Jump-off into the Unknown

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

TERMINUS

A sharp kah-leenk-PLUNK made Kinsey cringe, tearing her gaze away from the odd-looking ships traveling across the busy, hazy skies above. Could've sworn that last ship was one of those nautolan ones, meant to be completely filled with water. Interesting but terrifying for a girl who didn't know how to swim and was far more comfortable in the deep and blackness of space than submerged in any sort of liquid.

"No, no. Fuel line is there." Index finger pointed to a spot below her perch on the starboard wing of her ship. The Gamorrean grunted and started babbling about protocol and something about highly unusual ship designs. "Hey. Don't knock her." Kinsey's palm affectionately patted the hull plating.

"Pibs, will yah help him out?"

The dark-green and scuffed up pebble drone warbled and rolled over. Kinsey had gotten a message from the man she'd met the night before. Seemed like he was interested in hiring her after all.

Surprising.

Details still had to be worked out. Didn't know if he had a specific place in mind or if he just wanted to go for a joyride into the unknown regions. Still. A part of her was skeptical if he'd show up at all.

 

[Zef Halo]

TERMINUS

Ember did not remember seeing a place more colorful and unorganized than Terminus before. Truly as the rumors said - it was a melting point between the known and the unknown. Languages he had never heard before reached his ears and scents of unknown origins touched his nostrils. A miniature galaxy of its own in the galaxy itself.

It definitely took him a lot of time to find his way through the docks and by the time he reached the 'ship' he was supposedly going to board, Ember had thought that his tardiness would mean Kinsey would've departed.

So when he found her and the busy dock of her ship Ember was surprised. He had been skeptic that her services were legit. The Jedi believed her to be nothing more than an exploitation scam targeting drunk people. Well, he was wrong. Right?

Ember approached her calmly and a soft smirk surfaced on his face.

"I am not going to lie - It's a surprise to actually find you here." He reached into his tunic and pulled out a transparent chip card. Her payment. The Jedi offered it forth to her. "Some would say the price's too high for that old of a ship. Others would ask who is the guy you paid off to give you a permit to fly it." The jest came rather unfitting his usual Jedi attitude and projection. He blamed his recent, spontaneous changes in behavior to the influence of the Outer Rim Coalition. Outer Rim spacers were a culture of their own.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

Even among the cacophony of sounds in the chaotic port, her ears picked up easily on the familiar voice. Hands deftly finished work on tightening the carbon screws to the wing flexors, orbs of blue traveling downward to Ember. Half-smirk would meet his own as her pebble drone, Pibs, razzled a short series of beeps at the man. "Pibs, don't be rude," tongue clicked once against the roof of her mouth as she clipped the sonic driver back to tool-belt that hugged around the curve of her hips.

"We've got ourselves a bonafide payin' customer."

The girl scrambled off the wing and dropped lightly to her booted feet in front of Ember. The boots had been through a lot. Traveled over hot sands of Jakku, scrambled through the swamps of Dagobah, walked across wooden bridges of the Jandoon system, and been dry-cleaned by the head of a criminal syndicate.

Another story for another time.

"Folks tend to say a lot," casual reply rolled easily off her tongue as she went to take his chip-card with a brush of her fingers. "Don't let appearances scare you. This ship is more than sky-worthy and then some. I find the less shiny something is the less likely pirates and authorities will take an interest."

Lopsided grin expanded for a moment before disappearing.

"So. Did yah have something specific in mind or were you just looking for a joy-ride?"

Maybe not the best choice of words to avoid a double entendre.

 

[Zef Halo]

Ember blinked surprised at the droid's language. The little thing could swear better than a pirate. It amused him. The Jedi had found out recently that most droids around the Outer Rim had been tweaked into more 'independent' protocols. Fitting for the spacers' free nature. This here was no exception.

As she came down from the wing to take his chip-card, Ember wondered how long had this girl been a spacer. She wasn't old, perhaps a few years younger than him but she looked she'd been fixing and flying ships since she was a newborn. For a moment, the Jedi considered whether this was a masterfully crafted deception. A play to catch him and sell him off to the highest bidder. Before fear could run down his spine, Ember caressed the Force and felt no threat.

Only honesty.

He came about to his senses, slightly shaking his head and blinking to wave away the thoughts, just as she shot out an ambiguous question at him. It stunned him for a moment before he could reply with a slightly frantic shuffle in his pocket to give her back the business card she had given him. On the back of her own card she would find coordinates written with ink. Yes, ink. Ember had found an antique shop on the station and it fascinated him. An experienced spacer would the coordinates literally led nowhere in deep, deep space. Otherwise, the navcomp would tell the same.

"Uh...the former?" Ember replied unsure with a brow raised nodding at the business card before adding much calmer and stoic. "Listen. If this coordinates lead to where I assume they might lead - you will drop me off in a pod or a shuttle and leave." A frown materialized on his face as he thought about the possible futures. "Do you understand?"

Were the coordinates true then the Jedi had no right to endanger her life.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

Taking the card with her free hand, she held it up to the light - as if she could read a story within the ink itself. Brilliant blues darted from the card to Ember. The girl was familiar enough with the area to know what charts and nav-computers said. And she had more than enough experience to know the 'verse had a way of surprising folks out here. They didn't call it wild space and the unknown region for nothin.'

Do you understand?

"I speak basic, don't I?" There it was. Half-upside-down grin flickered across her face.

Pibs rolled over with two short beeps. Kinsey handed off the chip card to the droid, stuffing her re-used business card in her vest pocket. "Pay for the fuel - not a credchit over the quote."

Beep-boop. Yeah, and cutting it a little close.

"I know you can handle yourself." With a swivel of its domed head over a round body, the unit rolled off toward the Gamorrean.

The young Starchaser turned her full attention back to the young man and motioned for him to follow her to the inside of her ship. A typical U-wing had heavy guns on either sides of sliding doors. The guns had long been out. The sliding door not open was welded shut with storage and shelving across the surface. There were several open seats retrofitted with crash-webbing and belts that were clearly from other salvaged jobs. A small kitchenette was installed in the back corner with sealed shelves containing mugs, rations, hydration packs, and other supplies of odds and ends. A hammock was strung up just above from anchor points buried within the ship's hull-plating.

"Listen. You want a one-way ticket? Fine by me. But if you want round-trip? Ain't good for business if my customers never come back to talk about my tours, now is it?"

Gaze panned down for a moment, catching the cylindrical hilt. She froze, momentarily caught off-guard. A spike of fear ran through her and it took most of her willpower to keep her force-signature still clamped down.

 

[Zef Halo]

She gave him a grin and with her manners and fluency in sarcasm he couldn't help but see her similarity to the spacers of the Outer Rim. The thought of this being a scam was long gone from his mind. While inherently different due to his Jedi upbringing, Ember had found his place in the wild Outer Rim among people like Kinsey. Sure, the contrast was still clearly obvious and he stood out like a Tusken in the Senate Hall.

The two boarded her ship and the Jedi Knight quickly noticed the ship's interior resembling a typical salvager's craft. He wouldn't have discerned it had he not been a child slave to the savage Black Scarfs pirate crew, they had torn asunder hundreds of salvagers on such ships looking to pillage what loot they might have accumulated.

Ember shoved away the memory just as his temporary cap'n turned around to speak to him.

"Listen.You want a one-way ticket?Fine by me.But if you want round-trip?Ain't good for business if my customers never come back to talk about my tours, now is it?"

He remained silent for a moment but noticing her brief gaze at his lightsaber hilt. Ember felt a moment of worry from her but no more. His skills in sensing through the Force were below-par. The Jedi Knight concluded Kinsey, just as many others in the galaxy, viewed the Jedi in a negative light...and not without a excuse. The various orders across the Galaxy had forged a reputation of warmongers rather than defenders over the years, it is also one of the reasons Ember had estranged himself from the New Jedi Order and left it.

"It wouldn't be good for business if the business owner themselves do not come back either, would it?" Ember retorted assertively, locking his eyes with her. Any help was welcome, if where he was going existed in the first place but the Jedi was not taught to endanger the lives of others.

"Kinsey - if this troubles you..." He unclipped the hilt of the saber. "I will keep it out of your sight."

The Jedi Knight wondered if, perhaps, in their journey he could change her view on the Jedi if her view on them was what he believed it was. He hoped he'd get to know her better. Instinct, or the Force more likely, told him there was more about her than the it meets the eye.


[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

Thoughts about Sage Bane's sith hunters finally catching up to her circled within her mind. Could Ember be...was he...fears subsided slightly as she seriously doubted a sith could act so much like a jedi. Or...whatever Ember was. 'Sides, he'd never approached her with business. She had approached him. And if this really was some elaborate trap, she could handle him. Right? Right.

"It wouldn't be good for business if the business owner themselves do not come back either, would it?

Arms crossed stiffly beneath her chest. There was a stubborn tick along her angular jaw as Ember became all assertive. Blues locked with blues. A quick retort with a flare of spice and sarcasm was on the tip of her tongue. Didn't quite get out as he moved to the hilt of his lightsaber. Ironically, the lightsaber she owned lay in a smuggler's den just beneath his feet. It was buried with other trinkets and finds along her expeditions. If anyone found it, they'd probably just assume she'd picked it up somewhere rather than it being hers.

She couldn't help the half step back or the twitch of her fingers itching to drop to the hilt of her blaster.

Though she knew her movements betrayed her, though probably not for the reasons he would assume, she managed to finally relax her shoulders, forcing those muscles to unwind. Arms uncrossed with thumbs hooked at the lip of her belt. Face relaxed though her gaze remained sharp.

"No trouble," there was a small twitch at the corners of her lips. "Just watch where yah point that thing, yeah?"

Pibs rolled up behind Ember with a short beep and twatter, easing out any further tension in the cozy space of the U-wing.

"Take a seat and we'll get going. If you're thirsty there are a few things in the ice-box. Just leave the jar of eye-balls alone."

Y'know. Things like that needed to be said.

 

[Zef Halo]

Tension came and left her for a brief moment. The reason remained a mystery to Ember who was very, very far from possessing extraordinary social skills. Was that a sign of trust? Perhaps?

He hoped so?

What the Jedi Knight had learned so far in his tenure across the Outer Rim - spacers rarely trusted someone and even if they did, they always had some reservations. Ember wondered where he stood to Kinsey NoLastName.

Would he have wondered that before? Probably not. Ever since he had left the Order, Ember had found himself connected more to the people he had sworn to protect. Life as a Jedi did disconnect you sometimes far too much from those you gave an oath to care for and defend. Ironic.

"Just watch where yah point that thing, yeah?"

"I'll try." He half-smirked diffusing whatever situation they were in before multiple beeps came from behind him as the droid rolled beside him eager to get going. A polite shake of head followed to her offer-

Wait, there was no jar of eye-balls, right?

Ember didn't really know why that thought even came in his head before he shifted his focus to get ready for the journey.

--

Meanwhile, ideally near hyperspace reversion to the weird coordinates...

The Jedi had mostly remained in meditation throughout the trip, his initial desire to know more about the peculiar captain/salvager was pushed back as his serious concern over his visions clouded his mind. Over the courses of his long meditations Ember had attempted to reorganize the pieces of the puzzles of his vision but to no avail, the man's concentration seemed to shake troubled by the stubborn thought of whether he'd brought Kinsey, an innocent person in no way connected to his vision, to something much larger than both of them.

The sound of boots heading his way in the corridor leading to his makeshift, small quarter rang through the durasteel walls where the Jedi meditated.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

"I know what the nav-computer says Pibs," Starchaser-blues rolled in the direction of her droid companion. It's bulbous head swiveled two and fro between the computer and the spacer. Kinsey's hands flipped through the ship panel's switches with ease and intrinsic movements. As if she'd flown a hundred different models a hundred different times.

"I'm a bit offended you don't trust me by now," she mock-huffed as the pebble-drone warbled and twattered once.

The nav-computer was just for show. The one thing Kinsey could do like breathing was astro-navigation through the force. It ran in that Starchaser blood of hers. She was getting decent at masking her signature while doing it too. Didn't mean she could always do both, though.

"And stop worrying, he won't eat Brak's eyeballs."

Speaking of....time to check on the passenger. Didn't have far to go. U-wing wasn't a big ship.

Throat cleared as she approached. Then again, she knew it wasn't so easy to sneak up on a force user, whether intentionally or not. Didn't mean she wouldn't try to be polite-like to her traveler.

"Farseer," thumbs hooked into the toolbelt along the curves at her hips. Before the warning beep resounded from the cockpit, she braced her hand against the corridor, preternaturally knowing they were about to ease back into real-space. There was a slight shudder within the ship's interior.

"Wanna come have a look?" Head tipped over her shoulder, back the way she'd come. "And I been meanin to ask. You part of the Outer Rim Coalition?" The night she met Ember had been her first exposure to that group. And she wasn't sure if Ember identified with them...in an official capacity or not. Seemed like a pretty wayward group for someone like him.

Wasn't like she was in a position to judge, though. Okay, okay. Maybe just judgement on that stiff upper lip of his.

 

[Zef Halo]

The call of his name opened his eyes and brought him back to reality just as the ship shuddered reverting back to real space. His blurry vision cleared up after a few blinks revealing the standing figure of Kinsey as she gestured him to follow her. The Jedi Knight pushed himself up from his meditating pose, the lightsaber safely clipped within one of his pockets away from her eyes and shuffled down the corridor along with the spacer.

As she walked just ahead of him towards the cockpit Ember examined her with his mind back to that pondering about who Kinsey was.

"And I been meanin to ask.You part of the Outer Rim Coalition?"

The question interrupted his curious thoughts and it took the Jedi a moment before he responded.

"Somewhat." He admitted. Helping the denizens of the Outer Rim hand in hand with the Coalition. "As much as it allows a Jedi to fit in the midst of good-willed space vagabonds." The wording certainly wasn't the best but his tone lacked any implication of arrogance.

But then a question popped up in his head in the context of their conversation.

"I thought you were part of the Coalition yourself." Ember really did and now he realized he was unsure why he had thought that with such certainty. The two ventured into the cockpit greeted by Pibs who whistled dreadfully at the sight on the sensors and on the viewport itself.

The datafeed of the sensors would be flooded with signals implying an anomaly of spacetime as they scanned the massive monolith clearly seen on the viewport.

Ember felt his heart skip a beat and dread enveloped him before he tapped into the Force and his Jedi training to calm himself and remain stoic as best as possible. The features on his face were clear, though, a troubled frown and a complete focus on the monolith ahead of them.

"This is where we part ways, Kinsey." The Jedi stated strongly. No explanation came immediately after as Ember remained partly frozen observing the anomaly. So the vision was true.

What now?

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

So he was a Jedi. Made sense. Course, like herself, many folk out here tended to skirt away from the title 'Jedi' if they were force sensitive. And the reasons of 'why' were always complicated.

If she was offended by the word vagabond, she didn't show it. He wasn't exactly wrong. And part of the Coalition?

"No. I've just been trying to...," voice trailed off as the viewport filled up with THAT. "I had a funny feeling," lips pressed closed into a thin line. The explorer needed to work on a better choice of words. She was already moving past the Jedi. Arm would nudge him out of the way as she quickly climbed the few steps to the pilot's seat.

There was a sudden lurch and the u-wing snapped forward. Pibs swiveled its head wildly. "Don't think it'll be that simple Ember. We seem to be caught in a tractor beam."

Hands flew wildly over the controls butonly for a few seconds. There were a few tricks she could try. But they had a high chance of ending poorly with damage to her ship. HER ship.

"Looks like you're stuck with me," lopsided grin briefly flashed over her mouth. There was a little tension at the corners. "Not like I'd walk away from that anyway," chin tipped to the behemoth structure as they were dragged closer and closer. The explorer in her could be her greatest strength or fatal character flaw.

Didn't stop her starburst blues from traveling down to the blaster in the holster, checking over the power settings. As they got closer, they were plunged in sudden darkness, until a cavernous space opened up as if they'd been plucked from space and placed above a wild looking region with hills and valleys. There was even a waterfall and a river flowing through the lower third. Though the lighting seemed close to something natural, she could tell it was synthetic

 

[Zef Halo]

"What tractor beam? How ev-" He began but quickly shook his head before he left abruptly the cockpit to where his backpack was left behind. Trouble and worry rushed his mind like a storm.

This was getting worse by the minute. Ember wanted exactly the opposite of what was happening but he calmed himself trying to find again his initial trust in the Force. If fate was so keen on Kinsey pairing with him to wherever the heck they were dragged into, so be it. There had to be a reason. Perhaps, maybe, he should trust her skills a bit more than he did. Initial intuition told him there was more about her.

The Jedi came back visibly calmer but clearly determined as he looked at the viewport just as the darkness disappeared and they were flung on a wild planet. Suddenly, he felt the ethereal much, much easier. A nexus was nowhere near what Ember sensed at the moment. No coincidence with his vision but what was he out to look for?

"This place...it- it feels as it is the source of the Force itself." The Jedi thought out loud, his fingers tapping on his chin. He didn't expect Kinsey to know any of what he was saying. "I am not even sure what to do next."

"Kinsey." His head tilted to face her, seriousness but also worry in his voice. "Wherever we are right now, it has absolutely nothing to do with the dangers of Wild Space, the Outer Rim and the Unknown." Ember was sure about that. Tapping into the Force told him that. "I'd ask you to stay on the ship but the Force has other plans." The latter part of the sentence almost came out as if scripted.

A series of beeps took his attention down at her droid.

"Yes, you too." He nodded at Pibs before turning his attention back at the captain of the ship. "Get whatever you need and let's get going."

A twitch at the back of his head.

"Something tells me we don't have much time."

The statement was unintentionally vague and enigmatic. The Force told him only that.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]​

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

Feels like the force itself?

Danger?

Blah-blah-blah.

"Ember," sidearm seemed charged enough. Good thing. Sometimes she wasn't always good about keeping it up. She wasn't quite sure where they were being dragged to. Looked like there was a small landing platform up ahead. Hard to tell, though. "Relax. You always this stiff?"

Keeping things light helped her focus. It wasn't like she was naive about the situation they were in. And little did Ember know how much she knew about the force. Even if she didn't believe in it the same way he did. "I'll have you know those places have some pretty wild and horrific dangers. And I'm not just talking about running into a snowbeast on Hoth wearing some of Joza Pearl's under-things."

Pibs warbled which almost sounded like a low chuckle.

Nothing much she could do about the ship. They were as good as a hergilic on a line. Easing back from the controls, she stood and stepped past the jedi, going to grab her satchel and fill it up with her typical set of tools. "Why did you want to come here, Ember?" He knew something he wasn't telling her. Maybe a lot of somethings and the explorer wondered what it was.

 

[Zef Halo]

Stiff? He raised an eyebrow before it quickly disappeared replaced by his burdened face once more. Was he really stiff? Ember wasn't sure what to make of her description, his upbringing as a Jedi limited a lot of his social skills. Not that Jedi were terrible in socializing, in fact they were good diplomats but studying the Force and devoting yourself to the Light side of the Force did alienate you to an extent from the rest.

Or so he believed.

"I-" The Jedi began almost raising a finger like a teacher would before sighing. He gave up. "Never mind."

As soon as she picked up her satchel the trio of Jedi, spacer and foul-mouthed droid rolled off the ramp of her ship into the slopes of a valley. Stepping on the ground, Ember realized that even the surface did not feel...as surfaces of a planet normally feel.

"Why did you want to come here, Ember?"

The question took him by surprise whilst he was inspecting the horizon before them curiously. It took him a moment before he could answer.

"The Force willed it." He answered laconically before he gave a question of his own. "Why didn't you reject this job? I know you seem to carry a dislike of Jedi." Know was strongly said. Ember simply assumed based on their very short interaction from before. What he knew was spacers very, very rarely rejected jobs but the Jedi Knight had met obstacles in seeking a spacer occasionally when they were made aware of the fact that he was a Jedi.

Ember understood well that the vision was connected in some way, for some reason, with Kinsey. Otherwise, she wouldn't be here, he thought. It was all by the will of the Force and Ember only had to learn why.


[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

Hands came up as she adjusted the straps on her shoulders of her bag. Had to try to keep her eyes from rolling as he responded about the 'will of the force.' Couldn't stop the half-snort from escaping the tip of her nose. She didn't mean any disrespect. Just. Again, they shared very different beliefs about the force.

"Hey," she balked. Starburst-blues caught Ember's gaze. "I don't dislike the jedi. I don't dislike you." And he knew as well as she did that she couldn't exactly afford to reject any job. Her lifestyle revolved around living credchit to credchit. Just how it was. And she preferred it that way. Sometimes.

To think she could've kept those Alderaan royal jewels she'd found but ended up giving them off to the smuggler that had helped her get past the Guavian Death Gang.

"With forcers it's just," palm came up to cuff the edge of her nose, pushing an itch away. "Complicated." Probably better he didn't know about the bounty on her head and some crazed Sith Lord after her. She knew her Uncle Coren was looking for her too. Not for anything bad but the whole mess with the Sith Lord was because of her last name. It was why she didn't just go giving it out to a lot of folk.

The girl wondered if Ember knew of Coren Starchaser.

Pibs warbled, rolling further up the grassy knoll. Her attention turned to him. "What do yah mean your life-sign sensors are overloaded?"

 

[Zef Halo]

Ember chuckled softly at what she said. Complicated was perhaps the right word to describe how non-Forcers saw the Force, the Jedi Knight had believed it to be ignorance when he was younger but that view quickly changed over his process of estranging himself from the New Jedi Order.

But there was more to this spacer, he was certain. Maybe foolishly certain but foolishness was out of the question when it concerned the Force and his journey with her to this mysterious place. The Jedi couldn't help but surrender to his curiosity.

"I don't mean to intrude but..." He began politely. "...I can't help but feel you're hiding something, Kinsey." The tone did not imply distrust nor threat. Just curiosity hidden behind a soft smirk. It was none of his business, of course, and should she reject to divulge further in the topic he wouldn't press. "Eitherway, I am glad you don't dislike Jedi nor me." And there was a lot of reason for the former. The Jedi weren't really the protectors of peace and harmony in recent years.

"What do you mean you're detecting numerous life forms?" Ember raised an eyebrow at Pibs, concern stirring on his face. The Jedi couldn't sense a thing even through the Force. "You're mapping a structure up ahead over that ridge?"

His hand instinctively went to his lightsaber hilt and his step hastened to move before the spacer. A Jedi had to be a protector, not an aggressor. It was only natural that should any threat arise, Ember would meet it as the spacer's 'shield'.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

"I think we all hide things," she spoke with an enigmatic smile, though worry knitted her brow from the chirps and chatterings of her droid. Pibs almost seemed frantic and considering what she and the astromech had been through, that was saying something. The explorer noticed Ember's intentions. She hadn't met a Jedi that actually acted like a Jedi in awhile. And she was worried Ember would get himself killed by doing that.

Which was why she didn't elaborate on her past or the bounty on her head. She'd dragged enough folk into danger before and she refused to do it again on her behalf. Sage Bane was a Sith Lord either seemingly endless resources. She would protect anyone she met from that for as long as she could. The less anyone knew about her the better. For their sake.

A frigid breeze that hadn't been there before met her face and wove through her hair and clothes as she joined Pibs and the Jedi on the ridge. A large spire arched from a formidable structure from a rocky mointaintop. Looked like at the top was some sort of large, glowing light.

Blues squinted.

She couldn't make it out.

Large floating rock formations littered the sky. She'd missed those before. The most disturbing thing was they still seemed to be alone. What happened to all those life signs?

"Pibs," index and middle finger lightly tapped down on its domed head. "Think your circuits are fried?" A bemoaning sound left the droid's vocalizer. "Says there's something overloading its circuits from that tower. Y'know," she turned to Ember. The temperature felt like it was dropping as the sun went down. "I thought this was all artificial. That we were still inside whatever the structure was that pulled us in. Now? I'm not so sure."

Head swiveled to look back toward her ship. Might be better to spend the night - or whatever this was, back in some shelter. Mouth dropped a little as she looked back. "Kark," she swore. Her ship was gone.

 

[Zef Halo]

"We do." He agreed almost silently. Ember accepted her reluctance politely. The Jedi was anything but an intrusive moron. But even if he was, any potential questions he could've asked her would be cut short as a breeze out of nowhere picked up and upon finding themselves upon the top of the ridge an unnatural view painted their horizon.

Similar to Kinsey, Ember also squinted at the glowing light atop of the mysterious structure in the middle of nowhere. He noticed the floating rocks but nothing in the Force told him anything. The Jedi completely understood the need to be cautious and expectant of literally anything, considering they just came out of nowhere into a planet that felt like the source of the Force itself.

A spine chilling question crept up his back.

Were they dead?

He half missed Kinsey and Pibs' interaction while dwelling into the dreadful thought when-

"Kark"

"What?" Ember turned to Kinsey before following her eyes into- "Ugh." Self-blame crawled under his skin. The Jedi was about to apologize when a heavy twitch at the back of his head alarmed him. A hand reassuringly landed on the spacer's shoulder.

"We need to move on to where the light is." The determination and decisiveness from before was back. Partially stemming from blaming himself and being eager to fix this for her.

Pibs abruptly beeped in complete panic, Ember's alarming senses ignited his mind and perhaps the feeling even touched the mind of the spacer like a razor blade.

"A presenc-" The blue blade materialized immediately as the Jedi shouted before a powerful slam of invisible energy hammered all three of them sending them flying down the ridge. Instinctively, the blue saber disappeared into the hilt as an almost transparent Force barrier engulfed the three of them as their rolling down the hill finally stopped.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhvPlzelj9I&feature=youtu.be&t=35s​

​

Frantically, Ember looked up from where the push came and felt his senses burning hot like molten at the back of his mind. Whatever this thing was it was overloading his sensing through the Force. His head felt ablaze. Beside him Pibs' sensory overload was spiking into new heights.

The Jedi activated his lightsaber trying to find the danger when he noticed a slight shift up from the ridge coming down. Very much invisible movement but he saw it and Kinsey, if she was paying attention, probably did too.

Whatever the thing was, it wasn't here to save them or guide them to a shelter.

He took a deep breath calming himself and expanding his relaxing light side aura to those around him.

"Kinsey."

.

..

...

"Run."

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]​

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

[member="Ember Farseer"]

Even when Kinsey wasn't hiding her force signature, she'd never been good at sensing danger or sensing others with a force presence. Still. There was something about this place. As if her ability to keep her force signature locked up was being tugged at and pulled at, like something wild was testing the perimeter for weaknesses.

She didn't like it. Almost as much as being knocked through the air like a ragdoll.

Arms instinctively wrapped around her head as her well-worn boots left the ground. She felt her shoulder slam against Ember's chest as they hit the ground and rolled, a tangle of limbs and earth. The force barrier kept them from breaking any bones but KARK.

Still hurt like a fether.

Pibs' head had bounced off, the droid's body already rolling toward the chattering piece to retrieve. Palm came up to push sandy-brown hair away from her view. Head shook and she bit back a groan. "Chit," the spacer swore, knowing if Pibs could hear, the droid would be quick to sass about a lost bet and something about credits in a swear jar. Palms pressed against the frigid and rocky earth, coming back shakily to her feet.

Run?

Blues that seemed to match the energy blade of Ember's saber tracked to where he was looking. Head swiveled, seeing a trio of large boulders not too far away. And the explorer was off, making a beeline for the cover. Ember might be surprised that the girl ditched so quickly. Then again, maybe not. Spacer's tended to save their own skins. But Kinsey wasn't running to run away. Even though her instincts agreed with the jedi.

When she reached the first boulder, she scrambled behind it until she could peek just her head out, sidearm in her hand, she squeezed the trigger at the movement coming down toward Ember. The setting was on stun. It was her default.

She'd never been good at following orders anyway.

 

[Zef Halo]

Good, he thought to himself as he caught a glimpse of Kinsey hitting overdrive away from Ember and the steadily approaching nearly invisible thing. The Jedi shuffled around feeling the almost weightless hilt in his hand and gathering all the needed concentration for whatever the heck that thing was.

Ember began noticing clearer the shifts in the environment as the invisible being sped up towards him before a whizzing sound echoed in the wind as a blue spiral struck into where the thing supposedly was resulting in the appearance of a nearly transparent blue barrier. That was no other energy than the Force, the Jedi could at least sense that even when his senses were burning just by the presence of the phantom menace.

The bolt surprised it and halted its movement only to produce a horrifying screech at where Kinsey was standing behind cover.

Alarms rang in the Jedi's mind. Why had she not kept on running? What kind of a self-preserving spacer was she?

What's done is done. Ember's heels sucked on the Force and he propelled himself forward in a Force enhanced jump at the enemy to take its attention. His blue blade met a barely visible light shield.

"Don't be a fool, Kinsey. I said - RUN!" The Jedi Knight shouted and the monster took the opportunity to slash at his chest. Cold, enchanted steel tore open a wound through his chest instinctively forcing him to stagger backwards in a defensive position. "Run and don't look back!"

Self-blame once more flooded his mind even in this dire life-or-death situation.

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]