Open A Security Upgrade: Walker Support

[Drow Venn]

It was clear that the Junker that had fired upon Drow wasn't exactly expecting such reflexes or even a lightsaber at all so he only got off a few shots before he stopped in shock, only for a moment. But a moment was all Drow needed to yank the pistol from the Junker's hands with the Force and aim it at the one who had shot at Nara. He could understand his fellow Knight's frustration with him - the Force only knew that he'd had more than his fair share of blood on his hand both in his past and as a Jedi - but Drow was a man trying his best to live up to his personal code. And that meant at least giving non-murder the ole college try.

Drastus' maneuvers worked out beautifully and the Junker was pushing back on the ground, trying to avoid getting his face seared by acid. The Junker that Maiko had hit was protected by the metal and cybernetics that covered his body and wasn't exactly knocked out and, instead, was about to counterattack with a swing of his pike before looking over at the state of his companions. There was a moment of pause.

Drastus and Nara both issued warnings to the other Junkers. The one being held by Drastus over the puddle began babbling in Droidspeak and Drow realized that these poor fools didn't know Basic. Fortunately, he'd picked up more than a little Droidspeak during his time as a mercenary.



"Hang on - they can't understand you!" Drow plead with the other Jedi.

"You're beaten!" Drow switched to Droidspeak, talking to the Junkers at large in a loud voice "There's no need to fight anymore over a hunk of metal."

"You are." the Junker with the rifle who'd shot at Nara pointed out

"We need it to prepare against evil forces. We didn't know it was on your turf and we apologize for intruding." Drow said,

"And we need it to sell. What do you have to offer us?" the Junker leader said. Drow relayed that to his companions in regular Basic. It seemed that a trade was on the table.

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[Crix Aran]

Use his Instincts?

Was that an order? Instructions? What did that even mean? Well, other than doing whatever he felt was the right thing to do in that situation he supposed. His first instinct had been to call out to his allies to confirm how best to assist but, well, he had some other instincts to follow as well.

With the droid’s reboot complete, he would pat the droid atop the head with a grin.

“Scruffy we’re going to help take out the trash!”

He quickly fixed the wiring so that the droid would be able to use it’s arms again before tapping it’s head and pointing to direct it at the allies and their scrapper enemies.

“Time to go make them regret their life choices.” He told Scruffy, “Advance Scruffy!”

The droid would advance until it was about fifteen meters away from the fighting, where it would stop and flex it’s arms menacingly as Crix looked down the length of his mom’s blaster rifle at the enemies.

“Pray for mercy from Scruffy!”

Said droid made a loud ‘Gonk!’ noise and Crix nodded.

“Scruffy wants you to all know that he’s currently reaching critically low stocks of mercy… better take him up on his offer quick.”

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[Maiko Sigur]

The attack landed smoothly but the intended effect to send the Junker tumbling down was not achieved. Maiko adjusted his grip on the staff, ready to try again when he came face to face with a pipe ready to strike him down.

Well, almost.

Maiko stepped to the side to avoid getting fallen over by the Junker as well as his own opponent's attempts at counterattacking, wide eyes finding Drast who had been busy driving his foot to the scrapper's face and sending the latter rolling down the pile. His fellow padawan followed up with a knee to the Junker's back, ready to shove the latter's face on the bubbling puddle of toxic waste below.

The threats from both Drastus and Knight Allam alarmed Maiko, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two? Were they serious? Most likely. Could he object about it? Apparently not. The young padawan turned to look at the approaching Crix, headbanging droid in tow and... was that a blaster rifle in his hands?

His attention was brought back to the Junker being held captive by Drastus. He could feel their fear through the Force, and it was an unpleasant feeling. More so that it was directed to the group of Jedi as a whole. Maiko worried his lower lip, frowning lightly. Maybe the Junkers would consider negotiations now that they were defeated?

Knight Venn's voice cut through Maiko's worry, the padawan's head tilting to the former's direction. He listened to the conversation between the Knight and the lead(?) Junker, not understanding anything since he didn't know droidspeak. Maybe he should learn now, for future use.

"Do we have something to offer, though?" Maiko asked no one in particular thoughtfully, staff now back to it's rightful place as he began rummaging through his satchel for anything of value – which, of course, held none.

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[Drastus Drahr]

"The only thing of value we have is his life!" Drastus would yell out, pushing the head that much closer to the puddle that a bubble popped. "They attacked us without provocation. If they want their friend to not become sludge, they'll stand down and surrender their arms. They can have their weapons back once we are getting off world! Junkers like these have probably already killed innocent people coming here for hope, let's not act like they're truly victims. They either surrender and walk away whole or they don't, and they don't need to worry about selling things."

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[Juniper]

Drow switched from Basic to Droidspeak and suddenly, things started to make a little bit of sense. Her angry gaze softened and she listened in. Luckily, whilst she couldn't speak actual droidspeak, she could understand it fairly fluently. When the Junker made an accusation against her, Nara raised her blaster and aimed it away from the junkers. She raised her hands up, showing she wasn't intending to hurt them now.

A trade. A trade for the walker. They could just walk away with it and there'd be very little that any of them could do to stop it... but that wasn't the Jedi way. Nara sighed as she tapped her droid. "Translate for me, buddy," she whispered, as the droid beeped and nodded, jumping off shoulder and onto the ground.

"I apologise for threatening you and your friends, I was caught off guard with the accident involving the crane. We should start this relationship again on nicer terms." As she spoke, her droid chirruped and squeaked the same message in droidspeak to them.

"I have some robotics repair tools that may prove useful to you. They could be used for your cybernetics," Nara said slowly, carefully reaching around to her bag, opening up the satchel to show them the pack of tools inside. "I would be happy to leave them with you, after we have checked the walker for anything that needs immediate repair." It was about as much as Nara had to offer on herself. As much as she would be willing to part with, anyway.

Hearing Drastus's passionate defiance didn't do any favours, though. Nara stared right at him. "Padawan, let the Junker go and step back. We do not fight and threaten when we can negotiate." Her voice was sharp, cutting through the fetid air. "That's not a request, it's an order."

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[Drow Venn]

"You think we don't have repair tools ourselves? We're Junkers - we live and die by them!" one of the Junkers snorted derisively at Nara's generous offers.

"Plus, it wouldn't even be close to the cost of the walker. Now, one of those fancy laser-swords you have on the other hand..." another Junker added, looking hungrily at the glowing lightsabers that the Jedi were wielding.

As much as he detested fighting, Drow was good at it and realized how essential the lightsabers were for the Jedi to protect the weak and innocent. He explained this to the Junker and reiterated the fact that the Order needed this walker to keep their own people safe from invaders. It didn't seem to matter and the Junkers were once again getting irritated. Wishing to avoid a fight and to avoid essentially robbing a group of scavengers that had a better claim to the walker then they did, Drow found himself wishing he was better at negotiations than he was.

Drastus' fighting words certainly weren't helping matters and he was grateful that Nara admonished the Padawan. He had been on several missions with Drastus before and he knew him to be a good lad that was fun to be around but ruthless words like that were better left out of a Jedi's mouth the Ishi Tib thought. Those words coupled with Crix's sudden arrival made Drow wonder what the hell the Council had been thinking when they'd made him a Knight. He certainly wasn't qualified to lead this expedition.

"Crix, no! We can talk this out with them!" Drow shouted while waving his arms, hoping the young Zabrak would listen. One of the Junkers buzzed away about this new act of aggression and Drow again asked how they could resolve the matter. The Junker gave a curt reply and Drow swallowed hard to address his Jedi companions.


"They're giving us three options. We could trade one of our lightsabers for the walker. They would also give us the walker in exchange for free transport to Yavin and jobs at the Temple for them as long as we pay them." Drow explained the choices to his group in Basic, pausing before delivering the last one. "Or we can fight for it."

Drow looked around to his assembled companions and hoped somebody would say something brilliant right about now. Drow would step up to a leadership role if necessary but he much preferred following the orders of others, not trusting his own intelligence and capabilities. The Order could really benefit from this walker but he wasn't entirely sure he loved the idea of a clan of Junkers with a lightsaber. The Force only knows what could happen if they sold it into the wrong hands. He could understand their want to get out of the hellhole that was Raxus Prime - Yavin IV must seem like a paradise by default to them. They could maybe even be incorporated into the security forces but he wasn't entirely sure if the Council had the money to pay them and he didn't relish begging them for the funds. Plus, he had a sneaking suspicion that the Junkers' presence could cause some issues with the other residents if they did live in the Temple. But he certainly didn't want to keep fighting...

He hoped someone else would come up with the wisest option. If not, he'd do his best to step up and make what he thought was the right decision.

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[Crix Aran]

Crix wasn’t at the same level of the spectrum as Drastus (kill them if they didn’t back down) but he also absolutely hated the idea of giving up lightsabers to the junkers. He might not have one himself but that didn’t mean he was ignorant of the significance a lightsaber held to a Jedi. If the lightsaber was a Jedi’s life, what did it mean when one was willing to trade one away at the first sign of any trouble?

Nothing good to his mind but maybe it was something Knights understood better.

“… alright.” He lowered his blaster rifle ever so slowly, cautious, “Alright our Temple could use more technicians.”

Though he wasn’t sure why Drow was using the actual name of the planet – sure the scrappers might not speak Basic but some place names were the same in any language. He shook his head before tapping the head of Scruffy.

“This droid was over there banging it’s head against an escape pod. It’s power supply was functioning fine and so was it’s processor. If you’re good enough to work for us… give me your best shot. What was wrong with the droid that caused it to go crazy?”

From the behavior the droid had been showing and the description he had given them, any halfway decent technician would be able to determine that there was an issue between the power supply and the brain. In point of fact, there had been a short in the circuit which had, as the name implied, short circuited the poor droid’s head.

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[Drastus Drahr]

And there it was. The reason the Jedi had experienced naught more than loss over the centuries as an order. They would stand down and give ground for piece without fighting for anything. They lacked resolve. And now not only were the aggressors asking, nay demanding for their price, his own people were actually going along with it. Even at Nara's command, he released the pressure, but he didn't let the man back up.

"Reprimand me back at the Temple if you want, but you cannot be serious, Master Venn. They attack us, twice, then make demands of us. And you offer these strangers, these people who had no qualms just attacking Maiko, you want to bring them back to the Temple where we have younger kids. Are you guys so quick to trust that you're willing to risk the safety of our people? They've offered no good-will, nothing. If they want to fight, we can do so without killing them. I'd rather knock them out and tie them up before we grab the walker and depart. They have no position to demand from, they're taking advantage of the Jedi's reputation of giving in. We could take them in and they could kill the younglings, or they could not and we'd be short a few tech-heads. I am not willing to risk the former outcome, I would hope two Knights wouldn't either." he said boldly. He knew there would be some punishment, but he knew there was truth to his words, whether the other Jedi wanted to hear it or not.

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[Maiko Sigur]

Negotiations quickly went out of the picture as fast as it came. He still hadn't finished creating his own lightsaber – the search for a kyber crystal still might be underway – but even Maiko balked at the thought of one of his companions giving away their own in return of the walker. He thought that the Junkers would accept Knight Allam's offer, expected it, even, but it was turned down. Hard. And derisively at that. The young Padawan himself had nothing to offer, and he felt terribly useless.

He wanted to refute Drastus' words about the Junkers attacking Maiko – technically the youngest in the group had attacked first, but then again it was to defend his fellow Padawan and with the hopes of ending the ensuing fight quickly. But Drastus was right...

Crix, on the other hand, seemed to be mostly agreeing with the second option out of the three the Junkers have given their group. And while Maiko was taught to always try to see the good in other people before judging them, he felt apprehensive in letting the Junkers set foot on Yavin-4. He still hadn't moved on from the attack on Ajan Kloss, and even if he was somehow convinced that the Junkers wouldn't go as far as to hurting the younglings back in the Temple, a surge of protectiveness over the young ones still made itself known in his mind and heart. But still...

Who was he to judge those who just wanted to live a life better than the one they have here on Raxus Prime?

Turning to look at the Junkers, Maiko asked, "Why Yavin? Why not choose another planet? It's– It's not that I'm saying that you have no right to choose a location that's amenable to you, it's just that... Why seek out shelter and jobs at Yavin?"

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[Juniper]

One thing was for certain, Nara was not giving up her lightsaber. They snubbed her idea of her repair gear, which was fine. If they didn't want her stuff and preferred their own run-down, crappy gear, she could live with that. Easily. Still, that left only one option and they couldn't exactly promise all that. It was Maiko's thoughts that gave her the bright idea. She had to smile at him, making note of his sensible suggestion.

"We can provide transport to the Temple and arrange to see if the leadership would like to hire them," Nara suggested, trying to find a way to link it all together. "We can't guarantee them jobs because we're not in charge, but we can promise them representation. If it doesn't work out, we can give free passage to somewhere like Corellia, or Kuat, where they might be able to get more mechanical work."

It was the fairest option in her mind. They couldn't give them jobs off the bat but they could try... and if it didn't work, they could take them somewhere that their mechanical prowess could at least be more appreciated.

"I suppose they could take Crix's little test. I mean, then they'd have our testimony in support. We'd have seen them in action, after all. The council would be a lot more willing to listen if we had proof." They probably weren't more willing, but they could try it anyway.

Two padawans with good ideas. Unfortunately, there was an odd one out. Drastus's outburst was stark in contrast to the rest of them. It drew very little from Nara but a scornful stare. Is this what I sounded like as a padawan? No wonder everyone wanted to punch me.

"I will reprimand you where I damn well please, padawan. Your objection is noted and we'll be sure to discuss it later. Now you will let. The. Junker. Go. Or you will be made to let him go. Have I made myself clear, padawan?"

Save me from teenagers who think they know everything, for the love of all things.

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[Drow Venn]

"Sounds like there's a disruption between the power generator and the core unit. Brain isn't getting the necessary info it needs to accomplish its programming." one of the Junkers answered Crix accurately in regards to Scruffy.

"No good will? I think you forget Drastus, they live here, not us. And they did not strike the first blow. Last I checked, driving a crane on one's home planet is hardly a crime." Drow pointed out to the younger Padawan. He tried not to come down on Drastus too hard. The Force only knew that he'd once been that bloodthirsty and Nara seemed to have a better grasp on discipline than he did. Plus, he still didn't feel comfortable enough in his rank to pull it.

He then turned to the Junkers and translated the question Maiko asked, careful not to actually say the words Yavin in Droidspeak, just referring to it as the Jedi's home planet.

"Anywhere's better than here, it's true. But all things considered, it'd be better to be under your protection than not." one of the Junkers bluntly answered the question. The same one listened carefully to the option that Nara presented and turned to his fellow Junkers for a moment. After a terse few moments, they all nodded one after another. He turned back to address the Jedi.

"Your offer is a fair one. If you provide us transport to your home, we can use our crane and help pull the walker upright for you. Would probably help to have the droid assist us too." the Junker said. Drow clipped his saber to his belt, confident now that violence was no longer needed.

"If that sounds good to everyone else, I'm in."

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[Drastus Drahr]

It came as absolutely no surprise to Drastus at how daft Nara's response would be. He half expected it. The Jedi were notorious for threatening their own when they believed they had the moral high ground, and the young man had to bite back a laugh. He couldn't tell if she was angry because he questioned her command and so it was a matter of pride or a result of Venn pulling the earlier moral high ground card with her. After all, when he first put the guy over the puddle, she was on board and now she was threatening Drast. "Ah yes, the good ol'fashioned threaten your ally. Very Jedi-like, Knight Allam."

He would put weight on the junker and whisper to him before shoving the guy off to the side and farther down onto the following scrap pile. "I don't agree with bringing them to our home, at all. If we need to take them off this rock, we can take them to one of our places on Corellia. Besides, first attack was fired from their blaster, if you don't want to count the accidental crane drive. Nara waved her blaster around, they fired. I don't trust them, so I won't be anywhere near them on this rock. I'll be on the ship while you guys decide how badly you want to endanger our Temple."

He'd then turn to head back to the ship, unless stopped. Fools. The whole lot of them. The Jedi loved to repeat their cycles and these junkers on Yavin just made him see the inevitable repeat of Ajan Kloss.

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[Crix Aran]

He wasn't going to try and cause any drama about Drow's decision to help the scavengers. Crix might not be big on redemption but he was also really kind of against summary executions. Didn't matter so much who fired first to him so long as no one ended up dead.

Crix nodded to Drow.

"Checks out - they're not dumb at least."

Which meant that they would be useful for their technical knowledge for starters. If they weren't trustworthy, he trusted that they would be able to detect it as they attempted anything. He doubted that the Jedi Order would let them in without doing some vetting.

"Hey come on Drast - we're gonna put them through the wringer when they get there, make sure they're not sus." he tried to reassure his friend, "It'll be safe."

Hopefully.

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[Maiko Sigur]

It seemed that the majority was close to coming to a decision – all that the parties involved needed was to keep their word. And while Maiko still held reservations about the Junkers and their request to be taken to the Temple for safety and employment, the youngest member of the Jedi group couldn't exactly go against this new development.

Violence had been thankfully averted, but he could feel Drastus' disappointment and anger through the Force. The older padawan's need to protect their home was understandable, but the fierceness with which Drastus expressed his dismay made Maiko realize something about his fellow student.

He turned at the Knights then to Crix with a worried smile. "I'll just..." he told the three before making a vague gesture towards Drastus that said I'll go get him. Without waiting for their reply, Maiko would carefully yet hurriedly make his way down the trash heap to follow after the other padawan.

"Drastus, wait!" he would call after him, jogging to catch up to the taller teen's longer strides. Once he caught up, the young padawan would reach out a tentative hand to give Drastus' shoulder a gentle pat.

"I understand why you're disappointed, I really do," he prefaced, brows pinched with worry as he gazed up at the other student. He didn't follow him to preach on the ways of their Order, no. Maiko had a feeling that it was something Drastus didn't want to hear. "And to be honest, I'm... scared of letting those Junkers set foot on our home, on our Temple. Not when..."

Maiko swallowed the lump in his throat, but there was no stopping the sliver of grief he felt from making itself known through the Force.

"N-Not when we're still reeling from what– what happened at Ajan Kloss."

Remembering his old Master's face and the younglings who saw him as an older sibling still made Maiko's chest clench with pain despite Master Voran's teachings about loss.

"But–" here, the young padawan faltered. He wanted to offer Drastus comfort and reassurance, but it seemed he failed on that regard. Words fled Maiko, and he was left walking beside the older padawan, hands clenching and unclenching on the strap of his satchel. Eyes misting a little, he gave Drastus a weak smile before deciding to draw on Crix' words.

"Like Crix said, we're–" Maiko sniffed, smile turning into a wobbly little grin. "We're gonna put them in the wringer! And hey, we can do that before they could even set foot on Yavin-4!"

Bugging the Junkers off with serious questions and suspicious stares before they could even enter the ship? Maiko was still so childlike, so naïve. Force forgive him.

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[Juniper]

Nara said little to Drastus as he pontificated, just settling for a rolling of her eyes and a scowl. She cared little for the high and mighty opinions of a teenager that wasn't so much as wet behind the ears as absolutely, 100% soaked. He'd had his strop, he could go settle in the ship.

Like a good boy.

She folded her arms and turned her attention to Drow and the Junkers. "I'd say we have a deal then." She might've asked if there were any further objections, but clearly that was already out in the air. Besides, she and Drow were the senior Jedi on this mission and that stood for something. If the padawans didn't like it, well... tough luck.

She took a careful, tentative step towards the Junkers. "I'd be happy to help in any way I can. I'd love to get a look at your crane," she said, hoping that they could learn something from this too. "I guess it's time for our droid-hunting padawan to shine," she called out, waving to Crix. "You think you can sort out that glitch between the core and the PSU? I'd guess corroded wiring but I may be wrong. Could be anything on this planet."

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[Drow Venn]

Sorry - post was way later than intended. I intend this on being my last post in this thread since the walker has now been secured. But feel free to post any wrap-ups you want.

Drow didn't bother pointing out that the Junkers only fired with their blasters after their crane had been crashed. By Drastus, no less. Drow had been an angry young man in his day and he knew the best thing to do for an angry young man was to let them rage out and feel embarassed about it later. Well, maybe it wasn't the best thing to do but it had worked for Drow.

Instead, he made his way over to Nara and the Junkers, doing his best to help all of them. With the crane now operational, it was relatively straightforward getting the walker loaded on the transport the Jedi had brought. And if Crix helped with his newfound droid or the others helped with the Force, the task would be even easier.

It was with a certain level of pride that Drow watched all this unfold. This mission hadn't gone smoothly but they had got what they came for and more besides without a single casualty! In Drow's book, that was a success. The walker would have to be restored and the Junkers would have to be brought before the Council but, for now, Drow was happy.

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/EndThread