Ask Hit the Road Jack

[Maxims Tionson]

Crashing was not fun.

"Okay Buddy, prep the escape pod would you?" he asked calmly even as the control panel sparked at him madly, the whole thing perhaps five seconds away from bursting into actual flames at any given point, "I'm sure we'll be fine but hey - you never know, right?"

His astromech beeped at him frantically and Max rolled his eyes. That the cybernetic one still had that as an option said a lot about how people in the Galaxy reacted on a day to day basis and he was glad of it - having one eye roll while the other just stared blankly ahead would have been weird as all hell. But the point was that he was crashing.

Still.

"Buddy just trust me on this and rig up the escape pod. Oh and you better make sure you fit your charging station in there too! I'm not having you try any of that 'going down with the ship' kind of nonsense!"

His ship was screaming at him that being hit in the rear engines by a waiting ambush of pirates was bad for it's health. Well, it actually said something about impending catastrophic engine failure but that was whatever. They weren't following him down as closely as they could be but that was mainly because the amount of smoke his engines were giving off reduced even sensor visibility.

The Force screamed at him and he shoved himself from the console and into motion as quickly as he could.

Grabbing his little astromech, he bodily threw the screaming droid into the escape pod. He went to go after the droid when the warning came true and the engine exploded, tearing the rear half of the ship apart almost instantly. Grabbing the side of the escape pod door with his right hand, he hauled himself in even as the ship span rapidly out of control. As soon as his feet were inside, Buddy slammed the door closed and launched the escape pod but it was too late for a clean getaway, the spinning ship clipped the side of the escape pod and suddenly Max was slamming into every surface that the escape pod actually had.

At one point his cybernetic eye was slammed out of the socket and he was half blind again as the pod tumbled through the air, it's own engines bursting into life. Before Max or Buddy could do anything more than be shaken around, the escape pod slammed into something solid and Max was suddenly not conscious anymore, unable to tell that the escape pod had crashed against the side of a crashed Clone Wars era ship.

Buddy, damaged but operable, managed to flip the distress beacon.

Max just bled on the floor.

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

The saying, "Right place, right time," has described Mara's life to a T, since becoming more active in the war against the Sith. First, it was the whole situation that went down on Coruscant, which ended with her ass getting kicked by two sith troopers. And then the Battle of Ryloth, which she was much more helpful with, thank Wrea. But at this point it was getting insane. What are the karking odds that it would be Mara, who was simply on her way back to the planet of Wrea to visit her Family, who picked up a distress beacon from one of the few islands the planet had to offer? "What are the odds, Arsix? Looks like we're back on duty for a bit. Get the guest room set up."

The Astromech replied in Binary before making it's way to the guest quarters in the Freighter. Meanwhile, Mara begins changing course and slowing down as she enters Wrea's atmosphere, spotting the ruins of the Clone Wars ship and the gaping hole in the side of it, "Eesh, Rough landing."

After setting her ship down as close to the wreck as she could, Mara exits the Cobalt Soul, carrying a first aid kit and her portable welder, and sprints over to the gaping hole in the side of the... Frigate? The Big Ship. She extended her senses through the Force, Hoping for a miracle that there was someone Alive. Then she sensed the faint, but still alive -Thank Wrea- presence of someone. It was too muddled to get any specifics, not that she could if she tried while she was also scaling the Big Ship. Mara eventually made it to the crashed escape pod and tried to find the hatch.

Unfortunately, the hatch's opening lever was damaged beyond use or repair. Mara cursed as she fiddled with the welder, doing her best to cut through the deadbolts keeping the hatch closed. "If you can hear me in there, I'm trying to get you out! If you're hurt, don't move! Oh, what I wouldn't give for a Lightsaber right now."

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Everything felt like it was happening to someone else; someone else he was left watching through several layers of a kind of jelly. The end result was that Max was woken by Buddy and the sound of someone at the hatch but he wasn't really in much of a state to do anything about it.

Sluggishing moving, he managed to get himself up into a seated position and it made him want to violently throw up as suddenly the Galaxy seemed to want to spin round. He reached up and held his head with both hands, as though holding the sides of his head would do anything to help with the vertigo. It... it felt like a good idea at the time but things were dark and his mind felt fuzzy.

Dark?

Ah his eye!

Max started groping around the floor of the escape pod almost blindly - though he still noticed when Buddy grabbed a plasma torch. Escape pods came with them on the inside as standard as the poor-man's lightsaber but, well, even with a concussion he still wasn't exactly happy with Buddy the astromech having such a dangerous tool.

"Hey-hey no!" he shouted out loudly, his sense of volume pretty off at this point, "Buddy put down the torch!"

Buddy beeped a string of swears at him in binary, loud enough to be heard by Mara from the other side of the hatch. The plasma torch ignited and the hatch began to glow as the melting started in earnest. Max groaned a little bit, even as he started using what he could grasp of the Force to help ease the pain.

"Sorry about any slag - Buddy is kind of fire happy!"

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"It's alright! I'm almost through." Mara chuckled to herself as she heard the string of curses from the astromech. Mara continued to look for and cut through any locking mechanism she could find, taking another few minutes before she cut through what she needed to. "Alright, Have your droid back away from the hatch, I think I got it free!"

Mara switched off her welder, and took a few steps back from the escape pod, gathering the Force around her. The Matukai stretched out both of her hands and condensed the Force around the Hatch to the escape pod. Her fingers curled inward as the Force mirrored the movements and grabbed onto each side of the hatch. As the Wrean moved her hands toward herself, the Force pulled on the hatch, the bending and snapping of metal could be heard, but the hatch did not open. "Wrea-Damnit!"

Mara continued to curse as she brought the welder back out and began cutting in the places that she missed before. Making sure to cut all the way through this time.

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Buddy was beeping away to himself and it was only as the first lot of his self-healing kicked in that Max was able to actually catch that his little droid was making so much noise in an effort to make sure he stayed awake. Reaching out, he patted Buddy atop the dome of his head with a small smile. He didn't say anything but the beeping stopped being so constantly.

He could hear the other person speaking the other side of the pod so he nodded to Buddy.

"Back it up Buddy!"

The astromech backed up upon the request and both Jedi and astromech waited with bated breath (well Buddy didn't but still) for what came next. His sense of the Force was still kind of blurry so Max wasn't really able to see who it could be. Hopefully he hadn't escaped pirates just to crash-land on a planet that the Sith were currently squatting on.

Would be just his luck though.

The Force was definitely in use the other side of the door and it moved but not quite enough. Max thought about it for a moment before deciding he had enough in the tank for this. He placed his partially metallic right hand flat against the hatch.

"Step to one side of the hatch!" he called out, "It's going to burst open when I reach 5 okay?!"

He began to build up the Force against his hand and held it as he gathered more.

"1... 2... 3... 4...5!"

On 5 he lashed out with the Force, sending a powerful Force Push at the hatch with almost explosive results. The hatch would break all around it's edges and fly away from the escape pod by a few hundred yards. Unfortunately he didn't have much to brace himself against in the pod so Max went tumbling violently backward as well.

"Bloody... kriffing... sithing... hells..." he rumbled to himself, hand to the cut against the back of his head, "Kark me..."

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

It took a few seconds for Mara to process what the person on the other side of the hatch was saying, and then she felt the gathering of Force right behind the hatch and her eyes widened as she scrambled to get out of the way. The Wrean managed to get clear just as the man began counting down, taking refuge behind the pod as she waited for the hatch to burst open, and burst open it did.

Mara watched with amazement at the sheer power of the explosion of Force, watching the hatch fly into the distance, clearing the island itself, and splashing into the ocean. "Well shit, this could be a really good sign, or a really bad one."

The Matukai went back into rescue mode and climbed over the hatch, slowly lowering herself into the pod and holding her hands up to show that she didn't have any weapons. "Hi, My name's Mara, I am here to help. Am I okay to approach and address your wounds?"

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max groaned a little bit in pain as he pushed himself back up to his feet. Doing so made the entire planet seemingly spin around but, well, that was just something he was going to need to get used to until his head healed up enough for him to keep going. He raised a hand in greeting to the young woman who popped up at the gaping hole in the side of the escape pod.

"Hiya, I'm Max." he greeted her brightly, feeling rather woozy and almost falling over a little bit, "You have medical training? Because that?"

He felt the vertigo come back and pitched forward, catching himself against the side of the wall with his hands at the last moment. Still felt like the planet was spinning but now with the added benefit of making him feel like the planet hated him. Groaning a little bit more, he laughed a little bit.

"Yeah medical attention sounds great - I'm open to whatever you have."

Buddy beeped at him a few times and he winced.

"... got a point there." he admitted to his droid before turning to Mara, "Say, there wouldn't happen to be some pirate freighters hanging around would there?"

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"Not that I'm aware of, I was on my way to the City when I picked up your distress beacon." Mara said as she slowly approached the injured man, taking care not to step on anything sharp or injure him more. The Matukai slowly lowered Max to the ground so that she could get a better look at the cut on his head, which required the most immediate attention. "Well, the cut on your head doesn't look too deep... Let me disinfect it before I patch you up. This'll sting a lot."

Mara took out the bottle of rubbing alcohol from her kit and poured some on some gauze. "Are you caught up on your tetanus shots?" Mara would wait until Max was distracted with answering before pressing the still soaked gauze onto the open would, holding his head still while she cleaned it of any bacteria. Once she was sure that it was clean, and the bleeding had stopped, she placed her hand over the gash again and let the Force seep through her hand and into the wound, doing her best to get it mostly healed until she could get him to her ship.

"Alright, do you have any broken bones I should be aware of? Or are you good to walk for a bit so I can get you to my ship's medbay?" Mara began to inspect his body for any obvious signs of injury, probing with the Force to maybe find any broken Ribs or other bones.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

No known pirate attacks inbound? Max didn't realize he had been holding his breath but confirmation that he wasn't about to eat a ship-based laser cannon blast to his face was nice. He still didn't know the woman who was going to be helping him get out of the current situation he found himself in but that was alright - he had faith in people and she hadn't done anything but reinforce the faith he had in her so far.

"Go for it." he assured her with a grin, "You know what city or planet this actually is by the way? My droid Buddy and I got a little bit turned around during the fight with the pirates."

They had fought a slaver ship on their way here and come out of it with a few bumps that had made the navigation kind of more difficult than it needed to be. Upon arrival they had already been the walking (or, rather, flying) wounded and the pirates lingering around the planet had taken advantage of it. Buddy beeped away at her to assure her that he was all caught up on his tetanus shots while Max just laughed.

He raised his right hand with it's blend of flesh and metal.

"Had enough metal in me that I'd have gotten it already if not." he joked back to her, wincing ever so slightly at the contact with the wound, "Smarts... bugger me..."

The treatment was brief but along with his own use of the Force it was enough to have him getting back up onto his feet without too much of an issue. There was still a 'fog' in his mind from the concussion but it had lessened enough that he could still think properly. He resisted the urge to try and shake his head to clear it because he knew it wouldn't actually do any good and, in many ways, could actually hurt his recovery.

"Alright lead the way." he declared with a grin and a thumbs up, "I'm half blind right now until I can get a replacement eye again so... yeah... Oh by the way I'm Maxims Tionson and I'm a Jedi Master. Probably didn't mention that last bit before."

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"You my friend, are on Wrea, my home planet. I was on my way here to visit some family and an old Master of mine. You are one lucky guy that you crashed into this planet." Mara smiled as she helped him out of the escape pod, turning around to lift the droid through the hatch and setting it down on the ground. "Hey, don't shake your head. It'll only make things worse, dumbass."

At the reveal of this man being a Jedi Master, Mara immediately regretted the dumbass comment, but it was already said, so no going back, right? "Mara Kensei, Matukai Adept at your service."

Mara took one of Max's arms and slung it over her shoulders to help him walk to the Soul. Thank fully, she hadn't parked too far away, so it wasn't a long walk. Arsix was waiting at the bottom of the ramp when they arrived, beeping loudly in Binary as the trio approached. "Thanks, Arsix. Get Buddy here to the workshop. I'll start on repairs when I get done with Max here."

Mara followed the chittering droid up the ramp and lead Max to the second living quarters turned Medbay, helping him sit down so that she could do a more thorough investigation of his injuries. "My people should have a spare eye for you until you can get that one fixed... and other than a few bruises and some shallow cuts, I think the main injury was cut on your head and the concussion. I still want to make sure that you're completely fine, so we'll get you checked out by the doctors in the City."

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Wrea? Max vaguely recalled hearing about the planet before but he didn't actually know if he was right about that or if he was just feeling that way because of the concussion. Head trauma had funny ways of messing with people and he honestly wouldn't have been surprised to find that a vague sense of familiarity with somewhere he'd never been was one of them. He went to nod his head at the luck comment before catching himself and laughing a little bit.

"I've been called that before." he agreed with a grin, "By cops, Jedi and Sith actually... maybe I just need to find nicer friends or something."

Stepping outside the pod was an experience and he was glad of Mara's help. He grinned a little bit at the knowledge that she was a Matukai Adept - he actually already knew someone from her order! Vaguely. They'd had a mission or two together and, in the current state of the Galaxy, that was how most people knew each other.

"Lovely to meet you Mara - You ever meet a fellow called Jago? Matukai I've worked with a few times, great guy. Green."

Very green really.

As they traveled he realized why it was that Wrea felt familiar - it was all the oceans and islands. The planet kind of reminded him of Pamarthe, only with a complete lack of people flying around on water speeders with no regard for their own safety or the safety of others. Following directions led to him being sat in a medbay blinking at the brightness of the lights.

"Ah... no real need for the eye." he admitted, waving a hand with a grin, "I've got a replacement back in the Temple and I lived a couple years without one - I should be able to manage until I can call for pick up. Thank you for the offer of doctors but, well, all my credits were on the ship I came down in."

It hadn't been much anyway but still.

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"Nice friends means less honesty. I don't know if I would trust anyone if they were all nice to me. You always have to have that one friend that will be honest, no matter how painful said honesty is to our pride." Mara smiled and nodded when the Master mention Jago. "Yeah, fun guy. Fought with him in the Battle of Ryloth, Our fighting style doesn't provide much use in Large scale battles like that, but if you need some help with Stealth missions, We're your people."

Mara set up some pillows for Max to lay down on so that she had better access to his injuries. "Well, if you're gonna refuse doctors, then I'm gonna do my best to get you into at least defending shape. We'll see about fighting later. Just let me get this bird into the air and headed to some friendly Space. Which system should I drop you off in?"[/color

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well honesty was important he supposed – and his parents had often instilled in him that there was often a difference between being Right and being Nice. Max preferred to have the two intersect when he could but when he couldn’t he preferred to be Right. Tended to come back better on everyone involved that way. He chuckled a little bit when she revealed that, yes, she did actually know Jago.

“Small Galaxy sometimes, right?” he joked, looking up at the ceiling for a moment, “I wasn’t at Ryloth… war is… is something I know I’m going to have to get used to but it isn’t something I’m willing to just throw myself into.”

If he was going to go to War? He was going to do it right.

Not just for the right reasons but with some intelligent thought behind how and why he would be engaging in warfare. Sullust had been eye-opening in a lot of ways and the Jedi Order had long since moved away from the Order of the Clone Wars where military strategy was included in Jedi training at different stages.

He smiled weakly.

“Less refusing doctors – just refusing getting any deeper into debt with you. I already owe you a debt for saving me from the pod.” He reasoned, shrugging ever so slightly, “If I let you pay for my doctor’s bills too then I’d need to get a job or something.”

Or sell another ship… he only had one left though.

“Chalacta, if it’s not too far.” He asked her with a grin, “I’ve got friends there and can get my other ship to pick me up. But seriously – how can I pay you back for this?”

The Quad-5 was small and it lacked any kind of weapons but he liked it.

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"Uh... You don't. I help those in need, and you were in need." Mara never excepted payment from anyone after helping them. Mostly because ninety percent of those she helped weren't financially fortunate, and she didn't want to take from them. Another reason is because of the principal of it. If she demanded payment for every time she bandaged a war wound, or defended someone's home from attacks, she'd have a worse reputation than the Sith. People wouldn't want her to help anymore... And Mara couldn't live knowing that people didn't want her help.

"I'll go and set a course for Chalacta. You need to stay here and rest. I'll be back once I get us on the way, and check out your droid. He looks rough, but his model can take a few hits before they're truly broken." The Matukai smiled and nodded to Max, and then left the medbay. Heading down to the cockpit, Mara motioned for Arsix to follow as she began to get the ship flying and the hyperdrive charging. Once the ship was in hyperspace, Mara made her way back through the ship, stopping in the repair shop and taking a quick look at Buddy before heading back down to the Medbay. "Your droid had a few dents and scrapes, but no major damage to his circuitry or hardware. He'll probably just need a buff and paint job."

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Well she seemed stuck on the idea that she would refuse any and all repayment but Max was stubborn himself and he wanted to make sure she understood he would give her something in return for what she was doing for him. If that was just a favor or something similar? Well that was fine by him but he wasn’t going to let her get away with taking nothing for this whole experience.

He’d offer to pay for the fuel but, again, his credit chips had been on his ship so he’d need to get to some friends before he could do even that.

"One good turn deserves another." he reasoned in return, "Are you sure there's nothing I could do to help you or your people at all? Despite crash-landing, I am a fairly decent Jedi and I've got enough pull to make things happen if needs be."

He was a restless patient but even he knew that moving around overly much when there was a concussion in the mix was unwise in the extreme - it was something to avoid whenever possible. Still, he was glad when Buddy came back after his check up being clean. He grinned down at his little friend, patting him on the head once.

"Close call, hey Buddy?" he joked before grinning back up at Mara, "Ever thought about being a Jedi, Mara? Come on - the hours are great."

It was mostly a joke but he was still looking for ways for him to repay her kindness.

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"That is a complicated question, with a complicated answer. If you had asked me that question a year ago, it would have been a no. In fact, I answered no to another Jedi before my Matukai master found me. The Jedi offered to teach me to become more powerful and use the Force to fight evil. He even tried to bribe me with, 'You'll get your own lightsaber.'" Mara chuckled and dropped to the floor, crossing her legs underneath her and leaning back against the wall. "As if that was the thing that won over every Force-sensitive kid he ran into, but not me. No, I didn't like those things. They're too light, the only weight coming from the handle. One wrong move... Shink! No more limbs."

"But recently, I've been thinking about it more and more. I still don't want the deathtrap you all call lightsabers, but I'd like to be out on the frontlines when the front lines start. Obviously I don't want there to be any front lines, but after coming late to the battles and crisis'... Being late sucks. Seeing all of the hurt people and knowing that I could have done more if I had been there from the start... It takes a toll." Mara's face fell as she remembered all of the injured people from the attack on Coruscant, so many people lost so much. She knew that she wouldn't have made much of a difference if she had been there at the start, but she did know that she would have saved a few more people than she was able to, and that's what matters. "...Sorry, Got a little carried away there. Would I have to wear those weird uniforms?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Yeah Max was good at asking complicated questions - it was probably part of the reason people tended to like him as a teacher. He didn't shy away from the complicated stuff and making sure that the same complicated stuff was easily understandable. It was his opinion that most information was not, by it's nature, complicated and that it was usually people who made it complicated.

Sometimes though, things were just complicated.

Mara's reasoning, to Max's mind, wasn't complicated at all. It was simplicity itself but the trouble was he would bet hard credits that the people she had discussed it with before hadn't really been able to see where she was coming from. The Jedi who thought any kid would be excited over a lightsaber and everyone she met who would be horrified that she wanted to be at the cutting edge of the developing war.

For some reason, Max felt the urge for a cigara and had to resist the urge to check if the case was actually still on him. Instead he focused on the conversation at hand and leaned forward slightly.

"No, the uniforms are optional and customization is encouraged." he assured her with a grin, "I spend a lot of time in a suit and tie at the moment but one of my friends, Hannibal, is a Council member and he enjoys seeing how far he can push his outfits before someone comments. The man shines in the light in half of his robes and outfits."

It was amusing but true - being a Jedi wasn't about the clothes that you wore.

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that every Jedi out there will share your willingness to go into the battles. But we recognize that the battles are there and some of them are worth being fought, no matter the cost." he tapped the cybernetics in his right hand, "That being a Jedi isn't about the robes or the saber... or even sacrifice. Being a Jedi is about being there, about answering the call when people need you. No matter the cost."

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"Huh, you guys are much more similar to the Matukai than I had thought. We don't run into battles because we want to fight, we fun into the battles to prevent casualties of innocents. The first thing that my master taught me was how to help people, first aid, Healing through the Force, utilizing the force to find injuries in someone's body, etc. I was almost a year into my training before we started on combat. Even then a lot of it was for defending someone who was defenseless. I have run into so many battles with that purpose in mind, and I come out with more and more scars." Mara motioned to the multitude of scars visible on her arms and abdomen.

"But you're right, I think the most important thing that we can do, as Matukai and Jedi, is to go into battle to protect and save people. Never to kill our enemies." It was a backwards ideal, especially when the Sith have killed so many, but any time Mara enters a battle where the possibility of a Sith presence is much higher, her main goal is to save lives, not to kill a Sith. Mara stayed silent for a moment, a small smirk adorning her face as she tried to bring some levity into the conversation. "I'd like to meet this Hannibal one day. I think I could give him a run for his money if I dug out my old Fatemarked robes. They're the gaudiest thing I own."

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

The Jedi and their allies in the Light side of the Force really were rather closely connected – it came with the territory of being Light aligned in his opinion. Dark Side users sometimes felt like they had internal disagreements built into their core beliefs but that was never the case with the Light. Probably had something to do with the fact that the Light side encouraged a healthier respect for life and those who lived it.

But there he went acting like he was some dusty professor again and not a Jedi Master. Sometimes it was hard to avoid falling into the ‘trap’ for acting like a teacher. He smiled at Mara.

“Our orders have much to learn from one another.” He agreed brightly before adding, with a grin, “And not Just things like how to fight better. Sometimes we need to surround ourselves with people who do things differently to see what works best for us.”

He would be the first to admit that some of the training techniques he knew of from the Matukai (which were vague and unusable considering he had never actually been taught them), he would say that they would be of great use to several Jedi Padawans and otherwise. A blend of Matukai and Jedi teachings? Well that might be good for pretty much everyone involved in some way at least, even if it was ‘only’ fostering understanding and greater cohesion between the two Orders.

Personally Max felt he blended rather well with the Matukai beliefs – despite being a Jedi Master he had ensured he reached said rank without actually taking a life. He let out a low chuckle.

“Well you’d be welcome to try – pretty sure Hans is the type to take the chance to have a ‘robe competition’ for a bit of a laugh.” He admitted with a grin, “Of course you’d have to come and mingle with us Jedi folk… you sure you’re up for that? We’re pretty intense!”

@Phantom

 

[Mara Kensei]

"I grew up among the Fatemarked of my kind. I think I can handle it." Mara smiled and leaned her head on the wall behind her. "And you're right, about spending time with those who are different from, do do things differently than ourselves. I do think that if the Matukai and Jedi were to learn from each other, maybe there wouldn't be so much hate of the Jedi or other force users in the Galaxy. It's a sad thing to see, but I can understand where they are coming from in their hatred."

Being Nomadic and rather unknown in the Galaxy gave the Matukai a chance to see the war from the perspective of the civilians, and to be honest, their lives have been turned upside-down by the two factions of the Force. Many of them had their homes destroyed by Sith and Jedi alike, and the Jedi expect to be hailed as Heroes? The Wrean shook her head, now was not the time for that conversation. "What do you think I can learn from the Jedi? I already am well trained in the Force, both mentally and Physically. I can fight, fly and a number of other things I had to learn to be able to survive on my own out here. But, I still have a lot to learn, what do you think I could learn from you?"

@Nefieslab