Private On Slippery Slopes

[Dagon Kaze]

ON SLIPPERY SLOPES
MIRROR IMAGE vol. I
Issue #1

​

Heavy rain poured over Dagon Kaze as he peered over the rooftop down below to see Lord Letifer 's body lying lifeless on the ground. He had to be dead, the padawan's slash was grievous, deep, fatal. He hardly had the luxury to jump down and confirm it, not with a squad of marauders piling over the body and blasting fire at the Jedi from below. They were the least of problems.

Behind him lied the greatest.

There were a number of things he wanted to ask the padawan, perhaps even reprimand over but Letifer had left her heels with a gash that... was closing?! Just now, when the rush of battle was fading, he noticed the shift of her skin color. Near-human, fast-healing factor.

"We need to go. Maw soldiers are going to be here any minute now." he said as a matter of factly, mind still wondering over how much intel he'd lost with Letifer's death, "Can you run?" a note of compassion sprung in his voice.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem panted on her hands and knees, staring at roof edge like she couldn't believe it existed.

Had she just

killed​

a sith?​

We need to go. ​

Rain fell into her eyes, polluted and stinging as her wide gaze shifted to the jedi. Shock was easy read across her features, the girl's greenness as obvious as her skin. An exhilarated smile cracked through, life returning to her limbs. Right, yeah. They were still in danger.

Could she run? She swallowed hard and lied. "Yes."

She pushed herself to her knees, and the her- her- Screams of pain were held back behind her teeth, her vision speckling black. As fast as she was scabbing, the edges of her skin slowly reknitting before one's eyes, the tendons were not connected. Pure willpower overcame the agony as pushed herself up independently. She looked horribly pale, but it was nothing compared to the destruction around them.

She gaped at the chaos that had over taken the streets.

"The planet," she uttered, unwilling to move further away from the people they were meant to save.

Dagon Kaze

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Her 'yes' sounded like a hard 'no'. Having to help her back up on her feet only proved the perception. A glint in his eyes admired her stubbornness, but her reckless dive into this fight - it was concerning, familiar, too familiar...

...all guts, no brain.

Oh brother.

And she had killed. That could've been avoided, especially with Letifer being a pivotal piece of the Sith's plans. His mind ran through a thousand different possible scenarios in which this fight could've gone through. A thousand scenarios that could only be generated if one had the...training. Oh no, no, no.

"The planet," she uttered, unwilling to move further away from the people they were meant to save.

The Knight's attention shifted, his eyes tracing the chaos she gaped at, then back on her reluctant form. She was younger than he was when he had first marched to war. Back then, there were hardly any guiding figures among the New Jedi Order, to aid them in coping with the brutal reality of war. That young generation felt abandoned, even if Dagon was the one to shun his master's teachings in patience in the first place. Can't let that happen again. She needed guidance, just like they had needed one not so long ago (even if it felt like a lifetime ago).

Crap.

"We're moving out. You can't do anything when you're barely walking. Trust the others." the raven-haired Jedi said as much to himself as to her. Dagon's hand reached for the utility belt on his waist and produced a syringe full of bacta. He'd come to rely on field efficiency ever since he was a young teenager fighting crime in Corunscant's underbelly. Force healing was never a specialty of his.

"Stay still for a second." he held her hand tight and crouched on one knee, "I'm Dag, by the way." he introduced himself while he injected the bacta into her thigh.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Her clammy fingers tightened, seizing against the bite of the needle. Warmth flooded her veins, soothing her screaming nerves. She hadn't realized it was so intense. She hunched over, gasps of relief catching through her lips. "T-thanks."

She teetered without those ligaments but his hand kept her steady. She let out another long breath of relief and looked back over at him.

"I'm... Lia." The crazed edge had eeked out of her gaze. It made her next words sound almost reasonable. "I'm ok. Really. You- You should go help them." She straightened and rubbed the sweat from her face, gold returning to her skin.

"I will get myself back," she lied, bracing herself and looking him dead in the eye. There was always something a jedi could do, right? At any cost. It was their job. ...She needed every good mark she gather before her butt got shuttled back. Because once the council found out what she had done? Oh, she was in for it. Big time.

Her stomach twinged in desperation.

"Promise."

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"Lia." really new girl in the Order or have I really not been gone THAT long from Coruscant. "I'm not gonna be taking any chances. Getting in here is one thing, trekking back's another."

"No." he shook his head, a frown forming on his face. "We're leaving together." he had to struggle to push down the reluctance, eyes averting away from the chaos of war raging around them and feet leading the way back.

"You stowed away on a transport ship, didn't you?" Dagon asked with a small smirk crossing his lips. Big vessels, small crew, their only passengers were the large warfare goods they carried and hardly any crewmember left the cockpit or their quarters. He knew that well - he'd done it more than just a few times.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Her eyes jolted wide. "What? No. Never. I-" She rubbed at a scrapped elbow unconsciously, buying time as she looked around. "Um- with the other ones. The other Jedi. Ashlanders?" She offered messing up their name. She should have thought of a cover story. Adrenaline and desperation made a baaad mix, no cool spared as she stitched together a poor tale.

"And actually, you're right. I should be getting back to them. But it's that way. The other way," she added, nodding and shrugging nonchalantly. She never had to sneak before in her life. Things were always just... there.

She was much better with her saber, alright?

"I'll just... stay down. Call them. You can go, I'm sure they need you." She fiddled with her GA issued com watch, the channels still set to the temple frequencies.

"Thanks for the shot," she offered, not looking up. Pleasework.Pleasework.Please.

 

[Dagon Kaze]

The barely visible limp of her thigh - stuck in a cramped place for more than a day.

The elbow scrapping - a nervous tick, seen too much in a precinct's questioning room.

Pupils dilating - high brain activity, explained by the fact they're in the middle of warzone but doesn't explain the other tick.

The Ashlanders mishap - the Crusade wasn't even here.

An Alliance issued watch - and if he saw her tunic inside out, he'd probably find the New Jedi logo embroidered somewhere.

"Lia."

It would be today when she would experience the glare.

"...or is it Liar?"

This girl had to be brought back home and then...

and then what, Dag?

...

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem winced, her shoulders coiling towards her ears. Busted.

She staggered a step back, her feet dragging as she gained breathing room. The Galaxy suddenly felt very small, and that roof an air tight room. Her composure shattered as words spewed out of her. "Don't tell, please. I just wanted to prove to them. And look, I did! I killed a sith!" She gestured enthusiastically to the roof, danger still lingering below. Truth was she had only landed that hit with his help. That wouldn't be the story she told.

"I am so ready, I can prove to you--Please. Let me help you. It can be our little secret," she reasoned. Like that had ever worked on an adult before.

"Just don't take me back yet."

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Boy, where do I start?

There was an uncertainty within over what to address first. She had initiative, a proactive approach to 'fighting the good fight'. In a galaxy where most often good men do nothing, it was through this mindset that the New Jedi Order was born. Dagon could respect that, admire it even. It was needed now more than ever. But there were a thousand misconceptions that needed to cleared like rough blemishes and edges that needed to be sanded and molded into something smoother, finer.

"Killing a Sith is not the end goal, Lia. Neither is proving something the motive." he said, facial features slightly softening as he spoke. "You saved me from Letifer but for all the wrong reasons and often these reasons will end up leading you down a path that there is no turning back from."

"We're going back to Coruscant." Dagon stated without giving her a chance to protest, then paused in hesitance.

"You don't have a mentor, do you?"

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Shame heated up her cheeks. She looked away, unable to hold his gaze as she affirm his question with a slow shake of her head. No, but she could. If he could just let her prove herself here, the council could see-- But it wasn't about the council. Availability was a numbers game and she hadn't come out on top.

Cost of war and all.

She couldn't see that. Her lips parted for a response-- The roof hatch behind him peeled open. Three shots exploded from the darkness. She rose her hand in shock. "Look ou-"

Did she even finish saying it? A pulse wave rippled from her fingers, throwing off the bullets and tossing the unseen attacker back. Looked like the men below were pushing up.

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Her reaction was telling enough. The assumption had already been in his head when she'd jumped out of nowhere; there had been a lack of mentors among the New Jedi when he had been her age and there still was a deficit in the present. Dagon had been lucky, being underneath Asmundr's wing but even his presence had been sporadic, torn between overwhelming responsibilities for an order of their diminutive size.

Eyes squinted as danger sense scratched at the back of his head. Lagging, as always, given his subpar expertise in the school of Sense. Lia compensated for it. Her hand jolted forward against the source of slug fire and Dagon, in turn, snapped around to face their assailants. A wave of telekinesis whipped them back into the stairs tumbling and the Knight was quick to follow. Crumbling the roof exit on top of the marauders needed more time, more energy than using the already barely glued stone tiles to bury their entry.

Always pick your fights.

Half of the roof's tiles shot away at the attackers, a storm of stone and mortar to block their path to the roof; a very temporary solution.

"Go!" he shouted.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

This time she didn't have to be told twice.

She leapt off the edge of the roof, landing on the subsequent one by the grace of the force alone. Without her heels, she couldn't bend her feet. Her scramble across the roof face was graceless, the impact thudding in pained bursts through her wound. Never mind that, she made due, hands and feet summiting the next ledge. She watched as Dagon was soared across with his running start. She hesitated, the roof hatch a building over bursting open.

She screamed in exertion and pushed off the ground, the force shooting her up ... up... up... Blaster shoots whizzed by her, wide blue eyes locked on Dagon's as her arc ended a foot short.

She extended a hand, the force screaming for one thing. Catch me.

 

[Dagon Kaze]

When you spend your whole conscious life skipping from rooftop to rooftop, the heights and unnatural leaps are taken as a given. Muscle memory. Just like breathing. It was only the yelp through the Force that planted him in place.

Feet skidded roughly over slippery tiles to the point his knuckles went white, then his back drew a spine-breaking arch of an acrobat seeking the next trapeze and his hand reached for hers. Digits grasped for dear life, literally, as his gloved hand caught her from falling to an untimely death. He'd been in worse situations but this one came close.

The loose grip of his gloves dampened with water and slippery tiles made for an odd footing, almost no footing at all. Almost, his heart skipped a beat. He tried yanking her up, but a blaster bolt scorched his chest leaving him holding on to her while trying to muster a brief shield around himself. Failed to but he'd bend before he broke.

"Hold tight!" he yelled over the deadly chorus of blaster fire, then kicked his feet up into a backflip over the rooftop and into the crevice between buildings Lia was hanging from. If she can't handle the roof, they had to go ground level. And what better way than freefalling into certain death? But not only yours - that of this poor, reckless girl, too.

Gotcha.

There's nothing more liberating than the air against your face and the weight lifted from your existence until the nerve shock and pain jolt you back when you grab a flat ledge and all the weight of the world comes back. If that wasn't enough - he still was holding the girl but the distance down was no longer deadly, nor leg breaking. His shoulder would've burst before he could tell her to let his arm go so he let hers go first.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Don't scream don't scream-- Jem screamed as he released her arm. She flailed, reaching desperately for any hand holds as the ground ran up to gre-- training kicked in at the last moment. A pulse of the force broke her fall, followed by well executed roll. She slid to a stop, then crumbled onto her back. The buildings loomed high over head, the gloomy sky a sliver between. Rain hit her cheek.

A laugh bubbled from her chest, growing louder as adrenaline left her euphoric.

"You dropped us," she accused, her voice edged with amazement as she rolled back onto her fours. And they hadn't died. Yet. A nudge of the force pulled her attention straight up. Ope. She scrambled into the wall of the alleyway and tried to press herself flat into the deep shadows of the wall.

A voice echoed down from above.

"You see 'em?"

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"You see 'em?"

Silence of the lambs. Broken only by the restless symphony of war in the background.

Lia had all but disappeared into the shadows of the alleyway with Dagon molding into the darkness, crouched on the stool of what was once a window that was now merely paved with hastily laid bricks. The horror of screams from the dungeons still punched through their thickness, sorrow, grief, and pain emanating through the Force. It was both as quiet as a grave and as loud as a circus.

"No." came the curt reply, followed by hurried footsteps into the distance.

The raven-haired Knight hopped down on the ground as graceful as a cat and examined the dark surroundings.

"Lia? You can come out now." for what it's worth, he was as relieved as he was proud that she hadn't done something stupid to get the marauders' attention.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Lia.

How long could she get away with that? To the ship? To the temple? Hopefully she could shake him off by then. Maybe she could sneak back in. She was half torn between not wanting to get caught and wanting recognition for what she had done. Every moment was a different shade of courage and shock. This was nothing like she had expected, the very agony in the force chilling her to her bones.

All the more reason she should of come here. There was just the slight issue of... She opened her hand, the plastic components of her training saber cracked and shattered from the fall.

"I can't believe you dropped us," she grumbled, stepping back into view. She sighed and let the remains of her saber crumble, her foot dispersing them into the grime. She desperately needed the real thing.

An awkward look slowly lifted to the knight that had helped her. "Do you... have a spare?"

 

[Dagon Kaze]

"I can't believe you dropped us,"

Get used to it.

Turning his head to her as she stepped out from the shadows, he looked at the remains of her training saber squashed beneath her foot.

"Do you... have a spare?"

"Not since, uhh... a decade ago." a lopsided smirk manifested on his lips, "But I know where we can find you a spare." if there were stars in her eyes, they were falling with his next words, "On Coruscant."

"We can chit-chat on the way. Now move."

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem pulled a face, his response earning him a crinkled scowl as he crashed her hopes into the dirt.

"Cruel, that was mean. I bet there are words against that in the jedi code." She obeyed despite her protests, her steps coming easier as the bacta stem fulfilled its purpose. An awkward gate was all that marked what had almost been deadly. It was easy to feel invulnerable when you didn't stay down.

"I don't know why you're waisting your time doing this. I can walk myself back, or better yet-- help. I've trained since I was four." Or was it six? Four sounded better. She kept up the uncharacteristic banther, trying to distract him from the trick she pulled next.

At the intersection, she looked both ways and slinked to the right, slyly trying to lead them back towards the compounds they had left for the others to handle.

"I've already mastered three of the light saber forms, I'm top of my class duelist charts. Every time. I'm ready for my trials."

 

[Dagon Kaze]

Dagon huffed a burst of laugh through his lips at her retort. The Jedi Code and the New Jedi were, well, let's say sometimes had an ambivalent relationship but she'd known that probably.

"I did the same reckless thing you did when I was your age. Maybe I still do from time to time, too. But I started my Jedi training when I was already eleven." or was it twelve? Dagon was already down in the bowels of Coruscant fighting crime by thirteen. Lack of manpower. Field efficiency. That's probably the word that best described the New Jedi Order as a whole.

He halted at the intersection, watching her walk right back towards the War Camp's heart.

"Aha... so where's your lightsaber then, best duelist?" he threw a lopsided smirk her way.

Jem Fossk

 

[Jem Fossk]

Jem frown, her expression leveled at him as she stopped and turned.

"You dropped me," she asserted, balls of steel as she turned back towards the street. She didn't have a plan for what she'd do once they reached the camp. She weaponless, as he had made clear. That was fine. She was a jedi. She'd figure it out.

A sudden shot flashed by her head. It was only the instinctual jerk of her muscles that stopped the snipper from nabbing her dead between the eyes.

Yeah, about that. Temples didn't teach street smarts.

She fell backwards in shock, shuffling to pull herself back out of the line of fire. No other shots came. Either it was a lone sniper or a passing guard that was just covering his flank.

She shuffled back toward's Dagon's side, dirt stuck to her palms. A telling look was leveled at the weapon on his belt, not unlike the twinkle of a street rat about to bump into you for coin.

"Aight, wrong way."

He awkward gait faltered, brushing into his side for support.