Swords and plowshares

[Ordo]

Planet Okyaab VI - 0330 local time.


The heavy scarred hands that had once held hilt and pistol grips against many now held the handle of a large lunch box as he walked to his speeder truck. His armored grieves pocked and scarred by countless battles lost and won as he ambled along. A thick cloth jacket shielded his heavy upper body from the cold morning air as he reached for the hatch and opened the truck's cab. This was no special day, it was the same routine as any day but he would be lying if he said it felt the same. There were days of late. Days when he missed it. Days when he could smell the carbon scored durasteel and hear the blaster bolts, maybe too many days.

The heavy sounds of the aging repulsors rattled through the flatbed speeder truck and he sat for a moment holding the steering wheel. He closed his eyes as he tried to remember where he had left off the day before, but his thoughts kept turning to a spot in the hills and a footlocker buried deep in the dark rocky soil. He looked back at the dark yaim of the ranch and the pens of animals but he resolved to finish the plowing and start the seeding before it was too late.

The repulsors hummed now as he accelerated alowly and moved down the dirt road that would take him toward the back half of the fields he had posted out to plant. The truck was no fighter but he made good time and made it to where he planned to start by 0350. The heavy machine sat down and the big man climbed down from the cab and walked to his equipment and checked for damage before waking the once war droid and climbing into the open air cockpit. The great beast-like machine stood and as if reading the big man's mind turned and began pulling the heavy row of plows across the big field leaving up turned ground in it's wake. Ordo kept the beast walking in a straight line and tried not to worry about his family over much as he worked. With luck he would be done by noon and home to care for the animals before lunch.

 

[Anija Betna]

Okyaab VI - 0600 Local
[member="Ordo"] [member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Arla Balor"] [member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Verz Horak"] [member="Rianna Ar'klim"]

Anija couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen Ordo... or even Rianna. It felt like ages. Well.. the more she thought about it, she remembered visiting Rianna and Ordo not long after Teta. The memory still made her chest ache, and she choked back tears as she tried to focus on flying. She'd dragged Arrbi and Mirshko along on this little jaunt as well. It was for that reason that she was fling the Pathfinder instead of her normal Bes'uliik variant.

Arrbi lay with his head back in the co-pilot's seat, snoring lightly as he slept. Anija had offered to fly this time because she knew how busy he'd been lately. And well, she'd never really gotten a chance to fly the ship much lately. or at all. It was a nice change form the confines of her bes'uliik cockpit. Carefully, she moved her hands over the flight controls, utilizing her HUD uplink to control the sensors as she guided the vessel down through the atmosphere.

Minutes passed in silence, broken only by the hum of the engines and the muted sounds from the console as Anija pressed a few controls. Finally, the Pathfinder broke through the lower atmosphere, cloudcover and condensation rolling away from her hull as the ship descended towards the Ar'klim homestead.

 

[Ordo]

Okyaab VI - 0600 Local
[member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Arla Balor"] [member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Verz Horak"] [member="Rianna Ar'klim"] [member="Anija Betna"]

The old droid and the big man on it's back lumbered across the fields as the golden rays of sun light crept across the landscape. It was hard to think back to the darker days of his life. He had been many things, few of them good, fewer still of them was he proud of. His hard head had kept him from doing much the easy way but he knew it was in the past and dwelling on that killed faster than any blaster could. The past was a trap that looks tempting but when you walk in you find nothing more than bones.

"Stories and bones." He said to himself before stuffing a piece of dried nerf in his cheek.

He looked up at the sky as he heard the sound of a ship, thinking it must be the baragwin trader coming to buy feed and drop the parts he ordered. What he saw was far different. No patch work freighter but a well made ship with Mandalorian markings. He could have used the force to probe and feel but he really didn't need to and this work needed doing. He was near done anyway.

He slapped the droid on the side a few times as they moved sending dirt clods and rocks flying as they went.

"Hurry up you pile of bolts." He bellowed, " You're getting slow in your old age."

It was a lie but there was something to be said for winning an argument now and then, even if it was only against a droid. The droid picked up the pace with a lurch and sent Ordo back in his seat for a moment as if reminding him who was older. Along they went hoping for the best and expecting the worst but then that's nothing new.

 

[Rianna Organa]

[SIZE=12pt]The twins heard the ship looking up from the place on the floor playing great smiles caressed their lips, scrambling to their feet they tumbled out the door. The two four year olds with Cheshire grins on the faces as they looked up ran towards the edge of the fields where their father was working.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]D’ral and Maeve jumped up and down waving their arms as if their father could not see them, or hear the ship. “BUIR!” they yelled in unison, their cobalt blue eyes darted from their father to the skies above. Hair still sun kissed blonde bounced happily as they waited for the father to stop.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rianna heard the ship herself, and wondered who was coming no one knew that they had come back to the farm. Rianna wiped her hands and began to make a pot of tea, if their company did not want any she surely would.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]It was the calming agent she used in most occasions where she felt things going out of her control. It could not be Briika she had spoken to the young woman only last week, so.who was this.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Rianna once everything inside was settled walked out to see the ship for herself. Ahh Mandalorian markings, there was no need to fear trouble. Everything had been paid more than once in blood, sweat, and tears.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She waited her dark eyes scanned as she slowly let down her defenses to use her senses to see if she knew who this was.[/SIZE]


Arrbi Betna Arla Balor Mirshko Betna Verz Horak Anija Betna [member="Ordo"]

 

[Anija Betna]

[member="Ordo"] [member="Arrbi Betna"] [member="Arla Balor"] [member="Mirshko Betna"] [member="Verz Horak"] [member="Rianna Ar'klim"]

Slowly, the Pathfinder descended towards the outskirts of the homestead. Anija hadn't been here before that she could remember, but Ordo had given her the coordinates several years back. A faint frown crossed her face for a moment as she set about powering dow the systems and locking the control console. It was more out of force of habit than anything, really. When she was finished, she pushed up out of her chair and gently shook Arrbi awake. "We're here, cyare...." she said softly, trying not to startle him.

After a few moments, she moved out of the cockpit and towards the rather cramped quarters. The ship wasn't designed to carry more that 2-3 crew, really, so things were rather....cramped. Anija didn't mind, she was more than looking forward to some time away from Manda'yaim. Time to unwind. Far too much of her time recently had been spent trying to help push back the Prime advance. And while she knew it was necessary, there were times she just wanted to be alone with her family.

And, she knew the small space had to be driving Mirshko crazy. Especially after the events of the last few months. Her daughter hadn't said much about what she'd experienced, but Anija was able to pick up at least a little bit from her daughter's body language. Sometimes, it said more than a person's words ever could. Even now, as Anija entered the cabin she shared with Arrbi, she spotted Mirshko across the corridor. Her room was small and cramped also. her heart ached. She didn't want to press her daughter for details, because she knew it might be too much right now.

Sighing softly, Anija gathered a few things, and made sure to holster her rippers on her hips. For once, she wore no armor. it had been cleaned and carefully packed, though they'd brought it with them. She doubted they would need it here, but these days, a situation could change in an instant. She'd seen it firsthand.