Xy'liah stared out into the space ahead of her as her hands gripped Fury's controls. The action felt a bit strange to her. It's been awhile since the Sith even touched any controls of Fury's, not ever since she had picked up an all in one pilot, fighter, navigator, and healer. She barely set foot within the bridge area except to check up on him once in a while. Xy'liah eyed the controls around her. For a moment, they all seemed foreign to her despite her rigorous training in ships' mechanics and their operations.
Fury leaned a bit at the touch of her hands. Xy'liah immediately let go of the controllers as the ship regained its' balance. She never knew Fury was so sensitive, no doubt a result from the Captain's constant optimizations. Xy'liah frowned, wishing she had paid more attention to Quinn whenever he updated her on his latest Fury's optimizations. The thought had never crossed her that she would be one day without him and so soon after he had joined her.
The Captain had requested a short pilgrimage to pursue his long time opponent: an SIS agent by the name of Voloren. After his performance on Nar Shaddaa, Xy'liah thought it appropriate to grant it to him, that and the fact that he kept stressing how small of an opportunity window it is to confront the agent before he disappeared again.
Memories of their Nar Shaddaa mission flooded Xy'liah's mind and she found herself smiling at the thought of Quinn awkwardly trying to strike up a conversation with her while on their speeder taxi en route to meet Halidrell Setsyn. There had been a silence between them with Xy'liah busily thinking of how to redeem herself through this next mission and Quinn dutifully guiding their speeder. The young Sith felt the Captain's eyes constantly travelling between her and his controls silently asking for attention, but chose to ignored it. She had other more important matters to worry about. Last mission, she had allowed her carelessness jeopardized her whole campaign. Since then, Baras had been constantly reminding her of her mistake even hinting at what would happen if she caused anymore. She definitely couldn't afford anymore mistakes.
"My lord, permission to speak freely?" He had asked her. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed how long he was silently waiting for.
"You may always speak freely, Quinn," she had told him. The response must've surprised him a bit for he dwelled on her statement for a while before proceeding to tell her of how he came to be on Balmorra. It was a boring story, one Xy'liah had thought pointless, even until now she is still wondering why Quinn specifically chose to share it with her. This must be his way of trying to break the ice. Xy'liah chose to ignore the Captain's words then, but whenever there was free time, he would try to sneak in another anecdote or two.
And then again when Xy'liah found the Captain on his datapad each time they were free or en route to somewhere. At first, she thought of it as one of the odd habits of the Captain's to constantly check their mission and datapad for his focus never deterred from their current mission. But she soon found out otherwise when he informed her of a Republic SIS agent he had been tracking all along. He wasn't kidding when he said Balmorra had put a halt to his career. The poor Captain must find his newfound freedom exciting to finally be able to catch up with all his previous work before his time on Balmorra. Xy'liah couldn't blame him. Being stuck on that small rock would make anyone go crazy.
She had allowed this little fascination of his to continue as long as he didn't lose focus on the task on hand. The thought of him receiving that news also amused Xy'liah. His blue eyes had lit up when she had given him permission. A smile touched those lips of his and for a moment, he seemed to be a kid again. But Xy'liah didn't calculate how serious his little hobby was progressing. Right after they had dealt with Rathari, Quinn had requested her permission to leave and take down Voloren. It was then that Xy'liah realized just how serious the Captain was at any task he took upon.
So now she found herself…without her usual pilot and navigator.
"Ship sure is quiet without Captain Boredom here, huh?" Vette said cutting into Xy'liah's thoughts. The Sith turned to look at her twi'lek companion sitting in the co-pilot's chair next to her.
"For some reason, I don't really notice his presence here or not." It was true. She barely saw Quinn on the ship. He was always busy piloting the Fury or tending to other work unlike Vette, who found any excuse to take a break from her duties. On several occasions, Xy'liah had to check up on him to make sure he is still alive.
"Did he say how long he was going to be gone for?"
"No."
"So it could be weeks? Or even months? Hmph, sounds to me like this is just an excuse to skip his duties. Maybe he's off partying somewhere on Dromund Kaas. The least he could was invited us!"
Xy'liah gave the twi'lek a look, "He's not you, Vette, who on the other hand spends a lot of her time sorting out cargos we don't have…"
Vette turned to avoid eye contact with the Sith and gave a slight chuckle at the accusation, "Hey, someone has to make sure they are organized."
"Put the Fury on autopilot. We should reach Tatooine in the morning," said Xy'liah getting up from her chair. "Try not to stay up."
Vette nodded as her eyes followed Xy'liah out of the bridge. She quickly switched the ship to autopilot and ran out to catch up with her master, who she found was getting ready for bed. At the sight of that, her own feet and body ached for rest. Who knew working for a Sith Lord would demand so many hours?
Ding! Ding! Ding! Xy'liah opened her eyes. The sound was pretty unusual during the silent nights on Fury. She reached out through the Force and felt another presence aboard her vessel. Slowly she rose from her bed, hand summoning the nearest lightsaber to her.
Just as she was getting out of her quarters, a familiar shadow appeared from the entrance hallway.
"Quinn!" Xy'liah exclaimed, somewhat surprised. She hadn't expected the Captain back so soon.
The shadow gave a slight bow, "My lord, I did not mean to startle you. I'm back from my mission and pleased to report Agent Voloren's decade of espionage has been brought to an end! It is a great day for the Empire!" Excitement radiated from his voice despite his effort to speak in a low tone.
Xy'liah smiled, somewhat amused by his excitement and somewhat impressed, "It isn't everyday that you close the book on an old score."
"It is long overdue. Thank you for allowing me to pursuit this, my lord."
"Hm, you really took him down, huh? I'm not saying that I doubted you, but—the thought of you taking him down…" The Sith drifted off for a few moments. "Wished I'd be there to see that."
Xy'liah smirked as she saw the Captain blushed even though the lights were so dimmed. It was a little ongoing game she had with herself whenever she was bored and it was getting quite interesting. The Captain had managed to successfully dodge every single flirtatious bullet she had thrown his way while remaining calm and professional like always which made Xy'liah even more determined to break him, "You can drop the stoic soldier routine when we're in private. Show me a little attention."
The Captain turned his head away, "I'm…not sure what you mean, my lord."
"What, don't tell me I'm not your type."
"Indeed my lord. You are not a type at all. I dare say, you are a wholly unique woman, but my work demand complete concentration and I-" he turned to face the amber eyes staring at him. "-well… I'm not used to juggling business with pleasure."
Xy'liah frowned at the statement and took a step back from the Captain, hands on her hips, "No lame excuses or explanations! If you're not interested, then say so! Now, go get some rest. We have work to do and just because you went on your little side journey doesn't mean you get any time off to recover. I need you to be up and early when we land on Tatooine."
"Right away, my lord."
She watched him as he retreated to the crews' quarters.
Quinn shielded his eyes from the harsh light cast by the alien planet's twin suns. He had just finished prepping himself for the extreme environment of the planet before setting out to finish prepping the rest of Xy'liah's and his journey. He was never really fond of the heat and harsh sands of Tatooine. The heat was already getting to him and they barely started. Quinn sighed as the thought of Fury entered his mind. How he longed to be within the cool interior of the vessel! Being on Balmorra has indeed changed the Captain. He was used to working inside an office all day long that he found it quite difficult to adapt to field work. It was much more efficient for him to work aboard the Fury, but last night Xy'liah had strongly voiced her wish of having him accompanying her on this mission. She has been doing that a lot lately.
At first Quinn thought of it as a precaution to keep an eye on him as she worked. He knew she didn't fully trust him due to his close relations to her Master. He had even overhead the Sith speculating to Vette that Baras had sent Quinn to keep watch of her due to her last mission. This, however, did not bother Quinn in the least. He took it as an opportunity to prove himself, which he ultimately succeeded in doing. His performance on Nar Shaddaa must've helped him greatly. She must've liked his results from the small tests she purposely threw his way throughout the course of their mission. She didn't voice it aloud, but Quinn could see her satisfaction with him.
He was also quite impressed with his master's performance as she was with his. She had even surprised him a little at the way she carried herself this time around. Much different from when he first met her on Balmorra. She was quite focused and worked efficiently at the tasks being provided to her. She utilized everything and everyone around her, taking his advice on several occasions and even letting him plan a counterattack to Rathari's ambush. She was far from the usual Sith senselessly killing their victims and Quinn was quite impressed at how influential she was, even making a few powerful allies along the way (though she did let her anger get the best of her in the beginning).
Quinn straightened out at the sound of a small beep from a nearby holoterminal, reminding him to return to his duties. He took a step forward and began walking down the ramp of the city's spaceport into its' bustling marketplace. A couple of hours ago, Quinn guided the Fury toward Tatooine's only Imperial city, Mos Ila. Baras' operative, Sharack Breevs, waited for their arrival before she began briefing the Sith on her journey on Tatooine. The young woman spoke in riddles and didn't provide much useful information for their journey, but she did provide several locations in which she strongly suggested to investigate; one being the farmhouse of an Izzebowe Jeef which lay deep within the desert of Tatooine.
Quinn frowned as he remembered the distance shown on the map between the coordinates Sharack had given them and Mos Ila. Unlike Nar Shaddaa, cities were scare on Tatooine with Mos Ila and a few others being the main ones and a bunch of little farming communities and settlements scattered here and there across the sea of sands. It was mainly due to its environments that made supporting city life impossible. The desert was scorching by day and dropped to a freezing temperature by night. There were also random sandstorms that frequently happened as Quinn heard. To be caught in one would put major delays to their mission. However, it was exactly these conditions that made Tatooine perfect for anyone wishing to drop off the radar for awhile. Smugglers, criminals, bounty hunters, treasure hunters were all common sight at Mos Ila. Tatooine, like Nar Shaddaa, was ruled by the Hutt Cartel which made Republic's and Imperial's presence here nothing. Not to mention, both sides dared not risk losing resources searching for criminals within the harsh sands unless the person was of extreme importance such as this Jedi Master and his Padawan that they were seeking.
"His farm is taken over by Exchange thugs. The Exchange hates the Empire for driving them out of Mos Ila. They'll let me pass, but shoot you on sight," Sharack had said to them.
Quinn knew this long before they landed on the desert planet. And like always added the detail to his calculations and concocted plan in the back of his mind should it become necessary. His plan was a simple one, but effective if carried out right. He had overheard Baras telling Xy'liah how time was of the essence. It was far easier for them to complete their mission on Tatooine if they were to blend in with the locals than to stick out. He made this known to Xy'liah before any one of them had the chance to step out of the boundary of their hangar. The Sith listened to him without hesitation and sent Vette to quickly fetch her appropriate attires for the journey.
"I shall go on ahead to prepare, my lord."
"Have everything ready before I get out there."
Quinn tugged at the collar of his shirt as he waited for the Sith Lord. He watched random species pass him by, eyeing him as he leaned beside the landspeeder he had just rented. A random group of Twi'lek slave dancers passed by, sending flirtatious looks his way to which he responded with a frown.
One thing he was glad to not deal with while on field work was Vette, who has been pestering him constantly ever since his return. He barely had much sleep that night for the twi'lek was constantly asking questions left and right about his whereabouts. Somehow she had overheard him talking about Moff Broysc and now was insistent upon him telling her who he was. Quinn frowned as the thought of the young twi'lek entered his mind. He was doing his best to tolerate her, but slowly his patience was running out. It was quite puzzling to him how Xy'liah seemed to tolerate her so easily when he would have thought the twi'lek to annoy the Sith Lord also.
"Ready?"
Quinn instinctively straightened at the sound of the voice to salute his superior officer, an act that caused her to curl her lips in disapproval. His blue eyes studied the Sith from head to toe. She looked completely different from her usual self. She was dressed in the simplest outfit: brown pants, boots, and an oversized hooded poncho to hide those lightsabers of hers. Her hair was up in her usual bun and aside from that distinctive marking upon her face, she could definitely pass as a local.
"Your plan won't work if you cannot control yourself, Captain," she said referring to his earlier act.
"I'm sorry, my lord. It is somewhat of a habit for me," he turned his attention toward the landspeeder behind them. "I rented a speeder for our use. I'm hoping it will help us reach our destination before we are caught in a sandstorm which according to the sources here is about two days away. I also inputted the coordinates Sharack had given us. The trip should take us about a day or two."
"How about the path going there?"
"Bare, my lord. There is nothing, but sand and rocks and the usual predators. However there are smaller settlements not on this map, I hope we find one to restock before nightfall."
"Then I guess we better get moving."
Zzzznnng! Zzznnnggg!
"What is that?" Xy'liah asked grabbing onto the side of the landspeeder as it jerkily tilted side to side briefly.
"I'm not sure, my lord. I will check it out right away. We must've hit something," said Quinn as he steered the landspeeder carefully toward a nearby boulder. Once parked, Xy'liah jumped out, taking the quick opportunity to stretch her legs before having to commit herself to the journey again. She frowned at the landspeeder Quinn had rented. The speeder itself was a small civilian two seaters with a small cargo bay for their belongings. She was not used to such a low end landspeeder. All the ones she has been in were heavily armored and equipped for any danger. This dinky one, however, was not armored whatsoever, no equipments to defend themselves with, and had an open cockpit with a partial windscreen which somewhat helped with the sand hitting their faces and hair when Quinn took the vehicle to its' full speed.
Xy'liah sighed as she leaned against the boulder Quinn had parked beside. The suns were getting ready to go down and darkness would soon engulf the planet. They needed to find a place to stay soon lest risk getting caught in the sandstorm or freeze to death by the night temperature which ever came first. The young Sith shifted her eyes to the Imperial working quickly on their landspeeder. He showed no sign of fatigue behind those goggles of his though Xy'liah could feel it from within him, "What's wrong with it?"
"It is the repulsors," he said. "Remember when I said we must've hit something? Well it is causing one of the repulsors to malfunction. It looks as if it's not receiving a constant amount of power as the other ones are. The weight of the vehicle is too much for the other repulsors to hold up alone."
"Great." The young woman rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"I can fix it, my lord, but we will have to stay overnight somewhere. It should be ready by the morning," said Quinn.
"You know how to fix speeders too?"
"It was apart of my training. I can fix basic things."
The two looked around the vast sandy desert. There didn't seem to be any nearby settlements. Quinn watched as the young Sith closed her eyes, reaching out to the Force. She stayed in that position for about a minute or two before opening them back up.
"There."
Quinn turned toward where she was pointing.
"There. I could feel a small presence in the Force in that direction," Xy'liah pointed.
"But my lord, going in that direction will cause us to go off course. We'll be behind schedule."
"Well we don't have a choice, now do we Captain? Unless you would rather sleep on the cold sandy ground, you'd be lucky to find yourself not buried by the time morning hits. Besides, that speeder won't last long anyways, right?" The Sith mumbled a few other indistinctive things to herself as she jumped back into the speeder, awaiting her Captain to follow. Her face wore a frown as she crossed her arms within the speeder, staring straight ahead.
Quinn reluctantly followed after making sure all the landspeeder's parts were put back in place. He knew the Sith well enough to know that if annoyance sets in, there was no negotiating. He quickly started the speeder again and carefully navigated toward the direction Xy'liah had pointed to.
It didn't take long to find the settlement Xy'liah spoke of. An hour after travelling in the direction, they came upon a moderate sized house with small dome sized buildings around it. It was too small to be a village and as the duo came to find out, it was actually a small farmland belonging to a local family.
"Please, we don't want any trouble. We are nothing, but a poor farm family. We have a hard time supporting ourselves already," said the older woman, who greeted them as they got out of the speeder.
"We don't want anything," said Xy'liah. "I am Xy'liah and this is Captain Quinn. We merely seek shelter for the night. Our speeder has encountered some technical problems along the way; it'll break down if we were to continue without repair."
"Well what does this look like to ya?" said the older man. "A repair shop? We ain't got nuttin' here that is useful to ya. Now be off on your way back to your Republic or Imperial town-whichever you came from."
"Now, Reed, we cannot just turn away these poor kids," said his wife. "You are more than welcome to stay the night!"
"Now ya've done it, Maritha! Inviting strangers into the house! What if they meant to harm us? Ya don't know who they are! They could be Republics! Imperials! Or worst-apart of the Exchange!"
"We do not wish to stay any more than what is necessary," said Quinn. "One of the repulsors on our speeder is damaged. I can repair it overnight and we'll be gone by morning."
Behind them two more figures appeared: a young teenaged lady and boy.
"Father," began the young lady. Her voice was soft spoken and she seemed overly shy of the two strangers as she partially hid behind her brother. "Isen could help with the repairs. After all, he has a crateful of parts. Maybe one of them will be of use?" She looked up at her younger brother. "What do you say, Isen?"
The young boy furrowed his brows as he examined the landspeeder behind the two strangers, "It looks like an old model. Should be simple enough. Show me what you need."
Quinn nodded and took the young boy to the speeder as Xy'liah followed the rest toward their house.
"I don't mean to probe dear, but what were you two doing out in the middle of nowhere?" asked Maritha.
"We're on our way to visit a long lost uncle, who I was last told dwelled nearby. We are hoping to reach his place before the storm hit," Xy'liah said.
"Ah, well you must be tired and hungry. Why don't you freshen up before we have dinner? You can then tell us the rest of your story. It's not often we get visitors, so forgive us if we seemed a bit too interested. Yvesa, come show our guest to the guest room!"
The young lady nodded as she turned toward Xy'liah, "Our guest room is upstairs. Follow me."
She led the Sith to the back of the house and up a few stairs and corridor before unlocking a door. The room Xy'liah stepped into was pretty small and cramped, and though she was used to much luxurious accommodations, she didn't complained. After all, it was better than spending the night in their cramp, dinky landspeeder. The Sith examined the room carefully. There were two small beds perpendicular to each other and a small round table in the middle. To the far left corner was a small door leading to a washroom.
"Please, make yourself comfortable," Yvesa said as she watched the young woman examined the room. "Dinner is currently cooking, but it will be ready by the time you come down. I'll also tell your husband to bring up the rest of your belongings."
Xy'liah quickly turned to look at Yvesa after her statement. The young lady's face turned red at the realization of her mistake, "I'm sorry. I just assumed that—"
"Don't be. You did nothing wrong," the young human smiled at her.
Yvesa smiled back as the redness in her face subsided. She then left the room, leaving Xy'liah to her thoughts.
Quinn entered the room shortly after, carrying both their keepsacks, "Bad news, my lord. It seemed the repulsor I examined earlier is damaged more than I thought. We would have to replace it completely in order to continue. Isen has a few spares. The kid is genius when it comes to any mechanics. He showed me his workshop in the back. We should have it working by tomorrow morning." His eyes followed the Sith as she undid her bun, letting locks of wavy brown hair run down her back. He watched, waiting for her answer as she ran her fingers through her hair shaking out any sand that was not otherwise stuck to her.
"Do what you have to do, Captain. I just want us out of here before Baras decides to check in."
"Yes, my lord. I must contact the ship and update it on our progress." He gave a short bow before turning to take out his comlink.
The next morning Quinn awakened before the rise of the suns to hear particles hitting the sides of the house. He cursed under his breath as he came to realized what it was. The sandstorm had hit them earlier than expected and judging by the sound of it, it would postpone their trip for today. The young Captain looked over to the sleeping Sith as he pondered what to do in his head. He knew she was not going to be happy about this. She was already feeling pressure from Baras to immediately find the Jedi Master and bring him down. Any second wasted put them further and further behind Nomen Karr. It will only be a matter of time before the Dark Lord decided to check on them and he certainly will not be pleased to hear of this interference.
Letting out a small sigh, Quinn grabbed his goggles and helmet off the round table in between the two beds and set out for the speeder.
"Look whose up!" Maritha said as the young woman entered the kitchen.
"Where is everyone?" Xy'liah asked.
"That Captain of yours is one of a kind. He woke up so early just to go out and fix your vehicle during this sandstorm. I know it's none of my business, but if you ask me, that kind of loyalty and dedication is rare. You picked a good one, dear."
Xy'liah smiled at the older woman, "He's only doing what is required of him."
"Even so, I don't see that many men willing to do what he does. Why don't you go give this water to him," Maritha handed the Sith a small pouch full of water. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it. After all, being in those sandstorms can get you mighty thirsty."
Xy'liah obeyed though she normally wouldn't, but she had to get the Captain alone to be updated on their status and this seemed to be the perfect excuse. She exited the small shelter quickly to avoid sand being blown inside and walked to where Quinn had parked the speeder last night. She found him crouched over, busy tinkering with the vehicle with Isen next to him. As she approached, the young boy caught sight of her first and greeted in a hearty voice, "I see you're up. The storm is delaying us fixing the speeder, but it should be done soon." He turned toward Quinn, who looked up at the Sith. "Captain, I need to go switch out the parts. I'll be back." The young boy smiled and left.
Quinn stood up as he watched Isen go and turned to salute Xy'liah as soon as he was gone, "Everything is proceeding nicely, my lord though we are a bit behind than my original calculations. I hadn't planned on the sandstorm hitting us so soon."
Xy'liah handed him the water pouch, "We are spending more time here than I would like. I hope to leave by tonight."
"You're too kind my lord," said Quinn as he took the water pouch.
Xy'liah watched as the Captain thirstily drank from the pouch, swallowing every single droplet of water coming out of the hole. Maritha was right. Being in the sandstorm can get one dying of thirst. She watched him finish the pouch and wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand before returning it to her.
Quinn returned a few hours later excited at the fact that young Isen had gotten the speeder to work. Surely now they can be on their way to the farmhouse. Quinn smiled at the thought of informing his superior officer of their success, but he was not prepared for what he was about to face as he stepped into the room blindly, "My lord! Great news!" His blue eyes quickly scanned the room for the young woman.
He found her back turned toward him as she was busy fidgeting with something in front of her. Her hair was let down again and as his eyes trailed down the length of the brown hair, he saw droplets of water dripping from the end of her hair and running down her exposed back. His excitement turned into sheer embarrassment as he realized the young woman was wearing nothing, but her undergarments.
"Like what you see?" she said sensing his thoughts.
Quinn quickly averted his eyes as the young Sith turned to face him, "I-I came to inform you that the landspeeder is working properly now. We would be able to continue our way to the farmhouse as soon as the sandstorm stops." He waited for the Sith to acknowledge his words before setting out, but she was in no hurry to rush their meeting nor was she in dressing.
"What's wrong, Captain?"
The sound of her voice ran from her lips to his ears and down his spine in the form of a small shiver. Quinn knew she wasn't going to budge until he faced her. He forced his blue eyes toward the Sith, who stood where she was playfully untangling knots in her hair, "I'm sorry, my lord. I didn't know you were in the middle of dressing. I should've knocked before I came in. I'll leave you to your privacy."
She started walking in his direction, "Are you telling me that you'd rather leave than stay here with me?" Her hands reached out to his chest, running them up and around his neck.
"With all due respect, we are currently in the middle of a mission. We should keep focus solely on the mission and nothing else."
"Mission?" the young Sith gave a small chuckle. "We can't continue our mission until this sandstorm is over. What else is there to do, but wait? And speaking of waiting—" she flashed him her infamous smile. "-what do you say we make time pass by faster?"
Quinn frowned. Just when he had thought she was becoming more discipline and committed to her duties, things like this instantly reminded him of how young and immature she still was. But yet for a reason unknown even to himself, he found himself quite drawn to her. It was true she was the complete opposite of what Quinn thought a young Sith Lord should behave like, but even though he detested the way she behaved, he had great respect for everything else about her. Quinn clenched his fists as he stood there watching the young Sith, his anger building up the longer she stayed in front of him, "My lord, this is most inapp—"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" came a scream. The two turned quickly toward their only window.
"Shut up!" came a more faint voice.
"Something's wrong," said Quinn. "I'll go check it out." He quickly pushed the Sith away from him and exited the room, taking out his blaster.
The Imperial quickly descended the stairs as he followed the sound of the voices. He came upon the living room which was unusually silent. Quinn quickly searched the room for any sign of danger before spotting a small crack in one of the windows just enough for him to see what was going on. He crept up slowly to it and peered outside to see a group of masked individuals surrounding the family. The sandstorm had died down due to the low temperature of the early evening making it easier to hear, but the setting suns blinded him as he tried to assess the situation.
Maritha, Reed, and Isen were all terrified on the ground as blaster rifles surrounded them. Yvesa, however, was a little off with another group of individuals. She was locked tightly by the arm of one of the individuals, tears flowing down her face. Next to them, another individual stood tall. Assuming by his authoritative tone, he was the leader of the pack.
"I already told you, we do not have enough!" Maritha cried out. "We are barely getting by as it is. The weather's been harsh this harvest that we're making less than before. Please let my daughter go!"
"How stupid do you think I am?" said the individual standing between the two groups. "If you do not have enough credits to pay us for our protection, then maybe we should take her into town to sell. The money she'll make for us will be more than enough to cover your debt." Some of crew around him laughed at the idea.
"Please, we can pay ya double next time," said Reed. "We'll work out something. I'll find other ways to make money."
Quinn clenched his teeth as he listened. So they were being extorted for protection money? No wonder Reed had been so cautious about them in the beginning.
After listening for a few minutes, Quinn stood up and went around to the back of the house where Isen's workshop was located. There was another door there that led around the house he remembered. If he approached from that area, he could take down a couple of the crew before any one of them noticed him.
"Please let me go!" Yvesa cried as she tried to wrestle her way out of the lock the man had on her, but his grip only tightened. She watched as her mother, father, and brother pleaded for her freedom.
Within the past several harvests, a small part of the Exchange thugs have been making trips to their small farm to collect what they called protection money. From what they were protecting them from, Yvesa didn't know, but somehow they had gotten her father fearful of them. Lately it's been hard to gather enough crops and water to sell in the market place. They had to deny them their money the harvest before, an unpleasant experience Yvesa remembered. Her father came back with broken ribs and bruises everywhere, but it bought them time. Now she feared the thugs will do worst this time around.
Yvesa watched as the leader of this small group, Tilar, hit her father over the head with the butt of his blaster rifle. Yvesa winced at the sight of her elderly father hitting the sand. She watched as her mother rushed to his aid.
Young Isen quickly seized the opportunity to land a few blows to the nearest member, but was thrown to the ground by the others. Yvesa felt her heart jumped as the members surrounded her younger brother.
Suddenly a blaster was shot and Yvesa closed her eyes at the horrifying sound, "ISEN!"
"UGH!"
Yvesa opened her eyes, confused at the sound of the deep voice that could not have been her brother's. She looked to see her brother still alive with one of the thugs on the sandy floor. A few more blaster bolts were heard and several more members came down.
"What's going on?" asked Tilar turning toward his fallen comrades. They all turned their direction to the blaster bolts to find more coming their way. The group surrounding her family members dispersed, searching for cover to fire back.
Yvesa shielded her eyes against the setting suns to see the familiar outline of Quinn rushing at them firing his blaster left and right. He dove behind one of their moisture silos for cover and stayed there.
"He can't take all of you guys out! Go surround him!" yelled Tilar to the rest of the group.
A few of the individuals surrounding Yvesa rushed toward their comrades' aid. Yvesa watched, worried as the group quickly devised a tactic to bring down the Captain. Surprisingly he was able to counter most of their attempts. He continued dodging each and every one of the members, taking down a few more and closing in the distance between him and her family.
However, during the midst of the chaos, everyone lost sight of Tilar. As soon as the Captain made his way to her family, Yvesa caught sight of the thug's leader sneaking up behind him.
"Quinn watch out!" Yvesa yelled. She watched the Captain quickly turned around and aimed his blaster at the leader, but Tilar was faster. He jammed the end of the blaster rifle into the Captain's stomach before quickly knocking away his blaster.
Quinn fell to the ground, one hand clutching at the spot the butt of the blaster rifle hit and the other propping himself from hitting the ground. The individual before him once again use the weight of his weapon to knock him completely off his feet.
"Gather him with the others!" Tilar yelled as some of his comrades rushed to seize Quinn. He watched as they dragged Quinn to join the group.
"Captain!" Isen yelled as he rushed to Quinn's side when they released him.
"Oh, dear," Maritha exclaimed.
Quinn shook his head as he felt Isen supporting him to his knees.
"So, you hired someone to come take us out?" Tilar yelled, making his way to Reed. "Are you really that stupid? I should kill every single one of you for that!" His face reddened as anger filled him. He glared down at the older man and woman, who cowered in fear before him.
"It's not what ya think," Reed said weakly from the arms of his wife.
"I don't care what it is!" Tilar walked to Quinn, who was still trying to regain conscious. He pointed his blaster at the Captain's head. Before he could pull the trigger however, another interference occurred, but this time from the other group. Tilar turned toward the group to see his comrades once again falling over. But it wasn't from blaster bolts this time.
"L-lightsaber!" cried someone from behind him.
Tilar watched as the lightsaber acted as boomerang, cutting and slicing everything in its path. Before it could fall to the ground, a shadowy figure jumped from one of the house's windows and landed firmly in front of Yvesa, catching the lightsaber in her hand.
Tilar's eyes widened at the sight of the individual.
"SITH!" cried the crew. Panic started all around Tilar.
"SHUT UP!" He yelled. They obeyed though he could hear some whimpering from some of them.
Yvesa's eyes widened at the older woman before her, "Xy'liah! You're…Sith?"
Xy'liah turned toward the young girl, "Find cover!"
Yvesa obeyed quickly, somewhat fearing what would happen if she didn't. She rushed toward the nearest object to hide behind and watched as Tilar spoke.
"So you don't have enough money to pay for your protection, but you can hire a Sith? I guess you really are stupid after all. Have you not heard the stories?" He turned toward Reed once more. "Sith are merciless. After she kills us, she will kill you. You want to put your trust in her?" His lips curled up in a smile. "Well, today might be your lucky day. I'll do you this favor of getting rid of the Sith. Then you can pay me what you were going to pay her and more. Watch, you're about to see your protection money go to good use!" He turned toward the Sith and fired a bolt at her. She quickly deflected it with the lightsaber in her hand.
Next to him, Isen fell back as Quinn used the young boy to launch himself at the nearest member. He took out a vibroknife and quickly stabbed the member with it. Using his feet to knock over the member, Quinn, then, grabbed the fallen blaster rifle and aimed it at the rest of the members.
In the far distance, Xy'liah rushed toward Tilar, who started firing random bolts out of frustration and panic. The leader slowly stepped back in fear as he fired one bolt after another. This fear grew bigger and bigger the closer the Sith advanced toward him after deflecting or dodging his bolts.
Yvesa watched Xy'liah launched herself toward Tilar, bringing her lightsaber straight through his chest. The young girl gasped at the gory sight. The action left her sick to her stomach. She could never understand the thrill anyone got from killing another. But Xy'liah, as she recently found out was Sith. They kill without hesitation and apparently live on the thrill of kills as she overheard the townspeople saying.
The young Sith left her weapon inside Tilar, saturating it with his blood for a few seconds before slowly pulling out the weapon and deactivating it.
After making sure all members were down, Yvesa slowly got up from her place and ran toward her mother.
"YVESA!" Maritha exclaimed as she hugged her daughter with joy. Isen and Reed came to join the hug and for a moment, the family stayed in the position, each relieved for it to be over. Their joyous moment was cut short as Xy'liah's shadow loomed over them. They all looked fearful at her as she stared down at them.
"Thank ya for saving us," Reed said. "We will do whatever we can to repay ya. We are in ya debt." He looked upon the young woman as her injured comrade came to join them from behind her, dusting off his blaster and vibroknife from the sands.
"Your hospitality is payment enough," she said. She turned toward the injured Quinn.
"It's nothing, my lord. Just a small cut," he assured her, feeling the side of his head. He frowned as he felt the small amount of blood.
"If it hinders your ability to complete the mission, it's something. Get it patched up before we set out tomorrow. I think we all deserve a rest for tonight."
"Yes, my lord."
Xy'liah gave the family and Quinn one final glance before setting out to return to her room.