Private Somewhere Between Here and There

[Iandre Athlea]

For just a moment, the weight that had settled over Iandre these past months seemed to ease. A genuine smile spread across her face, soft at first before growing into something brighter. It felt unfamiliar, as though muscles she hadn't used in far too long were remembering what they were for. A quiet laugh escaped her, carrying with it a warmth that had been absent since Rellik's death.

"I may just take you up on that offer." she said sincerely. "Truthfully...I don't think anyone has asked me what I want to be in a very long time." She wrapped both hands around the warm mug, letting the heat settle into her fingers. "For so long I always had an answer. Jedi. Soldier. Wife. Every stage of my life seemed to come with a role I simply stepped into." She smiled thoughtfully. "Now, for the first time, that answer isn't waiting for me."

Her eyes met Ti'sonta's once more, gratitude plain upon her face. "Maybe that's not something to fear." she said quietly. "Maybe it's an opportunity." The smile remained, genuine and unforced. "So yes...I think I'd like your help when the time comes. Maybe it's finally time I discovered who I want to become."

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

"We'd be happy to help you, Iandre." Ti'sonta smiled softly. She took a long sip of her tea, using the pause to process the myriad of thoughts that had just passed through her mind. Why had she offered that? And gladly? She once again couldn't detect any force effects at play. Did she...genuinely want to help out Iandre? She was an ex-jedi, and practically an unknown. Ti'sonta had enough experience in subterfuge and life kicking her in the gutter to know that Iandre was Dangerous to her. Her instincts were screaming at her to keep Iandre at arms length, but a small part of her that she had thought long since buried whispered to give her a chance.
She looked over to her old friend, who was regarding her with his optics. She knew he had an inkling of what she was thinking. So time to throw him for a loop.
"So Iandre..." She began, setting the mug of tea back down. "Once you're done in the Temple...how about a trip to The Wheel?"
SH1-FU looked aghast at the red twi'lek. "Ti'sonta! That is no place for a lady of miss Iandre's calibre to visit!"
Ti'sonta raised a tattooed eyebrow at this. "And I'm not a lady, Shifu?"
"No youngling. You let your inhibitions run too wild to be considered one."
Ti'sonta shrugged before continuing on. "My point exactly. From what I understand of Jedi, they bottle their emotions up and don't let themselves have any real fun at all. So how better to find out about yourself than to go somewhere where no-one cares who you are or what you were? Somewhere you can really cut loose! How about it, Iandre?"

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre couldn't help but laugh at the exchange between Ti'sonta and SH1-FU. It was genuine, light, and for the first time in what felt like months, effortless.

She looked from one to the other before giving an amused shake of her head.

"It certainly would be a change." she admitted.

Her attention settled on SH1-FU, her smile softening.

"Shifu...I'm not the Jedi I once was." she said gently. "Nor do I think I should try to be." Her gaze drifted briefly into her mug before returning to him. "I'm a widow now. A woman trying to discover who she is after losing nearly everything that once defined her."

She looked back to Ti'sonta, the warmth returning to her expression.

"So yes." she said with a growing smile. "When I've found what I need at the Temple...I'd be more than happy to go to The Wheel with you."

A playful glimmer appeared in her grey eyes.

"Though I should warn you..." she added with the faintest laugh. "You'll probably discover there are quite a few things a woman from nine hundred years ago has never experienced."

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

"All the more reason to go, then!" Ti'sonta grinned, happy that Iandre actually wanted to go along with it.
SH1-FU simply looked between the two and held his head in his hands, and groaned at what was transpiring between the two women before him.

~~~

After shrugging on a fresh set of clothes, Ti'sonta stepped out of the shower unit and into the cargo bay. It was their third cycle in hyperspace, and she felt rough and ragged. The ice cold shower did a lot to bring her back to her senses, but meditation, caffeine, and the aforementioned cold showers could only help so much to stem the effects of three days without sleep. But she had to persevere. Just another two days, and she could fly over to somewhere secluded on Naboo and let sleep take her away. SH1-FU always liked visiting the temple, so he should be able to amuse himself for a few days while she recovered.

She heard the gentle discussion emanating further down the other end of the cargo bay and found herself venturing closer, where she found SH!-FU and Iandre discussing something among themselves. Reinforcing her mental suppression of her force signature, Ti'sonta calmly padded over to the two, before announcing her presence with a polite cough.
"Good morning, you two." Ti'sonta greeted the pair. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important..."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre looked up at the sound of Ti'sonta's voice, a warm smile already forming. It faltered only slightly as she took in the other woman's appearance. The fresh clothes and damp hair did little to disguise the fatigue written across her face. There was a heaviness about her that no shower could wash away, the sort that settled into a person after pushing themselves well beyond what was reasonable.

"Good morning." Her tone was gentle, touched with quiet concern. "Not at all. Shifu was trying to convince me that your idea of taking me to the Wheel was terribly inappropriate for a lady."

SH1-FU gave a dramatic, electronic sigh.

"I was explaining that I stopped trying to fit other people's expectations of what a lady ought to do quite some time ago." A faint smile returned to her lips. "I'm afraid I wasn't winning him over."

Her attention settled fully on Ti'sonta again. Up close, the exhaustion was even more apparent.

"You look tired." There was no judgment in the observation, only kindness. "Would you like something to drink before you decide to conquer another day? Tea? Caf? Water?" She tilted her head ever so slightly. "I can get it for you."

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

Ti'sonta gave Iandre a small smile. "That's alright. You're a guest aboard my ship, you shouldn't have to get me anything! That being said..." The twi'lek padded her way over to the table and kitchen area and spooned some caf into a cup before filling it with boiling water. Using this little pause, Ti'sonta's mind began to churn as she silently cursed herself. She was showing weakness. If her will gave out before they got to Naboo...
...She'd be spending a long time in a dark cell of a short one at the end of a lightsaber.
She took a moment to ensure the mental block she was maintaining was firmly in place before taking another cup and preparing a second cup of caf.
"Can I tempt you with a cuppa, Iandre?" Ti'sonta asked, turning around to face the pair with a smile on her face and a conversation game plan in place. "Perhaps we can talk about something else other than our upcoming trip to The Wheel. You seem to have a lot on your mind, yourself."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre watched Ti'sonta cross toward the small kitchen area, her concern lingering despite the other woman's smile. There was something about her that seemed more worn than merely waking after a poor night's sleep, but Iandre had no intention of pressing the matter. They had not known one another long enough for her to start prying into things Ti'sonta wasn't ready to share.

"I may be a guest, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of helping." she pointed out with a small smile. When the second cup appeared, however, she conceded the matter easily enough and reached out to accept it. "But since you've already made it, yes. Thank you."

The warmth of the cup settled comfortably between her hands as Ti'sonta turned the conversation toward her instead. A lot on your mind. That was one way of describing it. There had scarcely been a time since she'd awakened in this era when there hadn't been something occupying her thoughts, but lately everything seemed to circle back toward the same questions. Rellik's absence was always there, of course, but beyond the grief waited the far more difficult question of what she was supposed to do with the life that remained.

"I suppose I do." Iandre admitted, taking a small sip of the caf before looking back toward Ti'sonta. "For a long time, I always knew what came next. I was a Jedi, then I woke up here and eventually found the Diarchy. Then there was Rellik." His name still brought a quiet ache with it, though she managed not to retreat from it. "There was always something, or someone, giving my life direction."

She lowered her gaze briefly toward the caf in her hands before giving a small shrug. "Now I'm going to Naboo hoping I might find some of that direction for myself." A faint smile touched her lips as she looked back up. "Which sounds considerably more profound when I say it aloud than it did in my head."

Her attention returned to Ti'sonta, and some of the earlier concern crept back into her expression. "Although I'm not the one who looks like she hasn't slept properly in days." She didn't push beyond the observation, leaving Ti'sonta every opportunity to dismiss it if she wished. "How long has it actually been since you've slept?"

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

"I'm sure they'll help you out." Ti'sonta paused as she took a sip of her caf, the smuggler letting out a sigh of relief as she felt the caffeine massage and stoke her synapses to an acceptable level of functionality. "..As much as they can. Between us, but it feels you've got quite a lot of emotions that need to be let out. And although my knowledge of Jedi is limited to what a certain someone preached and Shifu's talks, ignoring and bottling-up emotions is never a healthy thing, especially for prolonged periods of time."
Ti'sonta took another slow mouthful as she paused to let Iandre speak, before letting out a small exhale. "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. I'm perfectly fine."

A robotic clearing of the throat sounded as SH1-FU spoke up. "If I may, Miss Ti'sonta has trouble sleeping under...certain conditions. I won't go into details here. But rest assured, she is still a capable pilot."
"Thank you Shifu, see? Nothing to worry about."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre accepted SH1-FU's explanation with a small nod, though it did little to lessen the concern in her eyes. Whatever those "certain conditions" were, it was clear they were not something Ti'sonta wished to discuss. That alone was enough reason not to press further.

"Very well." she said gently. "I'll trust the both of you."

She wrapped her hands around the warm mug, taking another quiet sip before looking back toward Ti'sonta.

"I wasn't asking because I doubted your ability to fly." A faint smile softened her expression. "I asked because you looked tired."

The words were simple, free of accusation or expectation.

"If you ever decide you'd like to talk about it, I'll listen." She shrugged lightly. "If not, that's alright too."

Her smile returned, gentler this time.

"I suspect we all have things we'd rather carry until we're ready to set them down."

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

Ti'sonta let out a small hollow chuckle. "Well, us girls have to have some secrets, you know?" she smiled wearily as she took another sip of her caf.
"So! I do believe it's time for lunch. What are you feeling like, Miss Iandre?"

Moments after she asked the question, A small automated chime sounded through the ship's PA system.
"Ah, it seems we have finished this leg of the journey." SH1-FU commented, as a shudder ran through the ship. "We have just left hyperspace. Just another jump and we will arrive in the Naboo system."
"Yeah, and you'll get to visit your friends at the Temple again." Ti'sonta replied, making her way to the galley once more. "I wonder how the food is at the temple? For a bunch of aesthetics, you'd imagine it'd be-"

Ti'sonta froze as a large metallic CLANG resounded through the hull, followed by a series of smaller knocks on the port side of the cargo bay.
"...Oh dear." SH1-FU uttered, the compartments in the small of his back opening up as he takes out all four of his training blasters. "That better not be what I think it is..."
"It karking well is, Shifu!" Ti'sonta swore, already wrenching open a nearby cupboard and pulling out a bandolier strung with shells and a squat looking firearm. "Dammit, I knew I shouldn't have taken this shortcut, but I thought we'd have at least some time before we got any attention! They must've been waiting for us!" The twi'lek clipped the bandolier around her waist and broke open the shotgun, loading two shells into the barrels before closing it with a flick of her wrist. "I'm sorry about this Iandre." She apologised as she began pushing a heavy crate into the path of where a line was beginning to be cut into the port side wall of the cargo bay. "I didn't think we'd have to contend with this kind of in-flight entertainment."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

The question of lunch never received an answer.

The first metallic impact reverberated through the hull, followed almost immediately by the unmistakable rasp of something cutting into durasteel. Iandre was already on her feet before the second series of knocks echoed through the cargo bay. Ti'sonta's apology was met with a gentle shake of her head. "You don't need to apologize." Her voice remained remarkably calm despite the circumstances. Danger had a way of sharpening her focus rather than disturbing it.

As Ti'sonta armed herself and SH1-FU produced his training sabers, Iandre reached over one shoulder, briefly checking that the sling of her LO-20D rifle was secure across her back. The weapon stayed exactly where it was. There was little room inside a freighter for a rifle to be used effectively, and she trusted there would be time to draw it if the fight demanded it. Instead, her hand settled lightly against the hilt of her lightsaber as she let the Force brush against the space beyond the hull, searching for the presence and number of those waiting outside.

Her grey eyes returned to Ti'sonta. "What do you need from me?" It was Ti'sonta's ship, and she knew it far better than any guest ever could. Without waiting for an answer, Iandre moved toward the forming breach, careful to leave room for Ti'sonta and SH1-FU to maneuver around the growing barricade. Her thumb rested against the activation switch of her lightsaber, ready but unhurried. "If they come through here," she said quietly, "they'll have to come through me first."

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

"Just keep yourself safe." Ti'sonta answered, emptying a bag of ball bearings in front of the growing doorway that was being cut into her ship. "They're pirates, and around here, probably slavers if we're really unlucky. That means they won't want to kill us, though." She vaulted the small barricade they had made before taking a moment to check what equipment she had on her.
Shotgun, check. Blaster, check. Dagger, check. Flash grenades check. her wrist brushed against the small pocket sewn into the hem of her jacket where her own lightsaber was hidden. Check, but she dare not use it here.
She took a moment to center herself before taking out her shotgun. "Standard play book is that once they cut through they'll throw either flash bombs or use stun gas. If you could use your force powers to make sure that stays on their side, that'll help out a lot. After that they'll spray the opening with blaster fire. Shifu can block a lot of that by himself, but adding your lightsaber to the mix would help out a lot. We just gotta convince them that we're not worth the effort."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre listened without interruption, committing the sequence to memory as Ti'sonta spoke. Pirates. Possibly slavers. Flash grenades, stun gas, then concentrated blaster fire. It was a practiced boarding procedure, one that relied upon overwhelming a crew before they could properly organize a defense.

She gave a single nod.

"Understood."

Her hand remained on the hilt of her lightsaber as the sound of cutting durasteel grew louder. "I can keep the stun gas from reaching us if they use it." She glanced briefly toward the widening seam in the hull. "The flash grenades are another matter. I won't be able to stop the light once they're through." There was no uncertainty in her voice, only a calm assessment of what she could and could not do. "If you see one coming, call it. I'll do what I can, but I don't want you counting on something I may not be able to prevent."

She settled into a balanced stance beside the barricade, neither crowding SH1-FU nor leaving an opening for anyone forcing their way aboard. Her thumb rested against the activator of her lightsaber, waiting rather than anticipating. "We'll make them think this ship costs more to take than it's worth."

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

Ti'sonta frowned as she watched the glowing yellow line of heat and plasma cut a doorway through the bulkhead of her precious ship. Ugh, this would be so much easier if she wasn't blocking herself from the Force! She ran though the mental checklist as she watched SH1-FU take position behind their makeshift barricade, his lightsabers casting a neon green glow about him
The cover's been set up, she's got all her gear ready, there's ball bearings in front of the entryway, Iandre's helping out with her Force abilities...
...Why was she feeling like she was missing something?
"...Hold on," Ti'sonta spoke finally as she mused on their situation. "They've had plenty of time. Why didn't they announce themselves? Where's the 'Surrender now' Bluster pirates always spout?"

The slab of cut bulkhead fell to the decking with a mighty CLANG, and almost immediately a flurry of blaster stun bolts flew out, causing Ti'sonta to duck as one sailed inches past her head. with a snarl Ti'sonta returned fire with her own blaster pistol, and her own stun bolts joining the ones reflected back by SH1-FU's deft deflections.
"Ladies, We have gas!" The droid warned, watching the cannisters skitter across the deck before beginning to pump a sickly green fog into the air. Ti'sonta could hear the guttural cursing and oaths from the would-be boarders as their plan took a proverbial spanner in the works.

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Ti'sonta's question barely had time to settle before the answer arrived in the form of stun bolts. Iandre dropped instinctively behind the makeshift barricade as the first volley tore through the opening, one hand already closing around her lightsaber. The emerald blade snapped to life, but she resisted the instinct to join SH1-FU in returning the incoming fire. Ti'sonta and the droid had that covered for the moment, and three people attempting to fight through the same narrow opening would only get in one another's way.

The warning about gas immediately shifted her priorities. Iandre's attention went first to Ti'sonta. Reaching through the Force, she shaped it around the Twi'lek, forming a barrier that enclosed her closely enough to keep the spreading green vapor from reaching her. Only once she was satisfied it would hold did Iandre repeat the process around herself, creating a second pocket of clean air while the gas continued to spill across the cargo bay floor. "Ti'sonta, you're covered."

She remained behind the barricade with her lightsaber raised, grey eyes fixed upon the opening while SH1-FU continued intercepting the barrage. For now, Iandre concentrated on maintaining both barriers and watching for anything that slipped past him. Every deflected bolt meant one less threat she needed to address, and every moment Ti'sonta could continue firing without worrying about the gas gave them another advantage.

There would be an opportunity to help push the boarders back once their opening assault faltered. Until then, Iandre was content to let Ti'sonta and SH1-FU provide the offense while she made certain neither had to divide their attention unnecessarily. "Keep them occupied." she called over the exchange of blaster fire. "I'll keep the gas off us."

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

Ti'sonta let out lungful of air that she had been holding with a gasp, firing her blaster over the side of the barricade as she paused to catch her breath.
"Thanks Iandre!" She smiled. "Didn't know how much longer I could've held my breath back there."
The smuggler paused to think. Their assailants were using stun bolts, so they wanted to take prisoners. This lined up with the usual slaver modus operandi, but something was off. Usually they would've broken off by now with the stiff resistance Ti'sonta and her friends were putting up. And usually the glow of Sh1-FU's lightsabres would send them packing fast. Every spacer knew not to tangle with a Jedi, robotic or not. Something was off...
Meanwhile, SH1-FU continued to reflect the torrent of blaster bolts as his Soresu routines ran at full capacity. While he didn't have the preternatural senses of a real jedi, his prediction algorithms continued to calculate the trajectory of each blaster bolt and manoeuvre each training lightsabre into the optimal position to return the bolt back towards the attackers. With his cooling vents whining audibly from the effort in keeping his processors from overheating, the ancient droid slowly made his way towards the gas cannisters. Then, with a hiss of static he kicked each cannister back through the breach and into the midst of the attackers.
It was a pity they were wearing rebreathers.
"That should take care of the gas, ladies!" SH1-FU called out, returning to focus on deflecting the blaster fire. "But we need to do something soon!"
"I can see that!" Ti'sonta snarled, firing off another volley from her pistol before ducking back to reload. "This ain't natural, they should've buggered off by now! Maybe we can- Could you please stop poking my brain, Iandre?" she snapped, the stress and her lack of sleep causing her irritation to flare as she felt a tendril of force begin to probe her mind.

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre's attention snapped toward Ti'sonta at the accusation, confusion briefly cutting through the concentration etched across her features. She had done nothing more than maintain the barrier around the Twi'lek, and there was certainly no reason for her to be anywhere near Ti'sonta's thoughts. "I'm not." The answer came immediately, firm enough to leave little room for misunderstanding. Her grey eyes narrowed as another possibility occurred to her. "Ti'sonta, I'm not touching your mind at all."

That suddenly bothered her considerably more than the continuing barrage of stun bolts. Their attackers should have withdrawn. Ti'sonta knew that, SH1-FU knew that, and Iandre could see no reason ordinary pirates would continue throwing themselves against resistance that included lightsabers and the Force. Now Ti'sonta was sensing someone probing at her thoughts. Iandre couldn't know whether the two were connected, but she wasn't willing to dismiss the possibility. "If you're feeling someone in your mind, it's coming from somewhere else."

With the gas canisters gone, there was no longer any reason to divide her concentration between maintaining the barriers. Iandre released them and shifted her attention toward the breach. Her lightsaber remained ready as she waited through another volley, watching SH1-FU turn the incoming bolts aside while she reached beyond the torn bulkhead with the Force. She didn't need to see every attacker individually. The narrow boarding passage they were firing through gave her something far simpler to work with.

"SH1-FU, give me an opening." The moment the droid's defense allowed it, Iandre stepped far enough from cover to thrust her free hand toward the breach. The Force surged outward in a broad, concentrated wave intended not to injure but to sweep the boarders away from the opening and drive them back into their own vessel. If she could scatter them, knock weapons from hands, or simply buy several seconds of confusion, Ti'sonta and SH1-FU could exploit it. "Ti'sonta, whoever is doing that can wait. Let's get them off your ship first."

When all of that was accomplished, she could ask Ti'sonta exactly how she could tell somebody was probing at her mind.

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

"Right" Ti'sonta nodded, taking a stun grenade from her belt and priming it. When she heard the tell-tale fwoosh of a force push, the twi'lek smuggler vaulted out of cover and pitched the flashing ball down into the gas-filled breach among the smoke-blurred silhouettes of their assailants. To her surprise, the stun grenade halted in mid air, hovering for a moment before a strong force push sent the bomb flying back out the hole.
SH1-FU barely had time to bring his lightsabers around to block the grenade before the force push behind it sent the ancient droid careening over the barricade and into the cargo bay wall behind them.
"SHIFU!" Ti'sonta cried out before a low chuckle echoes through the fog.
"My my, so this is how far you've fallen..." A dark silhouette could be seen through the fog, before the crimson beam snarled into life from it's hand.
"It took me so long to find you Kelis, but no matter. Master Infekt will love to meet his vengeance on-"
The shape's monologue was cut off with a yelp as Ti'sonta's shotgun barked twice, a great cloud of burning magnesium and tungsten flachettes filling the breach and burning through the startled swings of crimson to send the shape toppling to the floor groaning.
"I ain't going back." Ti'sonta spoke softly to herself, her face as if carved from stone as her hands moved automatically to break open her shotgun, the spent shells clattering to the floor as she slammed in another two shells. "You hear me, Boy? Red's not karkin' going back."

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre had barely recovered from the resistance against her own push when the grenade suddenly reversed direction. Her attention snapped toward it, but SH1-FU moved first, catching the returning explosive with his blades only to be hurled backward by the wave of Force that followed. Iandre turned instinctively as the droid struck the cargo bay wall, concern flashing across her features. "SH1-FU!" There was no opportunity to reach him. She could only hope the ancient droid was durable enough to survive the impact as the low voice emerging from the dissipating gas drew her attention back toward the breach.

The crimson blade answered several questions while raising considerably more. Iandre's emerald lightsaber came alive in her hand as the red glow illuminated fragments of the figure through the haze, briefly catching the outline of a Zabrak's horns before Ti'sonta's shotgun thundered twice. Iandre didn't interfere. Whatever sympathy she might ordinarily have felt for someone taking the full force of that weapon was considerably diminished by the fact that he'd boarded Ti'sonta's ship, attacked them, and apparently intended to drag her somewhere against her will.

Kelis. The name remained in Iandre's thoughts even as Ti'sonta answered with another one of her own. Red. Iandre had known Ti'sonta had been enslaved. Twi'leks had suffered that particular cruelty for generations, and there had been enough hints in their conversations for her to understand that Ti'sonta carried things she wasn't ready to discuss. Iandre had never pushed. Now, hearing the stranger speak of finding her and delivering her to someone named Infekt for vengeance, she began to understand that whatever Ti'sonta had escaped hadn't necessarily stopped looking for her.

Iandre moved forward enough to place herself between the fallen SH1-FU and the breach, lightsaber held ready while her senses remained fixed upon the Zabrak and the figures beyond him. "You're not going anywhere." she said to Ti'sonta, her voice calm despite the violence around them. It wasn't a promise made blindly. It was simply the immediate reality as far as Iandre was concerned. Her gaze remained on the crimson glow amid the gas. "And neither is anyone coming through that breach unless we allow it."

She shifted her stance, Makashi instinct urging precision while experience warned her that the narrow opening and multiple attackers made this anything but a duel. For the moment she resisted advancing. Ti'sonta's shotgun had bought them an opportunity, and Iandre intended to use it rather than surrender their defensible position. "Ti'sonta, stay with me. We'll deal with whoever he is first, then we'll worry about the rest." Her eyes narrowed toward the fallen Force-user, watching for the first indication that two shotgun blasts had merely angered him rather than ended the threat.

Ti'sonta

 

[Ti'sonta]

Ti'sonta's face was blank, her eyes firmly set on the Zabrak as she slowly paced toward his crumpled form. Inside she was a whirlwind. The lack of sleep, the strain of combat, the shock of this ghost from her past...It was all she could do to maintain what tenuous grip she had on her Force suppression, and she could feel it slipping.
She needed to end this fast.
Seeing the acolyte reach for his lightsaber, Ti'sonta swiftly drew her pistol from its holster and shot a stun round directly in front his hand, causing another yelp in pain as he recoiled from the shot.
"No, you won't be needing that anymore, chuckles." Ti'sonta said coldly, stooping down to pick up the lightsabre. It was a standard single bladed lightsabre, made of powder coated junk parts and wrapped in beast hide. It was brutish, it was ugly, and it felt weighty in her hand. "Geez, no wonder you sucked at parrying blaster bolts, the balance of this thing's all off. Hey Iandre, catch!" She called out before tossing it behind her to her friend.
"Alright you sump-sucking bantha lickers!" Ti'sonta snarled to the pirates as they worked to pick themselves up. "We've got jedi, we've got your leader, and we're seriously pissed off! So unless you want us to use the Force to rip this bucket of bolts you call a ship in half, you're gonna pick your flabby arses up, decouple, and PISS OFF!"
The Zabrak acolyte coughed a wheezing laugh as he looked up at Ti'sonta. "You think you can hide, Darth Ke-"
"Up-up-up, I have the talky stick!" Ti'sonta chided, kneeling hard on his leg and pressing the muzzles of her sawn-off shotgun against his temple, securing his head against the cold decking.
She took this moment to finally look at her assailant. He seemed rather young, but his eyes already had the characteristic amber hue of one steeped in the dark side of the force. His skin was a dusty brown, already pockmarked with scars and the odd flachette round sticking haphazardly out of his singed black robes.
"Stars dammit, he lacked the stones to go himself, so he sent someone like you after me?" Ti'sonta asked dismissively before calling back behind her. "Hey Iandre, what should we do with this one?"