Location: Coruscant
The loving family of 4 from Sullust, had saved up for 3 years to visit the galactic capital.
They were the quintessential tourists, and they wore that badge of honour proudly.
It was not hard for their itinerary to become instantly jammed packed, considering the myriad diversions Coruscant had to offer.
Besides the attractions that were unique to the ecumenopolis, the planet sported innumerable "everyday"establishments of every kind of variation, that were imbued with an intangible novelty bestowed upon it, just because of it's Coruscanti address. Even the feeling of being crammed into a rental speeder while zipping through sky lanes, had a distinct "Coruscant flavour "to it.
Unfortunately, all the "fun family times" of the past week were undone in a matter of heartbeats, as the speeder said family had rented, plummeted out of the sky toward the City's bottomless depths.
Fellow motorists could only watch in horror and swerve out of the doomed vehicle's way, as it dropped down with it's cargo of screaming souls. The children in the back seat had their little hands to the rear viewport watching as gravity turned on them like a wounded bloodfin. That's when a slightly larger hand pressed against the transparisteel... from the outside of the speeder!
That hand radiated hope and calm, as did the being attached to it; a teenage boy no older than 16. He had shoulder length red hair, wore brown plain robes, and... A lightsaber hung at his belt. But not for long.
In the next instant, that lightsaber snap-hissed to life, bathing the interior in a soft green glow. With one continuous motion, the young Jedi (he could be nothing else) sliced into the speeders roof, showering the area with sparks, but being careful not to injure the precious cargo inside. With a seemingly innocuous motion of the hand, the roof lifted free of the speeder like the lid on a can of smoked Chuba filet's to reveal a terrified Sullustan family huddled in the centre of the ever descending death trap.
The Jedi Padawan, lept up in the air and, with a summersault, came down right inside the speeder.
He was met with blubbering crys of desperation and terror from the poor family, who knew a total of 10 words in basic. But Josat would not let a little thing like "not knowing a common language" and an "out of control vehicle" stop him from expressing himself fully.
"Don't worry about the speeder! I'm sure your rental fee included insurance for situations like this." He said to the sullustans that just sat there looking at one another, wondering if this strange young human was having some kind of mental breakdown.
"I'm sure that the underwriters for that particular policy had fender benders, or theft in mind but I do believe that any basic insurance policy includes coverage for damage resulting from the commission of any crime. Whatever the case I sure hope that this little incident hasn't put you off..." His currant run on sentence was cut off by a voice crackling over his commlink.
"Josat! You know your still falling, right?" It was his Master, a Chandra-fan Jedi named Tekli.
Tekli was recently elevated to the rank of Master, becoming the order's Chief healer. The jubilance of the occasion had been subdued, owing to the fact that it came as a result of Master Cilghal's death. That being said, Tekli had slipped into the role with ease. She had thought her days in the field were over. That clearly was not the case.
"Oh! Right! Thank you master." The young Padawan replied in earnest.
That was classic Josat. Aka Hyper-mouth. Josat became overly talkative when he was nervous, hungry, disappointed, surprised, happy... Pretty much all the time. On most occasions, it was fine. In fact, many times it was quite enlightening. But in 15 seconds, the speeder was going to make impact and Josat had to focus.
He looked at the parents and said: "Don't worry everything is under control." They didn't understand basic, but they could read body language. The Two adults gave each other a reassuring glance and then turned back to the Jedi nodding. Josat gave them a reassuring smile in return. Then using the force, he flung both of his arms into the air, SENDING THE TWO YOUNGLINGS FLYING OUT OF THE SPEEDER!!
The Parent's expression instantly morphed in one of shock and horror. The youngling flailed as they hurtled upward side by side. They had reached the apex of their upward trajectory, and just before they began to drop again, their fall was cut short. Both younglings where held suspended, by an outstretched Wookiee hand that had a firm grasp on the scruff of their tunic.
The Wookiee, Jedi Lowbacca, resisted the urge to bellow out a roar of greeting, and instead opted for little "chirfs" of reassurance. The Sullustan younglings, who had never been within a hundreds feet of a Wookiee, would have normally tried to wiggle free from such a sight. But considering that this creature was the only reason why they were still alive, they instinctually clung up his long arms and then down his hairy body, like little primates traversing a tree trunk. They both clung to him, one on his back and one on his stomach as he pressed down on the accelerator of his speeder bike, trying to catch up to the action.
Meanwhile, on the wreaked speeder, the parents were relieved beyond measure to see their offspring rescued by the Jedi's compadre.
"Ok your turn."
Josat had barely uttered the words, when Jedi Seha Dorvald came flying right through their midst on a speeder bike, her bright red hair blowing loosely in the breeze. While passing the group, she extended her arm, catching the Sullustan mother, and whisking her away from the doomed rental.
That just left the father. "I know what your thinking." Started Josat, as if the two of them were just sharing a morning caf. "How many red head Jedi's could there be? Actually there are quite a bit. Probably more than natural occurrence within the general population. I have theorized a possible link behind a specific gene and..."
"JOSAT!" the normally quiet and squeaky voice of Tekli, roared over the communicator.
"Right! Right!" He replied apologetically. Silently he flexed his knees and then sprung forward toward the remaining tourist, grabbing him in a full body hug, propelling the both of them over the edge. Half a second later, the speeder struck a holo transmission tower, erupting into a giant orange fireball.
Falling through the air with the Sullustan held tight in his grasp, Josat had to yell as the wind whipped past them: "DON'T WORRY! I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING! THOSE POOR PEOPLE IN THAT TOWER! BUT REST ASSURED, IT'S EMPTY! THE WHOLE THING IS AUTOMATED AND MAINTAINED BY DROIDS! PRETTY AMAZING, RIGHT?
As was often the case with Josat, it was a one way conversation. From the Sullustan's perspective his situation had not improved much; he had been in a falling speeder, now he was just... falling. But it didn't matter his family was safe. That's the only thing that mattered. "Here it comes!" He thought to himself as a large Landing pad attached to a sky-tower came rushing up to meet them. He closed his eyes and buried his face into the Robes the young Jedi, who was still talking... And then...
Nothing!
About 10 feet before impact, Josat sent a surge of force energy downward, preceding him. The effect was not dissimilar to the reverse thrusters on a craft. It slowed their decent enough that it felt like they had landed after jumping from a height of only 6 feet. While it was still quite jarring, it was nothing compared to the alternative.
The Dad Sullustan opened his eyes in disbelief. His gaze was met by a similar one projecting from his wife's face. His wife! His kids!
They had all made it. The family reunited in a big hug. After a moment, the group hug shift a few feet to the side, where it enveloped Josat. Thats when they spoke one of those 10 words that they knew in basic:
"Je-di! Je-di!"
It would have made a priceless holo. But duty could not be delayed.
"Not that I don't love these Cheesy dogooder moments as much as the next Jedi, but we still have a mess to clean up." Said the impatient Seha, still straddling her Bike."
Lowbacca roared in agreement. He also shared, in Shyriiwook, the opinion that Yaqeel would not be in an especially pleasant mood, if she found out they took their sweet time engaging in group hugs, while she was stranded alone on a barge full of spice dealers.
And with that, they where off. After all, they had a mission to complete; the family in danger had been an unfortunate byproduct of that mission. So the two speeder bikes and one t-77 air speeder, increased velocity as they headed toward the sounds of sirens, blaster fire, and…
Trouble.