Ask Corellia Meetings on Corellia

[Pêro Erval]

Pêro turned to look at Hailee. Like him, she also seemed to be confused with the tumult in the spaceport. “I have no idea. When I arrived here, everything seemed to be calm.” he wondered what could be happening. Would it be something related to the police?

The Knight shrugged, no one seemed to be in danger so there wasn’t anything that needed his intervention. “Come, there is a ship waiting for us.” Pêro said to Hailee, before walking inside the building. The G’weneen guided the woman toward the ship, which was in the opposite direction to where the agglomeration was.

Since their ship was a private one, owned by the Jedi Order, the two would not need to make a check in. This way, they would avoid the strange group of people that seemed to be patrolling the area where the people went to check their flights with the attendants.

“When we arrive at Yavin IV, you will receive proper instructions about how your life at the Temple will be.” Pêro decided to give to Hailee a resume of what was going to happen, so she would be prepared for that. “The Council will also want to talk with you, but you don’t need to be nervous. Most of them are nice.” he smiled at her, they way that he said it didn't leave clear if he was being serious or not.

“Look, it's her!” someone screamed, suddenly. Pêro turned to look at it and saw a male Twi’lek pointing at them, more precisely at Hailee. Suddenly, the people that were causing the agglomeration started to walk toward them. The Knight turned to the woman, while raising his eyebrow. “Are they someone that you know?”

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

The fact that the knight did not know what was going on either unsettled the young woman, but she forced herself not to think about it any more. It could be anything, yet she began to worry. The disturbance could be because of her...if someone had seen them leaving her apartment, rumors could spread quickly. The Jedis' reputation bad suffered during the last few weeks and so she wasn't so sure whether they were safe at all. The boss would not let her leave with a Jedi knight, if he happened to know about it...that was obvious.

Hailee did her best to focus on more positive thoghts. She listened to what the Knight told her, signaling her understanding with a short nod. She was already curious about how her life would look like, but she knew that she had to be patient for some more time. The fact that Pêro seemed to stress that 'most' Jedi were nice was a little unsettling as well, because Hailee was still not so sure whether her background story was the best condition for becoming a Jedi, but she would soon find an answer to that, she supposed.

As they were getting closer to the gate where Pêro's ship was parked, she felt her nervousity rising and at the same time her stomach felt as thogh they were approaching some sort of looming danger. Suddenly, everything felt a little uncomfortable and while her heartbeat was staring to increase its frequency, she seemed to sense the turmoil coming closer to them. And then it happened. Someone hollered in their direction and as she soun around, her nervous gaze fell upon a familiar Twi'lek.

No. It couldn't be. It felt as though the blood was freezing in her veins while her pupils dilated in horror. The boss knew. And that was a huge problem. "We've got to leave...now", she hissed in an alarmed tone but she tried her best to keep it as calm as possible. She need to keep her cool, as panicky movements would only attract more unwanted attention. "You've got to trust me on that. I will explain it aboard your ship but now we need to run", she added quite in distress. She was not convinced whether the Knight would simply trust her, but she shot him an almost desperate look, hoping that he would follow her instruction without questioning.


@LouJoVi

 

[Pêro Erval]

Since they arrived at the spaceport, Pêro had felt Hailee become more and more nervous. Even before the Twi’lek pointed at her, the Knight was already wondering if her nervousness was related to the presence of these strange individuals. It seemed that indeed they were related.

After Hailee told him that they should go, Pêro turned to look at her. She was trying to stay calm, but the G’weneen could feel that it was only a facade. The woman was terrified and wanted to get out here as fast as possible. Once again the Knight wondered what could be happening here.

Pêro nodded at her, while continuing to walk. “Come, my ship wasn’t so far away.” he moved fast, while ignoring the Twi’lek’s screams and the other people that were trying to move through the crowd of the spaceport to reach the two. “I really hope that you will give me a good explanation about it.”

Due to the recent events in Kashyyyk regarding the two Jedi, Pêro needed to be sure that he wasn’t going to bring a criminal to the Order. They didn’t deserve to deal with another problematic individual.

The two reached the landing area where his ship was with the group of people coming after them. By this point, Pêro was already running and dragging Hailee with him. “I’ll open the door, pay attention to see if they are coming close.” the G’weneen said. The Knight wanted to avoid a fight, but he would do it if it was necessary.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee saw it in his gaze. He had his doubts about her. But which stranger wouldn't? They were in the midst of Coronet City, a criminal capitol and Hailee was just being targeted by former...associates. She felt her stomach turn and she knew the couldn't hide it in her expressions. She was deeply worried, worried about what would happen if her boss caught her and that's why she had hoped that Pêro would follow her instruction of running without further questions .

Fortunately, he did agree and continued walking but he did ask for an explanation. "Sure. Trust me, there is a good explanation", she answered almost breathlessly, trying her best not to freak out completely. They picked up the pace, striding into the direction of his ship, but the pursuers were still on their heels.

When Pêro began to run, so did Hailee, looking over her shoulder, ensuring that they were not going to catch them, but more and more pursuers joined the crowd. When Pêro instructed her to keep them away, they were already so close that she felt obliged to do something. And so she did. She stretched out her left arm, targeting a stack of cargo with her opened palm next to the pursuers and hoped that it would work this time. She had done this before, but never when she wanted it to happen and this time she really needed it to happen. She focused as hard as she could and suddenly she send out something like an invisible shockwave that let all the boxes and crates fly, hurling the bunch of cargo into the way of their persecutors. Her gaze shot back to Pêro, hoping that he had the door open.

@LouJoVi

 

[Pêro Erval]

After Hailee agreed to stay behind to delay the arrival of their pursuers, Pêro ran to open the door of his ship. It was one owned by the Order and he only borrowed it for this mission. This way, he had put a code on it that would be easy for him to remember. He would open it fast.

While he put the code on the door, Pêro felt someone use the Force. He turned in time to see Hailee using her abilities to throw several crates against their pursuers. The craters fell in front of the people that were running after them, while some were even hit by it. In the Knight's opinion it was a good idea. By this point, he wasn’t caring anymore to maintain the appearance that they weren’t Force users.

When Hailee turned to look at him, Pêro would have opened the door. He would gesture for her to follow him, before running toward the cockpit and preparing the shuttle to fly. While he did it, their pursuers were struggling to recover from the crates that Hailee had thrown at them.

Once everything was prepared and Hailee had entered the ship, Pêro would make it take off. By this point, their pursuers would have recovered and would be screaming profanities at them, while the shuttle rose toward the sky.

After they reached a good altitude, the Knight turned to look at Hailee. "Well, now I think that owes me an explanation." he crossed his arms and waited to hear what she had to say. Pêro didn’t expect that they would need to escape from the planet and he wanted to know why it happened.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee was deeply satisfied with her own performance. For once, she had felt as though she was actually in full control of what she was doing and that felt great. Normally, her...abilities felt more like a freak of nature. Appearing and disappearing randomly. Throughout the years, she had learned to focus her concentration in certain situations, enabling her to manipulate or persuade people easily, for example, but those telekinesis things were usually not under her control, which was why she was more than happy right now.

She spun around, realizing that Pêro had noticed her using her abilities, but more importantly, he had managed to open the doors and while their pursuers still struggled to regain their stance, the knight and the woman managed to run towards the ship and soon shoot into the sky. They made it. They actually made it. Hailee let out a relieved sigh, while she collapsed into the co-pilot's seat.

Pêro maneuvered the ship not only into the air but also into a certain altitude, then he seemingly enabled the auto-pilot systems, so that he would be ready to talk and even though he seemed rather calm, Hailee sensed that he was not only curious but also possibly misstrusting and she had indeed a lot to explain.

"All right. Where to begin? I'll try to summarize everything as short as possible" she began, actually not quite sure where to start. She could unravel her whole childhood, but it wouldn't matter much. The most important pieces of information could be transported quite quickly. She felt a little nervous, but not actually uncomfortable because he seemed to give her some sort of reassurance. She knew that he wouldn't judge her. At least not for everything, so she decided that she could be completely honest with him.

"I already told you that I did...belong to one of Coronet's most influential criminal bosses. He actually saw me as his property, making me do all sorts of....tasks", she paused for a moment, swallowing hard, trying to push back all the terrible memories. She was over them. She had dealt with them so often, that she didn't feel traumatized anymore, but sharing her story all over again was not that easy. Sighting, she went on "I am no criminal, if that's what you think. Most of my tasks were about keeping his clients happy, soothing them and negotiating every now and then. My advanced skills in negotiating and in the arts of persuasion ultimately helped me to break free from his claws, but there was some sort of oral treaty between us. I was not supposed to leave Coronte City like...ever. I was too involved with his foul business, knowing way too much. Additionally, I still had to help him occasionally and the technical parts I was upgrading stemed mostly from his clients as well. So I was somewhat independent and yet I was still a slave. However, I was allowed to have my own apartment and technically my own business, but I think you get the gist". She stopped now, calming herself before getting emotional. Had she said too much or too less? She wasn't so sure, that was why she started to study his mimic, waiting for any sort of a response.

@LouJoVi

 

[Pêro Erval]

Pêro patiently waited patiently for Hailee to start talking. Since they talked with each other in her apartment early, the Knight had noticed that the woman had been hiding something. She had explained to him what her parents did to her when she was a child, but he felt that there was something more behind it.

Then, she started to talk. The G’weneen paid close attention to what she said, but his face remained emotionless. He was reflecting about the information that was being given to him by Hailee and trying to think how much suffering her childhood must have had while she was a slave for these gangsters.

A slave. The Knight felt sick with the idea that such a thing could still exist even in the Core Worlds. While Pêro recognized that it was illegal, he had expected that the police would be more competent in not allowing something like that to happen in a planet like Corellia.

When Hailee finished, Pêro noticed that she was close to crying. "You don’t need to hold your tears. It'll not make you seem stronger. Even the Jedi cry, we don’t forbid emotions like how it happened in the past." he said, while a smile appeared on his lips. "I'm happy that you trusted this story to me."

"Now you are free. These people will never hurt you again, I'll not allow it to happen." he said with authority in his voice. He disliked slavery with the same intensity that he dislike the suffering of innocents. From this time own, Pêro had decided that he would help Hailee become a Jedi.

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

At first, the Knight's face didn't reveal anything. Hailee had already understood that he was definitely no man of many emotions and she knew that he would soon have to learn that she was actually the complete opposite. She felt his neutrality making her a little nervous, but as soon as she was finished, he did smile, which then felt like a relief.

Pêro explained, that crying would not pose a problem, but Hailee realized that he might have been interpreting her emotions the wrong way. She wasn't sad anymore and she didn't drown in self-pity. She was rather angry and fiercely determined to get her revenge in the future. She was by far not the only one who suffered beneath those circumstances in Corellia and she convinced that if the authorities kept failing to improve their situation, someone else would have to help. But for now, she remained silent.

When the Knight told her that he was glad about her honesty, she reciprocated the smile. The way in which he told her that he would ensure her safety seemed not only honest but also soothing. She knew that by leaving Corellia alone she was safer that she could have ever gotten and she was therefore grateful that he took her with him. "Thank you for taking me off this planet. I really appreciate your trust and I will do everything I can to prove worthy", she replied softly, still smiling warmly, being completely honest. It was true. She was more than thankful for getting the chance to join the Jedi. In her eyes and from what she had heard, the Jedi were-despite their current reputation- saviors. They tried to help the innocent wherever they could and for Hailee justice was something vital. She had suffered enough injustices to know what it feels like and by joining the Order, she was convinced that she could sooner or later use her powers to help others. For her, this was no heroic, empty idea, but rather an honest motivation.

@LouJoVi

 

[Pêro Erval]

”I believe that you will, but remember that you are free to leave the Order if you see that it wasn’t what you want. If it happens, I’ll help you settle in a safe place.” he wanted to show to Hailee that she didn’t need to feel obligated to be part of the Jedi Order or that she was now their prisoner. The woman was free to leave if she wanted, and now knowing her backstory, he would protect her if she did it.

With a last smile on his lips, Pêro turned to continue piloting the ship. When they were away from the influence of Corellia’s gravity, the Knight activated the hyperspace. The space around the ship changed when it jumped, revealing the characteristic whitish-blue that replaced the darkness of the space and the stars.

“It’ll take some time for us to reach Yavin IV. You can explore the ship if you want.” he said, after turning to look at Hailee. Their trip from the Core to the Outer Rim would be relatively long, even if they were using the Hyperspace. Boredom could soon appear, perhaps she could find something interesting to do on the ship

@LadyRen

 

[Hailee Lightwood]

Hailee curtly nodded as a response, not quite sure what to make of it. She knew that she was no prisoner and she was also sure about never ever returning to Coronet City, but where else would she go if she would get the feeling of not being happy at Yavin? She had nowhere to go, this was her chance to start anew. She saw no reason why she would want to quit, but maybe her training would turn out to be more difficult than expected as following orders was not actually her strong suit. Time would probably tell...

When Pêro mentioned that he would assure her safety no matter what would happen, a warm smile graced her lips. Jedi as she knew them were known for their righteousness and kindness but she had not expect a stranger to already care about her well-being that much. It was really nice of him, if not even moving and she was even more glad to be aboard this ship.

Once they sprang to lightspeed, her pupils dilated and her heartbeat went faster. She had never left the atmosphere but seing an actual ship enter hyperspace. It was breathtaking and exciting and she immediately felt her mood lighten up again. When the ship drifted seemingly weightless through space, she leaned back, meeting his gaze once again. " I would love to. I've never been aboard such a thing" she replied amusedly while she started to unbuckle herself. She knew that she would find a way to make the long journey pass by faster, as there was probably a lot to explore and she couldn't actually wait begin.

@LouJoVi


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