Jedi Boot Camp

[Farren Sefu]

Farren sighed as Aayla and Jaren bickered once again. Of course he would be stuck with not one, but two Padawans that fell out of the sky at once. And of course they would be butting heads. He laughed out loud as he recalled a protocol droid and astromech who had quite a similar relationship during the Clone Wars.

“Just because a weapon is short and cylindrical, doesn’t mean it’s a saber. I’ve seen collapsible vibrostaffs that started out hilt sized until you pressed the button to extend it to full length. In any case, weapons aren’t why we’re leaving. I have a nice stash that I scavenged over the past few months. Follow me inside, I’ll show you and we can arm up.”

Farren led the way inside the hanger building where the Umbaran fighter, HH-87 Starhopper, and Jaren’s busted Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor were silently waiting. Past them, in a small office sized space, was the hanger’s ready room, where the Umbaran militia had once themselves stored their combat suits and weapons. While there were still a half dozen or so Umbaran blasters lying around, Farren walked past them all to a wall-sized locker at the end of the room and opened it up. Inside was a collection of weapons from throughout the galaxy. Grabbing them at random, he handed Jaren an Imperial EC-17 holdout pistol, but noticed the look of awe as Jaren peered in over his shoulder, so he also gave him the micro-grenade launcher he was staring at. Aayla, he supplied with a pair of X-8 Night Sniper pistols, and an A-300 rifle, just in case. For himself, Farren grabbed a small DT-12 heavy blaster pistol to add to the KYD-21 he already carried, as well as a handful of mag-pulse grenades. He donned an equipment belt that he hooked his weapons to, concealing his saber in the small of his back, and tucked the grenades into some of the belts many pockets. He also took a comlink wristband off a shelf and put it on, handing his companions matching ones.

Once they were all armed and ready, Farren beckoned them back out to the hanger and stood next to an empty platform. “Now, then. We are going to Otani to see what dirty deeds the Empire is up to now and give them hell for it. And we’re gonna travel in style.” Pushing a button on his belt, the landing platform floor began to open with a groan and hiss of steam. As it did, a platform rose from below raising up with it an XS stock light freighter. The ship was an older model, but its new paint job of gray base with red and blue accents overall gave it a fresh-off-the-line look. Mounted with the classic HSG-67 dual laser cannon in the central dorsal gunner’s bay, the ship was more than just a hauler.

“Say hello to the Shadow Lark,” Farren said with a grin. “She’s my home away from home. What do you think?”

[Jaren Rouhell]

Jaren sighed as they passed his old ship, it had been through a lot with him. He reflected back to when he went on his first pilot training session with his master and how nervous he was behind the wheel. He pulled himself out of his thoughts as they entered the small room. He looked at the Umbaran blasters on the ground and chuckled to himself, " Not doing a lot of upkeep on the armory eh Farren?" he thought to himself. He saw Farren swing open the locker doors on the wall and felt his jaw drop as he saw a vast variety of weaponry.

Rifles, pistols, and all sorts of explosives. He was looking over Farrens shoulder when a nice piece of ordinance caught his eye, a micro-grenade launcher. He had seen a few of those in action during the clone wars, and he recalled the amount of devastation a few well placed grenade lobs into battalions of battle droids could cause. So when Farren handed it to him, he was definitely looking forward to getting some practice with it. He grabbed a sling and attached it to the launcher and slung it over his shoulder, he also grabbed a holster for the pistol and put it on his belt in front of where his saber was clipped. He looked over the EC-17, inspecting the condition of it, making sure it was clean, he looked down the sights, making sure it was sighted in for close range. He gave it a few flourished spins before holstering it.

He then donned his old cloak concealing most of his weapons with the exception of the grenade launcher, and strapped the wrist com that he had been handed by Farren and followed him into the hanger. He was listening to Farren's plan to head to Otani and then he saw their mode of transportation rise out of the ground and all he could do was grin. "You certainly have a flair for the dramatic Master Farren."

[Aayla Etel'dalam]

Aayla flipped the pistols over in her hands before holstering them in what remained of her uniform’s belt. “I hope this isn’t a stealth mission...not gonna be very stealthy with this bad boy,” she noted, taking the rifle in her hands next. It was in good condition, and she wasn’t a bad shot. She just hoped she wouldn’t have to use it much. Slinging it over her shoulder, she joined the men on the platform. “Hmm.. not bad.. it’ll make the trip comfortable at least.”

She couldn’t help but be excited at the prospect of getting out a little. She wanted to get as far away from where the Empire could track her to as possible. And though she knew Master would be bringing them back here, the trip would at least throw off their trail. Being back behind the controls of a ship might even make her feel a little more normal - since normal is the farthest thing from what she felt. “Please tell me we’re leaving now?”

[Farren Sefu]

Farren couldn’t help but chuckle as his companions reacted to the weapons and appearance of the Shadow Lark. “Yes, well. When you’ve spent as much time alone as I have, you have to take joy in the little things,” he said to Jaren. Cocking his head in Aayla’s direction, he keyed an access code into a panel on the ships hull, and the loading ramp lowered. “Yes, Stubs. That means we can leave now. Think you can handle this thing?” He walked inside, expecting the others to follow.

The interior of the Shadow Lark was in stark contrast to the outside. There was a rotunda style interior, with the loading ramp coming up just between the secondary small cargo hold and holoterminal rooms on the right, and the medical bay and escape pod on the left. The opposite side of the ship housed the main L-shaped cargo hold, crew quarters, and mess hall. In the front left side was the captain’s quarters and meeting room, which had been repurposed as a lounge and game room. In the center of all that was access to the topside laser cannon turret for manual firing, though the weapon could be controlled from the cockpit or by a droid. The back center of the rotunda led to the engine room, with the actual engines flanking it on either side. The central corridor at the front of the ship led to a seating area for passengers, followed by the cockpit at the very front end. The inside was kept fairly well-maintained, though there were still a few random boxes and mag-lev crates strewn around. Farren was showing his Padawan’s around the ship and heading to the front of the ship to prepare for take off when the BX-series commando droid appeared from the lounge room, painted in non-standard green and silver striping, an E-5 blaster hanging on its hip. “Well, what do we have here?” It said in a modified voice that was almost human sounding.

[Jaren Rouhell]

Jaren was looking around the inside of the Shadow Lark familiarizing himself with the layout. It was a lot roomier than the old starhopper he first met his companions in. He followed behind Farren and Aayla, taking a particular note of where the cannon turret was. While he always preferred to keep the fighting on the ground, he was never one to shy away from a dogfight. He continued walking with them, looking around at the few boxes here and there, when he saw a Commando droid walk out in front of them. He instinctively reached for his saber, but he stayed his hand, " Farren I hope this is one of your droids or your cover has just been blown." He rested his hand instead on the grip of his blaster, if he saw the droid so much as twitch it's arm in the general direction of its E-5 he'd put a bolt in it's head.

[Aayla Etel'dalam]

Aayla smiled as she limped after him, though at this point in her excitement, it looked more like a skip. “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be fine. I -“ She stopped dead in the tracks, watching the droid. If she was still hooked up to a vital tracker, the beating of her heart would have probably caused a constant beep instead of a rhythm.

She wanted to freeze, but she tried to steady herself. What would a Jedi actually do?. She swiftly moved in front of Farren and swung around the droid, searching the back of its neck for access to main power lines or cores to shut it down. And upon not finding much, her panic told her to do one thing - she punched it. It would have been considered an upper cut, had she still been facing the droid. But her fear made her react like it had when she was first discovered, and so added Force to her movement. Yelping in pain, she held her hand and stood back as she realized she sent the droid sailing towards the men.

[Farren Sefu]

Farren opened his mouth to reply to Jaren when Aayla swooped around him and got behind the droid, with surprising speed. “Aayla, wait!!” He yelled, extending an arm after her. Too late. She hit his droid and sent him flying towards the two men. He put both arms out with the Force and slowed his momentum. At the same time, the commando droid activated the magnetics in his feet to lock himself down to the floor and stop his momentum. When he came to a complete stop, he remained on his feet and turned to face the blue Twi’lek that attacked him. “How rude of you. I would blast you where you stand if that was still my objective. I’ll have you know that I am now Farren’s personal assistant, and I was supposed to make a good first impression on you two. Looks like not everyone got the message. If I had organic eyes, I would be rolling them.” He turned to face the male Jedi and stared at Jaren. “And to answer your question, yes. I am in league with this Jedi here. My name is W3-57LY, but Farren has taken to calling me Westly. I can’t figure out why.”

Farren cleared his throat and stepped forward. “Yes, thank you Westly. That’ll be all for now. Go prep the ship for launch. We have something to take care of.” He waved the droid off, who left without a word and headed off towards the engine room. He walked over to Aayla and stood next to her. “So, what did we learn?” He asked in a half-joking tone of voice.

[Jaren Rouhell]

Jaren watched as the droid started to sail through the air, figuring that it was about to land where he stood so he took a few steps to the side in case Farren couldnt stop the droid's momentum in time. Farren managed to stop the flying hunk of metal before anyone got hurt,then he walked over toward Farren and the droid. He waited till the introductions were done, then turned to Farren, " Would it have killed you to at least let us know you had a reprogrammed killer droid as a butler?" He said with a chuckle. He laughed at Farrens remark directed at Aayla and looked over at her, noticing her holding onto her hand, " I'm hoping she learned that punching a droid isn't exactly the smartest idea. But in all seriousness you alright Aayla?"

[Aayla Etel'dalam]

She stuck her tongue out at the droid’s back before turning back to the Jedi in front of her. “Yeah, a warning would have been nice! I remember those things from...doesn’t quite matter from where, but they’re nothing to mess with. The fact that you have one is..unnerving,” she muttered, rubbing her knuckles gingerly, which were now a darker shade of blue. “What did we learn? You're a jerk , that’s what we learned.”

She took a breath, pulling one of her lekku over her shoulder to fidget with it instead of her hand. “I'm alright. Just...nah, I’m okay,” she said, holding her hand out in front of her to inspect it. “A bruise like that never killed anyone,” she smirked. “Anyway, where were we before your bucket of reprogrammed bolts gave us a heart attack and I showed off my amazing reaction time skills?”

[Farren Sefu]

Farren brushed past Aayla, gently bumping her shoulder as he went, as if to mess with her a little more. “If I had told you guys about him, you never would have believed me. And you of all people should know, Jaren, that you must always expect the unexpected. At the same time, things are not always what they seem.” He sat in the pilot’s seat and began his pre-flight check, engaging all necessary systems and running a diagnostic. A message appeared on the display, indicating that the engines were fully operational and W3-57LY had finished his task. “I was saying, Aayla, that it’s time for us to get off this nightmare of a planet for a bit and go have some fun. We’re heading to Otani now. We wouldn’t want old Asto getting bored now.”

Farren flipped a few switches and the hanger doors outside opened, followed by a dull thunk across the ship indicating that the ramp and door they entered through was closed and sealed. Through the viewport, W3-57LY could be seen waving up at them from the hanger deck, before walking away down a staircase to a lower level.

[Jaren Rouhell]

Jaren walked to the crew's quarters shouting," I'm calling the room on the left!" He walked into it and saw the bed on the far left side of the room. He then laid his stuff next to his bed and sat down on it. It felt pretty comfortable compared to the cot he slept on at the Umbaran base. He heard the hangar doors open and the ramp and door close, he knew now he was in for the long haul. His promise echoed through his head " I'll not let another Jedi die when I'm able to stop it." He laid back in the bed and readied himself for take off. " Wake me up when we've reached Otani. " He shouted to his companions. Otani, not exactly a world with a good reputation, but then again neither was Tattooine. He laid in his bed and closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

[Aayla Etel'dalam]

Aayla pouted as she followed her Master. “A warning would have spared me my favored hand, you -“ she hissed, biting her tongue to cut herself off from saying something not very Jedi-like. She sat in the co-pilot’s chair, watching and aiding in the preflight check. She wasn’t overly familiar with this specific ship, but most basic things are the same.

She laughed hearing Jaren’s voice. “We just woke up! You can’t be tired already!” She sat foward in her chair, looking up at the stars. She was excited to go - she felt more at home flying than anywhere else. But somewhere in the back of her head - she was nervous. Who knew if the Empire was waiting for them just beyond Umbara’s atmosphere? She pulled one of her lekku over her shoulder, curling the end of it around one of her good fingers. “Ready to go when you are, Master.”

[Farren Sefu]

Farren nodded his readiness to go, and watched as his apprentice raised the ship into the darkness of Umbara’s sky, through the atmosphere, and into hyperspace. Time to see what other trouble they could get into next.

~~~~~THREAD END~~~~~

*Farren, Aayla, and Jaren's stories continue here*