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Post by ALISTRANNIA "SHAN" CRYSIS on Feb 20, 2012 21:40:18 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, border-radius: 1em; -moz-border-radius: 1em; background-image:url(http://i56.tinypic.com/2wom9du.png), width: 400px; height: 400px;] Do you believe In the world they made for you? Do you belong, or do you try to? Erase yourself to pass as one of them? Find it easier to play along? You are wrong, and that is why you need your depressing songs. Reno would never have agreed to this assignment if she knew the entire truth.
A few days prior, Alice had an interesting, albeit frustrating conversation with someone who she most likely shouldn't be trusting whatsoever. However, she had decided to go with her gut instincts and accepted his work - which was proving costly. Not so much because his demands were costly, but because her standards were obscenely high. Among other things, he desired a more rare or useful Lightsaber crystal. While such a thing could be easily bought, or found around the right regions, Alice wasn't about to provide just anything. This would be a display of her prowess; a challenge for both herself and the party in question. More importantly, it was also a chance for her to acquire for herself some powerful crystals that would aid both her and Reno in future endeavors.
All Lightsabers could be equipped with two crystals. Their first target was arguably the more difficult - a Krayt Dragon Pearl.
Krayt Dragon Pearls were obtained from, as their name suggested, Krayt Dragons. Gigantic, vicious predators indigenous to the wastes of Tattoine. These creatures were fabled as some of the more powerful creatures in the galaxy - various parts of them were worth incredible amounts. In particular, Jedi had a very strong use for the Pearl that sat deep within the creatures, the ones that they used to help digest food. Over the decades, these pearls refined into something very powerful, in varying colors. These pearls were capable of generating some of the most powerful, brightly burning blades. Their market price was truly less than what a Jedi could be asked to pay for such power - and their market price was far from modest.
However, in recent times, their abundance (or lack there of) had diminished to nothing. Which meant that a certain few Jedi had to go collect them from more... "Pure" sources.
Reno, however, wasn't told the entire truth. Alice of course knew that their journey would be leading them towards a pair of Greater Krayt Dragons, but Reno was only ever informed that they were going there to acquire some new Crystals - not why, from where, or for who - and told to bring a Speeder bike. Alice had quite intentionally kept her in the dark because being the sweet, timid thing she was, she would never be okay with wandering into the blistering heat to fight dragons. Plural. And so she told her only to meet her at Mos Eisley spaceport to join her in collecting some Crystals, and set off herself from her Assault Class the Noblesse, towards the dusty planet of Tattoine.
Tattoine had a very strange feel to it. As Alice pulled beneath the atmosphere of Tattoine, she couldn't help but feel a great ebb and flow in the Force, as though much of the system were much more vital to the Force than one could perceive. Such an odd feeling for a system that was so remote, so desolate, and so riddled with crime. Her Jedi fighter quietly landed within the busy spaceport, drawing surprisingly little attention for quite obviously being a Jedi fighter. Upon landing her craft, Alice also recalled another important landmark upon the planet - a Star Map. Once revealing the location of the Star Forge, it was and would always be a place tainted by the Dark Side of the Force. And it was a place her ancestor Bastila Shan had visited, not too long before falling to the Dark Side herself.
Ironically their destination.
The suns were far, far brighter than Alice could have planned for. They were much closer to the planet than she was used to, and the fact that there was more than one made it many times worse. Alice's hand quickly came up to above her brow to shield her left eye - her cybernetic one - from the intense light, as it was significantly more oppressive upon it than her natural eye... So much so that she was quite blind for the time being. Thankfully, it did not hurt her whatsoever. The Jedi Master quickly moved from her craft to the docks, eager to pay for her landing permit and get into some shade to allow her eye to adjust. Unfortunately, she was no more than five steps from her own vessel when she heard the familiar roar of a Republic engine overhead. Instinctively she looked up towards the sound of the noise, only to be beaten back by the suns powerful rays. Cursing under her breath, Alice decided to do things the more intelligent way and sensed about, quickly identifying the Fighter as Reno's. She'd gotten to the planet quicker than she had thought. Eager perhaps?
Hurried now, Alice rushed down the ramp towards the small office, where a rather disinterested looking Twi'lek male was sitting nearly asleep. Alice lobbed a sum of credits into his lap - enough for Alice and Reno to land - startling him awake and drawing mild vulgarities from him as she jogged back up to her Fighter to extract her bike, folded in the small cargo hold of the Jedi Fighter. After fumbling about with it (admittedly difficult when one hand is being used to stop the sun from destroying one of your eyes), she managed to quickly remove it and unfold it, ready to be used. Alice slid aboard, activating the small vehicle. It roared to life between her legs, humming faintly. She sped forwards and rounded the corner to find Reno awaiting her, standing on foot.
She didn't look amused.
"Now that you're here, I can tell you a few details I may have left out." Alice grinned a sarcastic grin, one met by Reno's face dropping entirely. She was a perceptive girl. It was quite possible she already knew what was coming. Alice would fear some sort of angry outburst if she weren't so passive. "What we're here to obtain are indeed Jedi Lightsaber Crystals - pearls in fact. Krayt Dragon Pearls. And fortunetly for us, there aren't any available to be purchased that I could find, which means we get the fun of extracting them ourselves. Now, Ghost has told me the location of two Great Krayt Dragons, out in the Eastern Dune Sea. Near a very ancient temple..." Alice's smile faded for a moment, thoughts lingering upon Bastila. Did she see something there that warped her? "So I hope your brought your Speeder. We've got a lot of distance to cover."
In all honesty, Alice was entirely hoping for Reno to do.. Anything. This was as much an excercise for Reno was it was a requirement for Alice to get this item. No Padawan should ever be put up against something so dangerous as a Krayt Dragon (let alone a Greater Krayt Dragon). A part of Alice truly desired to see her break her mold and at the very least, express grave displeasure with the situation, if not reluctance. Reno had learned everything Alice possibly thought she could by being 'by the books' and rigid to the Jedi Code. Now, she needed to learn outside of the basic Jedi teachings, and that meant accepting views and ideals that didn't fall within those of the Jedi. She would have to open her mind, even just a little bit.
Similarly, Alice also desired to draw Reno out of her shell of loathing combat. In her opinion, this distaste for it stemmed from a childhood of being not-so-skilled with a saber, repeated blows to her psyche and morale degrading her will to bring up a saber, which in turn damages her morale when she actually does - a lack of confidence is the easiest way to cripple, and thus defeat, a foe.
Reno needed a morale boost. A permanent one.
And what could possibly be a bigger boon to ones ego than slaying what is considered to be one of the most terrifying, powerful creatures around? Or at the very least, assisting in killing one. Coupled with the trophy she would come away from it with - the Pearl - constantly reminding her that she has the strength within her, this had the possibility of truly helping Reno overcome her greatest enemy.
Herself. |
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Post by RENO SALMARA on Feb 22, 2012 20:10:49 GMT -5
In the time it took for Reno to get from the Noblesse to setting her fighter down on Tatooine's surface, she had carefully and deliberatly gone through a range of reactions to the limited information Alice had informed her of so far. Then of course, she factored in what Alice possibly hadn't told her.
For starter's, she was pretty certain this wasn't a mission assigned to either of them by the Jedi Council. If something was going on on Tatooine, it would make more sense for them to send Anakin because he knew this planet better than any of the Jedi in the temple - including herself because she only knew what the archives and other notes told her. Also, she would have expected a better briefing from a member of said council had it been an official mission. Therefore she could only conclude that Alice was heading off on one of her personal crusades and this time was dragging Reno along for the ride. This was the first point that sent her reaction more towards displeasure. How could Alice even think about doing something like this in the middle of war, when Jedi were needed now more than ever. The last thing the Order or the citizens of the Republic should be expecting of them, was for the Jedi to randomly go off chasing their own missions and especially to a place like Tatooine.
Which brought her to her next train of thought. What in the world could there possibly be on Tatooine that Alice really wanted? Her excuse was that they were going off in search of Lightsaber Crystals, obviously ones that couldn't be found on Ilum. But from the research she'd done on the planet, and from what she could remember from her studies, there were no records of any kind of crystal coming from that planet that were worth anything. There was however, rumor of pearls that were used as Crystals. It was one of the first things to pop into Reno's head, and an idea she tried to banish from her mind altogether. Alice wouldn't be after those surely, the Jedi had no real need for them and obtaining them would take far more credits than they could spend anyway, even if Alice had found some kind of trader willing to part with one, or a few. She dismissed the idea, favouring more out of hope than anything, that there was simply a trader here with some more interesting, but less heavily priced crystals, that Alice was interested in. They could simply go in, get the crystals and leave again, job done. Of course, while she thought up the excuse, she didn't neccissarily believe it completely. Tatooine, from what she could gather, was a planet you went to when you wanted to do things underhanded without getting caught, when you wanted to go missing for an undetermined amount of time, when you wanted things that were unobtainable elsewhere. So, to add to displeasure, Reno now had a bad feeling settling in the pit of her stomach, about exactly why Alice had chosen this place to come to.
The last point that pushed her deeper to displeasure was her own personal qualm really. She hated being left out of the loop of things, she liked to be well-informed and well-prepaired for whatever she was heading into, as not knowing sent her calm spiralling into a chaotic frenzy of all the possible What, where, when, why's and hows. She didn't like being in that kind of a position, it threw her right out of her comfort zone, and she kind of figured that was why Alice was doing it. However, it didn't mean she had to like it any. Honestly, she couldn't wait already to leave the planet and get back to what they should be focusing on, which would explain why she sped up her starfighter.
Therefore, by the time she landed and was waiting for Alice who she could sense was already heading towards her, she wasn't in the best of moods though she tried not to let it overwhelm her. Not that she wouldn't let Alice see she was far from happy with being dragged all the way out here on what she was sure was less than official cicumstances, but she wouldn't let her see how much. No matter how uncomfortable she was with the situation, it wasn't right or respectful of her to question her Master. She was leaning on her speeder bike when Alice rounded the corner, straightening up and turning her face away as the sand kicked up a little with Alice's arrival. All motion stopped with sudden tension however as her attention snapped straight back to Alice with the words she spoke. Of all the scenarios Reno had played in her head, the one she had tried to silence the most had been the one to be the correct one. Only it wasn't just what she'd imagined. No, it was far far worse.
And there was no way she was going to be quiet about it this time.
Flood gates burst open and suddenly there was no closing it so quickly. Of all the stupid, reckless, irresonsible things to do, this by far exceed any of them, and it was made even worse by the fact Alice was doing it in the middle of a war! This had to be for personal gain only, why else would she want to go on some stupid crusade to kill a couple of dragons who weren't even attacking innocents! They weren't a threat that she knew of, and Alice was pretty much expecting her to just waltz in there after her through some Master/Padawan loyalty bond and kill them?! Not only that, she was expecting Reno to be able to do it, considering the awful display she'd seen on Geonosis and in the couple of times they'd practised sparring together? She truly started to wonder exactly why Alice had a seat on the council at all though she quickly quashed that thought before she started speaking. Well at first she tried the speaking thing, but all she could manage was a complete look of horror and inredulity along with many stuttering noises.
"You just...you think I'm gonna...you are completly out of your mind!! I am NOT going to follow you, Master, out to the wastelands of Tatooine to kill and slice open a couple of dragons..." Oh yeah, she hadn't missed that Alice had said TWO of the fracking things. "What in the galaxy are you thinking?! Are you even thinking?! We're in the middle of a war and you want to go off in search of some foolish and stupid adventure for what? And don't try telling me the council sanctioned this, because I know for a fact that no matter how desperate we might be, this is not something they'd request of a Jedi, let alone a Master and Padawan team! We don't have time to be doing things like this!"
She was well aware that she'd reached shouting level, and she was well aware that people had stopped to look at what the commotion was and she was now the focus of many people's attention. Suddenly her cheeks felt like they were on fire, more so than they already did from the heat of the Tatooine suns, and she was very aware she had just spoken to a Master like they were nothing more than another Padawan, or a youngling even. Not only that, but a Master on the Jedi High Council!!
Running a hand down her face, Reno grabbed hold of her speeder bike and started walking back to the hanger, towards the saftey of her ship. She wasn't willing to follow Alice blindly like this, and if that was the kind of Padawan that Alice was looking for then perhaps taking Reno on had been one heck of a mistake. She had room in her life for a friend like Alice, and a friend she had indeed been in the Jedi Temple during her simple training there, but as a Master and Padawan team she wasn't so sure they could survive, both in and out of the literal sense of the word.
"I'll be aboard Nobleese if you need me."
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Post by ALISTRANNIA "SHAN" CRYSIS on Feb 23, 2012 21:44:15 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, border-radius: 1em; -moz-border-radius: 1em; background-image:url(http://i56.tinypic.com/2wom9du.png), width: 400px; height: 400px;] Do you believe In the world they made for you? Do you belong, or do you try to? Erase yourself to pass as one of them? Find it easier to play along? You are wrong, and that is why you need your depressing songs. It was most likely the absolutely wrong reaction, given that Reno was yelling at her in a fit of rage. But Alice could do little more than smirk happily.
Reno had played perfectly into Alice's scheme, refusing to follow something so blindly even when ordered. A twinge of regret tugged at Alice's mind for exploiting her to the point of possibly hurting her like this. If it could have been done any other way, she honestly would have. But sometimes the lessons that stick with you are the ones that are painfully learned. And this one needed to stick. "Reno, wait..." Alice called after her, dismounting her Lancer Bike and jogging after Reno. "Reno!" she called again, a sympathetic tone striking up this time. "Stop. This was a test, Reno, a lesson for you to learn. Please hear me out." Finally catching up to her, Alice calmly placed her hand upon Reno's shoulder, silently asking her to turn about and face her.
"This is a lesson," she repeated slowly, apology written all over her eyes, "this isn't something you could learn in the libraries or archives... You are too devout to the rules of the Jedi Order." Alice grimaced, retracting her arm. "You follow so many ideals, so many customs without taking a moment to step back and examine why. Why you follow them. Why others may be inclined to. What their purpose was. And if any exists now." Alice sighed. She wasn't quite sure how to explain this. It made perfect sense in her own mind... "You objected to me knowing only why I said we were here. It did not strike your mind that there may be more to it - which there most certainly is, but we'll get to that. You rashly decided to make a choice. Ignorance, my friend. You must delve deeper! And the same is true for the governing principles of the Jedi Order. You follow them to the letter, and sometimes I wonder if you truly know why you do. What they mean."
Alice's face hardened. She wasn't really the greatest teacher around. She knew that. Poor Reno was going to be the one to suffer from that. "What if the Jedi Code actually stood for nothing? What if our bans upon possession and love were a hoax; a test to see who was wise enough to think deeper. You would have lived your life following these rules, and that's as far as it would go. You must not be a blind follower, Reno. Our rules cannot be taken as absolute rules, they will warp you if you try. They're more... Guidelines. Good practices. Reminders. You must not lose yourself to the demands and expectations of others." Very few Council Members encouraged younger Jedi to break the rules and be their own person. Not a soul would expect them to endorse such reckless thought. Master Yoda, however, did. "We are here to collect these pearls, yes, but not entirely for ourselves." she wasn't going to get anywhere until Reno understood that Alice was in fact not lying to her. Or. Actually that she was lying to her. Ironic. "And it's the very reason the Council has not spoken to you of this - it's off record. I made contact with someone who has worked for Count Dooku recently. In exchange for information about him, he wants this." Alice pointed out towards the general direction of the Dune Sea, as if the Pearl was simply sitting upon a pedestal out there awaiting them. "And he's only going to get rewarded should his information lead to Dooku's arrest."
Silence. A moments hesitation to allow for a great deal of information to be processed and accepted, before she continued. "Now tell me risking our lives isn't worth the possibility of this information truly leading to the capture of Dooku - and the fragmentation, if not collapse, of the war. Do you not think this risk is overshadowed by what we stand to gain from it? Think!" For all her incredible book smarts, Reno lacked a certain critical thinking that one only developed through real life experiences. This was a not so subtle crash course upon the matter. Alice folded her arms expectantly, smirking again. "Did you truly think that I, of all people, would be taking time away from the war, from your training and my briefings, to have a bit of glory in killing a pair of Dragons?" Yeah. She just might have. But that wasn't the point. "Jedi act only with reason, my young Padawan. And until we reach this reason, we ask questions. Through meditation, study..." Somehow, Alice thought she was finally beginning to paint this in its proper light. Challenge everything around her with wisdom and insight. Trust herself, not the world that was made for her.
"I am sorry, my friend, that it had to be done this way. Do you understand why I did what I did? Do you forgive me for all of this?" Kindness was an emotion Alice rarely displayed; her Padawan certainly saw more of it than anyone that yet lived, but even she didn't quite see what others would describe as a natural level of open kindness. Alice was always more direct, sometimes harshly so. This was an extreme case of what Alice wanted her to resist; from this, she could hope that her mind slowly grew more independent of the Jedi Council, the Jedi teachings and rules, and even herself. "And for the love of the Force, have some faith in me, girl." |
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Post by RENO SALMARA on Feb 25, 2012 21:33:05 GMT -5
Dooku.
Already, only a month into the war, Reno was sick of the name because everything seemed to be controlled by it. Every action that was taken was a direct result of something to with him, or more to do with trying to locate him. Alice telling her she needed to look deeper, beyond the code, nearly made her laugh out loud because it was so damn hypocritical. If anyone wasn't looking deep enough, it would appear to be Alice. Of course some random informant had come forward, wanting something so valuable and rare as a pearl for information on Dooku's whereabouts, because in this war it was already very clear information was worth that much - false or otherwise. This thought was the first to spring to Reno's mind as soon as Alice had said the words, not anywhere in the scenario did Reno see it as some grand oppertunity. With the Jedu being blinded more and more by the dark that was slowly choking the force, people were constantly clutching at any straw that came their way because it was the only thing they really had to go by in a war that was fast escalating out of control. Did Reno actually believe that the Council was fully supportive of this mission? Of course not. Did she actually trust that Alice knew what she was doing, what she was stepping into? No, she didn't and after everything that had just been said, she was even less willing to extend that trust than ever before.
To say that Reno didn't look deep enough was frustrating, then again Reno's mind worked at a pace very few understood, taking in and abosrbing as many angles as possible to a point where it could eaisly frustrate and de-rail the young Jedi and in fact had done many a time before. The Code and its teachings were the one thing in her mind that remained steady, never changing, never faltering and she leaned on them heavily. So, the way Alice spoke of it grated on her horribly, almost seeing the way Alice wronged her adherence to it as a taunt. Why shouldn't she follow these rules she'd been brought up to trust in and respect, the ones that had gotten her this far? Also, what exactly did Alice actually know to make such assumptions about how 'blind' she was? For someone who was so determined to get Reno to think and look deeper, she seemed awfully shallow and presumptuous herself. Reno in fact had a possession, wore it always in some form or another right under Alice's nose - under all of the order's noses for that matter. She harboured a love, a connection, to the faceless person in her dreams that she knew to be her mohter. She knew things about slicing that Jedi shouldn't have a need for. While often Reno exuded the appearence of being frustratingly to the letter on the Code, often it was only to cover the fact that she wasn't as much as she wanted them to believe, because she knew that no matter what Alice wanted to say about hte rules being guidelines, there were punishments for those that disobeyed them. All Reno could really take from Alice's lecture, was a growing sense of distrust and the awful realization that in some way she was being lied to and, so she felt, manipulated. How could a bond truly form between them, she wasn't sure it ever would and she was starting to feel more and more inadequate as Alice's padawan as time and events passed.
Of course, in all this thought, the only thing to show on Reno's face was an expression of grave seriousness and the flicker of hurt and pain in her eyes. She had her arms folded across her chest as she simply listened to what her Master had to say. Their being here, what Alice wanted to do was all wrong in Reno's opinion and there was nothing that Alice could say that would sway that. Of course, she wanted the war finished as much as the next person, but in her heart and in the force, she just knew that COunt Dooku was only part of the problem. So, as Alice finished speaking, Reno simply let the words hang in the air between them for a moment, before saying calmly and evenly.
"No. Faith and trust are earned, and we are by no means anywhere close to it. You know nothing of me, what I fight for or why I believe what I do, so you have no right to make any kind of assumptions."
Unfolding her arms, Reno got on her speeder bike and started up the engine, looking to Alice again without a change in expression or tone.
"Also, no. I do not believe this mission will have any consequence on the war. Count Dooku is proving himself to be a formidable tactitian and we have so far been simply following the trail he deliberatly leaves each time. If you believe it to be important, I will follow simply to watch your back and call for assistance should we need it. But I will not fight for something I have not been fully told about, nor will I attempt to strengthen a weakness in a battle that requires a far greater level of technique than I possess. This is not training. For me, this is attempted suicide."
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Post by ALISTRANNIA "SHAN" CRYSIS on Feb 28, 2012 14:30:10 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, border-radius: 1em; -moz-border-radius: 1em; background-image:url(http://i56.tinypic.com/2wom9du.png), width: 400px; height: 400px;] Do you believe In the world they made for you? Do you belong, or do you try to? Erase yourself to pass as one of them? Find it easier to play along? You are wrong, and that is why you need your depressing songs. It was like a sickly hot knife slipping between her ribcage. And then a thousand more from every angle.
"No. Faith and trust are earned, and we are by no means anywhere close to it. You know nothing of me, what I fight for or why I believe what I do, so you have no right to make any kind of assumptions." Alice lost focus beyond this point. She could hear Reno speaking to her, but she was not listening. The burning sensation of sorrow crept into her face, threatening to overthrow her stoic expression into something less graceful. Alice was hurt. Greatly hurt. She had brought it upon herself, and no nobody to blame but herself for the pain that she was experiencing. She had pushed Reno to do this. To feel this way. And in time, she could only hope that her emotion subsided and that the clarity would then be enough to shed light upon Alice's wisdom. Until then, she would have to suffer this.
But why did it hurt so much?
Alice blinked slowly, suddenly very aware of just how hot the climate was. "Fine. Alice said quietly, watching Reno restart her bike and look at herself expectantly. Flustered, Alice could only wheel about and return to her own speeder. The radiating waves of contempt from Reno were more than enough to tell Alice she didn't want to talk. And truth be told, she had little desire to try at the moment. It seemed as though Reno was much more unwilling to accept Alice as her Master as she was to accept her as her Padawan. It was an ugly transition, and couldn't have come at a worse time given the war adding incredible stress to their lives and relationships. Still...
At this point, there was little that could be said. Rather than try, Alice returned to her own Lancer Bike and planted herself upon it. Alice carefully flipped her long, sweeping cloak over the back of her bike. She could barely hit the accelration for fear of trampling pedestrians. It took careful sifting through the Force to detect the lifeforms and their diretions as she wove through the streets, all the while checking to make sure that Reno was still with her. After many minutes of careful navigating, they finally emerged from the busy spaceport into the barely populated outskirts, free to kick up to max speed. Soon, they were free from the entire port of Mos Eisley, and crossing the vast expanse of wasteland under the evening suns. Sand. Endless sand. The journey across the Eastern Dune Sea was a rather uneventful one. Little more than sand and dune presented itself for many hours; the occasional Bantha herd passed by on their quest for water, or the rare corpse of a fallen adventurer or unlucky soul who got on the bad side of the Hutts. More delicate however was the exchange of emotions that played out en route to destionation. Alice's quite sorrow and wishing to move passed this met by anger, resentment, and frustration. Alice spent much of her time riding across the sand comtemplating a method to bridge this gap, unsuccessfully so.
And suddenly, a weak lash of darkness struck at Alice's chest, disappearing as quickly as it arose. They were getting close, then. The site that the two Krayt Dragons called home was a place known for being contaminated with the Dark Side of the Force - it was what drew them to the area, if suspicions were true. As they drew nearer and nearer, these lashes only grew in frequency until the feeling was an almost constant effect, ever present around them like a solemn despair. It was a feeling Alice knew all too well, from her various experiences both in the war and on personal missions alongside Master Yoda. Reno, however, may not be so used to it, and the concern grew within Alice for how this negative energy may couple with her feelings to try to pull her into the darkness. Shaking her head of such idle thoughts, Alice remained firm in her faith in her Padawan. She would not betray Alice, nor would she succumb to anything as simple as an aura. They crested over a particularly large sand dune and finally, after almost three hours of quiet riding, found themselves at the cavernous entrance to the ruins that housed a 'Star Map' - and a pair of Greater Krayt Dragons.
Greater Krayt Dragons were not a species that originated upon Tattoine. In fact, their origins were somewhat unknown to the best of Jedi scholars. Regardless, these mighty creatures did little more for the planet than cause death and mayhem; they were an absolute nightmare for unwary travelers, be they from the local towns or even just sand folk. They altered their enviornemnt completely; making all life aware of themselves, and fear themselves. Disruptive. For these reasons alone, Alice had little trouble with accepting that these creatures had no place here - all would benefit from their death. Possibly even the Republic.
The area was shaped like a massive bowl; at its center, a few dusty and otherwise destroyed ruins, and built into the dunes near them was a massive, structured cave. One of the Greater Krayt Dragons was already outside, seemingly unaware of their presence. And it felt like the other was inside. The creature itself was little short of menacing. The one before them appeared to be about ninety meters long. Its tail was thicker than Alice's entire body, packing enough muscle to crush just about anything. Ten legs were needed just to support the passive creature, just as a very long neck was needed to support its head. Sporting many sets of dangerously sharp teeth, this creature was a threat at both ends. Alice dimsounted her bike, stepping into the sand and deactivating the bike. "I guess you stay here," Alice muttered, trying to hide her sadness with their situation. She opened her mouth to say something else - something encouraging - but no words came out of her mouth. Rather, she simply closed it and exhaled sharply. She couldn't have this on her mind right now.
The air was still unpleasantly warm, despite the suns beginning to set far off in the distance. The overwhelming light that usually covered the planet fading into a more beautiful ruby color. Or, depending upon your mood, an ominous crimson, blood like color. She also become very aware of just how dry her throat was. Tattoine was such an irritating planet. But the time for bodily concerns and mental frustrations was over. Alice had to focus.
In the blink of an eye, the air about Alice shifted dramatically.
There was focus. Determination. Valor. Conviction. It swirled about her, mixed with the Force, creating for herself a shield against the darkness. A barrier against distraction and despair. Alice's finger tips carefully slipped down her waist towards her Lightsaber, taking it into her hand. By this time, it was clear that the Greater Krayt Dragon had sensed her presence - a powerful beacon of light that did not belong in this place of darkness. Its head lifted from above the sand and pointed towards her location. Oh yes. It knew she was there.
Alice belted down the sand as fast as her Force Speed imbued legs could carry her, a long trail of sand kicking up beneath her cloak. The creature slowly raised itself to its legs, swinging its tail in front of its body threateningly. Alice reciprocated by ignting her double Lightsaber, now little more than a blue blur bathed in red light as she sped down the inside of the dune. Approaching the bottom, and the radius of its reach, Alice had let Force valor take over her actions and awareness. The dragon wheeled about and whipped its tail towards Alice in a broad, horizontal motion. With little effort, Alice cartwheeled over the sweeping limb and landed upon her feet. The creature snorted - amused perhaps? After its miss, it held it tail upright, ready to strike at her from any angle. Alice didn't budge, instead holding her position with her Lightsaber by her side.
An odd contrast; something so terrible and massive feeling challenged by something so small and delicate. A picturesque stand-off.
The moment passed, and the creature resumed its assault. This time its tail came crashing down from above, each time it did, Alice flipped to one side or another, missing within inches. And each time it missed, it rose and came down again, spurring Alice to flip and tumble in a display of acrobatics that could only be achieved through years of practice and an incredible power with Force Valor. After four failed strikes, Alice seized her opportunity and flipped herself onto the creatures tail - outside of its realm to strike. Its rough, scaly skin was all too easy to grasp onto. By the time it had realized where she was, she had already begun charging up its tail towards its body. It thrashed its tail about wildly trying to get her off, even bending its tail around to try to slap her off of it - to which she easily leaped over and kept charging. With its tail out of reach, the creature could only hope to deal a deathblow to her with its powerful jaws, quickly changing gears and rotating its head around to try to bite down upon its speedy prey. This, too, failed, and was exactly what Alice wanted - for it to bring its head close to her blade. With a bit of a leap, she was upon the creature, and swinging her blade around in a circle to quickly remove its head and end the battle quickly.
Unfortunately, she couldn't anticipate it resisting her Lightsaber.
As it made contact with the creatures neck, the Lightsaber paused; it had penetrated its skin, somewhat, but nowhere near far enough to be lethal. The blow caused the creature to howl in pain, an echoing roar that could be heard for miles. "Not good..." Alice mumbled, recognizing what this cry meant. It cried not to convey pain, but to summon. And in that moment, the Dragon also took its opportunity to fling Alice from its head with a violent shake. Unable to do much about it, Alice tumbled and fell against the creatures body, rolling off and striking the ground with considerable force. Winded, Alice winced. But she had no time to be down and out, and she knew it. Despite her body screaming in protest, she forced herself back to her feet in time to feel the earth tremble from yet another roar - this time, it was not from the one outside.
From within the dark cavern emerged first a much angrier roar than the one it followed, and soon the Dragon responsible for it presented itself from within its confines. This one was significantly larger than the first, perhaps a hundred meters long, and significantly taller than the first. Its skin was riddled with scars and wounds. And was it ever pissed off.
Now Alice had quite the problem. She had hoped to take them individually. This was a dynamic she was not comfortable with. On either side of her stood a towering behemoth, riled and bloodthirsty. Alice had to change gears.
Two pairs of heads and tails quickly came thrashing her way. Each threatening to crush her entire body should it get anywhere near her. Alice was put entirely upon the defensive, resorting to a flurry of Force aided leaps and springs. From afar, she would appear as little more than a blueish blur weaving between massive limbs. It took almost half a minute for the smaller one, the one she had been engaged with first, to realize that it wasn't about to hit such a speedy target, and its attacks paused. Taking immediate note of this, Alice moved herself onto the back of the pacified one, drawing the aggravated assault of the larger male unto her new position. Its tail came down upon her position, from which she quickly vacated into the air space above. However, its tail did not stop, missing its intentional target and crashing into its smaller female mate. She buckled beneath the pain, her legs unable to support the blow. She crashed to the ground with a pain filled grunt. Alice landed softly upon the tail of the male, confused as to how he was responsible for the damage to his mate. Distracted.
This time Alice had a plan. Cresting up the back of the creature, she split her saber apart into two separate blades. And upon reaching the skull of the towering male, she swung each blade around and drove them into its eye sockets.
It didn't like that.
Roars of pain echoed across the wastes, deeper, stronger than those from before. Alice clung for dear life as it thrashed about, her Lightsabers locked into the creatures skull loosely. She had precious few moments until the energy burned so much tissue away that they would come loose, and Alice understood this all too well. Icy blue eyes watched carefully for its head to swing in the proper direction for her to make a move, seizing the opportunity when she found it. Through the air she flew, aided by the last flailing movements of the dying male Dragon, towards the neck of the female. Alice could feel the rage pouring out from her entire being; fueled by the sorrow of her now dead mate. But as Alice connected with the back of the creatures neck, it was all over. Try as she did to writhe and flail to get Alice off of her back, Alice proved herself too agile to be thrown off. And just like her mate before her, she succumbed to a pair of Lightsaber piercing her eyes. This time, Alice didn't waste too much time trying to hang on; she quickly leaped off of the dying Dragon into the sand, retracting her blades. It thrashed and howled violently for almost a minute before it too finally came crashing down, collapsing upon the chest of its partner, defeated.
By this point in time, Alice was absolutely exhausted, both physically from the exertion and mentally from tapping into the Force so heavily. And so her first reaction was to take a seat and begin to meditate, closing her eyes. Time was needed for her to catch her breath, and she would receive it waiting for Reno to arrive upon her position. |
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