So Alone... So Scared...

[Unsho]

[member="Ki'an Karr"]

Unsho awoke, feeling hot and tired. His body ached, and his eyes struggled to adjust to the glaring sun of Tatooine. He tried to stand up but he hit his head on something. It seemed he was in a wooden cage, too strong for him to break it. Outside of the cage, the unmistakable sound of Tusken Raiders made him scared. His cage was in the middle of the Raider's camp. He was going to die here. Alone. A tear came from his eye, and he quickly tried to wipe it away. But he couldn't hold it back, and he broke into a silent fit of crying.
First the chaos on Coruscant, now this. I'm going to die.

 

[Kian Karr]

[member="Noah Corek"], [member="Unsho"]

Ki'an Karr had arrived on Tatooine with one goal in mind. He was to meet with a contact regarding smuggling activities into Galactic space and send the information along to those in charge. That had been an easy task and he had met with the contact, a shady Sallust earlier that day. Now he was on his time, as his transport wasn't scheduled to leave until the following morning. Ki'an had wanted to explore the world more and had rented a speeder. Tatooine reminded him of home mostly due to its turbulent weather.

However, as Ki'an noticed the twin suns beginning to go down behind the dunes, he decided it was time to head back. As he jumped back into his speeder he suddenly felt something drawing him in the force. Opening himself to the feeling he felt great sadness and suffering. Not willing to ignore that pain, Ki'an turned his speeder around and went further into the desert. It wasn't long before he came across a high crest in the sand. Stopping the speeder he got out and climbed to the top. Before him was a Tusken Raider camp. He pulled his lightsaber from his hip, but didn't activate it. He didn't want to fight them, nor did he know how many there were.

Using the darkness and the rocks as cover, Ki'an made his way into the camp. Following the suffering in the force, he came across a small hut in the center of the camp. Ki'an took a deep, calming breath and dove into the hut. Luckily it was empty, save for a small wooden crate with a small Ithorian inside crying. Ki'an knew enough of Ithorian physiology to tell it was an adolescent male. Creeping over the cage, Ki'an poored reassurance and warmth into the force.

"I'm here to help," Ki'an said quietly and knelt down before the cage, picking open the lock with a tool on his belt, "how in the force did you get here?"

 

[Unsho]

Unsho felt the reassurance, causing his tears to stop flowing. He recognised the species of his saviour, since he had seen a few of them on Coruscant. "Taken from... desert..." The Ithorian struggled out his non-fluent basic, yet he managed to remember the words he needed. "From Coruscant... Left after war..." He nodded, before pushing lightly on the cage door once it was unlocked. Sounds of footsteps outside made him jump, although he wasn't sure if they were just his imagination or not... "Scared..." Unsho whispered, cowering behind the Jedi.

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an knelt down in front of the small Ithorian and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He poured reassurance and warmth into the force. Ki'an didn't typically use the force to manipulate others unless absolutely necessary but what he was doing was not so much manipulation as it was comforting.

"We will be fine. I'm going to get you out of here." Ki'an said. "I have a speeder not far from here, we just need to try and avoid detection." Ki'an said nodding his head back towards the opening he hand entered at. He hoped he could get the young Ithorian back through the opening and across the camp undetected. He too heard movement outside the tent. They needed to move and they needed to move now.

"Follow me." Ki'an said and he crept toward the opening. Peering out, Ki'an didn't notice anyone in the immediate area and he slowly lead [member="Unsho"] out into the darkness. What Ki'an didn't know, is they were being watched. His entrance into the camp hadn't gone unnoticed....

 

[Unsho]

Unsho stayed so close to the Jedi he was nearly pressed against him. His body was shaking, as he nodded at his saviour. The darkness outside scared him even more, yet the reassuring aura of the Jedi stopped him from crying out. Suddenly, he gripped the man's leg. "Something... move..." The Ithorian whispered, before pointing behind them. It was a strange feeling, as if he knew something moved without seeing or hearing it. Fear ran through his mind tenfold, as he rotated himself around the Jedi, hiding from whatever might have moved.

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an felt it too and turned to follow [member="Unsho"]'s gaze. The darkness was suddenly illuminated by the snap-hiss of Ki'an yellow lightsaber springing to life. He knew in the dark it would give away their location, but he couldn't afford to continue on defenseless.

"Run!!" Ki'an yelled pointing in the direction of the speeder and he pushed Unsho out in front of him while turning around to defend him. Almost immediately the the distinct sound of the Tusken Raider's slug guns was heard. Unlike conventional blaster rifles, the Tusken Raiders weapons fired slugs. This made defending from them more difficult as Ki'an wasn't able to see the bolts coming, nor could he send them back at the Raiders offensively. However, Ki'an had the force on his side and was able to at least defend himself and Unsho from the blasts.

As they moved though, two Raiders charged, their Gaffi sticks poised for the attack. Ki'an cut the first Gaffi stick in half, and then ducked to the side as the other just missed him. Coming around with a powerful diagonal slash, Ki'an cut down the first Raider and then sent the second hurdling backwards with a force push. Just barely did he get his saber up in time to block the hail of slugs that came fire in at him. Ki'an hoped dearly that the Raiders hadn't discovered their speeder or else they would be stranded here against an unknown number of assailants.

 

[Unsho]

Unsho ran faster than he had ever done. In the darkness it was hard to see where the speeder was exactly, but he sprinted to where the Jedi had pointed. Just as he was reaching the outer edges of the camp, a menacing growl came from his side. Frozen with fear, the Ithorian stopped to look at the strange creature the raider's called a pet. He had no idea what it was, yet it didn't look friendly with four clawed legs and razor sharp teeth. Unsho didn't want to move; the creature could pounce on him if he did. Yet in the moment of fear and chaos, he felt something odd, and then an idea came. Throughout Unsho's life he had been able to connect with animals and in some cases, calm them. He had no idea how he got the ability to do so, but now was no time to figure it out. Doing as he had done before in his life, Unsho reached out to the creature with his feelings, trying to make it feel calm and peaceful. The sharp teeth dissapeared as the creature closed it's mouth, the hostile expression gone. If he could, he would have stayed longer to deal with the creature, yet the sound of rifles firing broke his concentration. Despite breaking his connection, the creature seemed to show no interest in Unsho, and so he took his borrowed time to continue his run to the speeder.

Outside of the camp, Unsho looked back at the yellow light of the Jedi's lightsaber. He knew he couldn't drive a speeder, and so he hid himself behind a nearby rock, waiting for the Jedi to make his way out.

 

[Kian Karr]

[member="Unsho"]

Ki'an cut down another Tusken Raider as he charged with his Gaffi stick raised high above his head. Ki'an felt a twinge of guilt. He was sure under other circumstances he would have tried to negotiate with the Raiders, but he hadn't really been given the opportunity this time. He had snuck into their camp at night. They reacted as they felt they must, as Ki'an now was forced to do. Reaching the out camp, Ki'an saw out of the corner of his eye the large beast baring down on [member="Unsho"]. Ki'an wanted to help, but he was too preoccupied with defending from the slugs being fired at him. Already one had gotten in past his defense and left a burning hot cut across his left side. The wound wasn't bad and it wasn't bleeding to heavily, but it hurt. Ki'an couldn't afford to let any other shots in.

Luckily for Ki'an, Unsho seemed to have calmed the beast. He felt the young Ithorian reach out in the force and still the animals mind. Ki'an had known the boy was force sensitive by the way he had called out into the force when in danger, but that was a remarkable ability for one as young as he. Ki'an knew now if they got out of this alive, he should take the youngling to the academy on Ossus. There he could begin his training as a Jedi, assuming that is what he wanted.

Finally making it clear of the camp, Ki'an swatted aside another shot and turned to run. Grabbing the boy in his arms as he went, Ki'an leapt, using the force to carry them and landed inside the speeder. Turning off his lightsaber, Ki'an jumped down into the seat and punched the ignition. Slugs ricocheted off the side of the speeder, but suddenly the wind was hitting Ki'an as he gunned the throttle and they roared off into the dark desert. They had made it out alive.

"Are you alright?" Ki'an asked after a moment, when he was sure they were clear of danger. As he said the words, he felt the engine rattle and the speeder begin to shake. Looking back he could see smoke billowing out of the speeder. The slugs had done some damage. He knew the speeder wouldn't take them all the way back to the city, but it would hopefully get them part of the way. The desert was dangerous at night but not nearly as dangerous as where they had just come from. Or at least that is what Ki'an hoped.

 

[Unsho]

The giant leap shocked Unsho, but once they had landed and started speeding off, his worries suddenly washed away. "Are you alright?" His saviour asked, and he nodded in reply. In the darkness and chaos of before, he hadn't been able to fully examine the Jedi's appearance. He had to admit, the Kel'dor looked scary with their masks, yet Unsho looked past that and saw a man he owed his life to. "Thank you... Jedi..." He managed to say as he curled up in the passenger seat. The smoke at the back of the speeder didn't worry Unsho at all. If this Jedi could save him from raiders, surely he could get him to safety aswell. "Where go now?" The Ithorian asked, looking up at Ki'an.

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an held tight to the controls as the ship continued to shimmy and shake. Then, with a strong puff of black smoke and a clang, the engine died and the speeder began to slow. Ki'an rode it out as far as it would go and then brought it to a stop. There goes the security deposit, Ki'an thought to himself and smiled.

Turning back to the Ithorian he inclined his head. Where would they go? Ki'an knew the way back toward the city, but he wasn't entirely sure how safe the journey would be. There were rocks dunes all around them. Ki'an thought for a moment and decided they would continue one. He felt himself beginning to weaken slightly from the wound in his side and he didn't want to take the chance that if they camped for the rest of the night, he would be too weak to get [member="Unsho"] back safely.

"We continue on to the city....and then, if you'd like, I'll take you back with me to Ossus. There is a Jedi Academy there. I think they'd be willing to train you in the force." Ki'an said getting out of the speeder. "That thing you did with the beast earlier, have you done that before?" Ki'an asked grabbing his bag and some supplies. They had some water, but not a lot.

 

[Unsho]

The Ithorian climbed out of the speeder, looking up at Ki'an. "O-ssus... Me? Jedi?" He thought for a moment while his saviour grabbed some supplies. "I used to... connect with animals... on Coruscant market... Many times..." Unsho nodded, he had done it many times before although not on a beast that size. "Was that... the 'Force'?" He asked, moving closer to the Jedi as he looked out into the dark desert. Despite the comfort of his protector, the darkness filled him with fear again. He just hoped he'd survive... He wouldn't mind being a Jedi...

 

[Kian Karr]

Ki'an led the two of them into the darkness as they made their way toward the city. He stretched outward with the force, sensing for danger or signs of other lifeforms as they went. He could sense life around them. There were animals in the dark, but he didn't sense anything malicious or dangerous.

"Yes it was," Ki'an said glancing back over his shoulder at [member="Unsho"], "you have a strong connection to the force. You'd have to for one as young as you to be able to do that. The masters at the order will know more about it."