Abira brought her Infiltrator down between the two Jedi fighters in the landing bay adjacent to the one accommodating the transporters piloted by PD-01 and one of the Jedi who had made it to the escape craft.
[Orvin, come on over 'n help me check over my ship. I'll lower the ramp. How the hell do I open it again...?] She depressed a likely button and grunted as a hatch opened somewhere. That was not the main ramp. Hmmm... On her third try, she had the satisfaction of hearing Orvin's footfalls below her as he boarded her new ship.
Running a hand over the steel-grey finish, Orvin sensed a strange dissonance in the Force. How odd. If that dark Jedi left a strong enough taint for me to feel it several days later on the hull, I wonder how Abira feels after being in his seat and in his living quarters? He continued up the ramp and opened several hatches on his way to the turbo lift that accessed the flight deck. He stretched and twisted his neck from side to side.
Chandi grinned tiredly and opened the canopy of her own ship. As she climbed down she immediately made for the other hangar where the pilots had opened all vents and lowered boarding ramps so that everyone could get some atmospheric air in their lungs after being cooped up in the ship for several days. It's just as well we had the hyperdrive rings in orbit for those fighters.. I feel sorry for Orvin in that cramped cockpit; sometimes it pays to be short!
"Ophuchi is really too cloistered for my taste. I need a little more, well, freedom." The others looked at her with a mixture of expressions. None of them had been called before the Great Council even once; and they had been here since they were practically infants.
"You are complaining about being invited to train with the Masters on the homeworld? Does my hearing still work correctly?" The large Quianite blinked his aqua eyes with exaggerated slowness and opened his mouth in what could only be described as a gape. The small group exchanged knowing glances as one of their number cut the dark skinned speaker off as he was about to continue.
"Stow it, Tabib. Not everyone comes from a backwater pastoral planet like you."
"Actually, padawan," Abira stated neutrally "I do come from just such a pastoral and backwater planet in Wild Space. It is called Jovan and I was five when I was found and taken from the place. It wasn't great, but it was home."
"Jovan. Jovan. Hmm... hey – isn't that a place some Knights were sent to a few years back? I heard Master Jair Wemilo took a team and left in a hurry and hasn't been seen since."
"That's not exactly so. He sends transmissions to the Council, and I was called to assist on a few missions myself when I was at the Temple on Coruscant." They looked at her oddly so she explained. Skeptical bastards this lot. "Yair Wemilo was the Knight who discovered I was force sensitive. Actually, I was using the Force quite actively, but he is the one who gave me somewhere to go. I was his padawan learner." So during my training I actually did go on a number of missions with him – hello kids...What a relief, good old Orvin. The lanky young Knight strolled up, three training droids bobbing along in his wake.
"Hi Rogue. I hope you lot don't mind, but I need to give this slacker a test. Won't take but a few minutes" He grinned amiably at the mystified group of students and jerked his head at Abira. "Over there will do. Put this on." He handed her a blast helmet and winked surreptitiously. Abira's eyes twinkled as she slipped the helmet over her head. This was a game that they had played often, unbeknownst to their training masters. But that was before her first true combat. She hefted her light saber and ignited it, savouring the startled gasps of the other students. Oh, go kill your own dark Jedi and you can have one just like it. Ouch...that hurt! She concentrated all her attention on the feeling of the little droid circling her. That charged bolt had a bit more bite to it than the ones we use in the training arena. She blocked the next bolts in quick succession and grinned under the face plate as she sensed the second droid join the first. Just like Orvin. Got to keep me on my toes.
The small group of students grew as others came outside for their meal break and noticed the odd sight of a helmeted padawan wielding a light saber, which was unusual enough on its own, against not one but two satellite droids. Bolt after bolt was met by the red blade as the student warily circled. Her skill was impressive and murmurs passed to and fro amongst the onlookers. Several of them winced as a muffled curse issued forth from the helmet. A shot had gotten through, but not from the two circling droids; it had been from a stationary droid hidden in the lowest branches of a nearby tree.
"That's not playing nice!" the girl spoke as she deflected two simultaneously incoming bolts at once directly at the guilty droid. Pieces of it showered the Knight conducting the test.
"That will be all, padawan. Secure your weapon. Very satisfactory... I did not expect to need the fourth droid, I must admit, it was merely a feeling that I had on the way here. As you were, I need to speak to your weapon master." Orvin looked thoughtful as he walked away, again with three droids in tow; the fourth lying in smoking ruins on the grass.