Private Liberation

[Retired]

The Jedi Knight followed the will of the Force and listened to its call. She was never one to stay in one place for long. Just long enough to get supplies before she moved on. Unless the Force told her to stay. Something always happened when that occurred. Days, weeks, and months blurred together for her, and nothing grand or great had happened to herrecently.

Of course, time had lost all meaning to her when she had been in the Netherworld. Shivering slightly at the memory, she sat meditating on the bunk of her ship. Suddenly she opened her eyes and ran to the cockpit. Seo really should upgrade her ship, it was starting to fall apart. Since she traveled on her own most of the time, just to keep safe, any repairs she needed to pay for herself.

Instead of the blue of hyperspace in front of her, it was the stars of normal space and it was clear her ship's hyperdrive had malfunctioned. Seeing that she was dangeriously close to the planet, she started to slow her descent into its atmosphere.

Having to shake her head a few times, this place reminded her of home. Checking the star chart though, she was far from there. At least, she knew how to survive in this type of hostile environment. Coming it at a high speed, nobody hailed her and she searched for any sign of civilization.

"Great, I'm coming down into a wasteland with no major cities. This is just wonderful..."

Trying to slow down at much as possible, she was able to keep her craft mostly level. Bringing it down a little hard, it slid across the sand until coming to a stop about halfway up a sand dune.

Gathering up what supplies she felt she would need, she opened her ship to check and see what additional damage was done. Finding a few scraped panels, she let out a sigh of relief as she continued her investigation. Letting out a curse, she found one gone entirely. Not that it was a huge deal but trying to find it might prove difficult.

Finishing her round, she returned to the inside and sat down to weigh her options. Being the Jedi she was, she meditated. For once, the Force failed her and she did not sense the approach of anybody...

Salcor Sand

 

[Salcor Sand]

Salcor moved carefully through the hot, bright dunes, like a predator moving in for the kill. Loose clothing prevented any sort of impediment as he continued to approach the downed ship. Salcor was witness to the great metal beast coming down hard on a dune, not too far away from where he was camped out recently. It was a good thing he hadn’t moved camp just yet, or he may have missed this opportunity. Argavat had plenty of salvage, but never anything new. Or like new, anyway. The downed ship looked like it had seen better days, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, especially when the beggar had someone like Ghorum the Hutt on his back.

Ghorum. Just thinking of the name made the brands on the back of Salcar’s hand and neck itch. The slimeball still had hunters looking for Salcar, even though it had been years since he had ripped out the Hutt’s eye and made his escape. And his men drew ever closer every day...

With a growl, Salcar turned his focus back towards the wrecked ship. A landing that hard should’ve been enough to incapacitate the crew, at least. So why did Salcar have a bad feeling about the wreckage? He checked his blaster holstered on his hip and the vibroblade on his back one last time before reaching up into a hole aboard the ship, where an exterior panel once sat. With a grunt, Salcar was on his way into the interior of the ship, remaining cautious. After all, his gut instinct was rarely wrong.

 

[Retired]

As she meditated, Seo did not sense the approach of Salcar until he was already onboard her ship. With the added weight, the ship shifted slightly and it was enough to bring her out of the meditation.

Standing up, she stopped to listen and looked out of the nearby viewport. It was still daylight so no night creature had gotten aboard, in her opinion. She had not attempted to sense the local wildlife but did not think anything would be out in the day. Obviously, she was mistaken.

Making sure she had a lightsaber on her belt, she cautiously moved in the opposite direction the ship was tipping. Just hoping the little extra weight she provided would help level it out again, she waited for any further sounds to happen.

Her normal cloak was resting on the couch and her bare arms showed clearly. The tattoo of a slave would be obvious on the inside of her arm.

Salcor Sand

 

[Salcor Sand]

The ship tilted ever so slightly as Salcor stepped aboard. He gave out an irritated growl, annoyed at his misstep. Hopefully whoever was aboard the ship wasn’t in any state to notice his presence. Salcor’s eyes adjusted to the dim light of the vessel. It appeared that he was in a corridor, leading from one room of the ship to another. Moving forward carefully, Salcor took care to muffle his footsteps by rolling his feet as he proceeded further down into the corridor.

The dim light gave way to a sharper brightness as Salcor made his way to the end of the hallway. The sun’s rays filtered in from the windows of a cockpit, showing a couch with a jacket thrown carelessly over it. A few other items laid around in disarray, no doubt thrown about by the impact of the crash landing. Where was the ship’s crew?

The corner of the room!

Instinctively, Salcor drew his blaster and leveled it towards the dark back corner of the cockpit. It seems his mind was working faster than his eyes could perceive, but in a moment, he saw who laid in wait for him. A young woman crouched low, her head wreathed by platinum hair. A pair of gold eyes watched Salcor carefully, and in her grasp, she held some sort of metal tube.

“Drop it,” Salcor growled. His voice, rough from sparse usage, gained a dangerous tone. He motioned to the strange piece of metal with a flick of his blaster, then pointed it back at the woman, aimed dead center. A flicker of guilt passed through Salcor, but passed as soon as it came. Whoever this woman was, she didn’t need the ship and whatever was aboard it as much as Salcor did. While he didn’t want to kill needlessly, Salcor would do what he had to do in order to survive another day. And whoever this woman was, she gave Salcor a strange feeling. A fight with her may not be for the best, he felt. And what was that strange metal object she was holding?

Well, there was only one way to answer his questions.

Retired

 

[Retired]

Knowing she would easily be able to pick up her lightsaber again with the Force if the weapon was needed, the Knight actually did what was requested of her. Moving slowly and with deliberation, Seo Linn started to set the hilt down on the floor. Keeping her empty hand open, the intruder would see it was not holding anything. Before letting go entirely, she tipped her head in his direction.

"Put your blaster away as well. We let go at the same time."

She was not a great empath, but as a Jedi, she could pick up on the stronger emotions. Feeling his sense of guilt, she wondered to herself why he felt it.

"What do you want? This ship needs to be repaired be it'll go anywhere."

As if she could read his mind, she instead watched his body. Looking for any hint as to his intention. On a desolate world like this, her personal thought was he wanted a way off. Not giving away much of her own intention, she did not let go of the hilt until he released the grip he had on his blaster.

Both of them had questions, now time would tell if either of them got their answers.

Salcor Sand

 

[Salcor Sand]

Salcor saw the woman bring her hand down to the ground, almost setting down the strange metal tube before she spoke. The scavver bristled at the request for him to drop his blaster. He didn’t plan on taking his blaster off of her until he was long gone.

“No deal,” Salcor rasped. With his free hand, he motioned for the strange woman to stand up and move towards him. “Drop the tube first. Won’t ask again.”

As far as the woman’s question went, Salcor remained silent. Her ship was worth quite a bit in salvage, even if it never flew again. Stripped parts could be easily sold for food and water, and other pieces used in his personal project. The fact of the matter was that Salcor was desperate. It had been a few days since he had a drink of water, as one could see by his chapped lips and almost feral expression. It was a wonder he could speak intelligibly at all, let alone think somewhat rationally.

Barely on the edge of perception, one could just faintly hear the high din of landspeeders growing ever so closer...

Retired

 

[Retired]

When he said no deal, she just shrugged a little and let go. Not standing up, he would see she had let go.

"There. Now what you do want?"

The other hand remained empty and on the inside of it, he might notice the tattoo. It wasn't that could know of the troubles and issues this man had been going through but the Knight had a good idea of them. Watching him as he eyes looked over her ship, his attention was still on her.

"Help yourself to the water next to you. I won't go after my weapons."

Sitting back on the heels of her feet, the one hand was kept close to her lightsaber hilt. Tilting her head to the side slightly, she could hear the light wind outside and the hum of engines coming closer.

"We have company coming."

Salcor Sand

 

[Salcor Sand]

Salcor left the woman’s first question unanswered as he reached over to the canteen next to him. With one hand still aiming death, and never taking his eyes off of her for more than a moment, Salcor gulped down the entire container. With a gasp for breath, he then threw the metal flask behind him, where it landed with a ping. It wasn’t too much water, but it certainly helped with the dryness. Thirst now partially quenched, Salcor spoke up again, his voice a little less raspy now.

“Food, water. Valuables. Equipment. Show them to me.”

A high pitched whine began to drone, entering into Salcor’s perception for the first time. A sliver of panic ran down his spine. He knew what that sound was: speeders, belonging to hunters. No one else would be out here, so far from anything or anyone.

Salcor took a moment to glance out the window of the cockpit, the faintest hint of worry on his face. Perhaps he took a little longer than usual in his glance out in his search for the landspeeders approaching. While his blaster was still pointed at the woman with golden eyes, she would suddenly have a split-second decision to make: stay in place, or use the brief lapse of attention to try to escape or attack?

Retired

 

[Retired]

Giving him the time he needed to finish the water she had in the cantina, Seo Linn kept her eyes on him. When he asked for her supplies and weapons, she shrugged slightly.

"There's a blaster rifle in my bunk. Supplies are in the cargo area and I travel light. So you'll not find any valuable items."

Even though she had answered him, his attention went outside. Looking at his face, she could see the worry there and she silently wondered why. Perhaps it was more scavengers coming to explore her ship. Then again, it might be something else entirely.

His blaster was still pointed at her but his attention was not. Closing her eyes for just a moment, she took a deep breath and exhaled it. Picking up her lightsaber, the hilt was quickly clipped to her belt. Gathering the Force about herself, she moved to try and tackle Salcor to the floor of the ship.

Salcor Sand

 

[Salcor Sand]

‘Hunters-‘

The sudden impact of the woman’s body into Salcor knocked the wind out of him. She was quick, moving fast enough to tackle him before he could even react. Salcor’s blaster went skittering out of his grasp, stopping next to the doorway leading into the adjacent corridor. The two went down in one heap.

Salcor threw a few elbows and knees in a crazed fury, but there wasn’t enough room for them to really connect with too much force. Instead, Salcor reached around for any object on the ground with one hand. The other hand served to keep the woman at bay. She was obviously trained in some degree of martial arts, that much was certain. Salcor would have to level the playing field to make up for his lack of formal education.

A hydrospanner would serve the trick.

Salcor felt the cool metal tool in his hand, tucked away under the cockpit. He brought his hand out from underneath the crevice, ripping his glove from top to bottom in the process. The glove, which was caught on a pointed bit of metal rod, was no longer concealing a brand, that of a skull with two rifles crossed underneath it. However, covering his old slave markings was currently the least of his concerns at this moment.

“Raagh!” Salcor let out a primal howl as his free hand came swinging towards the woman on top of him. The scavver aimed right at the temple of the woman. Salcor was not aiming to injure or disable; his incoming swing was intended to kill.

Retired

 

[Retired]

Her tackle succeeded far better than she anticipated. Winding up on the floor in a tangle of arms and legs, she felt when he got one of the free enough to grab at a tool under the seat of her ship. Cursing to herself, she did her best to keep most of his hits from actually connecting fully. His hand kept her from also making any further attacks.

Just before she did tackle him, he said one word...hunters. While it meant very little to Seo, it meant a great deal to him. However, there was a more pressing matter to worry about. That was her death. Being a Force user had certain advantages though and when his swing came out at her, she pulled away in time and off of him so his swing went wide.

Reaching out with the Force, she attempted to hold him still and place him in a hold to prevent him any further movement. Provided this worked, she sat down and looked at him.

"Friends of yours?"

Brushing the hair out of her face, she just looked at him and tried to get a better read on the man in front of her. In the light of the cockpit, she couldn't help but notice the mark on his hand. On the inside of her left arm, a similar marking could be seen.

Salcor Sand