Ask Plot Below the Great Giant

[Saul Devan]

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He'd read about it in the Jedi Library, it was a story that hadn't yet faded from galactic memory: The destruction of the first Death Star. Saul could not help but appreciate returning to the site. Though so much violence, so many terrible things had been committed here, so had so much good. A true great victory against the darkness, where Grandmaster Luke Skywalker had proved himself. Yavin 4 hung in the shadow of its towering sibling, sun just cresting the lip beyond and showering the planet in golden rays,

Skkk-bhrk his rebreather clicked as he ignited his commlink, the view would have to wait, it was time for the operation,

"It's a shame that they would spoil the view like that" Saul sat in the cockpit of Virgil 7 as he made the call out to Yoddle nearby, pointing out the patrolling Preybirds beyond,

"If we want them out of here, then perhaps we can make our numbers seem greater than they really are, they won't stay long if they don't think they can win" He shook his head, and turned his mind to the matter at hand. After both of them had seen the nasty ends fighters could come to at Ukio not long ago, he didn't doubt that neither of them wanted to end up in the same position.

How exactly they could pull that off up here was another question. But with the Force at their side, anything could happen. And back at the Battle of Yavin, it did.

Hopefully fortune would favour the Jedi once again.

@Malon

Spoiler: OOC

Let's just self-dm I feel, I'm sure we'll come up with a good story!

 

[Yoddle]

Yoddle was among the few members of his species that genuinely enjoyed flying. The cockpit of his green-painted X-wing, Green One, had been specifically modified so that a tiny alien such as himself would be able to make use of the craft with ease. The two Jedi were some distance away from the enemy fighters, so they still had time to plot their course of action. One that, he hoped, would result in the least loss of life possible, if any at all.

"Oh," Yoddle cawed. "Use the Force to fool them, he suggests. Awh, mhmhmhm!" The tiny Jedi made sure to engage his craft's shields and to begin heating up its weapons. But he didn't lock S-foils in attack position. Not yet. "A good suggestion you make, my young friend. But did you think about how you might accomplish this? Hmm? Much concentration such illusions take!"

Near the fourth moon of the Yavin system, Yoddle sensed recognition and alarm. The spice-runner squadron was alert to them now. The tiny Jedi watched their craft swing into formation, and he knew that meant their planning time would be short. But he was calm. There was no reason to fret. The Force was with them, and that was enough. @Nightfall

 

[Saul Devan]

Skkk-bhrk,

Skkk-bhrk,

Saul's breathing was steady, and deep as he looked through the cockpit screen to see the criminal ships begin fanning out and moving toward them. He took a moment to take last glance at the planet's hanging there before opening his comm once more to Yoddle, following his ally in powering up defensive systems on his ship, prepping his engines for evasive maneuvers,

"And such concentration takes time" he closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, feeling the movement of the spheres, the light of the stars,

And the encroachment of the fighters,

"I like to think between us we might be able to master such a trick" he said slyly back to Yoddle as he tried to centre himself. No matter what he imagined they would not be fighting, not at first anyhow. He had never utilised such a power of the Force before, part of him thought now was time to try. Otherwise he sought to find anything about their position that could give them an advantage, but he wasn't too sure what,

"Unless you suggest another lesson in diplomacy?" if only Yoddle could have seen his smirk.

@Malon

 

[Yoddle]

Yoddle chuckled in his cockpit. "The right mind frame, you have, my young friend," the older Jedi said. He flipped a switch and locked his S-foils into attack position. "But there is an easier way to confound our enemies. Lock S-foils in attack position and follow me. Show you what I mean, I will."

The tiny green Jedi accelerated his equally green X-wing to attack speed and rushed to meet the oncoming enemy fighters. He could sense their surprise. Charging headfirst was essentially a suicide maneuver. But, once their shock wore off, alarms sounded in Yoddle's cockpit warning him that his ship was now locked onto by enemy weapon systems. He chose that moment to take his left hand off the yoke and raise it towards the enemy fighters.

Suddenly, the fighters directly in front of his X-wing—the ones who had just had him locked on—jerked violently out of the way as Yoddle pulled on their yokes and threw their starfighters out of control. The other starfighters in the squadron scrambled to adjust to the sudden break in formation, but, overall, chaos reigned, allowing Yoddle to punch through and begin circling around for another run.

"Experienced the Force, these spice-runners never have," Yoddle said to his partner over comms. "Confound them it will — yes — scare them, too. Use that to our advantage we can." @Nightfall

 

[Saul Devan]

Saul watched Yoddle charge ahead on his dramatic blast through the enemy line, sending ships scattering to the stellar winds as he passed up and around them,

Skkk-bhrk,

"Then we must not allow them to get used to it" Saul replied then in agreement, a smile on his face as he let the throttle throw his ship forwards, but instead of charging directly at the enemy ships, Saul flanked to the side, ending up on the opposite end to Yoddle as his ally came around for another pass.

The pirates would have nowhere to focus, and that would make them easy to split only further. A trio of ships tried to wrench their noses around his way, shuttling through the void toward him as he spun up and out, sensing the Force between their ships in formation and instead pushing it outwards. Each of the ships was sent shooting off on their own, any laser blasts veering off in other directions. As the fighters got left in space outside the formation and on their own, the pilots would know they had become easy pickings.

While the Jedi had no intention of pulling the trigger, the fighters didn't know that.

@Malon

 

[Yoddle]

Yoddle, on the other hand, was perfectly prepared to pull the trigger. And he did. He lined up his shot, waited for the Preybird to get a little closer, and squeezed the trigger. Red lights flashed from the cannons on his X-wing's wingtips, but his aim was not to destroy the enemy fighter. Instead, the cannon shots skimmed the fighter's shield, forcing it to bank right to avoid anymore fire that might land a direct hit.

In the meantime, the Preybird's wingmate fell for the Jedi's ruse. This second starfighter took the opportunity to fire on Yoddle's X-wing. Had the pilot been in a match up with any other opponent, he would have just scored the first kill of the day. But his opponent was a Jedi with the Force as his ally. Yoddle took his left hand off the stick and pointed it at the oncoming lasers, which bent harmlessly around his fighter as he applied the Force.

This, too, had its intended results. The whole squadron saw that supernatural miracle and were beginning to panic. Several were pulling away and scattering. One was already headed back planetside, while a whirl from Yoddle's R2-unit confirmed that some of the others were powering up their hyperdrive for an escape jump.

The old Jedi chortled. "Take care of the rest. Deal with the runners, I will." @Nightfall

 

[Saul Devan]

Saul quickly finding out that, even if he’d had objections about having to deal with the rest, they weren’t going to leave him any choice.

The fighters who hadn’t fled yet had instead redoubled their efforts. Whatever they were fighting was an aberration in their minds, and one that they wouldn’t accept in their reality. Easiest way to get it out there was to blast it out of the sky and act like it had never been there at all.

So, that was exactly what they tried to do.

Coming round in a newly formed pack, the set of fighters came at him from behind, locking weapons and letting loose at Saul’s rear. And while he was able to redirect a few with the Force, a quick re-routing of shield power took the brunt of it.

Instead, Saul tried something a little different. Cutting the engines in a flash, the ships chasing had to suddenly veer out in all directions to avoid him, the topmost Preybird skimming the roof of his X-Wing with a shriek of metal on metal,

Stand down Saul spoke out with his mind, the message reaching into the heads of the pilots that swarmed past him now before letting off a hail of blaster fire across their sterns.

One by one, their weapons appeared to power down, they were having no more of today,

“Thank the Force”

@Malon

 

[Yoddle]

As it happened, the runners jumped to lightspeed before Yoddle could reach them. He had hoped to stop them, in case they went for help, but it was out of his hands now and at least they were gone. Saul, in the meantime, had gotten the other hostiles to stand down. Apparently, the Jedi duo's display of the Force had finally paid off. There would be no deaths and no more fighting. Within minutes, they had jumped to lightspeed, as well, leaving Yoddle and Saul alone in orbit over Yavin IV...

That was until BB-9 bleeped in Yoddle's ear and the old Jedi Knight checked his comm frequency. "Recieving a distress signal from the Great Temple, we are," he said to his companion. "Something must have happened to our friends on the surface. Go and check on them, we should."

Yoddle phrased it as a suggestion, but he was already swinging his ship around and pointing it towards the fourth moon of the Yavin system. He hoped whatever was going on down there wasn't too serious. @Nightfall

 

[Saul Devan]

As the fighters before him powered down, his commlink rang with the familiar sound of Yoddle's voice, and the green Jedi's uncommon cadence that he was become particularly used to these days. A distress call, he was receiving it too it seemed.

As Yoddle swung Green One around, Saul was isolating the source of the call. Oren and Mila had set it off it seemed, whatever had happened to them below? Following in Virgil 7 Saul pulled at the fighters controls and lurched down to match Yoddle's angle. They wre headed to the great temple. He had expected to see it for the first time under slightly different circumstances, but sometimes events made changes to even the best laid plans,

Skkk-bhrk,

"What's the plan? Just arrive at the front door?" Saul called over the comm, half in jest, half with real concern. If whatever had laid them low was still there, they'd have to be careful. Though at least they'd have surprise on their side. That, and between the two of them they'd taken care of any reinforcements.

@Malon

 

[Yoddle]

"Into the Great Temple, only one way in there is," Yoddle explained over his mic. "Great care we must take. But worried, I am not. And neither should you be. For the Force is our ally and powerful it is."

He was parroting Yoda again. It was hard not to when much of Yoddle's extensive childhood was spent under the elder Jedi's guidance. But he was grateful for it. These new Jedi were headstrong and uncertain. And sometimes, old wisdom was just the cure for that.

Yoddle pointed his ship at the moon and accelerated towards the moon and towards their friends who waited down below... @Nightfall

 

[Saul Devan]

Yoddle’s trust in the Force and in the Jedi teachings was something Saul could only dream of. Though he had to admit to himself that his old questioning ways had slipped of late. The council had responded better than expected, and Jedi all around were at work with Sector Rangers to seek out the evil that arose.

Things, despite the danger, were perhaps on the mend. He had to believe that.

Even with the violence of Yavin 4 already, the blaster Nara had taken earlier that day, he was reday to fly down with Yoddle and make sure it was the last one that happened. This was a sacred place, and they intended to make it so once again:

The Force was with them, and no one could stop them.

So, with a blast of engines, Saul followed down to the planet, and his next adventure.

@Malon

/EndThread