Jaune climbed into the passenger side door of the truck. He learned the name as that's what George called it.
"Honestly kid, you should've just told me that you were a Huntsman. Would've given you a ride without hesitation." George said as he climbed into the driver's seat.
There was that name again, Huntsman. The bandits had called him that while fighting them, and George had just called him that.
Jaune pulled a device out of his pocket. George said it was called a Scroll. He had taken it off a bandit, as it was local technology. He fiddled with it, trying to turn it on.
"Hey, are you gonna put your seatbelt on, or what?" George asked. Jaune sat back up, embarrassed that he was too focused on the Scroll.
Glancing at George, he saw the 'seatbelt' that he wore. And mimicked grabbing it, and figured the contraption at his waist was where it attached. Once it clicked, Jaune let the belt go and it tightened across his chest.
Leaning back in his chair, Jaune tried opening the Scroll again. No password, but it was completely illegible to him. He frowned, trying to think of a solution to this dilemma.
"Hey, George? Can I ask you something?" Jaune asked, deciding to reach out for help, otherwise, he would've probably gotten nowhere.
"Sure, kid. What's up?" George asked.
"I'm going to come clean to you about this because I need your help. I can't read." Jaune said, lying once again, He could most certainly read, in Aurabesh. Not the language people wrote with here
"Are you serious?" George asked.
"Yeah… I was raised in a temple pretty remote, and far away from civilization. I guess my skills were put on priority rather than this." Jaune said, telling little bits of truth, but not all of it.
"Jeez, well, in that case, hold on." George said, slowing down and pulling off to the side of the road. "Can I have your scroll?" Jaune handed it to him.
George fiddled with it for a minute. Concerned, Jaune asked.
"Shouldn't we be worried about Grimm overwhelming us?" He said, looking at George.
"Naw, these trucks are equipped with radar with a pretty wide range. Should give us a heads up if any are heading our way." George said, pointing to a device on the dashboard.
George finished with Jaune's scroll and passed it back to Him. Looking at the screen, he saw a video waiting to play.
"I know it might be patronizing, but these should help you learn." George said, and Jaune pressed play on the video. A very flashy children's animation began, with bright colors and what Jaune could assume to be letters.
"Thanks." Jaune said.
"Least I could do." Was George's reply.
He put the truck in drive again and pulled back onto the road. As George continued to drive, Jaune watched the video. An animated character now telling him about the letter A.
…
After three hours of watching children's videos, Jaune was ready to go back to the Empire.
Sighing, he rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes. Jaune looked over at George, seeing the truck driver act like they just left Luton. He hummed along to a song on the radio, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.
Jaune looked down at the notes he had written down, a translation from letters of English into Aurabesh. A trick he had learned from the alien language course he had taken at the Jedi Temple.
With this, he could, albeit slowly, research certain details of this planet.
The planet was called Remnant, but he already knew that. The creatures were called Grimm, but he knew that as well. Finally, he was able to type Huntsman into the search bar.
Deciphering the words took some time, but did give Jaune a good idea of what a Huntsman was. Skilled individuals that wielded weapons and their Aura and Semblances against the forces of Grimm.
Aura was described to be an extension of the soul, forming a barrier around people's bodies and protecting them from harm. This confounded Jaune. An extension of the soul? Not the Force? He would've described Aura as another name for the Force, but learning about Semblances forced him to change his mind.
Semblances were abilities that appeared after the unlocking of one's Aura. Each Semblance was unique to the individual. Completely refuting Jaune's thoughts.
He typed Jedi into the search bar. But got no answers. He then typed in the Force, and again, no responses that matched what Jaune considered to be the Force.
Powering off the scroll, he stared out the window. Watching as the trees passed by. A realization dawned on him.
This planet offered him something unique. A fresh start. These people had no idea what Jedi were, what the Force was, and no way for the Empire to track him down. He was safe here.
Jaune smiled.
…
Jaune held onto the support handle, next to him, his master Yras Oevorla stood. She was a Zabrak, and the light coming from the door illuminated the horns on top of her head.Her eyes steeled as she looked out the small opening of the gunship's door. Around him stood members of the 227th legion, their armor white with bright yellow accents.
The gunship jostled again, and he tensed, gripping the handle tightly. His master noticed.
"Nervous, padawan?" Yras asked.
"No master." Jaune said, but he still tightly gripped the handle.
"Don't worry kid, we'll make it through." The clone, Mod, said behind him. Living up to his name, Mod's armor was a custom mix of paratrooper armor and series II clone armor. On his back, was a custom DC-15A, that offered multiple firing modes as well as a discharge function.
"Captain Mod is right, Jaune. Through the Force we will survive." Yras said, looking at Jaune with a comforting gaze.
Jaune nodded, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves as he felt the gunship descend.
A holoprojector on Yras' belt began to vibrate. Grabbing the device, she turned it on. A smaller alien appeared, wearing casual apparel and large glasses like devices on her face.
"Miss Kanata." Yras said, greeting the other woman. Jaune looked up, peering at his master's conversation.
"Jedi Oevorla, thank you for coming." The smaller alien appeared.
"The Republic is glad to answer your call to aid Maz Kanada. Rest assured, the Separatist problem will be dealt with." Yras said, the gunship began slowing as it neared the ground.
"Yes, yes. I only ask you to not harm my castle." Maz finished, pointing as Yras as the holofeed was cut.
"Alright! Remember the plan! Establish a safe ground for the rest of the Forces to land! Then off to the main base!" Mod yelled over the gunship thrusters, addressing the rest of the Clone troopers.
They yelled in agreement, as the gunship touched down. The doors slid open, and Yras ignited her lightsaber, a brilliant blue blade extended. She pointed it and yelled.
"Forward!"
Yras was the first out of the gunship, with Jaune close behind her on the left, and Mod on the right. Jaune had ignited his lightsaber, his own blue blade emerging from the hilt. Mod held his rifle with both hands, aiming and firing at the B1 battle droids.
They landed in a forest clearing, and since the Separatists arrived on the planet first, it didn't take them long to descend on their position.
Yras Oevorla was a blur of blue, she quickly descended on the group of B1 battle droid's. Throwing her lightsaber, it curved slicing through the chests of three battle droids while the third was force pushed and broke against a tree.
Calling her lightsaber back, Yras dodged a blast from a spider droid. Taking cover behind a tree, she moved right before it was destroyed from another blast.
Now I'm sight of the spider droid, she motioned with the Force, yanking the turret to the right so it would fire at a B2 battle droid. Before the spider droid could turn back, Yras cut it down with her lightsaber.
Jaune and Mod stuck together, the two working well together. Jaune more focused on blocking the heavy blaster fire, while Mod returned shots with his DC-15A.
Jaune deflected two blaster bolts back, both striking their targets and destroying two B1 droids. However, while Jaune was too concerned with the B1's, a squad of B2's approached from his right and took aim at Jaune.
"Kid… move!" Mod yelled, grabbing Jaune's arm and yanking him to the side. Barely dodging the barrage of blaster fire.
Jaune and Mod took cover behind some ruins, with several other 227th legion clones. Mod took a grenade attachment off his belt and began attaching it to the barrel of his rifle. Once complete, he tried aiming out of cover, but was forced to duck back down.
Jaune peeked over the ruins, and saw a B2's preparing to shoot a rocket. Right at their position.
The rocket fired from the B2, and Jaune reached out with the Force, pushing the rocket right back into the droids.
Yras flew into view, cutting down the droids that threatened their position. Slicing a B2 in half, she returned the blaster fire with her lightsaber and threw it to finish off the last droid. Before calling her lightsaber back, and placing it on her belt.
…
Jaune awoke with a jump, breathing quickly from the memory. He looked over to George, who was still driving peacefully. Seeing that there was no danger present, Jaune settled back into his chair.
Upon reaching a small settlement, George explained they needed to stop and refuel the truck. As George did so, Jaune stepped out of the passenger seat. Deciding to stretch his legs from having to sit for so long.
He leaned up against the truck, listening to the small town as they went about their daily lives. Jaune reached out to the the Force, feeling the life within each person.
It was very interesting to Jaune, how could a civilization this advanced not be able to achieve space travel? Perhaps the Grimm were a bigger threat than Jaune thought?
Regardless, it was nice to see a settlement without conflict hanging over their heads. Jaune had seen far too many in his travels of the galaxy.
"Aw, dammit." Jaune heard George say. Moving towards the man, he saw him looking down at his scroll with a disappointed look on his face.
"George? Is something wrong?" Jaune asked. George saw Jaune approaching him, and grumbled before he talked.
"My employer just called, rerouting me to another town, not Vale. Sorry kid, but it looks like I got you as far as I could." George said, apologetically.
"Don't worry about it George, thanks for everything though." Jaune said, and George nodded.
"Kid, Vale is that way down the road. Just past the Forever Falls." George said, pointing to the road that they would've taken. "But, and you didn't hear this from me, a train is coming through, making its way to Vale. I'm sure someone of your talents could make his way onto that train."
Jaune nodded. Seeing the tracks and assuming that would be where the train George had talked about would be arriving.
"Well its been great traveling with you George. Good luck with your job." Jaune said, and George smiled in response.
The two shook hands, and Jaune waved goodbye as George drove off in the opposite direction. As the truck left Jaune's view on the horizon, he turned and began walking towards the train tracks.
Once he was near them, Jaune realized that George never told him what time the rain would be arriving. So to pass the time while waiting, Jaune decided to meditate.
Taking a seat a safe distance away, Jaune closed his eyes and reached out to the Force.
An unknown amount of time passed while Jaune meditated. But he was awoken from his meditation by the ground vibrating slightly. Standing, he moved towards the railway. Reaching down, he felt the tracks vibration after touching it, now knowing the train was indeed approaching.
Now standing at the ready, Jaune watched as the train came into view. It was big, a black and dark grey train, with the frint heavily fortified, and wielded a large pilot on the front. Most likely to keep Grimm from derailing the train.
The train was moving fast. Meaning Jaune wouldn't have much time to board the train while it was moving. The locomotive sped past Jaune, as it pulled along the cars, Jaune got ready to jump.
Once he saw the caboose, he jumped. Making sure to time it correctly so he ouldn't get injured in the process. Using the force, he lightly pushed himself upwards so his arm would grab onto a pole.
Swinging forward, his feet stopped at the back of the caboose. Pulling himself onto the train, he let out a small smile for this success. Walking towards the door, it automatically opened for him. Making his way inside, Jaune saw that the train was most likely a cargo train, as the walls were stacked from floor to ceiling with crates.
Using his notes, he was able to decipher the meaning of the crates. The name Schnee came up, as well as the word Dust. At least, he assumed Schnee was a name.
Finding a comfortable spot, Jaune sat once more, and leaned his head against the wall. Preparing himself for the long trip.