Private Journeyer's Quest Part 3 of 9: The Stav Kesh Gauntlet

[Corso Fanratta]

Stav Kesh was in complete ruins by the time Corso arrived. It was when he was examining the rubble he began to fall into a dark chasm, it wasn't until he got onto his feet when he heard the blaster fire. Taking in a deep breath he took in the scent of scrubbed air, fire, and the smell of ozone that blaster bolts left. Getting on his feet that was when the first man with the blade came at him. Jumping back Corso slammed his palm against his assailant's chest with a light force push to stagger him. He drew his lightsaber from his hip holster and with one swing ignited the golden blade first cutting the sword in half. Second carving against his assailant's chest, he fell limp and Corso came to the realization that he had killed his attacker.

Stumbling back he began to panic, he felt vindicated but also couldn't believe he had taken someone's life. For a moment he felt sick to his stomach that was before two children and their father came running into the trashed shop he appeared in, they were trying to find a place to hide and three more armed men followed them. They won't need to hide, he told himself as he ignited the gold lightsaber again and struck the first man. The second man sent a volley of blaster fire toward Corso, he deflected two of the shots and rolled behind a partially knocked-over shelf. Adrenaline pumping he created a friction field by the entrance of the shop. The second pirate tried to enter and screamed in agony as his skin began to burn.

Sprinting out of his hiding spot he kicked at the second pirate's knees and slashed into the pirate with his saber, with another hiss of his weapon the body fell limp into the ground. With the avoiding blaster fire, he lost track of the third pirate. By the time he reached the force, it was too late, he felt the blaster barrel against his temple. He snuck around his unguarded flank and there was nothing Corso could do to get out of this, he was going to die.

That was until the girl around his age came out of nowhere, in a split moment he saw the flair of an ignited lightsaber and his attacker fell. Taking in a deep breath he controlled his emotions and looked at her. "Where am I, what the hell is going on? Oh, also thanks, I totally owe you one," he said with an awkward smile.

Neli

 

[Neli]

Neli had moved from place to place, ship to ship, always ahead of whatever her mother sent to find her. She knew she was still looking, she could feel it. But she also knew she wasn't quite as forceful as she used to be. She had left because life was dull. She got training, she was certainly not devoid of comforts or resources, it seemed those were plentiful. But she just couldn't stay that way, there was no excitement in it. So she managed to take off one day, with some help.

Course, there was only so much good excitement. And right now, this was was overdoing it a little. She rolled behind a crate as blaster fire filled the air, her hand going for the lightsaber she had in her jacket, leaving the stun pistol where it was. That wasn't going to help her here. Ataru was her mothers teaching, and when it came to movement, it was something that Neli had gotten used to. Force jumping up and onto the crate, before sending herself back down into the back of a pirate who turned the corner crumpling him onto the ground. She kicked the gun away from his hand, though she mostly just heard him moaning. She was pretty sure he wasn't getting back up any time soon...if he did at all.

And then she heard a familiar noise, the sound of a lightsaber. She took in a breath, seeming to blend into the chaos as she moved throughout the building. A shadow, flickering across the roof. She was no master, but she still made good use of what she had. There it was, Corso Fanratta . She was not expecting to see that today. He was doing well, blaster deflection was never a skill of hers. Yet, he was being outmaneuvered. Well that wasn't ok, another force jump sent her down fast from above the thin blue lightsaber blade skewering the pirate before she landed gracefully shoving him to the side and immediately taking a stance being light on her feet.

She heard him speak and immediately smiled back, she gave a swift and dramatic bow, "Name's Neli. And isn't it obvious, piracy." her smiled did fade a bit as her attention was directed to the pirates, although it wasn't fear on her face. She had trouble with that one, fear tended to be missing when it should be. There was some level of excitement, though not necessarily joy, in the fight. "Didn't expect this did ya fellas?" she challenged

If he did look at her lightsaber, he'd notice the peculiar design. The blue color was certainly not uncommon. But it used a very thin blade and handle, and had a sort of handle-guard. Clearly designed for piercing, which it was very good at, but not so great at blaster deflection.


Equipment:
nelis-lightsaber.
sib-14-stun-ion-pistol
Metal Rebreather mask (On her belt)

 

[Corso Fanratta]

They smiled, determined by their numbers to overpower the two force users. That was when the vision hit, one of their fighters crashed into the spire that was north of them. It will fall and level the area where they were at, focusing back he looked back to Neli. "The name is Corso, sounds like we got to beat us some pirates," he said with a grin. He deactivated his lightsaber and made brief eye contact with Neli leading on that he had a plan. "You got us I guess we," the screech of a clipped fighter hit the spire and it slowly began to fall.

Turning back to her while the pirates were confused he lightly grabbed her arm. "Now we run," he said as he pulled her with him, there was an explosion behind him as the tower fell. Quickly he let go of her as they came across a pirate leveling a blaster at them. He reactivated and deflected the bolt while still dashing leaving him open for Neli to take him up. Corso leaped past him and saw another pirate, but Corso acted first. He grabbed a piece of debris and launched it at him with the Force sending him flying. Landing gracefully he waited for Neli to keep up, there were more explosions and movement was the only thing that could protect them.

"I'll race you to that cantina," he shouted as he began to bolt, there were several more pirates, one of them had what looked like a training saber. He closed in with Corso and their weapons made contact. He uses brute force, the technique was clumsy, he tried another powerful strike but Corso caught it and then quickly deactivated his saber which threw off the larger man's balance. He then kicked him in the stomach and swung the hilt, the saber was activated right when it was level enough to cleave into him and just as quickly was turned back off.

A pirate adjacent to Corso aimed a blaster at Neli, Corso swatted the bolt away right as it left the barrel leaving Neli another opening to attack the pirate, he turned to a third pirate and with the same movement moved to swing his hilt and right as the blade made contact he turned it back on, there was a golden flash, a scream, and suddenly his blaster's arm was on the ground. The person fell to their knees and Corso kicked him in the temple.

The pirates were holding up at the Cantina, there were about 5 near the entrance leveling blasters at Corso, he deflected a few bolts and zig-zagged toward them. He wasn't actually trying to close in, he was instead drawing their attention so his friend could hit their flank and cut them down. Once the area was clear he would dash into the entrance, his heart was racing and he would take a quick breath.

"We make a good team," he said thoughtfully as wiped some sweat from his brow.

 

[Neli]

She nodded towards him as he gave his name and deactivated his lightsaber. She took a moment to process it before deactivating hers as well, hoping that whatever he was up to would work. She felt the crash and then he grabbed her and they started running, "Ha! Nice." She said as they ran, she wasn't sure if he just planned it or saw it. But either way it worked.

Then they came to another pirate, he deflected a bolt and she ducked down, darting forwards again her blade activating and striking through the pirates chest before following after Corso. The place was starting to fall apart, and they were definitely stuck on the move. He mentioned racing her to the cantina, "You're own." she paused for a moment gathering the force and launching herself forwards with a force leap typically used for upwards movement rather than the acute angles she had a habit of using them for in motion. Corso ran into another pirate, they clashed, but he clearly had that one handled. She looked behind them, she wasn't sure anyone was even able to follow them well right now, but she wasn't taking that risk. Another pause as she gathered herself, and then yanked a crate off with the force hurling it across the floor before taking off again.

She felt a warning feeling but Corso intercepted it, she smiled at him as she leapt overhead striking the pirate through the neck to the chest. Landing and immediately on the move again as the two kept to the cantina. She couldn't help much with blaster fire, deflecting one or two migh the possible, but she wasn't extremely good at it and her blade was even worse. But they were all focused on Corso, which left her the opening to let her get around them. Instead of striking with the blade she took in a breath, a second or two holding out her hand and releasing a force push that sent them, and anything else that it could in its way, flying meters or until they ran into something, before she rushed back with a lightsaber to pick them off.

She was breathing pretty heavy, with all the fast speed movement, and took a moment as he did to take a break leaning against a toppled table. She held a thumbs up as he mentioned them making a good team, "You got that right."

Corso Fanratta

 

[Corso Fanratta]

Corso grinned, he was parched, primarily due to the recent action and the harsh pilgrimage he walked on Tython. Rooting through the looted bar he noticed the spirits were gone, but there was some nice melted Hoth water, considered a fancy item but to Corso it was just water. He poured two glasses and passed her one. "You can feel it right? The violence travels like a cloud and we should be in the heart of it within the next few minutes," he said thoughtfully as he took a sip. Oh, how drinking some filtered water was great in a moment such as this. "I gotta level with you since you saved my hide more than once in the past few minutes. I don't know how long before I get called back, a temple that is supposed to hone my martial ability sent me here. This isn't the first anomaly of the force that I have experienced and it won't be the last. If I just vanish, I have no control over that," he had concern in his voice.

"I'm a Je'daii Journeyor and I am not here to tell you about how you must commit yourself to either Ashla or Bogan, we use both to achieve balance. Ahh sorry, most people call it the light side and the dark side," he said as he finished his glass and filled both of their cups again. Looking back to his companion he gave her a genuine smile. "That being said you had my back Neli, until I get called back I intend to get you out of this situation, we need to figure out how to get you off this hell hole safely," he said as he found a nearby console and began to slice.

There was a moment he seemed to be in deep focus before a map of the station appeared. "Alright so we're not too far from the spaceport, we can't approach that head-on, that's probably where the majority of the pirates are. There seems to be an access tunnel about two blocks from this building, if we hit that resistance should be limited, though I am sure we will find some resistance once we actually get the hanger," he said as he flicked some rubble off his emerald screech lizard cloak.

 

[Neli]

She shrugged taking the drink and nodding with a smile before hearing him. "Guess I'm not quite as good at that as you. Or, maybe I'm a little to used to it. I do feel the emotions of it though, fear, anger, surprise, confusion, joy." she answered. Empathy, she wasn't extremely strong, but in this type of situation she didn't need to be. And besides she was better than she used to be. She took in a few good swallows as he continued. And she had to chuckle as she put it down at the first comment, but became greatly intrigued as he went on.

"Ok, can't say I saw that coming." She admitted as he went on to call himself Je'Daii. She did notice a difference in the word compared to Jedi like her mother used. Ashla and Bogan, she'd sort of heard of it, but it was far from her mind usually. He did clarify though and it sounded a little more familiar. Interesting, a sort of neutral ground. She definitely wanted to learn more about this anomaly and him, but there wasn't exactly a lot of time right now to goof around. And then, he offered to help her again, assuming he could before he disappeared. She grimaced, "Heh, could be a problem. I don't have a ship." she admitted.

That admittance also reminded her of quite a significant issue. She was essentially stuck. And that was not a great way to be right now. She drunk from the water, wishing it had a bit more flavor as he brought up a map and began to lay out some of the situation. Neli took a breath and ran a hand through her hair, "This is going to sound odd, do you know of a way to darken the hangar, or fill it with a mist." she reached behind her, and pulled out a type of flute. "I'm no master, but I'm really good at applying force empathy through sounds like music or tones."

She scratched her head, one option wasn't enough, "Another option is to try and keep out of sight, I don't know how good your force leap is, or if you know Force Cloak. But I know those tend to work out for me...usually."

Corso Fanratta

 

[Corso Fanratta]

Corso processed what she said about her ability to feel with the force. Sure emotions had a strong imprint, but the force was a living thing and imprints are always left depending on what's going on. "Empathy is a bit tricky, next time we meet I can teach you a more holistic approach to the force, people matter less, the force is living and everything determines the way the force reacts," he said thoughtfully. She mentioned she didn't have a ship and processed that information. "You won't need one, I am sure there are spacers who are just as eager to leave as much as you are, if we can disrupt the pirate's control you can get out of here," he said as he went back to listening to her talk.

"I can do both things, especially the using the force to create concealment or eat light. I am better at using deception to achieve my ends other than a head-on fight. I've never had to use force cloak but I use more classic means of getting into places where I am not supposed to," he nodded as he stopped looking at the map. He spent a moment of silence to take in a deep breath to gather his thoughts before looking back to Neli.

"Here's our play, we make our way to the maintenance tunnels. From there we can work together to create fog with the force, if we want to cover the whole docking bay we will need to work together. We will use the force to convert the moisture to thick fog, I am not going to lie it is hard but if we link hands and share our focus we can get it done. Once we create concealment we begin to silently take out the pirates, if we create enough mayhem maybe it will give a few of the captive crew's confidence to take back control and leave. The first ship that starts leaving we will get you on board, I will hold off whatever threat emerges to guarantee your escape," he said his smile faded.

He lightly rested his arm on her shoulder, not as a romantic advance but a gesture of friendship. "The force brought me here for a reason, I feel that my purpose is to ensure your safe escape from this place," he said as he removed his hand and finished his second glass. Corso made his way to a back exit of the Cantina. "Time is not on our side if we're gonna do this we gotta go now," he said as he ducked out of the exit.

Neli

 

[Neli]

Tricky, that was one way to put it. Neli was good at it, for the amount of time she'd practiced it at least. But there were definitely issues with it. For some people emotions barely even effected the way they chose to act, always driven by something more complicated or ingrained inside them. For others emotions could mean wildly different things than they might for a normal person. She smiled as he offered to help teach her. Her mother of course offered to train her more but...Neli wasn't really interested at the time. It was a wander she'd learned as much as she had.

He assured her the lack of a ship wouldn't be a problem. Probably right anyway, easier to jump on board someone else as an ally than try and escape alone. He also mentioned he did have the abilities she mentioned, good. Not everyone had much skill with force cloak or force stealth. So they both had a habit of going around or beside a problem than straight through.

And on came his plan, there did come a bit of an odd technique. Making the fog. She knew about illusions, not that she was any good at them, or tried them, but this wasn't that. Hopefully it would be easier, but still, it didn't sound like this was a simple prospect he was suggesting. Then start taking out the pirates quietly. Ok, not a bad plan, she certainly hoped he knew what he was doing.

He mentioned holding off any threat while she escaped and she looked up, "What about you though?" she prompted. She didn't know how the temple or anomoly thing he talked about worked. Sure it seemed plausible, and maybe once she was off he'd just teleport right back. But still, how was she to know?

She smiled as he called her the likely reason for why the force brought him here, that was either comforting, or concerning, and she didn't know which to think. He was right, time was not on their side, she chugged the rest of the water, setting the glass down and chasing behind him. "Alright, I hope this works." She was hopeful, almost excited even, to see things play out.

Corso Fanratta