Ask Harrowing Honoghr

[Vizim]

Vizim's trip to Hutt Space had gone off without a hitch for the Sith assassin. It was a convoluted path to travel the hyperlanes from Imperial territory, but since his job had called for a more subtle means of travel, Vizim had selected public transport rather than the comfort of his own ship.

What he didn't like was that public transport required the relinquishing of all weapons before boarding. It meant that the only piece of his arsenal he'd been able to hold onto was his razor cap. Not that he expected to need it, and the lock box was practically indestructible.

So Vizim had sat back in the rear of the ship, poked on his datapad, and waited for the next stop. At least that was what had happened until the ship dropped abruptly out of hyperspace and an ear-piercing shredding sound tore through the ship. He ducked reflexively and looked behind him with wide eyes to try to see what the heck had happened behind him.

A look out the window told him he had more pressing concerns. Atmosphere and clouds filled the window beside him and he quickly reached up to slam his restraints back into place. The ship slammed down, the angle narrowly saving everyone aboard from being killed.

He was thrown against his restraints and at least one person who hadn't gotten back in their seat in time was flung violently across the cabin. Even so, the wind was nearly knocked out of Vizim before the ship finally came grinding to a halt. A myriad of groans and some latent screams filled the cabin as Vizim blinked and shook his head to clear his mind.

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana was no stranger to public transportation. Jedi weren’t exactly rolling around in credits, and most of their transportation was through communal means. The twi’lek had only recently been granted the rank of Knight and that meant more missions across the galaxy. She was on her way over to Hutt space to assist with a refugee situation from AMS that routed through multiple planets and lanes. It was the cheapest tickets possible.

The twi’lek had some earbuds in and was listening to music with her eyes closed. She had to surrender her saber to cargo, and she didn’t carry any other weapons. When she first felt the initial jerk, she thought nothing of it. However, it rapidly began to get worse and panic set in. Soon enough, that sick weightless feeling overwhelmed her and she thought she was going to pass out. Zana called the Force to herself, feeling anxiety from all around her as the shuttle began to careen towards the surface of the planet.

The passenger next to her collided with her, painfully slamming into one of her lekku. She was jerked around within her restraints as the ship crashed into the surface. Zana didn’t move for a while, inhaling nothing but smoke for a moment. She coughed and slowly opened her eyes, hearing screaming and crying all around.

Zana looked over to check on the passenger next to her, horrified to find the woman dead with a severe head injury. The twi’lek unbuckled herself and shakily got to her feet, looking around. She used the Force to disperse the smoke so people could breathe, “Call out if you’re okay!” Zana called out as she slowly made her way towards the back emergency exit near where the Sith was.

The twi’lek channeled the Force and blasted the door open, coughing a few times. She looked over at the man, “Hey are you all right? Can you help me get the other passengers out?”

 

[Vizim]

Vizim pulled the mask up over the bottom half of his face simply to help keep the smoke out, though he found himself coughing a moment later. His priority was getting to his weapons and equipment and the rest of the civilians... weren't even really on his radar.

Imagine his surprise when he felt the swell of the Force and saw one of the doors abruptly blast off its proverbial hinges.

Freaking kriff, just my luck to get some Jedi on here, he thought to himself. Or at least he assumed it was a Jedi. Either that or maybe the Empire had sent someone to tail him. Seemed less likely, but paranoia was a constant companion for the hunter.

Okay, getting to weapons is an even bigger priority, he thought to himself as he hit the controls for his straps.

Wait, really? Was she asking him to help the rest of the passengers? I mean, someone might have useful skills, but first.

First things first, he said with a cough. He jumped up, hoisting himself back toward the cargo area and pawing through the sealed cases. He used the Force and ripped his open, grabbing and stashing his myriad of weapons.

In fairness, he was going to go back and help with some of the civilians because they might have useful skills for surviving here when he spotted a bag full of what looked like food. Probably even more valuable here. He grabbed it, slinging it over his shoulder and hopping down to the lower level again and popping out into the fresh air and away from the smoke.

He plopped the bag on the ground and let his eyes scan over the surroundings. Jungle, swampy world. ISC? Hutt space? Neutral space? He couldn't quite tell and he doubted he'd have reception on his own GPS here.

So, he headed in the direction of the cockpit to look for any sort of transponder or gear that might have survived the crash. He wasn't holding his breath for the pilots.

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana’s jaw dropped as the guy casually got up and went in the clear opposite direction of helping people. From the looks of it, he was perfectly uninjured. She sensed him using the Force which meant he was even more capable of helping. What the hell was he doing instead?? In the middle of a crisis, Jedi or Sith didn’t even register in her mind. When she saw him walking back with a stockpile of Vader Crisps, her eye began to twitch.

“DUDE!” She called out, scowling, “People are dying and you have the means to help!” Zana glared at him, stopping him on his path back towards the cockpit. She was in the middle of assisting an old lady out of her seat. Instead, Zana gently pushed the old lady towards the man with the snacks, “Here you go, m’am, this gentleman will kindly help you off the ship,” She said to the woman before looking up to glare menacingly at the masked guy. The nerve.

“Oh thank you, Barney,” The old lady said to the Sith while practically leaning her entire weight into Vizim. She had some minor burn marks but was otherwise simply just slow. She also strongly reeked of mothballs.

Zana turned and began to gather the other passengers to get them lined up to leave the ship in a single file.

 

[Vizim]

Vizim's path was blocked by the cute - and wow, angry - Twi'lek as he tried to get back to the cockpit to do something else useful for them. He'd honestly kind of forgotten he'd implied he might help. He hadn't really been planning to help, and then suddenly there was an old woman that smelled worse than the burning flesh in the ship who was grabbing onto him.

At least Vizim had the decency not to shove a poor old woman to the ground.

Come on, let's get you out of here, he said, subsequently practically having to carry her out of the ship and eventually leaning her up against a tree.

Yeah, just... just stay there, he said, waving a hand in a "stay" position. Here, and watch this bag, don't let anyone else touch it, he said, setting down the bag of someone else's food. The other person was probably dead anyway, so.

Then he turned back toward the ship. On the one hand, he wanted to go to the cockpit to see if he could find something useful, but then helping these other people didn't cost him anything, and it might spare him from the Jedi yelling at him anymore. Were they going to have to fight? He didn't really want to do that, that sounded so... pointless.

He let out a heavy sigh, threw his head back, and then headed back into the ship.

Have you... got this covered? he asked, motioning with his hand with an "all this" gesture. I want to go see if the radio or transpodners are working? he said, and then something clicked in his head.

And the pilots! Somebody's gotta check and make sure the pilots are okay, he said, shaking his head and raising his palms upward in a "what can you do, it's not my fault" gesture.

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana was in the process of helping manage the line of people when the guy from earlier showed up again. He was either an unaffiliated Force user or…maybe a Sith? His nonchalant attitude was difficult to place. The twi’lek opened her mouth to debate, but he had an infuriatingly good point about the pilots. Zana stepped aside reluctantly, allowing him to pass.

In the cockpit, Vizim would find one pilot dead. The other was a droid that was giving off sparks, a mechanized voice repeating the same thing over and over again.

“Directive complete. Directive complete…directive…complete,” The light began to fade. There was a sudden pop and the droid went blank. The haunting message would linger on Vizim’s mind.

Zana was oblivious to all this, and she finally had the survivors off the ship. One of the survivors managed to gather up some medpacks and the twi’lek was patching people up. She had given no thoughts to her weapons the entire time. In fact, there was a good chance it was amidst the loot Vizim had scrounged up while he checked the cargo.

She wiped sweat from her brow, looking around at where they landed. It appeared to be in a forest with no civilization in sight. The fire from the engines would begin to spread if it wasn’t quelled. Zana told the survivors to wait as she made her way back to try finding the Force user. She would need his help in suppressing the flames.

“Hey!” Zana called out as she stepped inside the ship again, coughing. She was covered in soot, “Hey, you!” She called out when she spotted him again, “The ship might blow and set the entire forest on fire if we don’t do something about the flames. Can you help me?”

 

[Vizim]

Vizim arrived at the cockpit to find the droid warbling about its directive being complete, and that set off all kinds of warning bells in his head. Was someone trying to kill him? Did someone know his travel plans? Were they trying to kill the Jedi?

He glanced over at the Aqualish pilot but he was already dead, so he tried to start getting something from the navicomputer or the radio... no. Everything was extremely smashed up from the crash, but surely at least the black box would be intact. Well, that was when Mr. Directive Complete's eyes started blinking red and if there was one thing Vizim knew, it was that nothing good ever blinked red.

He started scrambling back on instinct when the entire cockpit of the ship literally detonated everything of use inside blew up, knocking Vizim to the ground inside the ship. He groaned as he pushed himself up. With his luck the Jedi would think he'd blown the cockpit up on purpose...

Meanwhile, he looked up and oh goodie, he was right at her feet and his ears were still ringing from the first detonation, so it was hard for him to tell what she'd said.

Fire? Blow? Was she already yelling at him? He shook his head and slowly pushed himself back up before it clicked what she'd said.

Uh... yeah, he finally responded. This thing exploding completely and burning down the forest was really not in anyone's best interest.

We need to douse the areas near the fuel line first, he said, pointing back toward the rear of the ship. Once again, he started climbing up into the cargo area and shimmying along to the engine room.

The fires here weren't too severe, but as he looked, he recognized signs of intentional damage to the engine. Someone had definitely wanted to bring this ship down here and it wasn't him. And he assumed it wasn't the Jedi, but... you know, he didn't actually mention it yet. He probably would as soon as they were out of danger.

He started focusing on the flames, reaching out to the Force and suppressing the air around them one area at a time, hoping she would do the same on the other side.

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana almost stumbled as the cockpit explosion went off. Out of instinct, she threw up a barrier as the man landed on the ground in front of her. Rather than the suspicion he was expecting, he would instead find her crouched down, “Are you okay?!” She said with genuine concern on her face. She reached out without hesitation to help him up to his feet, “Are you hurt?” Zan asked him again, looking over him for injuries. There was fear in her voice as she began to realize the ship was likely to blow up even more.

The twi’lek nodded and followed him, stepping aside and suppressing the fires. However, he would notice she suddenly paused. Zana leaned in to observe some of the damage, “Was this all like this when you came in?” She asked, suddenly alarmed as she continued to put out the fires. After the job was done, she quietly led the way out of the ship, the immediate danger neutralized.

Zana looked around to ensure no one could overhear before she looked at the man again, “What…did you discover in the cockpit? Were you able to recover the blackbox?” The twi’lek asked, her golden gaze fixating on him. It would already become obvious she looked highly suspicious all of a sudden. Zana didn’t let on right away that she had a heavy engineering background and could tell some of the damage in the back looked oddly manual.

 

[Vizim]

Vizim was beyond astounded that she seemed to actually... care whether he was injured? No, that didn't track. He must have just been imagining it.

Uh... I'm fine, he said as he pushed himself back up. Quick thinking on the barrier, he complimented, about as close to a "thank you" as he was going to give at this point.

When she asked if everything was like this when he came in, he looked around again. Something weird was definitely going on here. Looks like someone wrecked it intentionally, doesn't it? he said as they finished dousing the flames. As they made their way back through the cargo bay, he spotted something of interest to them both and snatched it up to return to her.

They made it out of the ship and into the fresh air again before Vizim finally pulled down the mask and the two of them - he was still having trouble believing that it was a Jedi and Sith working together - pulled off to the side for a... conversation.

Something weird's going on here, he said. He may not have trusted Jedi, but he didn't get the sense she was involved, and she was definitely the most competent other person here. Vizim was an extreme pragmatist, after all.

His eyes shot off to the others for a moment before he spoke in a hushed tone. That explosion was one of the pilot droids detonating after it said "mission complete," he said. He realized how insane this sounded, and he didn't really expect her to believe him, but this seemed like a wiser time to level than conceal things.

I have a feeling you're going to need this sooner than later. Just don't stab me with it, he said, holding her lightsaber up for her to grab and using her body to block the sight from the rest of the people. Most of them probably already had seen enough to know she was a Jedi, but the less information they had in general, the better.

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana grimaced as he gave voice to her suspicion. She couldn’t imagine why a droid would be programmed to take the ship down like this. Was it because there were Force users aboard? No, that didn’t sound right. Then again, this was an ISC planet… The twi’lek thought for a moment, distracted when the man held out her weapon. The sight caused her eyes to widen.

“Oh gosh, thanks,” She said as she took the saber and stashed it away. Zana’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked at him, “...Why would I stab you with it?” She asked, genuinely confused. What had he done to warrant her attacking him out of the blue? And he couldn’t just be someone that was wary of Force users because…wasn’t he one as well?

“Thanks for your help,” She said after a moment before extending her hand with a tired smile, “I’m Zana,” She introduced herself, deciding if they were going to trek through a jungle together she may as well call him something other than ‘hey you’.

Zana looked around at the survivors, “They seem shaken up but…okay,” She said as she observed them, “Have you been on this planet before? Know where we can go?” She may have been an excellent engineer, but her sheltered life in Jedi temples meant her navigational abilities were laughable.

 

[Vizim]

Vizim chuckled slightly when she asked why she would stab him, and he just assumed she was being sarcastic to make a point. The idea that she was being genuine didn't even really cross his mind.

Fair enough, I like where your head's at, he said in agreement, glad that they were on the same page at least for now.

Vizim, he said, extending a hand of his own. He pondered giving her a false name or cover ID, but it just didn't really feel that necessary at this point. He could probably go on to regret it at a later time.

Well, Zanna, looks like we're in it deep, he said, turning and looking out to the jungle.

He shook his head at her question. I don't even know what planet we're on. We dropped out of hyperspace... probably somewhere in ISC space? The cockpit detonated before I could get to the blackbox, he said.

Jungles like this aren't usually friendly to... people, he said. He had never been much of a jungle or wilderness person himself. Put him on a major metropolitan world and he could work better than most, but out here... not so much.

He reached up and plucked his hat off, scratching the top of his hand and putting it back on. We should leave them here, we'll travel faster on our own. Head out and look for... something useful, he said. Also, he really just didn't want to deal with all these dingi.

Grab a bag and some food, he said, motioning with his head and now seeing that not only had the old lady watched the food, she was already four bags of Vader Crisps in!

Seriously!? he muttered under his breath and shook his head. He moved over to grab some things and thrown them into a small backpack that he tossed over his shoulder, stripping away the long coat he normally wore. He pulled his lightsaber from it and slipped it into a pocket before making sure everything was ready.

 

[Zana Ari]

“We’re definitely in ISC space,” She said confidently with a nod. However, she cleared her throat a moment later, “I was uh…watching flight tracker right before we crashed,” Zana added on sheepishly. She was definitely one of those people that read all the flight magazines and watched the flight tracker extensively.

When he suggested leaving the survivors behind, she gave him a funny look, “You just said jungles aren’t friendly and you wanna leave these people behind?” Zana asked quizzically, glancing back to observe the old lady for a moment that was already stress eating through the Vader Crisps. The twi’lek sighed and shook his head.

“Why don’t you go on ahead? Take my portion of the supplies,” She said to him, “I will remain behind with the survivors to protect them and start heading in uh… that direction,” Zana said, “According to my compass app it’s North.”

It was clear she was actually banking on him coming back and hadn’t even given a second thought to the idea of him outright ditching. Zana gave him a weary smile, “Be careful, okay?”

 

[Vizim]

Vizim snickered as she said she was looking at the trackers in flight. Well, it paid off now. Nothing to feel embarrassed about. Idiots'll make fun of you, but they won't know what you know, he said. It was almost a touching moment of encouragement.

When she suggested he not only go out on his own, but also that he take her supplies, he just... he didn't even know how to respond. These Jedi were just... ugh, such martyrs all the time. Way too nice.

Moving them anywhere without knowing where is just going to get them all killed. Our best odds for getting out of here is both of us going, he said. He hoped she'd choose to come with him, but if not, he would still head out on his own, taking all the supplies and scowling at the granny.

And into the jungles he went. It was a nasty journey and he started out heading west of the crash site, doing his best to make an obvious rail for himself to follow. His vibroknife helped with that, leaving symbols in the trees for him to follow just in case he went back.

That was when he stumbled across the first signs of life. It was easy to miss, but there was a definite scorched area where a fire had been started. The coals were stone cold, but it meant that there was someone on the planet at least... for good or bad.

Well, someone lives here, he muttered.

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana aggressively shook her head, “I’m not leaving them behind under any circumstance,” She said firmly, “I’ll stay here and wait if I have to,” She managed a faint smile, “I know you’ll find some help and come back. Just be careful.”

It was clear there was no room for debate. The twi’lek turned and began to walk towards the others, sitting down near them and immediately offering help and supplies.

Vizim’s path was hot and humid, but he would spot scorch marks in the forest. The woods were thick and there was no immediate sign of civilization. Up ahead, he would spot a crude fence made of sticks that were filed to points. Beyond it were several crude huts and drawings made from rocks and clay.

As he got closer, he would notice that the firepit had what looked very much like human bones scattered there. They were arranged and discarded in ways that suggested they had been consumed on. There was no immediate sign of life from the huts, but something about stumbling upon this scene would leave him feeling extremely uneasy.

 

[Vizim]

Vizim kept moving carefully after finding the fire pit, heading along what might have been a foot path through the jungle. His fingers went from brushing against his pistol to actually easing it from his holster as discomfort settled in the back of his mind.

His feelings of tension were not alleviated as he actually found the... calling it a village was probably pretty generous, but let's call it that. There were no signs of life, but... oh boy. Those were bones. Those were definitely bones.

And out came the lightsaber hilt in the other hand.

The uneasy feeling in the back of his mind settled in more, and he ducked into some bushes. He would wait there for several minutes, searching for any signs or sounds of life before finally pushing forward to examine things more closely.

He didn't linger on the bones for long, but instead looked to see if there was any useful items among the bones before pressing on to search one of the huts for any further signs of life.

Meanwhile back at the camp, Zana was very slowly approached by the granny.

Oh dearie, have some Vader Crisps. If you want to get Barney to ask you out, you need to put some meat on your bones. Oh, but you do have a pretty face, don't you, sweetie? And such a strong personality getting us all out of the ship! And look at these beautiful tails! she said, starting to reach out to try gently touch one of Zana's lekku as if she were admiring her hair.

 

[Zana Ari]

Zana forced an almost smile as the granny walked over. The woman was relentless, but Zana knew she couldn’t lose her patience. The twi’lek shook her head, “No thank you, I want to keep my girlish figure and those chips are pretty fatty,” She said with a fake giggle. The lady looked taken aback by the response and Zana used that opportunity to dodge the lekku petting and navigate over to the other passengers.

That was when she heard a twig snap and glanced over.

–​

Meanwhile, a clay pot came hurling towards Vizim’s head out of nowhere. He would hear a shriek as a tribal woman jumped out from behind one of the huts. She had paint in elaborate patterns all over her body and her teeth were filed to be razor sharp. The woman rushed towards him with what looked like a machete. Within seconds, another woman joined in behind him. It became clear this was a tribe and the women were left behind.

But where were the hunter men?

 

[Vizim]

Vizim ducked as the pot came flying in, but it still managed to catch the side of his head, nearly knocking him from his feet as he staggered back. His pistol came up on instinct, pointing in the direction of the hurled object.

The moment he saw the machete, a switch flipped in his mind. Everything became objective analysis and lethal movement. The thoughts flowed through his head without thinking as the sights of his pistol came to rest on the closest woman. He squeezed the trigger without a second thought, sending a bolt straight through the first woman's heart.

His sights fell on a second as he fired, striking her in the lower chest and knocking her back, but from the sounds she was still alive. His saber lit, whipping around to cleave the one behind him in two.

And the flow of thoughts came through. Less than a dozen huts, village of twenty without kids. Low technology, extremely skilled in camouflage. Native, home field advantage.

He moved through the village with lethal precision, clearing out any and every person with a weapon, regardless of age or gender. When it was finished, there were only two that remained: the first woman he shot who was wounded and one child who had never reached for a weapon.

He stood there for a moment before raising his pistol and executing the woman with a single shot to the head and swiveled his pistol toward the kid. He nearly pulled the trigger, but stopped short. He could have argued it would have been a mercy rather than leave her here alone, but who knew. Perhaps she would find a way to scrape by.

After a moment, he lowered his pistol and walked away, his mind turning back to the crash site. No men. Hunting our crash? Did they see it? Hear it? he thought to himself. And now he had a choice of his own to make. The feeling in the back of his mind told him that trouble was closing in back at 'base.' He wasn't excited about risking his neck for the other survivors, but that cute, nerdy twi'lek girl was his best shot for also getting off this planet. For a moment, he thought about simply making his way back slowly so that the herd of passengers would be thinned, but then he realized something. Ugh, she'll literally die defending them even though it'll get all of them killed, he thought with the heaviest eye roll you could imagine.

So he double timed it back to the crash, knowing he'd have to finish off all the hunters lest they find the remains of their village and decided revenge was worth any cost.

---​

Back at the crash site, another man who looked to be in his late twenties approached the Jedi, putting on his best suave face. He wasn't bad looking, but probably not as good looking as he thought he was.

So, you're a Jedi, huh? That's pretty amazing. You know, I used to be a spacer myself. A real adventurer, until... and that was all the further he got before an arrow slammed straight through his knee.

He squealed and fell to the ground, clutching his knee as blood started pouring out. It had come from the direction of the twig snap, and she would now be able to also see that there were three short, reptilian-like aliens emerging from the trees with spears and long knives in hand.

More arrows rained down from the tree line beyond and despite knowing they were there, it was exceedingly difficult to actually spot any of them.

Meanwhile, Vader Crisp bags were being hurled at the reptile-men by Doris who was also verbally reprimanding them, leading to at least one of the Noghri turning toward the woman with murderous intent.

 

[Zana Ari]

The tribal women had no chance. They were butchered mercilessly, limbs and parts falling like visceral confetti. There was no time to process what was happening, no chance to parse through this odd weaponry this stranger brought. There was no defending against it, nothing but the occasional cry of pain. Even those were rare because of how lethal the man was and how efficiently he operated. The mother threw herself towards the child as she died, her last cry for the little girl to run.

In the end, it was just the child left. The child that had witnessed all of the carnage. The child that now stood next to her mother’s dead body. The child that looked up into the barrel of the strange thing that spat out bright disks that seemingly felled anyone it touched. She was too frozen to do anything, the dampness down her legs suggesting she had soiled herself in terror.

And then the man was gone.

The child remained standing alone in the forest, left to her fate, left to the brutality of life. She gazed down at her kin all around, and then she gazed down at her mother. She looked at the burning hole in her skull, the stench of burnt flesh familiar to her. She looked upon the bone necklace that had torn during the attack, bunching up on the ground next to her. She was old enough to remember, but not old enough to understand.

The child stood in the forest through that deafening silence. There were some things that transcended language, some things that transcended culture, some things that ran deep and were unlocked by greatness or by the deepest wounds that were unthinkable.

Through the silence and stillness, there was the softest brush of dirt, the gentlest ripple, the subtlest whisper of the wind. And then the broken necklace by the woman’s body shot directly through the air of its own accord and found its destination.

Into the hand of the child, into fingers that clutched it fiercely till the knuckles turned white.

---​

Zana sighed as the man approached her. What was it with these passengers and not understanding the meaning of a crisis? They had literally just crashed!! The twi’lek opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted when the arrow zoomed in. She gasped in surprise and whirled around to spot the Noghri barging into the clearing, “Find cover!” She called out to the passengers.

The twi’lek used the Force to blast the three men back. She couldn’t properly see the ones that were firing the arrows. Nonetheless, she applied the Force to use Plant Surge and close off any visibility. The vines and bushes were shoved close together to make it near impossible to aim without changing up positions.

Zana’s initial blast knocked the men back, and she used the Force to yank the spears away from them, disarming them. Doris, by now, had taken out her purse and was viciously hitting one of them over the head. The twi’lek rushed in and pulled the old lady away before the Noghri could barrel into her, using the Force to send him flying back to hit his head and knock him out.

While she could put up a fight for now, not having visual on the archers made things difficult. The passengers were doing a terrible job of staying together, several of them scattering in various directions while screaming.

 

[Vizim]

Vizim didn't even look back. The hardness of life had shaped him into what he was today. A dozen scars, a thousand lessons had all forged him into a remorseless tool first to be used by someone else and eventually to find his own path. People everywhere at all times suffered. Life was pain and no amount of wishing it weren't would change that. The grating and scraping of dross from the gold was what refined the finest metals.

He continued plowing through the jungle, this time with much greater speed as he followed the marks he had made for himself along the way. The sound of a lightsaber hummed and echoed through the jungle, and that told him all that he needed to know.

He swore in his mind, snatching the lightsaber from his hip as he covered the last hundred yards through the thick undergrowth.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the most subtle mover through the jungle, so his arrival was heralded a few seconds before his appearance, but that didn't stop him from catching several of the archers still in their movements. His saber burst to light, cleaving cleanly through the body of one of the archers as he drew the attention of two others as well.

The impact of Zana's moves was far more than just knocking around and disarming the attackers. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. They'd been attacked without so much as a physical touch. No slings or bows had been used, simply... some witchcraft or sorcery!

For one, that caused him to turn to flee almost immediately, but for the other, it seemed to send him into a frenzy. He leapt at Zana, sharpened teeth gnashing and talons swinging, looking to tackle her to the ground and rip her throat open with his teeth.

 

[Zana Ari]

As much as she wanted to, Zana couldn’t chase after every individual civilian - not when the threat was still active. She could hear the faint hum of a saber beyond the bushes and there was a sense of relief that Vizim was back. Nevertheless, her biggest problem was the Noghri rushing right at her with vicious intent. At that point, there was no real option but to draw her own saber. With a snap-hiss, the blue blade ignited and she swiped it in an arc as the attacker charged her. There was a shrill cry as the blade cut through his arm, severing it. Zana followed up by blasting him back with the Force, the combination thankfully enough to send him scurrying away.

It wasn’t long before the rest scattered, leaving behind just the passengers. Zana looked around in a panic, noticing that a lot of the passengers were missing. Once Vizim emerged, she would switch off her blade and rush to him, “Did you find anything?” She asked urgently before gesturing to granny and only about five people left, “We have a problem..” Zana said, “I…don’t know why their first thought was to just go running wildly into the forest,” She said quiet enough so only he could hear, “…Is there no faith in the Jedi?” She exhaled, clearly distraught at the turn of events.