Log:Jedi: Sunshine and Shadows
OOC Date: October 3, 2023
Location: Tatooine
Participants: Rey, Qutha Buvu Pah, Lira'una
As the relentless twin suns of Tatooine cast their fiery glow across the vast desert, a faint distress signal echoes through the arid wasteland. Amidst the unforgiving dunes lies a stranded starship, its metallic hull glinting in the relentless sunlight, half-buried in the shifting sands. The ship's once-proud exterior shows signs of wear and damage, its landing gear and portside engine buried beneath the surface.
Around this vessel, a motley group of colonists has gathered, their expressions etched with exhaustion and desperation. They huddle together, seeking refuge in the meager shadow cast by the ship's battered hull. Nearby, a makeshift camp has formed, with crates of supplies salvaged from the ship's cargo hold providing the only shelter from the sweltering heat.
The Jedi had a safe house on Tatooine setup not far from Anchorhead.. located at the old Lars Family Homestead. For the past 15 years the Moisture Farm has served as a safe haven for Force Sensitive families that were under the direct protection of the Jedi until they could find them more stable locations. Thus the Jedi often had to bring supplies to the Moisture farm, and its denizens. Currently two small families reside upon it, tending to the farm to keep up public appearance and keep revenue flowing in to the home on the whole. This is where the small group of Jedi are, unloading supplies at the farm, when word of a emergency distress signal had come in to the farm's comm systems.
Reacting swiftly, Rey took some of the speederbikes out of storage of the farm's tech dome, and together the small group were headed to the coordinates of the crash site to the north west of the moisture farm.
On speederbikes, the Jedi crest a sandy dune, to see the sight of the crashed ship down below, and to the east the sight of ships landing in the sand far enough away to steer clear of resistance from the downed colony ship, but close enough to make it clear that they're here 'for them'
Rey stalls her bike, using her binocs to spy the situation, her hood fluttering in the wind behind her shoulders. "I see them." She tells the others with her. "It doesn't look good."
Sunlight.
Any light.
He was to used to 'work' bringing him out to dank caves, dark alleys and night drenched worlds where he had to rely on the force to see. "Ship too busted ter git out n'up?" pulling out his own pair and lifting them to his eyes to see what he can see in the direction Rey has indicated. Qutha leans back in the speederbike saddle, comfortable while it idles, doing his best to gauge the situation set before them.
"N'any sign'a tuskens, either?"
Logical question, with a crash nearby after all.
Lira, her speeder bike thrumming beneath her, pulls up beside Rey and Qutha, eyes squinting against the harsh sunlight reflecting off the sands. Her lavender fingers grip the handlebars tightly, the leather of her gloves creaking slightly with the pressure. While the other two seemed entirely comfortable on their bikes, she was... struggling. This was not something that the little acrobat had yet even attempted to master, but she wasn't shrinking from the challenge. It was just... rough going and a few scary moments. Mostly, she didn't do anything fancy -- at all. Not on purpose, anyway.
She takes a moment, centering herself and allowing the Force to guide her perceptions.
Turning her gaze to Rey, she nods in acknowledgment. "If they've sent out a distress signal, it's not just for repairs. They need protection and help." Her eyes dart to the ships landing in the distance, recognizing them as potentially hostile or as opportunistic scavengers. She thinks for a moment, her strategic mind whirring into action. "We could create a diversion, draw the attention of those ships while the rest of us aid the colonists. If we can get them and their most essential supplies onto our speederbikes, we can make a swift retreat back to Anchorhead..."
Drawing her hood up to shield her face from both sun and sand, Lira's determination is palpable. "We're their best chance right now." She looks to the others, waiting for their input, every fiber of her being poised and ready to act. Maybe too ready. There's a sense of her being a tightly coiled spring.. not nearly as relaxed as Qutha might prefer her, but not afraid, either.
Rey is continuing to look at the situation through her binocs, while she listens to the other two with her. "I don't see any Tuskens, but I would have to think that some of them are on their way. Let alone Jawas..." She's not a fan of Jawa, and never wastes an opportunity to voice it. Chalk it up to bad history.
When her visual assistance is lowered, she looks over at them, then down at their bikes. "I don't think we have enough hauling capacity to get them out of here, along with their stuff. I see about five of them, and there may be more on the ship..."
The sound of distant engines can be heard, as the Pirates are setting out of their ships with their own speedercraft, headed toward the Colonists now. Rey regards this, before she looks over to Qutha and Lira. "We have to try and be diplomatic with this, I think... But if we expose ourselves as Jedi, we cannot go back to the moisture farm... We'll have to take them somewhere else, if anywhere at all."
The rumbling of those Pirate speeders carries across the sun bleached dunes, and the sight of the Colonists scrambling can be seen. They're reaching for weapons, though none are firing ... yet.
"Come on, we'll proceed on foot. They'll all see us coming that way, and it won't trigger any rash decisions."
Rey sets her binocs down on the bike saddle, tucking them in to a net on its side before she dismounts, and begins to descend the sandy dune toward the Colonists' crashed ship...
At the Colonist campsite, the group of five are arming themselves with blasters and staff weapons, while the group of ten pirate speederbikes zip around the white bones of a number of long deceased Bantha.
"Won' trigger one in theory"
Muttered to himself as he sets down the dunes beside Rey, hands folding behind his back as he goes with his hood thrown back and taking in as much of the sunshine as he can. Looking over his shoulder to the bikes being left behind and then towards the approaching pirates more so than the colonists themselves.
"That mask thing th'Sith doin'... startin'a make sense eh?"
Half smirking to himself as he checks for how secure his saber is while taking mental note of the collapsed spear hanging from the tool belt that replaced the one he had been issued years and years ago.
Lira quickly follows Rey's lead, dismounting her bike more gracefully than might be expected from someone that could barely ride -- apparently she was more than happy to get off the crazy thing. The winds stir the sands, causing her black robes to billow out briefly before settling against her legs. As she takes a step forward, her booted feet sink slightly into the warm, shifting grains beneath.
She nods at Rey's assessment, her lavender fingers absently brushing against the hilt of her stunsaber hidden in a pocket of her cloak and the DL-18 strapped into a quick-draw holster on her thigh. "Agreed, Master," she murmurs, "but we should be prepared for anything. We don't have any cover out here, and those speeders are here for a reason. I doubt it's charity."
Her pace steady and purposeful, Lira walks alongside Rey and Qutha, lingering more by Qutha's side and looking up at him with a quizzical little tilt of her head. Her lekku her mostly hidden in the hood that shields her face and casts a shadow over her lavender skin, but inside, they writhe slightly.
"Mask thing?"
Her eyes don't linger on the Zelosian for long, though, before looking back to the impending clash of survivors and those encroaching on them, trying to keep herself calm and be open to as much as she can sense through the Force with her modest abilities.
The Pirates arrive at the Colonists before the Jedi are able to, with the 10 speeders drawing to a halt several meters out from the Colonists who are on-guard now. Five of them stand armed around their makeshift camp, and indeed another small group of more can now be seen huddled inside the open hatch of the downed cargo freighter.
As the Jedi draw closer, they can start to hear voices shouting at one another. The pirates ordering the Colonists to drop their weapons, and they won't be hurt. One of the Colonists, a middle aged Man, stands at the forefront of his group, holding a blaster rifle at the ready. "You shot us down!" He shouts back to the Pirates, who all seem amused by this as some even openly chuckle at the man.
What seems to be the pirate leader just shakes his head, one foot on the sand, the other up on his bike still. "That's how this works. Defenseless critters like you wander out of hiding, in to places they don't belong, and you get jumped by predators... Don't act like you don't know how any of this works." The Pirate Captain taunts with a unsavory grin upon his face. "Put the blasters down, or we'll start picking you off, one by one."
One of the other pirates with the Captain, leans over to tap his shoulder, then motions toward the approaching trio of wanderers from the dunes.
The Pirate Captain regards the approaching figures, and raises one hand up to signal toward them. "Salutations." He calls out to them.
The concerned Colonists now regard the approaching trio of wanderers, unsure of which threat they should focus on the most.
Rey... meanwhile, glances toward Qutha and Lira. "Do either of you have experience with these types of people?" She asks, referring to the Pirates.. of course.
She raises her right hand up in greeting. "We are here to assist." She calls out to the Colonists.
But this just makes the Pirate Captain step off of his bike, planting both feet on the ground. "Well that is no good for anyone." He announces as he looks to his men on his right, then to those on his left. "We are civil ruffians! But we are here for our claim on this wreckage's cargo. Please step aside! Last warning!" The Captain shouts, sounding more agitated now.
"Wouldn't be it be a better option to go find'r tapcafe y'us can spend the hot time'a day at?"
Addressed towards the pirate leader while he offers a polite wave of his fingers to the fellow stepped now off of his bike. Qutha sends a look to Rey and then Lira, as if quietly asking them to 'get ready' in case this doesn't work. He's never been too exceptional at nudging people's minds.
But it's always worth a try.
No time to explain the bit about masks either, now the mystery can gain dust and linger in young minds like a splinter in the side of one's thumb. Truly the most sinister of plants.
Lira's mouth opens... and closes. A... tapcafe. That's... something. Her blue eyes shift over to Qutha and then back to the pirates, lavender hands reaching up to brush her hood back to expose her face and then retreat back into the black robe that settles closed around her.
"He's right, you know," she offers, her voice gentle. "Look at them. There's really not enough here to be worth the effort you're going to have to put in. I'm sure your time would be better spent elsewhere."
But even as she speaks, hidden within the confines of her robe, the fingers of her left hand slip around the hilt of her stunsaber in its pocket, drawing it into a closed fist and finding the familiar ridge of the activation switch with her thumb.
The Pirate Captain defiantly raises his chin up after Qutha makes that connection between their minds. His eyes stare directly at the Zelosian as if he is considering that suggestion. He seems to be internally fighting it, like he knows he doesn't really want to do that, but at the same time the way that the stranger said it... it is compelling to him. "Jackian." He states. "Perhaps we should go get a drink, these twin stars is quite intolerable..."
The pirate standing beside the Captain does a double-take when he hears this from his commander. "Sir?" He asks. "We have them cornered. Now is our time, or we lose our shot at all. The Jawas will be here in minutes. If we come ba--"
The Captain cuts off his second with a raise of his hand. "Exactly my point!" He shouts back for everyone to hear, his Lieutenant talking him back in to the here and now. "I'm afraid not." He states, starting to walk toward the Jedi who are sidling up to the Colonists now. The Colonists are all looking from the Jedi to the Pirates and back again, their heads all on swivels now as their lives are in jeopardy from the outcome of whatever this has become. "You're not taking our stuff!" The Colonist leader shouts. "We were enroute to our new home when you Carka Vultures attacked us!"
"Carka Vultures?" The Captain asks, sounding almost offended. "Good sir, I say to you, that hurts. We are humble, entrepreneurs!"
He's about to say something else when Lira's words register in his mind and he regards her. "A Twi'lek?" He asks, looking her over. "A Purple Twi'Lek no less. My word... What a rare treat this is." And now he's grinning Lira's way. "Perhaps you'd like to join us for that drink?"
Once more the Captain's Lieutenant leans over toward his Boss. "Sir. No drinks..."
"I know that!" The Captain shouts, emphasizing this with a stamp of his foot in the sand.
Rey, meanwhile, has walked toward the Colonists, getting closer and closer to them. But she stops, when the Pirate Captain suddenly draws his blaster from his holster in a blaze of speed and quickdraw mastery. "Ah ah ah... Little one. Step no further."
..
Back at the Jedi speederbikes, a trio of Jawa have arrived, and are starting to root through the saddle-bags...
Hands up, palms out and even to his shoulders when the one draws their blaster, "Hey now, no need for that." nodding towards the blaster, attention pulled from the question thrown to Lira and Qutha opts to take a step towards the man now. "Best t'keep y'weapons tucked away... All've y'us." looking to the colonists earnestly before his attention is back on the pirates.
"They's better ways t'tend t'the day. I thinks now's the t'ime y'us git on wit'cher day."
Right hand lowering, turned so that his saber hilt can drop down to rest in slightly curled fingers before he proceeds.
"Now, I know's now y'us gonna tell me that I cain't stop yers. N'I'm gon'r try to be reasonable still..." Qutha's mouth pulling into a frown, "Then y'us gonna try'n insult me. 'Spect me t'threaten. N'I ain' gonna do none. But I'm gonna say 'gin, it'd be bes' if you parted ways peacefully here."
Head canting to one side, the Zelosian looks the pirate leader dead in the eye, "So's what hap'ns next... S'up ter you, hoss."
She shouldn't be flattered by an offer to get drinks in the middle of a desert by a pirate captain and his band of thugs, but Lira still can't help the bit of darkening in her cheeks. She knew better, of course. There was no amount of charming suggestion in the world that could get her to leave Qutha's side in this moment, but the flattery /did/ have an effect on her. After all, what eighteen-year-old girl is completely immune to a bad boy with a swoop gang?
Instead of advancing, though, Lira allowed Qutha to step between them. There wasn't much she could do, at this point, until the fighting started -- at best, she was a distraction, and she might not even be a welcome one, at this point.
But, her eyes do drift over to the speeders that the pirates had left behind, her free hand turning over inside her robe and making a little gesture. She didn't know MUCH about speeders, but she knew where the throttle was.. and how to bump one of the throttle controls to get it moving. So, that's what she focused on.. creating some chaos in their midst while they were busy with Rey and Qutha.
Up by the Jedi speederbikes, one of the Jawa is turning Rey's binocs over in his hands, as another one reaches to grab them from the first one. They begin to have a bit of a tug of war over them as they chatter frantically at each other in their chittering language! The others are surrounding the other two bikes with the intention of stripping them bare.
Down at the crash site, Rey is stopped near to the Colonist leader, her eyes on the pirate captain as he seems to be considering Qutha's words. He tilts his head one way, then the other, before he shrugs and aims his gun at the Zelosian!
The Captain pulls the trigger once, firing just past Qutha's shoulder, before his second shot is made harder by his speederbike starting up beside him, lunging forward a few feet before one of the other Pirates kills it again with a hand slammed down on its starter switch. The pirate curses as the Captain lets loose another blaster bolt!
The Colonists duck behind some of the crates they brought out to use as chairs, while Rey reaches for her saber from her belt beneath her satchel. She pulls it up at the ready now, and switches it on with the beam of her saber blade glowing gold in the shadow of the ship!
"What are these people?!" One of the pirates shouts as they start backing up rapidly toward the cover of their bikes!
Up by the Jedi speeders, the Jawa throw their hands up when gunshots start going off, and they begin rapidly taking as much as they can as some of them scurry off back down the other side of the rolling dune!
His first instinct is to let the force envelop him when the blaster comes out - but the nastic responses of his species jerk him bodily towards the flash when it comes. Unable to garner the concentration to... consume the blaster bolt, for lack of better description, Qutha's other instincts are in action.
The squeal of his saber extending immediately precedes the crack of the plasma fire reflecting off of the length of blue hued energy now humming with a static hiss just beneath the tone.
"Son..." his voice disappointed and his expression remorseful, Qutha turns to stand sideways to the pirate captain, his saber arm lifted, wrist allowed to hang so that the point of his weapon is angled towards the face of the one who took their shot at him, "Y'ud be's gitcher s'ef on y'way. This kin still be all peaceable... Y'us jus' need t'git."
Left hand tucking in at the small of his back and rising onto the balls of his feet as he settles into the Makashi ready stance.
Well, so much for subtlety. On the bright side of things, at least the little lurch of the speeder bike she'd caused made the pirate's shots go a little wilder than the might have, otherwise.. and at least Qutha was quick on the draw. But things were even more dangerous, now. Not just for them, but for the survivors, as well, that were taking cover. Two sabers were already out, and Lira's stunsaber (though, let's face it.. the pirates wouldn't know it was just a stunsaber, right?) is the third.
The little lavender Twi'lek moves, finally, dumping the heavy black robe that was covering her frame as she dashes (well... as fast as a Twi'lek can 'dash' through a bottomless desert of ever-shifting sand that she sinks into with each step) to provide more cover for those cowering.
As she goes, the silvery blade in her hand snap-hisses into existence, spreading the three Jedi out into what she hoped was something like an intimidating 'V'. After all, what band of pirates wanted to deal with THREE Jedi, right? One was enough to wipe out a whole platoon of battle droids... if the old stories are to be believed.
If the old stories are even remembered.
What follows is a barrage of blaster fire from the spooked pirates! Their Captain falls back for cover after taking that clipping hit to his shoulder, while the rest of his team gets behind their own speeders for cover! They begin to unleash a wave of fire at the two biggest threats standing out to them most, being Rey and Lira!
"They're Jedi!" One of the pirates shouts.
"Impossible! They don't exist anymore!" Another shouts back amidst the exploding chaos! "Just shoot them!
The focus fire of six blaster bolts zip toward Rey, who quickly begins to utilize her lightsaber by sweeping it in various directions in front of her, over a decade of near constant training giving her a fluidity to her movements, a grace, a clear speed. She sends the bolts off in random directions, pattering blaster bolts in to the Tatooine sand, or off in to the deep blue skies!
Her metallic hand shoots outward then, the gleaming fingers spread apart as Rey casts a telekinetic wave across the cover of speederbikes that three of the pirates are hiding behind, causing each bike to barrel overtop of the pirate hiding behind it! The wave of invisible power catches the attention of the Pirate Captain now, who does a double-take before he signals his team. "I think these are Jedi!" He shouts now. "Everyone fall back!" He adds before taking another blaster shot toward the defending force protecting the Colonists.
The Colonists hide behind their cover, watching their saviors defend them from the Pirates who'd come to claim their lives.
Completely calm, Qutha's stance remains while blaster fire rains all around, Mr. Pah just watches the pirates. Wordless with his saber still held at angle and his expression passive.
"Git on now. Git."
There'd been no calls from those behind, no sounds of people wounded. The Zelosian remains where he is, ready while sinking into the serenity of the Living Force. Watching events that might have been and may become playing out. Echoes and ripples of those around them and himself.
"Ain' gonna be naught good for you ifn' y'decide t'keep shootin', reckon."
While she had a significantly smaller barage to deal with, for once, the young Twi'lek actually looked like she knew what she was doing. Then again, she was always better with a saber in her hand than she was any other part of her training. The silvery blade she's holding arcs three times in an easy, fluid movement, casting aside the blaster bolts, like Rey, into harmless directions.. at least two of them landed in the sand with quiet a quiet THWUP sound that might or might not have been hot enough to make a small amount of glass just under the surface.
She says nothing. She doesn't chase after them or even follow up on Rey's impressive use of the telekinesis to drive that point home -- even a single Jedi was not an adversary that most wanted to threaten.
Lira'una simply stands there in Shii-Cho, her saber held in front of her, her weight shifted to the balls of her feet to remain ready in case they were foolish enough to turn back around and try for a second wind.
Pirates being opportunistic by their nature, are not prone to sacrificing themselves foolishly. The idealistic ones anyway. They wanted this cargo, but at the cost of their own lives? That wouldn't make much sense, would it. No, the Captain sits back at the tail end of his fleeing crew as he eyes the Jedi, with his pistol held at his side, perhaps seeing if they plan to attack them any further in-turn. These people have no idea what Jedi are, afterall!
He shows a grin on his face too, standing far off in the distance now. "Good show, friends!" He calls out, his voice echoing across the desert. "Perhaps we'll see each other soon!" He adds before the distant sound of a Batnah's groan draws his attention...
To the south a line of Tusken Raiders sit perched upon Bantha mounts, their mask covered faces staring northward toward the crash site, toward the pirates moving toward their ships, and toward the Colonists, and Jedi guarding them. Fifteen of them, all mounted, and all just watching from afar.
This causes the Pirate Captain to grimace, and mutter before he turns and starts his slog run through the sand toward their few ships parked in a triangle pattern a matter of meters away. "Tatooine..." He grumbles to himself.
Back at the crash site, the Colonist Leader watches the pirates run before he turns toward the Jedi. He stares at them, until Rey deactivates her saber. "Your arrival couldn't have been more timely, for our sake." The man says, his rifle lowered to his side. He extends a hand toward Rey. "I'm Elior Drakyr." He states, nodding once to her, and to Lira and Qutha.
"We could really use your help." Another voice says, a woman stepping out of the crashed ship with three kids surrounding her. "I'm Sarra, and well.. we were meant to be landing at our colony on Melakin by now... But I think plans have changed."
Rey shakes the hand of the Colonist leader, before she nods her head softly once, glancing to Qutha and Lira.
"We'll be happy to help you and yours find their way to safety." She says back to them in a kind voice.
Saber retracting back to its hilt when the pirates fall back, Qutha turns back to the colonists with a bob of his head. "Miss," addressing Rey, "ifn' y'us wanna git the Jawas off'n them bikes y'lendin'... or them tuskens... I kin git t'work here, s'pecially if'n we kin get any sorta parts off'a them bikes."
The big chunky belt of his coming in handy as he looks to the colonists, "Lessee ifn' we'se kin get that thing up'n runnin' 'nuff so's we kin git the shields workin' while we git t'work on the engines eh?" even if the ship can't break atmosphere before enacting more permanent repairs - getting the ship to Anchorhead would make this a lot easier.
"Reckon aught'll be ok now..." looking to the dunes, "But if them tuskens creep closer... well..." looking to the ship, "Less jus see if we kin git them shields up."
