Take the long road and walk it

[Trextan Voidstalker]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Creatures_of_Dagobah
[member="Shamira_Karuto"]

Dagobah was gloomy, alienating. Yet at the same time it was teeming with life. Just standing still and silent in the swamps Trextan could hear the sounds of tens of different forms of native creatures.

His shirt was already damp from the heat and humidity. Tendrils of vapour rose from the nearby swamp water. Something slithered in the mud just metres from where they stood. He silently and very sarcastically thanked Jacen for sending him to accompany the padawan.

They had a relatively safe route worked out from here to where the shuttle would pick them up. Nothing particularly deadly, like a swamp slug, had been picked up in scans anywhere near the route.

The sound of the native fauna was drowned out by the shuttle lifting off behind them. The droid pilot taking it away, up and through the canopy to head for the clearing at the end of their course.

"Charming, isn't it?" He asked Shamira. They hadn't spoken much on the way here. She wasn't much younger than him as far as he could tell, but closer to the start of her journey of discovery with the Force. His had been a difficult one. The sith on Coruscant had coaxed him into training and started to mold him into a weapon. A weapon to kill his own father.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Beautiful. Lively. Gorgeous. None of these words would be used lightly in pertaining to the swamps of the planet Dagobah. To the natural observer, the planet was nothing more than an ugly mudball, full of dangerous wildlife. Completely devoid of any purpose in the galaxy.
However, through the force, it could be felt that the whole planet was alive. In her meditative state, sitting cross-legged on an tall boulder, Shamira couldn’t help but smile. Even if this was a training mission, taking the time to meditate and enjoy the world was certainly on Shamira’s list.
A calm, striking voice cutting through the sounds of the swamp, broke her meditative state and made her focus her eyes on the Jedi Knight. Her smile only grew at his sarcastic state, making her cock her head to the side, montrals swinging lightly, and let out a small giggle.
“Depends on how you look at a planet brimming with life, I suppose. Not the prettiest colors, though.” Standing from her sitting position, she bent her knees and leapt high in the air, landing softly next to Trextan. Smirking, she pushed her montral back over her shoulder, before starting forward.
Unclipping her lightsaber from her belt, she looked back over her shoulder to the Jedi Knight. “Well, come on! Don’t we have a scheduled pickup?” Cocking her hip to one side and placing a hand on it, still with the small smirk peaking at her lips, the Togruta raised an eyebrow at Trextan. “Unless you’d like to stay out here, in the swamp.”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira_Karuto"]

Whilst Trextan knew that their route was relatively clear the padawan didn't. At least she was enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. He could appreciate the way the density of life changed the nature of the Force here. But he was fairly certain he could have experienced that without a trudge through the swamps.

Still, her enthusiasm was almost infectious. Even if getting back to the shuttle still entailed an hour in the cramped cockpit before getting back to civilisation and a sonic shower.

He smiled in return and nodded to the path ahead. "You pick the path. Stretch out with your senses, let the Force guide you. If you seek its advice it..."

Trextan was cut off by a flash of light from above. A second later a loud boom reverberated through the jungle. The Force buzzed with the ripple of shock that ran through all the lifeforms. The sound of the shuttle's repuslors struggling to maintain altitude followed.

Trextan took a half step back and looked up. Through the canopy he could see the bright flare of a burning engine. He traced its path as it cut through the sky towards the west. It was headed a long way from the intended pick up zone.

"...this is BC-L2, engine strike on the port nacelle ...going down...long range beacon activated...I have..."

There was a pop and it cut off. Trextan's shoulders drooped. "Not to worry, he told the padawan. We just need to head to wherever the shuttle goes down."

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

It was certainly in the back of her mind that she hoped that her more optimistic nature rubbed off on the older Jedi Knight. If they were going to be stuck in the swamp, trudging their way through, the least they could do was feel how wonderfully the force worked on this planet. It certainly felt different than any other planet she had ever been on. Neither good nor bad, just different.
She smiled at the advice about to be given to her before immediately tensing up at the sudden boom that rocked the sky around them. Ripples were sent throughout the force as the wildlife around the explosion were sent into sudden shock at the blast. Smoke could be seen flowing throughout the sky as the dropship that was supposed to pick the pair up was sent flaming into the jungle from the west.
The Togruta nodded lightly at the Knight’s sentiments. Obviously, she attempted to keep any nervousness on the inside, keeping her face stoic. Nervousness did reverberate through her however, realizing the only way out of the jungle had just gone down in flames. Biting her lips, she looked straight up, where the canopy of trees seemed to open up.
Her eyes flicked to the left and right, before she clipped her lightsaber back to her belt, and used the force to aid her in a jump high into air, towards a branch high in the air. Her gloved hands held on tightly to the slippery wood, attempting to gain a solid enough grip before lifting herself up and over the branch, crouching lightly on it. She was now about a third of the way in the air towards where the canopy opened widely up. The Togruta looked down to the Jedi Knight, montrals swinging lightly. “I’m going to attempt to keep climbing, get to that opening in the trees and see where the ship went down.” Shamira gave a small smile, thumbs up, and prepared to jump once more to a new branch.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira_Karuto"]

Trextan watched as the padawan coiled like a feline, ready to make her next jump. "Just be mindful. There are some large airborne predators in the upper canopy!" he called out.

Trextan found a dry path of earth and lowered his pack to the ground. At the back of his mind he imagined a scenario where he returned to be chastised by the Jedi Marshals for allowing a padawan to be eaten on his watch. He swung somewhere between horror and amusement at the mental image.

He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. His left hand came up and reached for the distant togruta. The Force shifted slightly around her. He took no action yet, but readied himself to catch her if she slipped or was attacked.

His right arm was a prosthetic right the way from shoulder to fingertips. It had been lost in a fight with a Knight of Ren on Kaeshana. Since then it had never felt the same to focus on that hand when calling on the Force even though it now felt like it truly was a part of him.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

Shamira stopped for a moment, looking down at the older Knight for a moment, a look of nervousness crossing her face momentarily. ‘Large creatures?’ Nervous thoughts crossed her mind as her eyes flicked around the canopy area she was about to enter. Taking a deep breath, the Togruta attempted to shake her mind free of these feelings, before looking for the next branch to jump to.
Cracking her knuckles, Shamira bends her knees to a near ninety degree area and suddenly springs forward, leaping from branch, to branch, to branch, letting her feet only hit momentarily on each piece of wood before moving to the next, rising higher and higher in the canopy until she could see over the trees. She stood on a smaller branch near the top, pulling a pair macrobinoculars from her belt. Pointing them towards the billowing cloud of black smoke, she made a note of the distance, currently sitting over 8,500 meters away, before putting them away.
Moving from branch to branch that had allowed her to move this high had let her step on branches like the one she was standing on without putting too much weight on them. However, while looking through her macrobinoculars it had slipped her mind she shouldn’t be staying still, until it was too late. While sliding the binoculars into her belt, there was a sudden snap and the branch, as well as the padawan, went falling to the earth. “HELP!!” The Toguta was able to get out as the ground came rushing towards her.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

Inhale

He breathed in from the gut, filling his lungs with air. His senses stretched out with the Force. Shamira was a living being, tied to the Force and easy to find. But it was her physical form he needed to reach out to now.

Exhale

A sharp breath out and his will became physical manifestation as the telekinetic grip formed around her torso. That stopped the spin and kept her level. He screwed up his face in concentration as he switched his attention to arresting her momentum. There was far too much of it right now. Enough to make the landing rather unpleasant. The air would be knocked from her lungs, but he brought her to a complete halt.

Opening his eyes Trextan found the padawan held in mid-air a few feet from the trunk of the tree, still several metres above him. He allowed himself to breath once more.

"Want to have another go?" he asked, cocking his head to one side.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

Her spin slowly began to stop, so that she was falling vertically to the ground, yet her momentum was certainly not slowing down whatsoever. It was all happening just so fast, that the Togruta couldn’t wrap her mind around the situation in time to do anything about the fact the ground was rushing towards her. Instead, she just pulled up her arms, covering her face, and waited for the inevitable pain to hit.

Thud. “Oww…” Shamira moaned in pain.

Pain consumed her abdomen as she hit and stuck in something hard and leafy. She could feel warm liquid slowly dripping down her arms, making it painful to slowly move them away from her face. “Frak..” Opening her eyes slowly, she realized that she was stuck about six feet up in a tree, in the middle of a fork of tree. Looking up and down the backs of her arms, cuts adorned her grey skin, deep enough for some to bleed.

Sighing to herself, she began to climb down from the crook as Trextan walked up, head cocked to the side. Shamira laughed to herself lightly and shook her head at the question, boots hitting the ground. Stumbling lightly to gather herself, the smaller Togruta smiled up at the knight. “Don’t have to. The ship crashed 8,500 meters from here.”

Reaching onto her belt, she flipped open a pouch, pulling out a few bacta patches and began to lightly place them on the multiple cuts running on her arms. She looked back up to the human, smile growing wider. “You lead? I need to…patch up a little bit.”

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"Eight thousand and five hundred metres? That's a very specific eye for distance you have there," Trextan replied. She would see just a flash of his smile before he turned towards the path ahead, his hair swinging back down to cover his face.

“You wouldn't have thought binoculars would have come in useful here…” he added a few seconds later. A down on the ground the visibility was limited to a handful of meters. A few steps later and practicality at the situation overruled his sense of style. Trextan drew his hair back and tied it into a tight tail. It was warm enough and there were too many things going on in his periphery to leave it hanging down.

“And take your time,” he called over his shoulder. “If you need to stop and patch up then we can. We're not in the clock. At this point in really hoping the droid managed to bring the shuttle down carefully enough that the reactor and comms are in tact. Didnt come down from Tokyo high I suppose. How bad did it look? If we didn't hear a boom then the reactor didn't blow at least and there should be some salvage.” Crashed ships. It was beginning to become a theme for the Jedi too.

Trextan came to a sudden halt. The long marsh grass had almost hidden. The fact that they were walking right into a deeper section of marsh. Knowing the local creatures they couldn't risk waiding through unless they were certainly it was safe.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


“Well, the macrobinoculars helped some. I just had to do little math to figure it out to the meter.” Shamira smiled lightly, patting the pocked they now rested on her belt. Her eyes flicked around, looking around the marshy landscape. Trextan surely wasn’t wrong. “One wouldn’t. I’m just glad I brought them just in case. Otherwise we might not have an idea how far we could be walking.” A small smirk crossed her face.
Focusing back on her arms, the Togurta applied the last bacta patch to the worst of her cuts, pulling a long, hard inhale as the healing bacta began to seep into the deep cute. Shamira frowned lightly, knowing some of the cuts would need more healing once the pair got back to the temple. Maybe she could schedule a session with the cute Mirlian healer she had seen every so often.
Shaking her head of the happy, hopeful image, then looked back to Trextan as her asked her how the ship looked. “Well, there was a lot of smoke. Enough so that it broke through the upper layer of trees so I could see where it went down. I didn’t see any fire however, so there’s a change the main hull of the ship is intact enough that the communications could still be intact.” She smiled, hopefully, before following behind the knight.
Shamira let her eyes wander, looking around the area, searching for any movement whatsoever, while swinging her arms around, attempting to get the blood flowing again. Her brow furrowed as Trextan stopped ahead of her, so she stopped next to him at the edge of the tall grasses. “I don’t like how that looks. Could we go around?”

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"I think that's a sensible plan..." Trextan said. If the mirialan healer on Shamira's mind was Taheera they would probably see her on return if she was around d Sullust. Even if Trextan had failed to recognise the healer's interest they were still becoming close friends.

He gave the swamp one last look, as if admonishing it just for existing. The young Justicar turned and head to their left at a brisk pace. He stopped himself before laying out any further plans. Even if this had become more dangerous there was still no reason not to observe the new padawan instead of giving orders.

"Hard to pick out individual life forms on the Force," he said. His tone made it sound almost like a question. "You think a city is busy but it's nothing compared to this."

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

Looking to their left, Shamira followed the Justicar as he attempted to lead her around the marshy, high grass area that could be housing who knows what. It was the right, sensible move, and one that was hopefully much safer. As much as Shamira would like to act brave and cocky, she really didn’t want to have to fight a swamp monster with the cuts on her arms still healing.
Trextan stopped in front of her, saying something that sounded more like a question than anything else. The Togruta just shrugged, nodding slightly in agreement. “In a city at least, you can see everything that you feel through the force. Here…here it seems as though everything is hiding from us. You can feel so much..yet..” Her eyes roamed over the landscape, looking for any movement in the trees or marshes, while also listening for anything seemingly moving. It was the most errie feeling. Knowing there was dangerous, vicious predators in the wilds, yet neither jedi could see them. The best they could do is feel them through the force, and hope for the best.
The padawan shook her head, trying to clear it of the confusing, and slightly nerve racking thoughts, before walking ahead of Trextan, continuing the path forward. “We should try to keep moving. Even if we weren’t expected to make it back to the ship for a few hours, it would probably be best to make to the crashed ship, so we at least have some shelter for tonight, right?” The Togruta looked back over her shoulder, looking for confirmation from the older Jedi Knight.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

"I quite agree," Trextan replied. "As long as there's enough power for the beacon it's just the best place to be right now. Our comms might reach as far as the ship if a landing party gets there I suppose."

He was content to let the togruta take the lead. Despite the distractions and difficult terrain he had faith that the Force would warn him of any serious danger. It would be a good learning experience for the padawan, even if she got a little jumpy.

Then he had an abhorrent thought: what would Jacen do. He immediately felt annoyed at himself for having it. Still, despite his father being a condescending arse he was a good teacher.

"The mind of an animal isn't so different. Easier to connect with than some alien sentients in fact. Stretch out and see if you can tell the difference between a predator and a prey animal. They should be quite different."

Trextan tried the same, almost immediately finding a snake honing in on a frog in the reeds.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

A full grin was pulled to Shamira’s lips when the Knight agreed with her. It made her feel wonderfully good that her logic was accepted by the older jedi. Her logical mind was definitely helping in this situation. Nodding, she began to lead them around the tall grass marsh, hopefully avoiding any predators as well. “Like I said, the ship didn’t look to be that damaged. I have a good feeling there’s enough power.”
Even if this was off the beaten path, and the mission wasn’t going to plan, this experience was incredibly fun. Though, the cuts on her arms did dampen her situation. They couldn’t keep the small smile on her face however. The swamp stunk, was hot, and housed many predatory beasts, yet it was definitely better than a day stuck training at the temple, or attending the admittedly boring classes.
She looked over her shoulder, raising an eyebrow, then nodded lightly when she understood what she was tasked with. The Togruta stopped walking, closed her eyes, and began to breath lightly. Just like before, life could be felt easily throughout the force, surrounding the pairs of Jedi. However, this time Shamira attempted to feel out the differences in each of animals. Certain felt calmer, less aggressive. Frogs milling around the mud and small animals fit this description. Then there were the more tense, more aggressive ones. Like the snakes that swam through the water, and much larger that seemed to be circling…them.
Her eyes shot open, looking around, but not being able to see too deeply into the forest. If she looked close enough, she could begin to pear through the brush and see slow moving, huge masses of white. “You…you feel those things circling us too..right?” Shamira called out, looking behind her at Trextan, slightly worried look on her face.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

Trextan felt some of her optimism falter as she caught sight of one of the bulbous creatures. For now the Justicar stayed rooted to the spot. The Force flowed through him as he reached out.

"They're not moving on us yet," he spoke quietly. "They're curious at least. I don't sense that they've decided what to do just yet."

He took half a step and then stopped again. "So what do we do?" He asked. "We could press on. They might stay out of the way. We could hold our ground and see what they decide to do. Or we could attack, see if they scatter."

Trextan kept his hands on his hips as he spoke. It kept his hands close to his weapons just in case he had failed to appraise the situation accurately.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


“Back when I lived with my family on Shili, we always learned that a curious animal and a dangerous animal can become the same thing very quickly.” The Togruta warily watched the spiders through the brush of the forest. Trextan was right, they weren’t exactly moving towards the pair of jedi, but they certainly were circling them.
No option seemed fullproof, and all three seemed like they could lead to some danger. If the pair waited, then the monsters could circle in closer, and before they knew it, they would be surrounded. Attack, and the spiders might now break away, and there was the chance one or both of them would get hurt. But if they tried to avoid them, the same possibility existed that they could get hurt. Nothing seemed perfect, and every single one could end in pain for the pair of them.
Biting her lip, eyes dashing around the forest, she tried to calmly reach a solution. “There’s a good chance if we attack them, we get hurt. I say we move a few meters apart, and charge the one in front of us.” The torgruta pointed towards one of the spiders, standing near directly in front of the pair of jedi. “If we move on opposite sides of it, it won’t be able to attack both of us. It may even be so confused it doesn’t attack us at all! Then we could keep moving, and hopefully the spiders won’t be able to keep up with us.” A hopeful smile peaked at the edge of her lips, hoping Trextan thought the plan would work.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

Trextan was watching them very closely as Shamira worked it through. His confidence that they wouldn't attack quickly was paper thin. His gaze settled on the one ahead of them as she pointed it out.

"Don't rush too quickly," he advised as he took a few steps away from her. "Give it time to retreat."

Trextan unclipped his saber and held it up. He took a deep breath in, filling his lungs with warm, humid air. He tried to settle his mind as he breathed out. Jacen always seemed to find a depth of focus beyond what he could achieve.

"On three," he said as he held up his hilt, thumb over the switch. He shook the whole thing three times.

Snap-hiss

As the violet light of his blade illuminated the ground around him he broke into a jog.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira nodded as her plan was accepted by the Knight. She brought her hands up, cracking her knuckles. The Togruta always felt the need to do this before engaging in a duel, battle, or any point she needed to bring out her lightsaber.
Taking a few, deep, long inhales and exhales, trying to settle her racing mind, she reached down to her belt, pulling her lightsaber off of her belt. The padawan ran her finger over the ignition switch multiple times, watching Trextan out of the corner of her eye to see when he ignited his lightsaber.
The moment violet bathed their surroundings, it was clashed by the light blue hue that emitted from Shamira’s blade. A large smile crept onto the padawans face as she gave the blade an experimental twirl. It felt good to be playing with her blade once more.
Her smile turned to a smirk right before Trextan got the chance to count. “Three.” With a light laugh, the Togruta sprung forward, jogging to the left of the massive white beast, while the knight jogged to her right, a few meters away. It was easy to see that they had gotten the spider’s attention, but who it would go after was still a mystery.

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

[member="Shamira Karuto"]

Trextan forced down the slight sensation of nausea at Shamira cracking her knuckles so loudly. He made a mental note to ask if that was absolutely necessary.

The spider reared up, chittering loudly. Its bulbous body towered over them. As Trextan closed it leaned away from him and raised two two legs nearest to him. They waved around in the air, multiple eyes reflecting the colour of his blade.

Trextan slowed up, edging around the creature. He heard the other spiders rapidly retreating. They likely wouldn't go far. There was a deep, simple drive to find food. To capture, sting and eat anything they could to provide enough energy for the next stage of their life cycle.

As it stretched out and tried to spear him with a leg he backed off and brought his blade up. He didn't sever the limb, but brushed the blade against it. It burned through its carapace and the limb was quickly retracted. Shamira was free of its attention for now, though it's eyes went all the way around its head.

 

[Shamira Karuto]

[member="Trextan Voidstalker"]


Shamira made sure to continually watch the other spiders as the pair approached the one in front of them at a jog’s pace. These animals didn’t seem to have a full pack mentality, where if they sensed one was to be attacked, they would all defend it. From what she could see, they stopped, and awaited to see what would become of the spider as the two miniscule creatures attacked him.
Even though the eyes were spread around the entire front of the bulbous head of the monstrous spider, it was obvious its intentions focused on the more experienced Jedi, as it tried to spear him with one of it’s massive, white legs. Thankfully, as Shamira observed, Trextan was quick to dodge and cut the spider, making it react in pain and horror at the little creature attacking it.
Her attention flicked back to the other creatures who, much to her delight, were retreating in full. It seemed as though they didn’t want to be attacked by the strange creatures with lightsticks either.
The padawan couldn’t help but grin widely, knowing her plan was succeeding. The creature’s attention still focused on Trextan, so she kept jogging past the creature, to the tree line behind it. They were past the tall grass marsh now, so the overall goal had been accomplished as well.
Waving her arms to get his attention, Shamira called out the older knight to leave the creature behind. “C’mon! It can’t follow us into the tree line!”