Where There's a Will, There's a Way

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Kiara"]

When the rental shuttle slid out of hyperspace in the Dagobah system, the first thing Atiniir Starrider did was throw his stun baton across the shuttle.

"Blast that two-timing back-stabbing sand snake!" Atiniir said as he pounded a fist into the control panel, "I wanted to go to Nar Shaddaa! This ain't Nar Shaddaa!" Atiniir then let loose with a stream of curses, all directed at a fast-talking rental shuttle salesman on Utapau. The man had told him that the ship was a little temperamental, but he hadn't mentioned that the navicomputer mixed up the coordinates eighty percent of the time.

"He's lucky the coordinates didn't take me right into a star," Atiniir said as he sat back in the pilot's chair, "Otherwise I would have come back from the dead and strangled his weaselly neck!" Atiniir fumed for a few more minutes, then gazed out at the planet below.

"Well, it ain't no Nar Shaddaa," he said, "But I guess its as good a place as any to repair the ship without worrying about it crashing, or a meteor, or something like that." In order to repair the navicomputer safely, Atiniir would have to almost completely power down the ship. A dumb design to be sure, but it was all he had. With deft hands and a steely gaze, Atiniir directed the ship to land on the planet below. He put the ship down in a small clearing and powered it down. Before going to work on the navicomputer, he spent a few seconds observing the planet around him.

"Man, this place gives me the willies," he said, "The sooner I'm off this rock and back on Nar Shaddaa, the better."

 

[Kiara]

The deep and moist swamps of Dagobah obviously served as a home to many creatures, most of which were tiny victims compared to the much larger prey that traveled the areas in long sessions, hardly ever in the same place unless they finally found themselves a home in that spot. It was a grim place to have to land on, but it was home to a special few that wished it to be. Two light blue eyes fluttered open, and a single gasp left their partner's lips. Did someone find me? Is this the day I die? Why me, why not someone else?​

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With a panicking expression, the young woman rapidly slid on her wooden sandals and rushed out of a quick cave that had home to various items. One of those being importantly, a battle droid still in construction. She quickly found herself leaving the dark of the cave and into the dim light of the swamps, dashing her petite body through the squeezes of trees and bushes to draw near the threat. She knew if something was there she didn't like, it would obviously be dangerous, and she needed to at least prepare.​

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Hidden in the thick foliage of bushes, the hermit suddenly came to a stop and listened to small animals chasing each other around the giant clearing as the sounds of the ship landed. Her quick eyes looked out to the threat, and away to the side to check for anything to use as a weapon. A rock would do well, unless they had fists. Anything greater than fists usually meant she would have to run away again.​

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| [member="Atiniir Starrider"] |​

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Kiara"]
Atiniir was up to his waist in the navicomputer maintenance hatch when suddenly the sensor panel chirped. Surprised, Atiniir bolted upright only to slam his face into the hatch.

"OW!" he yelled, sliding himself out and rubbing his head. He checked his fingers for blood and stood up to look at the panel.

"This better be good," he said as he checked the readings. According to them, a small lifeform was somewhere out in the jungle. The scanner couldn't be specific, but it didn't need to be. Atiniir would find out what it was by himself. It was too small to be a predator, yet too large to be some random rodent. If Atiniir had to take a guess, it was probably a person, and if that person had access to starship parts, this just might not turn out to be a hopeless situation after all. Atiniir dropped the boarding ramp and stepped out into the steamy Dagobah air. He was wearing a black shirt, black pants, and a grey vest, along with a belt with a blaster and vibrosword strapped to it.

"Whoever is out there, come on out!" he yelled, his hands on his hips, "I promise I ain't going to shoot you! Just come out so I can make sure you're not some I should shoot!"

 

[Kiara]

The voice and tone instantly reminded the young being of authorities on several planets back, back when she had the nerve to steal things from people's ships, that weren't ships that were broken. She didn't see any harm in it anymore. After all, who would they tell? Some random hermit in Dagobah stole my navisystem! Right. ​

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After a quick and silent breath, then young woman stepped out with her dark blue cloak swinging in the light breeze, quickly making her way with soft paddings into the dirt to leave her mark and grow uncomfortably closer to the man. Without warning, she held out her hand with two fingers outstretched to his head. ​

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"Bang!"​

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| [member="Atiniir Starrider"] |​

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Kiara"]
"Oh, there you are," Atiniir said as a small woman, almost a girl really, came out from behind a bush, "I knew you weren't some predator." Atiniir grinned, but as the woman started coming closer, his smile began to droop.

"Woah now, lets not be too hasty about this," he said, his arm twitching towards his blaster. The woman came closer.

"Hey, I mean it," Atiniir said, slipping the safety catch on his holster free, "Stop right there!" The woman came closer until she was an arms length from him and moved her hand. By then Atiniir was in motion. He crouched down and swept his leg across hers, aiming to trip her and cause her to fall. As he did so he pulled his blaster from his belt, and when he stood he aimed at a point just beside her head, wherever she was after his attempt to trip. Whether it succeeded or not, a blaster bolt would scream past her head, hitting either the dirt or the foliage behind her.

"Back off or next time I won't miss!" he said, keeping the weapon up with a rock-steady aim and putting his other hand to the hilt of his vibrosword.

 

[Kiara]

Oh, he was fast. Kiara kept a straight poker face as her legs gave in and toppled, and the laser bolt rushed with heat to nearly scrap her face on the energy bit. She could even smell a singe of her cloak after the shot had been fired, but didn't do anything in attempts to stop it. Now that she was on the ground, she didn't feel like she had a reason to really get up anymore, despite the warning she was just provided. "Oh, you're good with that thing." She said before pointing to her chest bravely. "Right here is my heart, somewhere, and right up there is my brain. Either of those will quickly kill me if you wanna," She stated, looking up with her two eyes to finally get a look at the man.​

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Handsome. Conclusion. He was handsome.​

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| [member="Atiniir Starrider"] |​

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Kiara"]

"Darn right I'm good with this thing," Atiniir said, staring the eerily calm woman right in the eye, "I can hit a bantha's eye from a hundred paces. But I don't kill unarmed women." Atiniir took a few steps back, out of melee range, and motioned with the pistol.

"Go ahead and stand up," he said, "Take anything not attached to you that may concieve as a weapon and put it on the ground, then keep your hands where I can see 'em. You do anything I don't like, and you'll see just how close you can get to death without actually dying. I said I wouldn't kill you; I never said I wouldn't hurt you."

Atiniir waited, his pistol still trained with an aim as steady as a sniper's.

 

[Kiara]

The woman only scoffed at the request at first, slowly helping herself onto her feet with her hands and knees. "Anything can be considered a weapon, even my robes," She stated before drawing herself almost to full height, standing to eye the pistol curiously. She didn't like pistols, they were too unbalanced, too wild and crazy unlike something elegant, such as a bow.​

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Her eyes flickered up to the man who, without a question, seemed awfully nervous. Then again, when you visit a supposed deserted planet and see a sudden crazy redhead flying at you, it wouldn't be all that much to get on your tippy toes. "Other than that, all I have is a few berries. Would you like to steal my berries, mister man? Will those fix your ship?" She asked in a soft sweet tone, with only a tad bit of a bratty attitude this time.​

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| [member="Atiniir Starrider"] | ​

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Kiara"]

Atiniir would not fall for the woman's attitude. She had a point that anything could be a weapon. Atiniir had been referring to anything tat would normally be considered a weapon, for example a rock or stick, but it seemed that the woman had no such thing. Atiniir relaxed a good bit, sliding his blaster back into his holster. He left the safety catch off but relaxed into his normal happy-go-lucky demeanor. To him, this woman was just a smart aleck living in the swamp. Definitely someone to watch, but not an immediate threat.

"Hey, you came at me sister," he said, relaxing his ramrod posture to a simple slouch, his arms crossed, "I don't want nothing of yours. I landed to repair my ship, and if you don't mind if like to get back to it. Unless you had some reason for approaching me like you did?"

 

[Kiara]

His ship, yes, that was one of the things that drew her there. Her eyes trailed up to look at it for a good long and firm moment, before her returned her gaze to the man. Well, if she was living alone in her newish lifestyle, it wouldn't be too much of a trouble to help someone and possibly get a few meals and treasure from it... ​

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"It was meant to be a comedic greeting. Apparently the galaxy doesn't like funny people no more. Your hunk of bolts is an easy fix," She stated boldly with a quick cross to her arms. "I bet if you let me help you work on it you could be out of here in two days, so you can go out... doing what it is you do." A small smile spread across her lips, something in between amusement and a pure evil little greed that rotted inside of her.​

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| [member="Atiniir Starrider"] |​

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Kiara"]
"Thanks, but no thanks," Atiniir said, "The navicomp is the only thing that's busted, and it shouldn't take me long to fix." The thought of Atiniir needing help was laughable. He'd been raised on a pirate ship. He'd been patching up laser cannons and hyperdrives since he was five years old. With a little two-finger salute, he turned and began walking back towards the shuttle.

"You really need to work on your people skills if you think your approach was comedic," he said as he reached the ramp, "Walking up to a stranger and making a threatening gesture is generally frowned upon. So is ignoring calls to stop, and invading personal space." Atiniir began to walk up the ramp, but then a thought occurred to him and he turned back.

"You know, I'm curious," he said, "What are you doin in the swamp in the middle of nowhere anyway?"

 

[Kiara]

No sooner than the words leaving the stranger's lips, Kiara began to walk off. If he was so confident in his skills she wouldn't help him. Besides, if he died she'd have a new ship for her collection, and if he lived she could pick up whatever was left from the take-off as spare parts, if it even dropped any. Her form didn't stop to listen to the man rambling on about questions or statements, but continued to squeeze through tiny parts of trees and shrubs to get away from the man, now knowing he wasn't a thread to her. At least for now.​

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| [member="Atiniir Starrider"] |​

 

[Atiniir Starrider]

[member="Kiara"]
Atiniir shrugged as the woman walked off. All right, that was fine. If she didn't want to answer, that was her buisness. Atiniir didn't have a problem. Walking up the ramp the rest of the way, Atiniir entered the shuttle and returned to the maintenance hatch. He stuck his head inside and began to fiddle with more wires until finally the thing began to hum.

"Well, that's a start," he said. He pulled himself out of the hatch and input the coordinates for Nar Shaddaa in a simulated jump. As soon a he pushed the button that would have sent him into hyperspace, the coordinates shifted to those for Dantooine.

"Oh for the love of Pete!" Atiniir said. Now quite angry, he reared back, aimed, and slammed a full force kick into the navicomputer. The coordinates immediately switched to the ones for Nar Shaddaa. Atiniir stood back in shock for a moment, then laughed.

"Wow, looks like the guys back at the fleet were right!" he said as the navicomputer purred like a manka cat, "Kicking it really does work!"

Atiniir sat back into the pilots chair and readied himself for take off.

Spoiler

OOC: ok, since I don't want a repeat of the last time you and I tried to do a training thread, I am going to say this now. There are two ways this could go: either you come back and stop me, or Atiniir leaves the ship and comes after you. Because of Atiniir's personality, the latter is not going to be a good option. If you still want to be trained as badly as you sad you did, then you will have to come and stop Atiniir from taking off. If your character wouldn't do so because of her personality, then we may have to close this thread and try again. And before you say something about its my place to come to you because I offered to train you, I remind you that you requested the training and I simply offered to come. Whether I stay or go is ultimately dependent on whether you want me to stay or go, but it is also dependent on how badly you want me to train you. I am good either way, it's your decision