Ask Ryloth Chasing Cats

[Maxims Tionson]

Ryloth was not a happy place at the best of times, especially when it was being visited by slavers and bounty hunters. Unfortunately for the locals, this seemed to be a regular thing. The Hutts had declared their interest in Twi'lek slaves long ago and the rest, as they say, was history. The Jedi had been protecting the planet to the best of their ability for centuries as well but they were never numerous enough to make a difference.

Here and now, Max was willing to do his part to try and make something of a difference, something of an impact.

After forcing the Trandoshans to stop assisting slavery efforts against the Wookiees (using their own point system to push them into the agreement), he had tracked several slaver gangs and the like who tried it anyway. Most of them had not, in fact, been Trandoshans but instead they tended to, most often, be Zygerrians looking to make some quick credits with the new market opening up.

He had sent out the call to other nearby Jedi as he landed his ship at the spaceport. Max might be able to take some of them himself but he wasn't about to risk it so he called it in. He waved off the concerned beeps of his astromech.

"Someone will come." he assured his un-named droid companion, "Someone always comes."

More beeps.

He laughed as he walked down the ramp.

"Because the Force wills it!"

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[Larana Basai]

“It isn’t forever, Larana.” The familiar voice reminded her, disrupting her thoughts as their transport ship touched down on the planet Ryloth. Kane was another Master within the Jedi Order, tasked with keeping her out of trouble in her master’s absence. He had been kind to her, but she was becoming impatient—heart aching to explore beyond his metal cage of a ship.

It had been weeks since she’d set foot outside; weeks spent pacing the halls like a caged animal, desperate to escape. The lessons had become repetitive and the training droids sorely predictable; she had likely been through each of their programs a dozen times but still continued—it was the only thing that kept her from madness. In the years since she had come to the Jedi Order, Larana had rarely spent a night away from her peer, Kalen, and they had always trained side-by-side within the protective shadow of their master. It felt wrong that the two of them would have left her behind, but she couldn’t help worrying. The long silence and endless night of space had been torturous.

“I know.” She swung around in her chair, leaving the flashing lights of the control board behind her, and flashed him a hopeless smile. It’d been the same thing every day since they’d left and, while she wanted to believe him, it was difficult. Larana sank deeper into her chair and drew in a deep breath to calm her racing thoughts.

“One of our own is requesting assistance in dealing with some slaver gangs here on Ryloth.” He pulled up his datapad, transmitting the coordinates to her. “I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for you to show what you’ve learned. I’ve arranged for secondary transport to return you to me once you are finished.” He could barely get the words out before she was on her feet, eager to leave.

He ushered her onto the platform, and before he’d had the opportunity to even present any final warnings, she pulled her bag over her shoulders and set off to find her comrade, nose buried in her datapad while she navigated the busy spaceport, squeezing her way between vendors and gatherings of rough looking individuals. It definitely wasn’t somewhere she’d want to get lost, but it didn’t take her too long to find Max among the crowds.

“Master Kane Eros sent me to answer your call.” Larana spoke quiet enough to avoid drawing any unwanted attention, patting his astromech in friendly greeting. “I’m Larana Basai. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting, but I’m here to help in any way that I can.” There was a smile that tugged at her lips, the sweet sense of freedom fluttering in her stomach. Honestly, after all the weeks she’d spent confined to Kane’s ship, she’d clean boots just to be able to accompany Max on his assignment. It wouldn’t bother her even a bit.

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Sometimes the Force provided and sometimes it was the Jedi Order working to assist it's members. But sometimes, either the Force or the Order, tried his patience and sent him things that he was not... happy with. Not especially comfortable with in fact. Whichever body of authority within his life as a Jedi had control currently, they had sent a young Padawan to answer his call.

He was uncomfortable almost immediately.

But he did his best not to show it, grinning a little bit as he waved to her as she approached. He nodded along with her greeting before patting his astromech on the head.

"Look after the ship buddy." he requested before making his way forward through the crowds, "Follow me Basai - best we get moving since we know our target will only be here for a relatively short amount of time."

He tried to put it out of his mind and deal with it as a Jedi should. Dwelling on past failures and doubts was not the Jedi way - he knew this but there was still a part of him that rebelled against the very idea of it.

"Basai do you know what we're doing here today? Specifically?"

Or had the Order simply thrown her at him?

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[Larana Basai]

Disappointment flashed in his expression, if only momentarily, before it was replaced with a look that Larana was all too familiar with – that fake kind of smile people wear when they’re only tolerating your presence because it’s what is expected of them. It was the same smile that Kane Eros had given her when her master had unexpectedly abandoned her on his ship. No one wanted to have a Padawan follow them around, but not many were given a choice. Still, she couldn’t help but take it personally.

“Yes. I know why we’re here.” Her prior enthusiasm had all but vanished and she let out a short huff. “It’s been a while now that the Jedi have been trying to chase away slavers here. Master Eros said that we’re here to deal with one of the slaver gangs. A group of Zygerrians if I recall.”

Larana kept close behind him as they made their way through the crowds, but was careful not to follow too close, to avoid seeming too eager or obnoxious. Perhaps she hadn’t quite earned the title of Knight or her independence to work without the supervision of her superiors, but she had spent enough time surviving the wilds on Andara, that she was more than capable of holding her own in most situations.

She shrugged her bag further over her shoulders, squeezing between a small group of individuals to keep up with him. “How many are there? Is anyone else coming, or will it be just the two of us?”

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Force damn it, she noticed.

Kark.

"Close enough to be getting on with." he agreed with a small sigh, rubbing at the stubble on his face for a moment before glancing back at her through the crowds, "It'll be just the two of us. We are hunting a small number here today - specifically we are hunting a single Zygerrian bounty hunter and some local allies he has. But the key thing we need to remember here is that we are NOT trying to stop the slave operation here on Ryloth."

This wasn't the place to stop it because if they stopped it here it would be temporary. He had the beginnings of a plan to make it much more sustainable but that meant looking at the bigger picture rather than the smaller one. She might not be able to see it though since he wasn't really in the mood to explain himself.

"The bounty hunter needs to escape, alright?" he told her before holding up a hand for her to stop, having led her to the outskirts of the city to a cliff's edge, "Avoid fatalities if at all possible with his allies."

Down below in a narrow canyon the lone Zygerrian mercenary was camping out with a group of a dozen other aliens. None of them were Twi'leks considering their business here but, surprisingly, none of them were Trandoshans either since he had thoroughly ruined this bounty hunter's reputation with the lizard people before.

"Alright Padawan - how would you engage knowing we have the high ground and surprise?"

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[Larana Basai]

“No fatalities. Let the bounty hunter escape.” It seemed an odd tactic, but she wasn’t here to ask questions, only to assist; this was not her mission. She repeated his instructions back, giving him a single nod of affirmation to show that she understood, before returning her attention to the encampment that sat just at the base of the cliff where they stood.

There were a handful of men who moved between the tents and one, blaster in hand, who appeared to be keeping watch. However, given their position, he was facing the opposite direction which offered them an advantage. It would have been easiest to strike quick and hard, giving them little opportunity to react or defend themselves, but it didn’t seem that was his intention. In fact, if the whole point of their mission here was to let the bounty hunter escape, Larana wasn’t sure why they had come at all which made answering his next question all the more difficult.

“I’m not sure,” wasn’t exactly what she had wanted to say. It felt as though he had forced her into a corner and she wanted to prove to him that she wouldn’t be a liability here, but she was probably the least tactful student the Order could have sent. Unfortunately, the opportunity to train outside of the temple walls meant that she’d need to make more quick decisions, so it was just one of those things that she’d need to learn to overcome.

“Do we have any way to jam their communications? I think it’d be safest to ensure they won’t be able to call for help, less we be even more outnumbered than we are already and waste considerable amounts of time with his allies instead of with him.” Larana spoke in a sure tone, but was too nervous for his response to look back at him and instead kept her eyes focused on the camp. It was probably a stupid suggestion and she didn’t want to see his pained expression or disappointment.

 

[Maxims Tionson]

She understood the mission parameters just fine but he could sense her dissatisfaction with them as well. If it was just because she didn't understand the reasoning behind them or not, he neither knew nor cared. The fact was that she was going to assist and that was good enough.

He wasn't trying to have a teachable moment here - he was trying his very best not to in fact.

And yet his instincts had overridden him and he had asked her to hatch the plan as a teaching moment. He wanted to bite through his tongue or scream in annoyance but he managed to hold it inside and instead just nod.

"We don't have a way to jam their communications from here but their com-links have a local uplink machine down there with them that lets them talk to people further away." he pointed to a small radar dish at one end of the camp, "You see it?"

He pulled out his saberstaff with a resigned air. Honestly he didn't want to use it but he knew he had to.

"I'm going to go down there and get their attention - the bounty hunter and I have a history so I should be able to buy you a few moments grace. Sneak down into the camp and take out their uplink and any other targets of opportunity before we engage in combat fully." he decided at length, "You up to the task, Padawan?"

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[Larana Basai]

The small radar dish sat at the farthest end of the encampment, tucked behind a handful of tents and what appeared to be some additional supplies. It wouldn’t be too difficult to make it down there unnoticed, so long as Max upheld his end and kept the bounty hunters’ attention long enough for her to sneak past his guards – they would be too busy watching their boss to even notice her. Larana could do the most damage before they engaged in full combat, ensuring this bounty hunter and his thugs would have no option but to leave their small camp behind.

It was settled then. She made a quick mental note of all the targets in her line of vision and devised a rough plan on how she’d make it to each one without drawing attention away from Max until it was absolutely necessary, and then nodded her head once, firm. “Yes. I am sure I can manage.”

Her attention settled back on Max, waiting for his expression to shift to something other than disgust or annoyance, but she wasn’t hopeful. The best she could do in this scenario, was to try and make the task as easy for him as possible and listen strict to his instructions to avoid making a mess of things or getting either of them killed. That sounded easy enough.

Larana huffed, frustrated that her first true mission had turned into something less than exciting and then reminded herself that being a member of the Jedi Order wasn’t about chasing excitement. It was her job to listen, learn, and do what was right regardless of the cost. That was her purpose for standing here and for holding her tongue, though she wanted to say any number of things to Max to convince him that she wasn’t entirely worthless.

“Ready then?”

 

[Maxims Tionson]

She said she was ready, that she could manage it.

He frowned slightly, his expression twisting for a moment not into disbelief or frustration but into a stark face of a man who was afraid. Afraid that he was going to be leading another Padawan to their death in a mission. There was a reason he didn't usually work with Padawans and it had to do with their mortality rate if he was being blunt about it. It had only happened to a few of the ones he had been around and one he had personally trained...

But that was more than enough.

After a second or two he controlled himself and merely nodded to her and turned away. He had his own task to perform and he would focus on that rather than the young woman.

"You'll know when the distraction has begun."

Wandering around the long way, he took out his saberstaff and held it loosely in his right hand rather than preparing himself for battle. As far as anyone watching him was concerned he looked as though he was merely having a nice stroll. Wandering closer to the front of the encampment, he reached out with the Force.

A pulse of the Force ran through the entire camp, displacing the air slightly and stilling the swirling sands.

"Tabouil!"

A fairly obvious signal.

His voice, enhanced with the Force, rang out loud and clear for everyone to hear. The bounty hunter in question stiffened before gathering his men to approach the front of the encampment to face the hated source of that voice. Max merely stared the assembled bounty hunters and scum down.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here old man, after what you did to my standing amongst the Trandoshans!" the Zygerrian bounty hunter hissed, "You ruined me!"

Max smirked.

"You did that yourself - I just made you aware that you have only two choices in life right now." he ignited both ends of his saberstaff, "Surrender or die."

Spoiler: Dice

Distraction Roll

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[Larana Basai]

There really wasn’t anything she could say that would lessen the obvious unease that each of them felt, and so, she opted for silence instead; watching him make a quiet descent down the mountain side and out of view. Once she was certain that there was enough distance between them, she made her own climb down the steep incline, careful to conceal herself within the heavy foliage, to avoid alerting anyone to her approach and spoiling their advantage. She didn’t want to be the reason they failed in their attempts – the idea made her stomach turn.

His signal came, loud and clear, even at a distance. It wasn’t until now that she realized she had been holding her breath in anticipation, eyes focused intense on her target and fists clenched tight at her sides. The Zygerrian bounty hunter and his followers all focused their attention on Max, angered by his arrival, but one wrong step and they’d all be focused on her instead. Her confidence crumbled; perhaps she wasn’t prepared for this, but it was far too late to let fear take over.

Larana allowed a few moments to pass, giving the men an opportunity to leave their posts and confront their Jedi intruder, so that she’d have an open opportunity to cut their communications. A deep breath calmed her enough to take a few cautious steps forward, reaching for the small hunting knife her brother Torrin had gifted her years earlier, fingers curled around the hand-carved handle.

It took only seconds for her to reach the small group of tents where the radar dish sat, and one more deep breath to cut through the thin power cables that powered it. They hissed and sparked, but it was hardly audible above the powerful hum of Max’s saberstaff and the whispers of the men who stood, eager to fight.

She listened close to the confrontation, prepared to step in at a moment notice, but took the opportunity to destroy as much of their equipment and supplies as she could, cutting through the various wires that protruded from the backs of their tents, ensuring they’d have no option but to disperse when all of this was said and done.

Spoiler: Dice Roll

Sneak and Destruction

 

[Maxims Tionson]

He could tell that Larana was going to need a little bit more time so he decided to do the one thing he had always encouraged perps to do when he was a cop. If he ever met one of the Sith face-to-face in combat he would probably even encourage them to do it as well since they were likely to find the idea rather appealing too.

It was time to give everyone else more time - it was time to monologue.

"Tabouil ever tell you about the time he met an old man Jedi and a Zeltron on Tatooine?" he questioned the bounty hunter's allies, "I thought not. It's not a story he woul-"

"BLAST THIS SHITE!"

... to be fair, Max had forgotten that the Zygerrian had a preference for shooting mid-sentence as had been established last time. Thankfully for Max he had time to get himself prepared as only Tabouil himself knew to open fire right on the mark. Batting the blasts from the bounty hunter aside, he focused on the incoming blaster bolts.

Thankfully for him they were all firing in a chaotic mass, allowing him to block a bolt at the same time as moving to avoid another. It meant he didn't have to deal with all of them at the same time. For a moment he thought about showboating, about drawing further attention to himself, but he wasn't confident enough to block/evade the group's shots and also avoid tripping over his own feet.

This would have to be a good enough distraction for Larana.

Spoiler: Dice

Tabouil enjoys interrupting him

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[Larana Basai]

It wasn’t long until the entire camp erupted into a storm of blaster fire and incoherent shouting; an unfortunate consequence of their targets quick temper that made it all the more important for her to move quickly. Larana wasn’t sure how long Max would be able to hold up against the hail of bolts before he’d need her to step in and help. She would need to do as much damage as possible in a short window of opportunity, or find a way to buy herself more time.

With the hissing of electrical current drowned out by the noise, she cut through the remaining wires with relative speed and, within seconds, had managed to shut down their base of operations and move onto their supplies, stored in the tents around her.

Her knife cut through the tin fabric like softened butter, allowing her access to their contents without compromising her position. Inside were totes of rations, drums of collected rain water, and an assortment of heavy weaponry. It was easy enough to pull over the drums, spilling their collected water onto the floor of their tents where it was soaked up by their bedding. The rations too, though not before she stuffed a handful of them into her bag to share with Max when all of this was said and done.

That just left their assortment of weapons which, if she were being honest, were all rather unfamiliar. It wouldn’t be too difficult to disable them if she had more time, but assumed her attention would be needed elsewhere before she’d have an opportunity to inspect them. Instead, Larana reached for a standard blaster, set it to stun, and found a position behind the mess of men whose blasters were trained on her comrade.

It was probably a stupid move, one she would regret later, but taking aim into the crowd, she attempted to take advantage of their disorganization by disabling a handful of them without being noticed. It wasn’t too unreasonable to assume that, so long as she changed positions frequently, they’d have a hard time determining where the shots were coming from. Unfortunately though, her aim with a blaster was about as great as one might expect from someone who’d never had any training with them and she missed the first couple of shots, managing to disable only a small handful of men.

 

[Maxims Tionson]

The blaster bolts came thick and fast so he needed to be faster.

By the will of the Force it seemed that he was able to be faster, he dodged and deflecting as many bolts as he could until the assembled bounty hunters paused in their firing. The dust kicked up by their missed or deflected shots acting as a smokescreen for a moment. He could likely hide behind it for a moment but he could feel Larana's failure through the Force so instead he reached into the Force and acted.

He waved his free hand, bringing the Force with it like a wave that pushed the dust out of the way and drew the attention of everyone in front of him immediately.

"Is that the best you could do?"

He raised a hand up to the side of his face, which had taken a glancing blow from one of the blaster bolts. It was barely even a mark but it had bled a little bit.

"All of your skills... all of your weapons and all of your men... for a few drops of blood."

His voice was booming with the Force and he knew already that he was intimidating them. They needed them to run and break up so he was aiming for it honestly. Hopefully Larana would assist with that.

"I find myself disappointed. Is this all you can muster to save your miserable little lives?"

Spoiler: dice

Max makes progress

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[Larana Basai]

They were out of time; she had been overly confident and now it seemed that Max was grasping at straws to keep their attention. Larana needed to think fast, there was no more room for error – she had promised him that she was capable of this, but she had accomplished almost nothing in the time that she had been given. The pit in her stomach grew larger as her eyes searched the surrounding area desperate for the answer both of them needed, but panic was setting in and her confidence was crumbling.

Her attention focused on the mountain the two of them had traversed and, for a moment, she wondered how easy it would be to give up and run. Thought, despite her thoughts and regardless of circumstance, she’d never leave Max to deal with the bounty hunter and his men alone; her devotion to the Jedi Order and her own morals forbid it. However, her gaze lingered on the mountain and an idea started to take shape.

Reaching out in the force, she began to pull rock after rock from the steep incline, until the structure of the mountain gave way. The ground shook and the entire side of the mountain began to crumble, threatening to destroy the entire encampment. Worse, it was probable that the trembling caused by the collapse would disturb the underground tunnel systems inhabited by one of Ryloths greatest predators; Lyleks.

The blaster fire ceased, Max’s voice drowned out by the loud rumbling as the bounty hunters’ men began to scatter, electing to leave their equipment behind for a great chance at evading the falling rocks. Their target, Tabouil, cried out in anger and frustration, realizing now that the fight was over. “You haven’t seen the last of me. I’ll ruin you, just as you did to me!” He spat before retreating from the camp.

Spoiler: Dice Roll

Dice Roll

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well having the camp back off due to Lyleks was about as good as he could expect. The bounty hunter was leaving now and was doing so with haste - the haste would make waste and that was what he needed. He let the bounty hunter escape as he had always intended to.

He touched his com link, connecting to his astromech.

"Attach the tracker to his ship now."

With him rushing to escape, the bounty hunter wouldn't do the same level of checks as he usually would. Which was exactly what he wanted to do... but now he needed to look out for these Lyleks.

"Larana - what's your location?" he called out over the com link, "Fall back to the front of the camp with me. We'll fallback together."

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[Larana Basai]

Well, that had certainly gone better than she had expected it to, minus the summoning of predatory beasts. Larana hoped that her and Max would be long gone by the time they angrily emerged from their tunnels, so as not to be confronted – she wasn’t entirely certain luck would save her a second time.

He called out to her once the bounty hunter and his crew had made their escape, and she raised her com to respond. “On it. I’ll meet you there.” Her fingers were still curled tight around the blaster she had taken from their supplies, but she wouldn’t waste a second to drop it, instead electing to take it with her.

Larana made haste towards the front of the camp, dodging the falling rocks as best as she could. Perhaps it had been a bit too drastic or dangerous to have attempted to collapse a mountain? There was a part of her that worried for what Max would say to her when they reached safety, and for what her response might be.

It didn’t take her long to reach the front of the camp, pausing, eyes searching through the dust for Max so that they could make their escape; preferably before either of them was flattened by boulders.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

With the Padawan back in front of him, Max didn't really know what to say. They didn't know each other well enough for him to feel comfortable relaxing around her and she, doubtlessly, had gotten some idea that he wasn't comfortable. If she resented that or not he couldn't tell right then so instead he just stared at her for a moment.

In the background one of the Lileks roared before he waved a hand, using the Force to induce a small amount of temporary calm into the creature so that it would be hesitant to bother them.

He should say something nice, right?

"Good job."

... rather brisk but still technically praise so that counted in his mind. Now he needed something snappy for them to bond over, right?

"Let's go track down that cat."

Good enough.

/End Thread

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