Fandom A Strange Alliance

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Zanna Black

Fuel for Fuelers. A cantina on the Planet Malastare, mainly for smugglers as well as gamblers. This time, however, there was a different customer but he wasn't here for drinks. A brown hooded figured entered the cantina and he glanced around at the few other different humanoids or creatures that came here. Much like another cantina that was very popular but he despised that place. Tatooine was too barren to have a Cantina. Sighing, he moved over to the bar counter and sat down, keeping his eyes downcast. It felt unright for Malagran to leave his master, Kumar, to start searching. He felt as if a bad might happen. Nevertheless, she was a Jedi Master and she could take care of herself. Malagran grinned a little and he shook his head. "She'll be fine....I know it....yet I don't...why?" He asked himself.

 

[Zanna Black]

“Draw,” commanded the redhead at the Sabacc table in the back of the establishment.

The dug that sat across from her sneered his lips at her and mumbled something snide in Huttese as his foot drew a card from the top of the deck.

The redhead smirked slyly as her toothpick raised with her curled lip. “It’s not nice to call names, duggie-boy. Human ‘sleemo’ or not, I guarantee that I have ya beat. Now do ya wanna prove me wrong or are ya gonna run up the white flag?” She looked the dug right in the eye. “What d’ya say, Gobosah? Are ya in or are ya gonna play it ‘safe’? Cause I got a drink callin’ my name at the bar and it’s getting pretty impatient.”

Boooooy, she was a cocky one.

Gobosah snorted in contempt at the sheer nerve of this human. He huffed as he slapped his hand down and gave a wide grin as he gloated in his own tongue.

The redhead’s smirk faded as she gave a vacant stare at his hand. “Huh…” she mused. “Isn’t that a coincidence?” She slapped her hand with a small grin of amusement. “Sudden demise. We’re tied, duggie-boy. Someone reshuffle the deck. Not you… Gobosah,” she stressed. She signaled at a twi’lek, who paused slightly, as he did not like to be told what to do, but the game had already gone on too long and he had credits burning a hole in his pocket. He slapped his hand on the deck as he stared down the redhead and began to shuffle. Then he cut the deck and gruffly declared, “Gobosah draws first.”

“Fair ‘nuff…”, she conceded, holding her gaze on the dug.

Gobosah smirked as he drew his card, then the lady drew hers. “Alright, come on! Reveal them!” snapped the twi’lek. Both cards were slammed down at once. There was silence, then…

Gobosah leapt up onto the table and charged at the human across from him. His feet grabbed the lapels of her dark red leather jacket and pulled her in close, growling something sinister and threatening in his tongue as he looked her in the eye.

“Now hold on duggie-boy!” she smiled sheepishly, her hands raised in a non-confrontational gesture. “You saw the twi’lek shuffle. I earned these credits fair and square. You have no right to snatch the pot. Why not be a good sport about it?”

The dug growled another threat.

The redhead sighed. “Have it your way then…” Swiftly she brought her arms up between the feet and legs that held her and brought them out, knocking his toes off of her jacket. Then she grabbed the wrists of the hands that supported his body and yanked them forward. As he laid on his back, wondering how he got there, she leapt up onto the table and kicked his head before she picked up the credits that had been piled up in the center. She jumped down and started to strut away…

The sound of multiple crafts suddenly grew as it began to shake the cantina. The redhead, known as Cassidara Vex, halted her pace as her face grew pale.

This was not a good sound…

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Malagran Hoshi flinched when he felt the cantina shake. "Oh damn. Everyone get to safety! This is not something to be fooled with!" He ordered to the patrons and he immediately grabbed something silver from his waist and he held it out as he started to leave Fuel for Fuelers, "This is my fight." He glared up at the sky as he saw what was coming. Separatists ships. Commander Skywalker and General Kenobi had seen these before on Naboo way back when but he never thought he'd see them for himself. Quickly, he ignited his blue lightsaber and he moved his hood back, revealing that he was human....and that he was a Jedi.

 

[Zanna Black]

Cassidara had to see this… she had to confirm.

She trotted outside and scanned the skies. Were the separatists really going to attempt to take this planet again???

Yep.

She couldn’t identify the ships above her. The sun had already set and they were using the dark of night to hide their class of ships and their numbers. But there was one thing she could recognize, and that was the unmistakable sound of vulture droids coming in for a landing. B1 battle droids were soon to follow. And Cassidara had a freighter to take off in.

She stood on her toes and did a quick pivot in the opposite direction… only to see Gobosah tearing out of the cantina toward her with his teeth bared, coming in for the kill. Sooooo… vulture droids or Gobosah? she asked herself as she pulled out her blaster. Heh… when it came right down to it there was an obvious choice.

The moment that Gobosah leapt at her was the moment that a bolt blazed straight through his mouth and out the other end, with Cassi just barely catching a glimpse of the gap that it created straight through to the back of his head. She didn’t have much time to marvel over her marksmanship, however, as she heard dozens upon dozens of marching B1 droid-feet marching through swampy brush toward Fuel for Fuelers. No time to lose… she had a hangar to run to.

She bolted for the nearby port, leaping over small shrubs, fallen tree debris, and overgrowth as she went, but halted when a vulture droid landed right in front of her. It aimed its laser right into her face.

“Aw, Poo-doo…” she sighed in defeat, nearly certain that these could be her last words…

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Malagran had been destroying B1 Battle Droids until he saw a Vulture Droid in front of a civilian. "No!" He shouted then he held his hand out and, towards the space droid, sent it back to the Battle Droids. Once finished with that, he remembered that Kumar had been somewhere in the distance that the droids have landed. No....No! She'll be ganged up on! I have to stop them! He thought, quickly becoming worried but the Padawan turned to the civilian to see if she was alright, "You there.....are you okay?"

 

[Zanna Black]

This turn of events was a touch confusing at first. One second, she was staring a vulture droid in the face, certain that it had her locked on target. The next… the darn thing was being thrown backwards by something she couldn’t see. She stood there, blinking in confusion, then was snapped back to reality by a male human voice.

“You there… are you okay???”

Her head snapped around to see a young man (but not much younger than her) in brown robes, short hair and one long thin braid. At first she thought it was either a strange fashion statement or that he was involved in some sort of religious cult. But the blazing blue lightsaber was a dead giveaway and it clued her in very quickly as to what he was. (Before this meeting, she had considered the Jedi a religious cult… until she saw that droid get thrown back by… well… nothing.) Still a little stunned at the events that just transpired, she somehow managed to use her words.

“Oh! Uh… yeah… yeah, I’m good. I’m good…” was all she could come up with. The phrase “Thank you” was on the tip of her tongue but it didn’t quite make its escape from her lips.

The man was obviously trained for fighting and was rearing to leap into action, but he was obviously outnumbered. When he started to run off again, she called out to him. “Hey… HEY! You’re not seriously thinking about taking on the entire Separatist Navy, are you??? Don’t be an idiot!!!” He was already slicing away at a B1.

She shook her head at his determination. “Fine! I ain’t waitin’ around! You wanna get yourself killed??? Have at!!!” She began to start toward the hangar, but something nagged at her. This guy did save her life. And he probably really was going to get himself killed.

She hated having a conscious.

Fine! I’ll get him outta here… but I need something first! she decided as she continued toward her freighter.

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Another Jedi, an older human that was female, had joined in the fighting but the two were at a distance from each other. "Master! We've got to take down the main ships that are here! Somehow get them away from the city!" Malagran shouted and he hoped that Kumar could hear him. It just now dawned upon him that she was being backed up by the droids when she should be advancing.

As the B1 Units were busy with the Jedi, a Droideka, or better known as a roller, was...rolling towards the woman at a good speed. Malagran had a choice to make: Help his Master in the droids, or save another life...possibly the same one. He started to ponder the answer as he was going into action. A couple of Battle Droids noticed this and they started to fire at him but the Padawan was ready. He expected them to fire back so he reflected the bolts back at the droids. "Idiots..." He muttered.

 

[Zanna Black]

“Come on come on come on!!!” Cassidara yelled at the inanimate object that was the loading ramp of her VCX-100. Finally, the ramp began to open, and she frantically climbed in before it could finish the job.

One minute later, the sound of a swoop engine reverberated from her cargo hold. Shortly after she sped out of the hangar on her swoop bike and jetted toward where she last saw that young man. She pegged a B1 on the way out.

She scanned the scene, keeping her eyes open for a blazing blue stick waving about like it was swinging at a swarm of swampwasps. It wasn’t easy, especially since she found herself dodging blaster-fire from a variety of directions. Finally, she saw it, and it seemed that the guy was fighting his way toward something. What is that fool doing??? she couldn’t help but wonder. What am I doing??? I’m just as much of a nincompoop as this guy! I don’t even know him!!!

He was an impressive fighter. Really, that was an understatement. If her adrenaline wasn’t at an all-time high, she might’ve had time to marvel at his flips and footwork. But now wasn’t the time. She was close now… in fact, she managed to plug a couple B1s coming up behind him.

It was time to get his attention.

“HEY!!! JEDI-GUY!!! GET ON!!!”

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Malagran had sliced the Droideka as it was rolling then he turned to the voice. "Hell.....I can't just..." He stopped himself short as he turned to watch the battlefield, seeing a green blade swinging around before it stood still. More droids swooped in and they attacked from all sides but he knew what he was watching. "No....I'll end them..." He muttered as he raced over, waving his hand across the air and having the B1 units fly across the ground, crashing into each other.

Kumar was wounded but she could still manage to turn to whatever strength she was left. She watched her Padawan kneeling beside her and she chuckled slightly, blood escaping from her mouth. "You idiot....go...tell the council. You have to tell them." Kumar whispered as Malagran gripped his lightsaber and deactivated it. The Padawan shook his head, the strand of hair shaking as well. The Jedi Master only laughed quietly. "You were a kind one towards me..." Kumar added then she continued to look towards him as her eyes changed from their normal blue and to a gray color. Malagran picked up Kumar's fallen lightsaber and he felt hot tears running down his face.

 

[Zanna Black]

Now Cassidara could see why the young Jedi-guy was so hell-bent on slicing through this army. There was someone that he cared about in his mess, and he had been recklessly advancing through this invasion to get to her. She had one of those light-sword thingies too. A partner? A teacher? Girlfriend? Whatever their relationship was, it was a meaningful one, but if he didn’t leave now, he would probably wind up joining her. And so would Cassi… the shields on her swoop bike could only withstand so much firepower.

She could visibly see his heart break as his friend’s body fell limp. Oh… great. Now he was going to be grieving and that was going to make things far more difficult. Not that Cass was heartless… she just didn’t feel like dying today.

“There’s nothin’ you can do here!!! C’mon! Before they overtake the both of us!!!” she cried out as she had to fire three times for one droid to fall. She looked around to assess the situation, only to see that not only was there at least thirty B1s approaching, but there were also several more vulture droids headed their way. “I’m not kiddin’ here! We gotta go NOW!!!”

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Malagran grimaced and he stood, starting to run towards where the girl's ship was. "Very well!" He shouted as he used the Force again to send the B1 Droids back with a extend hand movement. The Jedi Padawan who lost his master then moved towards the one calling to him and reluctantly got on the swoop bike, holding onto her shoulders. "Go....now...." He said to her quietly as his blades deactivated.

He couldn't believe it. Kumar is gone...she died in front of him. The one who took him in as her padawan and trained him to become a Jedi. Who would want to train him now? Certainly not Obi-Wan or Anakin. Maybe one of the other council members? What if Master Yoda says no? All these questions repeated themselves in his mind as he held onto the woman who broke him free of his trance.

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

(Sorry about the rush. I edited so it should be better...a little)

 

[Zanna Black]

Cassidara raced toward the hangar at top speed, dodging droids and shrubs as she went, and even flying over a burning brush.

There was a line of B1s marching their way in military formation to the hangar now, obviously to keep anyone from taking off. Oh hell no!!! she told herself, veering toward the line as she flanked their right. “Hang on, guy! This is gonna be rough!” She lowered the bike just enough so that she was at head level…

*Klang klang klang klang klang klang klang klang klang klang!!!* The bottom of the bike skipped along each droid in line, knocking them all to the side and buying them a little more time to reach Cassi’s freighter. The last couple of “klangs” sounded a bit different, much to her dismay. Great. I dented the bottom. That’s gonna take forever to bang out!

As they zoomed into the hangar, Cass became keenly aware of five B1s examining the open ramp of her freighter. “Aw, kriff! Those bolt-brains are lookin’ to board my ship!”

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

"I can take care of them....you're helping me out by dealing with these clankers." Malagran said as he put Kumar's lightsaber on his belt and held his own in his left hand. Quickly, we jumped off the bike and went towards the B1 Droids, waving his hand to knock two of them back. He noticed that the three of them took a look at the Padawan. "Surrender, Jedi." One spoke as they took aim at Malagran. He grinned as he dropped his own lightsaber on the ground. They thought that that was his only weapon.

Bad news for the Battle Droids, Malagran had another lightsaber: Kumar's. He slowly moved his other hand to it and he grabbed it, igniting the green blade and making quick work of the droids. Once those three were done, he saw that there was more incoming. "You better start up your ship...now! They'll be here any minute." He insisted before deactivated the Green Lightsaber.

 

[Zanna Black]

Cassidara didn’t have time to carefully back in the swoop bike as she would normally do. Instead, she flew in a little too hard, and by the time she put on the brakes it still wound up bumping into some of her cargo. A clinking of glass shook in the large case that had been violated by her front bumper. She grimaced. “Well there’s some alcohol abuse…” she muttered to herself. She turned off the engine and leapt off of the bike.

Swiftly she bolted toward the cockpit and nearly dove into the pilot seat, flicking switches and entering codes as she got situated. “B9-24… activate…” she said aloud toward a shut-down astromech placed behind the co-pilot seat. There were multiple wires and circuits exposed on the thing as several cables ran up into the ship’s computer. The astromech did not respond. “B9!!! Will you wake the kark up???” She reached behind her and smacked the top of the droid. Immediately lights began to flash on the droid’s panel as B9 looked around in confusion. “Get the engines ready for lift off. We need a quick exit from this system! Oh… and we have company. So leave the smart comments to me!” The engines activated as the monitor displayed its interpretation of the droid’s speech. “This is no time for witty comebacks, chips-for-brains! Close the ramp and fly us outta here!!!” Then she yelled louder to the outside. “JEDI-GUY!!! GET YOUR FORCE-WEILDIN’ CARCASS IN HERE!!!”

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Malagran sighed and he ran into the hanger. "Damn! How long until you can make this blast off?" He asked as he went into the cockpit, putting his other lightsaber on his waist. Whoever had sent this attack must've known that there were two Jedi here on this planet....or that they were intent on conquering it. Who could've done it? I know it's the Separatists but who in it issued the order? His mind asked. The Jedi Padawan patted the two lightsabers that were on his waist and he sighed. Malagran shook his head then he started to cross his arms.

"Master.....I've failed you...." Malagran whispered then he shook his head quickly and turned his attention to the pilot, "What is your name, pilot? Because we thank you for helping me out." He figured a little small talk would be alright to start out with.

 

[Zanna Black]

“So we’re doin’ names now, huh? Uh… wait… hold on a minute here…” The thrusters of the VCX-100 lifted the ship off of the ground as it spun around to face about twenty-five more B1s and two vultures firing multiple bolts at the underside. “B9… target those droids on the nose turret. I’m flyin’ us out!” She started her way out of the hangar. “B9! Fire!!!”

A barrage of laser fire shot out of the front-facing turret at the troops. Cassi smirked a little. “One more goodbye present, scrap-heads!!!” She dove just enough for the receiving bay doors to slam into the heads of about eleven droids on the front line before straightening out and racing off into the stratosphere. “I’m willin’ to bet that there’s a blockade up there, so don’t relax yet! Oh! Yeah, names… Cassidara Vex. I run freight. And I’m pretty certain about your occupation. I just need a name to go with that.”

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

"Malagran Hoshi.....and yes, I am a Jedi...well...I am a Jedi Padawan without a master. The woman you say die by those droids was my teacher, Kumar Singh." He responded as he took a seat in the co-pilot chair. A long sigh was emitted from him as he looked towards the space. "I must get to Coruscant and-" Malagran was cut off. Something was heading towards them and it seemed to be getting the alert on the ship's panel. "We've got fighters...." He muttered.

Cassidara was right. There was a blockade but it wasn't heavily fortified as Malagran believed. Only one Droid control ship that was defenseless. "There's one of them....and we've got something else coming. Vulture Droids."

 

[Zanna Black]

“As I suspected… blast it…” Cass muttered. Sighing in exasperation, she flicked more switches and turned toward Malagran. “My sincere condolences, Malagran. I really am sorry. I know you’ll need time to mourn, but unfortunately if we’re going to get out of this I’m going to need another ship-hand. I have a dorsal turret at the highest point of this craft. I’m offering you a choice. If you know how to use a turret, I could use you there. If you can pilot a light freighter, you can pilot for now and I’ll take the turret.”

At this point, a laser blast came from behind, just narrowly missing the ship’s shields.

“No time!!! What’ll it be, padawan???”

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

"Where are your turrets?! I'll blast em out of the sky before they hit us." Malagran told Cassidara as he went in the direction of where he thought the ship's guns were. Turns out, this wasn't so different than a normal ship that he hadn't been on so it could be easily maneuvered. Quickly, he got into the seat and he quickly flicked the turrets on as well as the targeting computer. "Come on, come on...." He muttered then he tried to get a reading of the enemy ships.

 

[Zanna Black]

Cassidara approved of his choice. Although she was quite capable with the turret guns, her greatest, greatest talent was behind the control yoke. “Are ya seated? Good! I hope ya have a good eye, ‘cause I’m a wild woman in this chair!!!” And with that she immediately steered up and over in a back loop awfully tight for a freighter. They wound up behind two fighters who now found themselves at a disadvantage. “Like it???” she shouted excitedly at Malagran. “I had additional thrusters installed back on Corellia!!! Uh, hey! Maybe you should wear that earpiece up there so I don’t hafta yell!!!” She fitted hers on with one hand.


Hopefully he won’t ask too many questions about the extra thrusters… she thought.

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

Malagran grabbed an earpiece and put it in his left ear. "Alright, I can hear you. I've got these two clankers....as for your thrusters, let's see how well they are against the Separatists." He said then he aimed at the enemy fighters and fired quickly at them, watching the two being blown to bits. Well, one being destroyed and the blast reached the second, having the other being explode. "Got em! How many more we've got up there?" He asked through the earpiece.

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

(Bump)

 

[Zanna Black]

Cass checked her radar but to no avail. “Looks like we’re being jammed… but visually it looks like we got three fighters flanking our port. And I think I see a pair of Separatist frigates at our one o’ clock. That explains the jamming. Kark!” She wiped the sweat from her brow. “B9… lock on a fighter and blast him, why don’t ya?” She maneuvered herself into position and fiddled with a knob. “I’m diverting power to shields. Malagran… how many vultures are coming up on our rear?”

 

[RedtheRoyalGuard]

"Well, isn't that just great. I've got 4 Vultures that's right behind us. If our system is jammed, then we can't send word to Coruscant.... we'll have to fend these things off until you can get us a Lightspeed jump. How long will that take?" Malagran asked as he fired at one of the Vulture Droids, missing barely but it was enough for it to get distracted and almost bump into another. Almost. The Jedi Padawan scowled a little then he continued to fire, aiming at the one he missed and getting his target.