Derrien - Thanks for the very detailed review! (I also wouldn't call this a work of literature, more like the insane ramblings of a very bored person :p). I'm really pleased that you were able to follow along with the story despite not being a Star Wars fan! The story doesn't *need* a lot of detailed Star Wars knowledge, but I'm happy to have you along. I think the main thrust of the story has always been to tell the story of a young Jedi that isn't going to be obscenely powerful.
Anyway, Book 3. You're right to say that it's about the duos in this one - Aurine/Tiplee and Nara/Sascha, both of whom are good pairings for very different reasons. And if you like book 3 so far, it only gets better and better (and worse for our heroes!).
Re: Villains - it should be pretty obvious by now that I'm pretty terrible at writing villains - Weliss has the potential to be interesting, but kind of fell apart in the end. I was going to write Vash as more of character, but in the end it just felt like I would be writing way too many characters. So he's definitely sort of a generic baddy, but the story doesn't really suffer for it (especially as Coren Vox becomes more prominent).
Re: Uborans - It's easy to see it from that perspective - man up a fight for your planet! But this is a culture that's not used to conflict or war, I think the average Ubroan thinks that it will all just pass. And while Mollek and the Jedi are trying to convince people to fight and its not cool that they are being invaded, I think the average Ubroran (who is receiving misinformation from Varless-friendly media) just assumes it won't affect their lives in any meaningful way. I mean they are wrong, but thats what they think.
Sourmilk - That's good that it has a Phantom Menace feel, because it is intentional. Peaceful planet, invasion of droids, Jedi intervention... And yeah, this mission is going to be a parallel of how the Jedi handle war now, and how they'll handle it in the Clone Wars. Heck, having seen war, Sascha might opt out of the partaking of the Clone Wars at all...
Speechbubbleme - Poor Pravin. He's just in way over his head, and he's just now only realized what he's done. Too little, too late, maybe? But you hit the nail on the head with him and his honor. It's the only thing he really believes in.
A/N - Nothing to say! Moving on.
Please enjoy the next chapter.
Chapter 41: A Simple Plan, Part One
"Help me Aurine Brynar, you're my only hope"
-Transmission received by Aurine Brynar from Pravin Ecalt twenty four days into the Invasion of Ubrora
Aurine Brynar had been on a lot of missions and done a bunch of things that most people would consider crazy. This…this might have been the craziest thing she had ever done. She was heading into an occupied city, looking to rescue a man that was responsible for leading the invasion of a planet, and she was not looking to kidnap him or harm him, but to rescue him. As crazy as it was though, she was sure that what she was doine was the right thing to do.. When she had met Pravin Ecalt, she had sensed that he was a good man, one that had placed in a situation that had gotten vastly out of his control. She had encouraged him to rethink his path and now that he had…or that he had been forced out of his leadership position, he was in need of her help. And despite the inconvenience…she would help.
Her plan was, as Sascha liked to say, 'so simple even an Ewok could do it.' The plan was that she and Tiplee would sneak into Gamudo, and extract General Ecalt by any means necessary. It was more of an outline of a plan than an actual plan, but when there were so many unknown factors, she knew from experience that a flexible plan was better than a detailed one.
She and Tiplee had acquired the fastest speeder that they could to travel to Gamudo, hoping by that the time when they arrived, they would not be too late. The two Jedi had ditched their speeder far outside the city limits, and now the Rishati was taking the lead as they were quietly picking their way through the suburbs of Gamudo. Pravin's last transmission had come from near the city centre, so that was the obvious place for them to begin their search. The only problem was it seemed like the entire droid army was also searching for their former General.
She and Tiplee had already passed at least a half dozen patrols, and just now they were just entering the city proper. While the two Jedi Knights could have easily made short work of the droids, they were intent on keeping themselves hidden from view, knowing that what they didn't need was an entire army of droids out searching for them as well as Pravin Ecalt.
In front of her, Tiplee scurried from the corner of one building and into an alleyway that provided a good view of one of the main streets of Gamudo and paused, waiting for for her to follow. Aurine could only marvel at the way that the Rishati moved in and out of cover. While they'd briefly worked together before coming to Ubrora, Aurine was starting to learn the depths of the talents that Tiplee possessed. Her companion moved fluidly from cover to cover, barely revealing herself, and never making a sound.
Trying her best to imitate the Rishati, she kept her head down and quickly sprinted to the Tiplee's side, wincing at every little noise that she made. In comparison to Tiplee, she sounded like a Rancor smashing through a trash heap. Fortunately, it seemed like no one was around to hear her.
"Do you want to split up?" Tiplee whispered, "We can cover twice as much ground."
Aurine shook her head, "I'm going to risk a call to Pravin's comlink though. We'll never find him otherwise. The city is too big."
"Risky," Tiplee replied. "But I agree. Make the call."
Discreetly pulling her comlink out from under her dark brown overrobe, she dialed for Pravin Ecalt.
It only took a few seconds for a breathless Pravin Ecalt to answer, "General Ecalt."
"General Ecalt, this is Aurine Brynar…"
Pravin cut her off, "Oh my god, you came for me! I wasn't sure you would…I can't believe that you…"
She cut him off, "Pravin we don't have time for this," she said patiently, wishing for the ability to calm him through the Force, something she could only do if Pravin was nearby. "Pravin, where are you?"
"I don't know…I don't know this city at all. I had droids to figure out all those things for me!"
Beside her, Tiplee stirred and grabbed the comlink from her, "Find a landmark, something we can search for. That will be our best way to find you."
"And stay calm," she added, grabbing the comlink back."
"I…see colourful buildings? Everything on this planet is so darn bright, I can't tell one building from another!"
Aurine held out the comlink to Tiplee, asking if she had any ideas, but the Rishati folded her arms across her chest, and adopted a contemplative look. "Pravin, just find a safe spot and wait. We'll find you…eventually."
"Can't. Two...Mandos…on my tail. I've lost them for now, but I'm sure they'll pick up the scent soon…it's been too long since basic training. I'm not very good at this anymore!"
"It might be easier to find the Mandos than Pravin," mused Tiplee.
"Whatever is easier for you, Master Jedi, but I can't evade them forever!" yelped Pravin.
"We'll try to find you, but if you find a landmark, contact us immediately," said Aurine.
"Of course. I hope to see you soon!" he said, his tone of voice indicating that he was back to running.
She replaced the comlink back on her belt. "Cover me, I have to concentrate." Obligingly, Tiplee withdrew her lightsaber, but left it unlit as she relaxed herself, kneeling into a comfortable position. She calmly opened herself to the Force and searched for the presence of a man she had only met once. Aurine knew that she could have found her Padawan across half a planet, and she could detect another Jedi at a substantial distance, but finding Pravin was proving to be difficult. All she could really sense was a pair of malevolent presences that seemed to almost envelop the entire city like a dark, threatening cloud.
Returning to full awareness of herself, she saw Tiplee cock her head in a silent question. Aurine gave her head a quick shake, "I couldn't sense him. I could only sense the malevolence of the Mandalorians that are chasing him. That will have to do."
"Run towards the Mandalorians and the droids that are likely escorting them? Is that a fight we are willing to take on for Pravin Ecalt?" asked Tiplee.
"I am."
Tiplee clasped her shoulder with a surprisingly strong hand, "Then I am too. Let's go hunt."
Continuing to stay out of the way of the ever-increasing number of droid patrols, Aurine and Tiplee used the odorous presence of the Mandalorians in the Force as a sort of beacon to move towards. The only problem was that the Mandalorians always seemed to be on the move, meaning that tracking them a difficult task. "We are running out of time," observed Tiplee calmly, "They will find Pravin eventually, and if they do, it will be too late."
"Time to reveal ourselves then," she said grimly.
"Bold," said Tiplee. Grasping her lightsaber from her belt, she inspected it and grinned predatorily, "I like it."
Smiling in response, but wondering where the much more reasoned and calm Rishati had gone, Aurine let Tiplee take the lead again as they ditched their cover and jogged in plain sight down the road. The few Ubrorans that were walking around the neighborhood this late at night stopped and stared at them in apparent awe. Aurine offered what appeared to be a young couple a cheerful salute before picking up the pace and breaking into a run down the wide, colourful streets of the city.
Around the next bend in the road, a patrol of eight beige battle droids marched in the opposite direction, right towards them. Well, thought Aurine, this is one way to announce ourselves to the rest of the city. Receiving a gentle nudge in the Force from Tiplee, she positioned herself so that she was off Tiplee's left shoulder. The droids seemed quicker than usual in reacting to the incoming Jedi. Perhaps someone had programmed them to realize that the fast moving humanoids moving directly towards them were a significant and deadly threat.
If they had, it didn't really matter. Eight battle droids versus two healthy and motivated Jedi Knights was the stuff of training exercises. All eight were dispatched in a quick, efficient manner. "A nice warm-up," observed Tiplee, kicking around the dislocated parts of the droids with her boot. Spying something in the pile that was still moving, she reignited her blade and drove it through the offending part. Seemingly satisfied, she retracted her blade.
"Well, now everyone knows we are here," said Tiplee.
Aurine glimpsed into the Force, searching for direction as to where to go. "South, I think we are close," she said. Tiplee merely nodded and followed her as they jogged down the street.
As they went down one of the main thoroughfares of the city, the presence of the Mandalorians seemed to grow stronger, which only encouraged the pair of Jedi to move faster. Then, when they turned the corner at a deserted, dimly lit intersection, they could see a harried looking figure fleeing towards them. "That's probably Pravin," she said, waving her arms in the air, trying to get his attention. She was already half-planning their escape when she saw what was following Pravin.
A battalion of battle droids clanked down the street after the fleeing human, being led by a pair of green and blue armored Mandalorians.
"Well, this simplifies things," remarked Tiplee, dropping into a combat stance.
"First the droids, then the Mandos," Aurine replied tersely.
"Pravin first," said Tiplee, putting action to her words, by igniting her lightsaber and running towards the fleeing human.
Aurine paused for a moment, wondering why the droids nor the Mandalorians were opening fire on Pravin. Supposing that it was too late for such questions she ignited her own lightsaber and followed Tiplee to Pravin. The battle droids, once they realized who was running towards them opened fire towards Tiplee and Pravin. The human scurried backwards while Tiplee focused on deflecting the incoming bolts. Once Aurine reached her side, she joined her in deflection duty, and shouted so that Pravin could hear her over the ever increasing din of battle, "If you have a weapon, now is the time to fire it!"
She didn't hear a response from Pravin, so she spared a quick look back, expecting to see Pravin Ecalt cowering behind him, but instead the human had kept running, picking a nearby warehouse and making a beeline towards it. Frustrated by Pravin's apparent cowardice, she almost missed an incoming laser bolt as it singed past her ear. Had she been wearing an earring, the laser bolt probably would have melted it.
While the droids continued to stay at range and fire their blasters, the pair of Mandalorians were casually strolling into flanking positions.
"We need to move!" she yelled to Tiplee.
"Attack?"
"Well it's better than standing here getting shot at!" she said as she deflected an incoming blaster bolt back at a droid, catching it in the leg and sending it crashing to the ground as it emitted a wounded cry.
Beside her, she felt Tiplee gather herself, and she did the same. The Rishati launched herself towards the droid battalion, closing the distance quickly. Aurine followed right behind her, using her companion and her flashing blue lightsaber as cover. In response to the Jedi charging the droids, the two Mandalorians activated their jetpacks, fired a few half-hearted shots towards her and Tiplee that she parried with ease, and took off in the direction of where Pravin had fled. She quietly cursed Pravin's cowardice. If he had stayed near them, it would have been relatively simple to protect him. Now…she hoped he was a good hide-and-go seek player.
Sooner than she thought possible, she was in the midst of the droids, and there wasn't time for conscious thought, only the parry and thrust of close quarters fighting. Moving with all the speed and grace that she had learned from years of practice at the Jedi Temple, she and Tiplee carved through the ranks of the droids.
She wouldn't say that the fight was easy. It was never easy to fight against such a numerical disadvantage, especially as the two Knights had exerted themselves a fair bit just to get here. She would say that the fight was a bit routine. Battle droids were opponents that succeeded more through intimidation and numbers than any sort of skill or quality.
Carving the head off one droid with her emerald blade, she ducked underneath a blast that singed her blonde hair, cursing silently that she had missed such an a dangerous shot. Almost through the droid ranks, she and Tiplee circled back towards the stragglers, finishing off those that had been left untouched by their first pass.
"Did you see where Pravin went?" asked Tiplee, a couple of cuts marring her robe and face, but nothing serious, merely superficial.
She nodded quickly, "He ran into that warehouse over there. Follow me."
Pushing through lungs that protested a distinct lack of recovery time between this moment and tearing through a squad battle droids, she raced towards the warehouse that Pravin had disappeared into. Waiting by the door for Tiplee to join her and to catch her breath for a quick second, she probed into the Force for a split second. She still felt the malevolent presences, and by the strength of the manifestations, she assumed that they were very close by. She also felt someone or something that was deeply fearful, but she couldn't be sure if it was Pravin, or some luckless worker.
Tiplee kicked down the door authoritatively, swinging her blue blade immediately into a defensive position. Sensing no incoming fire, she entered behind her companion and using the Force, she projected her voice deep into the depths of the pitch-dark warehouse.
"I am Jedi Knight Aurine Brynar. Surrender and you will face a fair trial."
The only answer they received was silence as she and Tiplee walked cautiously deeper into the warehouse. Finally a pop of static emerged and then a low, threatening voice said, "Come and find us, Jedi scum."
"Charming," muttered Aurine under her breath.
The warehouse, with its myriad pathways and enclosures was a maze of tight spaces. The only lighting was the glow provided by Tiplee's blue blade and her green one and it cast an eerie light against the backdrop of the warehouse. Around each turn there could be a Mandalorian waiting for them, blaster rifle drawn. Or Pravin could be around the next turn, cowering and waiting to be rescued. Needless to say, she was feeling more than a little tense.
Peeking her head around what appeared to be a discarded fuselage for a farming machine, she had to immediately duck back into cover as a blaster bolt missed the top of her head. The following misses superheated the metal around her and caused sparks to fly from the now blaster-burned machinery. Blinded momentarily by the brightness of the missed shot, it was Tiplee who went around the corner next, her posture low and her lightsaber held diagonally across her body. Yet instead of being shot at by a fusillade of blaster bolts, the Mandalorian retreated further back into the cavernous warehouse.
Aurine blinked, trying to get her vision back to normal. "They are just playing for time," said Tiplee, "we need to find Pravin, and get out of here before the entire army finds us."
"Then we should split up," she said, her eyes finally adjusting back after being momentarily blind.
The Rishati hesitated, then nodded in agreement, "Good hunting. I'll take the left side, you take the right." The Rishati put her words into action by darting past her and to her left, using the available cover like a cloak.
Gritting her teeth, she did the same as her colleague, using the wall hangings and discarded machinery to peer around corners. She thought about calling out for Pravin, but decided against it, thinking that it would only give away her position to the Mandalorians.
Deeper and deeper she went into the warehouse, an increasing sense of foreboding pervading her senses. Aurine would have loved to move slower, more cautiously, but time was a factor, so she took more risks than she would have normally liked.
She turned another corner and almost collided with a tall, armored figure. Instinctively she plunged her lightsaber towards the center of the mass of the Mandalorian that was facing her. The Mandalorian twisted, reacting well, and her lightsaber only carved a slice across the man's midsection. The Mandalorian tried to back away to use his blasters from a safe distance, but the Mando could not use his jetpack in the narrow confines of the warehouse.
That was his undoing.
With only a moderate distance between the two combatants, Aurine knew that the onus was on her to do something about it. So she did. She charged towards the Mandalorian as he backed away, deflecting one, two, three, four shots from his blaster rifle. Then she leapt towards the Mandalorian with a Force-imbued leap, avoiding a fifth shot and putting her in range to use her lightsaber. She could have ended the Mandalorian's life with one swing, she knew. But, she was a Jedi, and when there was a better option, she would take it. Her lightsaber slashed through her opponent's arm, just above the elbow.
The Mandalorian fell to his knees and emitted a grunt of pain, the only acknowledgement that he had been wounded. Aurine pointed her weapon at the Mandalorian's chest, and through her wheezing lungs she said, "Surrender." Then for good measure she added on, "Mandalorian scum."
In response, her downed opponent kicked out with his right leg, catching her just below her right knee. Aurine took a surprised step back, the Mandalorian took the opening to slide his hand towards the blaster pistol on his hip. Shaking her head with displeasure, she completed her grisly task with her lightsaber, ending his life with a simple, painless slash. "Kriffing Mando, you should have surrendered!" she yelled at no one in particular.
Disengaging her lightsaber, she tried to collect her thoughts again. Her job had gotten slightly easier now that one of the mercenaries was down. But she still hadn't found Pravin yet, which was disconcerting. Aurine was halfway done trying to decide on which direction to head, when she heard a shuffle of feet from behind her. She ignited her lightsaber and turned to face…Pravin Ecalt.
"Pravin?" she said, stunned.
Pravin cowered from the ignited lightsaber pointed in his direction, and said in a shaky tone, "Yes…Master Jedi I surrender to you."
"Surrender?" Aurine parroted awkwardly.
"Well…yes, I was an enemy combatant and now…"
Aurine felt a flare of danger in the Force just as Pravin yelled, "Behind you!"
She whirled quickly towards the incoming danger, and saw that the remain Mandalorian had snuck up right behind her. She tried to bring her lightsaber to bear, but the Mandalorian was one step ahead of her, catching her with a punch to her right wrist that made her hand go numb. Her lightsaber dropped from her hand and skittered away from her.
Knowing that she was at a massive disadvantage against her opponent now that she had effectively been disarmed, she fired off an instinctively punch towards her enemy. Her punch landed, and cracked the faceplate of the second Mandalorian. It also broke her hand. A torrent of pain shot up her right arm as her body reacted to the trauma that she had just taken.
That pain distracted her just enough that she didn't see the return punch until it was too late. Her opponent's punch had a much different effect than hers had. The impact caught her just above the cheekbone and sent her spilling to the ground. Stars danced in front of her eyes as she tried to scramble to her feet. Her movements felt slow, like she was trapped in quicksand, and she had only gotten on to her hands and knees when the Mandalorian landed a savage kick to her midsection. Aurine felt her ribs give way and her breath left her chest all at once.
Chest heaving for air, she lashed out in vain with the Force, hoping to knock over her opponent, or otherwise delay him so that she could recover. Her wild Force push missed the Mandalorian by a good foot or so, and the merciless Mandalorian slammed his gauntleted fist into her face once more for good measure. Aurine dropped flat out on the floor.
The world spun around her and she couldn't get her body to respond to any of her commands. She was down, and out. And she was soon to be down and out for good. She heard the whine of a blaster and she braced herself for a short burst of pain and then her imminent death.
After an agonizingly long second, with her addled brain trying to figure out how she was still here, she felt a soft touch on her shoulder and a distant voice talking to her. "Master Jedi…" said the voice.
She groaned, rolled onto her back and stared up at her savior, Pravin Ecalt. The middle-aged former General was literally quaking in his boots, holding the blaster from the first Mandalorian that she had dispatched. "Good timing," she spluttered out, as she wiped her face with her good arm. She didn't bother looking at the result of the swipe, she knew that she probably wasn't a pretty sight at the moment.
Through her daze, she heard Pravin talking to her, "I…well...I had to do something, and I hadn't fired a weapon in some years, not that I was ever some sort of gunslinger, but I…well…some sort of temporary insanity struck me, and I picked up that fallen Mandalorian's weapon and well…"
Through watery eyes, she looked up at Pravin staring stunned at the dispatched Mandalorian that had almost been the end of her, "Pravin you are babbling. Help me up, and help me find Tiplee. We need to get out of here."
Pravin offered her a hand, and she pulled herself to her feet. She wobbled on unsteady feet for a second or two before her balance returned to her. "Where is the other Jedi, you know the one that looked like a demon when she was destroying my droids?"
"Her name is Tiplee," she said tiredly, "and I hope she will be here soon."
It only took a few moments for her to realize that she had Tiplee's comlink number, and that she could just call and talk to her. She blamed her lack of clear thinking on the couple of punches to the head she had taken recently. Aurine had half-finished inputting Tiplee's number when Tiplee raced around the corner, lightsaber ablaze.
She took one look at the two bodies on the floor and then another glance at her woozily standing with Pravin. "Well," she said, "It appears that you didn't even need me at all."
"No," Aurine replied, "I need you to do the hardest part. Get a former General and a concussed Jedi back to safety."
"I do believe I'll manage," replied the Rishati dryly. "Follow me, Aurine, Pravin, I'm sure I can commandeer a nearby speeder that will get us back to base in one piece."