screw," the Mandalorian said to his companion in regards of going out in the night with wild carnivores feasting on your body. He could only imagine that it was slow and painful which was something a masochist would enjoy, and he was no masochist at all. Right now he just wanted to get off of this Demon Moon before dusk would eventually settle. Not to mention they didn't have any source of light to guide their way except Kaili's lightsaber which would also be great against the hard shelled beasts of Dxun that they encountered earlier during their trek to this fortress.

As the duo were nearing the exit towards the harsh and humid jungle of Dxun, many Mandalorians passed them by and didn't even bothered them by asking their name or even greeting them. Good for them because they'd probably ask in Mando'a and that would just end badly since they were outnumbered and surrounded. "I could really use a flashbang right now," the Munin responded at the Talith as he was informed of twenty guards. They really wouldn't be a problem until someone particular arose from their slumber of twenty minutes and began angry rants of death and punishment all said in the Mandalorian tongue.

"They're saying that there are intruders in here and that they need to die," the Field Marshal said without turning his heads to look at the angry woman whose rifle he has. Just don't look back and everything would be okay.

He chuckled when Kaili said that she wouldn't explode his rifle as he led the way. "Y'know, that gives me an idea. Try to do that with someone's rifle. That'd be a perfect distraction for us and would give us a nice head start," and they really needed one because all it took was for the woman to point at them which put the Munin and the Talith in a tight and hairy spot.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Invaders must die. Simple rule of engagement. Fighting dirty, another simple rule of engagement. A combatant was never going to fight you fair and square, honor was a miserably pointless ideal to cling to in the ring of fire. There was living and then there was dying, and more often than not the difference between them was who could fight the dirtiest. Kaili had been raised from a very young age not to let morals get in the way of what had to be done. It was an ideal she had taken to heart, much more so than she was aware of. As an example Kaili cheated in every single game that she ever partook in That is if she was playing for something more than fun. She exploited glitches in games, and once when she had raced Allyson — who at that point was not yet her girlfriend — Kaili had not hesitated to throw the Corellian woman into a tree. She had won the race, but Allyson had suffered from it.

Worst was perhaps the fact that Kaili knew that it wasn’t the last time either.

The Mandalorian and his companion — that would be Kaili — passed a fusebox when the girl suddenly stopped dead in her tracks without notice.

“Better idea. Cover me.” She merely said as she forced the lid open. The hinges creaked something bad, rust screamed into the night but they remained unseen. Her hand touched the metal entrails, buttons and wires, as Kaili went to work. “This might take a bit.”

The girl closed her eyes.

Technomancy was something Kaili had always had a hard time describing to others. It was like explaining how to breathe or how to eat; she didn’t know how she did it anymore, she just did it. The force seeped through her and allowed her mind to become one with the machine and see what it saw. Through her gift she could build up imagery of buildings and cyber structures alike. With her mind she could witness and destroy, create and maintain. With her hands she could touch upon the flow of information and do whatever she wanted. She was a goddess amongst the power lines and a great part of her knew she would never truly be able to thank her father in full for what he had bestowed upon her. Perhaps that was why she was so close to him, or perhaps it was because of how he had introduced her to it. Like eating an elephant, you never ate the whole thing at once but rather in small pieces.

This power was the very same thing. Kaili felt her hand tingle as the nearby electricity started to gather by her fingertips. It was a familiar sensation, the one that she loved more than anything else. In that very moment she was the master of data and it was her willing slave. She had infiltrated the fortress, accessed the internal systems and become part of it. She was no longer just in front of Vilaz, she was everywhere.

Camera feeds, turret algorithms and…

“Drek.” Kaili muttered underneath her breath as she contemplated her next move. “I am sorry for this. I truly am.” She said for Vilaz to hear. “I didn’t know I could, and I don’t want to do this, but-...”

A loud explosion called out from the corner at which the leaders of the Mandalorian group had gathered. A weight pulled at Kaili’s heart and with a sullen face she finally rose from the ground. Her breath heaving, her eyes set on the floor. There was no time to argue, they needed to move while the opening was still there.

She didn’t say a word, just pushed through towards the outskirts of the jungle.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

It appeared that Kaili took Vilaz's idea in consideration, but it instead of blowing up a rifle they went for something else better than that. They went for...a fuse box? Now, they could blow it up and cause internal damage to the electricity of the fortress, but that wouldn't cause a huge distraction. Would it? Vilaz wasn't sure, but he was betting his life on this stunt that he thought wouldn't be effective at all in distracting their pursuers. Nevertheless, he did provide cover for her and waited until she was done with whatever Force trick she was attempting at. "Alright, but make it quick," he said to the Talith and was on the lookout for any Mandalorians that were looking for them.

As he was vigilant and had his guard up for any unwanted hostiles, he waited for Kaili to do her magic trick and to finally get a good distraction so that they could have minutes or hours to run away from the Mandalorians. He could deal with the beasts and creatures of Dxun, but what he could not handle with was deadly forces with intelligence such as these Demon Moon Mandalorians. Not when he was unarmored. If he had his armor, then he wouldn't mind being outgunned and outnumbered because he was focused on getting out of here, not staying here and fight.

Suddenly Kaili began to speak and the Munin had no idea on what she was apologizing for or saying at all. Sorry for what?

Then a huge explosion shook the ground and bellowed through the air. That was pretty loud for using the fuse box as a means to trigger it. Much better than blowing up a rifle. Hopefully, no one got killed or injured from that blast radius. Or were there? Taking advantage of the distraction Kaili made, he made a run towards the outskirts of the jungle with his companion not worrying about anyone spotting them since the explosive would get everyone's attention.

"So what was with all that talk and apologizing for back there? Seems like you were talking to yourself."

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

The explosion had become so much more than a distraction. At first there were shouts to make sure that everyone was okay. People started to call out in affirmation and it didn’t take long for the grim realization to strike them about who exactly it was that they had lost. People started to call out for an Alorir, a leader, but there was no response. Kaili had not known he was nearby at the time, but felt his life force drain into non-existence as the tanks had gone off in a fiery ball of death. He had been making rounds with his best men in a haste to find the people who had managed to sneak into his territory when his pants were down. The same people who had stolen half of his medical supplies. Mando’a rung loud into the night as man and woman alike scrambled to collect themselves once the initial shock had passed. Their leader was dead, and in its place a woman stood tall amongst them in a rallying cry.

It was his daughter...

… The very same woman that Kaili had choked half to death.

Action and repercussion.

Meanwhile Kaili and Vilaz found themselves within the grasp of the jungle. They were safe, for now. The animals had not caught on to them and neither had the Mandalorian clan that lingered within the woods. Those that hunted for food, proved themselves to no other than themselves. Boosting their egos, justifying their own self-righteous sense of honor and pride. The girl had been quiet in the face of Vilaz’ questions. She didn’t want to talk about it, she didn’t want to think on it. She had deliberately taken a life and that alone was enough to cause her a small breakdown as she pondered whether it truly was on purpose or not. Her mind would come to settle on the fact that it was an accident, but one that happened by an act of self-defense. But that was not now, for now she simply remained as sullen as when she and her companion had entered the jungles again.

“I killed him, Vilaz.” She managed to mutter after the discussion had long since passed. “That man, their leader, I killed him.”

A hand shakingly dragged itself through her hair, much like it had for the last twenty minutes or so.

“I didn’t know he was there, and now he is dead because of me.” It would be evident that the girl took it pretty rough. Beat herself up over it. “I didn’t want to.”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]​

 

[Vilaz Munin]

No answer from her. She was quiet except the sound coming from her feet as she ran and het breathing, but no syllable was said from her mouth at all. Maybe the explosion scared her? Maybe it reminded her of the time when she accidentally crashed a ship and killed hundred of people on board? That could probably be why she remained quiet and didn't answer him back. The Munin had no idea whatsoever that the leader of the Dxun Mandalorians was killed by the explosive detonated by Kaili. He only assumed that the explosive was caused in some place where there were no bystanders hanging around in the blast radius. He could hear the shouts and loud sayings from the fortress, but he paid no attention to them. He only knew that they were recollecting themselves and trying to control the damage that were made.

They had entered the dangerous jungles of Dxun and were, by now, several kilometers away from that grand architecture that stood since the days of Mandalore the Ultimate. Then his Force Sensitive companion finally spoke, but it wasn't words that he was expecting to hear from her. Something about killing a man which was relevant to the explosion that happened at the Mandalorian fortress. Vilaz had no words to say right now. All he could was just look at the woman that was having a very bad time for what she did.

What could they do? They couldn't go back to the fortress because that would grant them a one way ticket to the grave. All they could do was run and run until they got off of the Demon Moon. How was Vilaz feeling all of this? He did feel some ounce of regret because another Mandalorian had just passed away and he had hoped he would find a peaceful afterlife, but what about Kaili? Should he hate her? Should he attack her? What did he thought of her?

"I have as much fault as you do," he sighed, "because I gave you the idea to blow something up and you did it. I wish no one got killed, but...well, we would've been goners without that explosion." It was really awkward and hard to find words in regards of this. Could the explosion had happened without any casualties? Possibly, but it was like firing a gun. There was no stopping that slug once the trigger was pulled.

"Let's just keep on going and don't look back." Probably the only helpful thing he could say to the Talith.

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

“Yeah, no looking back.” Kaili nodded and followed behind Vilaz again as the two set off. She let in a deep breath that was followed by a shaky exhale. “Better safe than sorry.”

It wasn’t so much that it reminded her of the crash as much as the sheer fact that it was uncalled for, unnecessary. She had been in need of a distraction, but now she wasn’t sure whether or not the one she created had helped or hindered them. At least not in the long run. They had a head start with nobody having seen them leave the premises. But they were no doubt tracking the blonde and the field marshal down. They had their bloodhounds for that, right? Kaili had never cared much for reading up on them, but she was fairly sure there were animals out there bred for that purpose alone.

The humidity was still as unbearable as ever. The girl flapped her as-of-now armless shirt against her shirt and exhaled.

All around there were noises from insects and beasts that she had not heard of before. At least not in person. Some she identified by the descriptors from her books, but in the end that didn’t say much. In the very distance she could hear two beasts going toe-to-toe over prey, without a doubt something Vilaz could very well pick up on as well. She could only hope the ships were close enough to get her off this rock as fast as possible, but she knew that was not the way things were.

“Where did you land your ship?” Kaili asked her guide. “Not sure it’ll get to it, but at worst, I might have to catch a ride off-world with you.”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

No doubt did Vilaz hear the sounds of Dxun's dangerous wildlife which caused the man to be on high guard and alert if some carnivore tried to engage them. Not to mention the probability of small Mandalorian hunting groups that were finding their infiltrators that were responsible for the death of their leader. If one were to analyze the situation, it'd be a triple threat match. Vilaz and Kail, the Mandalorians, and the Demon Moon's predators were all against each other. Obviously, the Force User and the Field Marshal wouldn't endure for such a great amount of time due to the heavy odds against them.

Another reason why they were doubling their efforts on getting the heck off of Onderon's moon.

Then the Munin's companion asked him a question. His ship. Where did he parked his ship at? He was so focus on running for his life that he had forgot where he stationed his vessel. Worse part was that he didn't had the means of locating it. He was very ill prepared for this situation that he and the Talith were now trying to get out. A simple pilgrimage had turned into a cat and mouse game.

"Uhm, that's a really good question. I have no fething idea where it's at," the Munin responded back to his companion with a nervous chuckle. Only Kaili was their own hope on getting off the Demon Moon. "I think I'm gonna be the one that needs a ride off this hell hole. Got room for one more?"

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili stopped dead in her tracks. “No. No I do not.”

“I was supposed to be picked up at the fortress tomorrow in the morning, that was the deal I made with my pilot.” The sudden realization wiped all color from Kaili’s already pale face. He wasn’t expecting her to survive that. The man’s laughter suddenly made a whole lot more sense. The girl’s teeth gritted though she wasn’t sure if the anger she felt was directed at the man who had dropped her off or at herself.

“We need to go back.” Kaili gestured towards the fortress. “They had ships, we need ships.”

“And a plan, we need a plan too.”

“Ideas?”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

His hopes of getting off this moon were drowned and disintegrated as Kaili had gave him the awful news of not having a ship of her own. Apparently, she had been dropped off by a pilot and was expecting to pick her up at the fortress first thing in the morning. There were two things going on in Vilaz's head. One was that he was astonished that taxi pilots dropped off their clients on dangerous worlds like this, and the other was that Kaili's pilot was most likely going to be killed by the angry Dxun Mandalorians.

That is if he was brave enough to come a second time.

"We are so screwed," the man finally said with despair in his voice.

Right now they needed a plan, and a smart one.

"It's too risky going back to the fortress, Kaili. I doubt we'll last ten steps if we even manage to sneak in again. Trust me, I know how Mandalorian lockdowns and patrols are when someone steps on their toes." So going back to the fortress and trying to steal a ship was definitely a big no. The Munin much rather wrestle with a Zakkeg than dealing with an angry mob of Mandalorians. So the only option was to try and find his ship, and get off of this rock.

"The only safe idea is to go treasure hunting for my ship. Better chance than going back. Whatcha think?"

[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Never tell Kaili the odds. As far as the idea of them being severely outgunned and outmatched went Kaili was acutely aware of her situation. She threw her arms, let the rifle dangle for a moment as she held back the urge to groan as loud as she could. Racing time, looking for a ship, being in a double sandwich between beasts and vengeful spirits. The two of them had more than they could bite on their plate, but now was not the time to quit. Rarely was it ever the time to quit. A small snicker, a sign of her own disbelief, force Kaili’s teeth to grit and her lips into a toothy grin.

“Go figure I end up in this position.” The girl quipped without much in the way of actual humor to her words. “We’ll find that ship. I’ve got a girlfriend to reunite with. Ain’t no nexu, drexl, ysalamiri, terentatek, rancor or acklay keeping me from that.”

The girl pushed into the jungle, standing still would get them killed.

“We’ll have to retrace our steps. Find the place where you shot me.” Kaili said over her shoulder as she pushed ahead. “We’ll find your ship, I can reapply bandages, you drop me off at home and we’ll have a great big party to celebrate.”

“The first step is finding where we met those… Horned things from before.”

“If we can find that place, we’ll find where you shot me. From there you can find your ship.”

[member="Vilaz Munin"]