The fight is over faster than Damanil would've expected. For some reason the prisoners joined in to help him. Whether it was an instinct of self-preservation or actual will to save his skin, the green-eyed human doesn't know. And right now, he doesn't have the time to ask either.

Having seen a jedi in live combat for the first time, Damanil is more than a bit dumbstruck. The blind man moved with such a precision and speed that the bounty hunter isn't absolutely sure about what just happened. Sure he's heard his share of tales about the jedi and knows something about what they're capable of. But blocking a shot from a blaster is impossible! Or apparently it isn't. 

Four dead TDF troopers lie on the floor - four former teammates of his. Damanil shrugs at them. He never liked the controlled life of a soldier and his fellow troopers were more or less idiots anyway. There are some casualties on the "good" side too, but the redhead passes them with equal disinterest. They're not the target nor the enemy, but they ain't his friends either.

It's just gets better all the time, doesn't it! Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to cut me loose, too? We'll never make it up front, but if we head back toward the engine room now, we can reach the lifeboat. Damanil turns to face the angered woman and is about to make a smart comment about lifeboats and their chances against a DR-400, but sees the truth in the woman's words. They'd never make it to the cockpit of Kul Kura alive anyhow. No matter how stupid the TDF soldiers may be, they're still fairly good in what they do. Even with the jedi on their side, the captives would be hard pushed to even stay alive, let alone retake the control of the ship.

“She’s right,” the Miraluka nods, “they are coming. Lingering here would not be wise.” His head turns in the red-haired soldier’s direction; “If you have a key to release those restraints, Mr Shadoran, now would be the time..."

Damanil nods in response to the jedi. "Yeah, I've got the key." He tosses it to Ziv and swings the rifle on his shoulder. "Why don't you open the cuffs lad and I'll keep an eye on the bad guys." Drawing his heavy blaster, takes a step towards the doorway, ready to blast down anything coming their way. Keeping his eyes on the aisle, Damanil nods to Caise. "Thanks for saving my behind, jedi. Maybe I can return the favor one day."

Dime was used to this. His cover was blown, and the guns came out. This was definately the first time that he had been accused of being with another undercover guy though, when *his* cover was the one being blown.

Dime nodded to all the suggestion.

"Yep, I'm armed and ready to get out of here. Lord knows who or what else is after us now."

The red haired one was definately undercover for some agency. He showed no sign of surprise, and was willing to turn on his so called teammates. He is probably one of the others the Republic mentioned would be with me.

It was times like this Dime wished he had some information on the other undercovers. But, he knew that it was for everyone's safety. He would inform the soldier of his true identity when they were safer.

"Good thing I travel light" he smirked, and ducked in his room. A single suitcase lay there with instruments packed in it. He threw the sliverhorn in and slammed it shut, rushing back to rejoin his companions.

"If I lose this I might as well be dead. My music is my life." With a wink, he dashed off with the others toward the back.

“Thanks for saving my behind, Jedi,” Caise heard Damanil say, “Maybe one day I can return the favor.”

The miraluka offered the man a fractional nod by way of reply. “It was the will of the Force that saved you, Mr Shadoran,” Caise noted solemnly, “and the day to repay that favor may very well be upon you,” his blind gaze swept the compartment, momentarily regarding all of those who had managed to survive the Bothan’s treacherously conceived attack, “all of you, today.”

“Yep, I’m armed and ready to get out of here,” Dime said in reply to Caise’s earlier query, “Lord knows who or what else is after us now.”

“Good thing I travel light,” Caise heard Dime duck into another room and retrieve the rest of his luggage, “If I lose this I might as well be dead. My music is my life.”

The padawan couldn’t help but smile at the twi’lek’s enthusiasm. Dime was rather odd, he had decided during the time they had spent together aboard the Kul Kura, but there was something about the blue-skinned man that Caise sensed he could rely and depend on… He was glad that Dime had escaped the firefight unscathed. As the others, following Lana’s lead, hurried out the aftward egress from the room, Caise lingered by the door and waited to make sure that Damanil’s retreat from the forward hatch wasn’t left uncovered.

((OOC: Just filling some space and posting to post, really… a minor assumption was made in having Lana lead the way out of the room… easy enough to edit if necessary. Caise will wait for Damanil and, depending on the soldier’s preference, will either follow the others and allow Damanil to bring up the rear, or, if Damanil heads through the door first, Caise will take that spot for the moment… Game on!!!)

Ziv used the key to release the restraints on himself, Lana, Mercury, and the rest of the crew in the chamber. Lana led the ways to the shuttle, pausing only long eough to override a couple of security panels along the way. "It won't stop them from blowing the hatches," she explained, "but it will at least keep them from walking right through."

The shuttle is cramped, and smells of stale air - and still manages to look extremely inviting. With no one else moving to do so, the young human from the bridge slides behind the flight controls. There is no time for preflight, obviously; with this sort of desperate attempt to escape, Mercury fired the engines as soon as everyone is clear of the airlock. Everyone cringed, awaiting the moment when the TDF ship opens its guns on the escaping shuttle...

***********

"Sir, we haven't fully secured the area, yet. One of our troopers, aided by a jedi, has intigated a revolt..."

Commander Albari cut the soldier off with a curt gesture. He would pesonally be there when they opened those spice containers - who knew how many men the Hutts had placed in the corrupt TDF fleet? He would make sure to get full value for the confiscated cargo. This deal would ensure his comfort for many years to come.

Besides, the jedi and the rebel (Albari had no idea why a Hutt's man would have run, so he assumed the soldier was working for someone else) had already fled in the shuttle. They would shoot the pitiful craft down at their leisure; aside from a few panicked civilians, there was little out of place aboard the crippled Kul Kura.

Albari swiped the passcard he had taken from the dead duro captain through the reader and stepped through the hatch. There! His eyes widened at the sight of the plassteel containers he knew contained more than a small fortune in illegal spice.

What the commander did not realize was that one of the containers was packed not with spice, but with a very interesting explosive device. "Unauthorized access." spoke the ship computer's female voice as he stepped forward. "Initiating sequence theta-seven-seven."

"What the hell?" barked Albari. "This is the correct passcard!"

And it was, in fact, the correct card - but Captain Dulo had been somewhat of a computer genius, and had created a very specific progrm to execute inthe event of his untimely death. Since none of his family members hd swiped their own passcards following the captain's, the program triggered.

The second container to the left made an odd clicking sound as it trigged two devices - one fired a powerful EMP, the second ignited a specially-designed thermal detonator. Albari had time to wonder aloud once more as all power to the ship instantly failed, as even his commlink went dead. The wonder, however, did not last long, as a focused explosion punched a hole thrugh the hull of the Kul Kura, exposing the charred bodies of the commander and his escort to the gentle embrace of vacuum.

***********

"What the hell was that?" Damanil demanded as the shuttle bucked violently. "Have we been hit? Are they firing?"

Mercury shook his head as he attempted to correct the craft's course. "No... some sort of shockwave from the Kul Kura... looks like there's been an explosion!"

The young man's mouth was a tight line as he concentrated on the readouts. "It's knocked out our stabilizers... we're caught in the planet's gravity well. Everyone hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

As it turned out, Mercury did not exagerrate. Tanaab's atmosphere was not kind to the small craft, and it was all that he could do to keep it on a glide path that did not result in the ship burning up in the atmosphere. "No way we'll make it to a spaceport," he explained calmly. "Looks like a crash landing..."

And he was correct. The shuttle finally came to a halt with a bone-jarring jolt, but Mercury had done a good job - no one was seriously injured.

"Now what?" Lana demanded.

You have crash landed on Tanaab's surface. As best you can tell, you are a good ten klicks west of the nearest city. None of you have more than bumps or bruises from the landing.

Quick reflexes, Mercury was thinking. It’s good to know that when the darshebs hit the proverbial fan, quick reflexes are the best thing to have. They were especially great when Lana said, "It won't stop them from blowing the hatches, but it will at least keep them from walking right through."

Mercury thought he should correct her on a few points about blowing the hatches; these were made of heavy-duty Durasteel - it would take a blast from a duel-sync quad laser - but it didn’t matter. The young Fringer was thinking about surrendering just a few minutes before, and now he was running like a stuck cannock through the starboard passageway. They all fell into the shuttle, Mercury taking the lead in slipping into the flight chair. Not that he would have done if he’d had more thought on the matter, but everything was reflex. He snapped off the docking clamps, and before the dampeners kicked in, they could feel themselves drop.

“Gonna have some chop here,” Mercury mumbled. At least if they survived the blasts from the TDF ship …

The shuttle engines caught and they shot forward…

***

As soon as the shuttle had burst from its bonds into the great ocean of stars, there was a massive WHHHHHUUUUUUUUMMMMMMPPPPP! and everything beyond the viewport scattered.

"What the hell was that?" Damanil demanded as the shuttle bucked violently. "Have we been hit? Are they firing?"

Mercury shook his head as he attempted to correct the craft's course. "No... some sort of shockwave from the Kul Kura ... looks like there's been an explosion!"

Or so it would seem. Mercury tried to get a fix on the Kul Kura but he couldn’t get a lock. Everything went one way and the other. The young man's mouth was a tight line as he concentrated on the readouts. "It's knocked out our stabilizers... we're caught in the planet's gravity well. Everyone hold on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

Oh, and it WAS. Mercury had to use the aft thrusters to compensate for the loss of the stabilizers, and it was hardly enough. The shuttle began to spin like an Arkanian footsphere, caught in the planet’s gravity. Pulling back on the secondaries, the young Fringer used everything he knew on trying to keep the shuttle from doing a nosedive into the dirt. "No way we'll make it to a spaceport," he explained calmly. "Looks like a crash landing…”

They glided, coming out of the spin, and Mercury let the shuttle take a belly flop.

“Surprise!” He announced in his cheery voice. “We’re alive!”

 

The dash to the escape pods hadn’t been anywhere near as difficult as the miraluka padawan had imagined it would have been, especially considering the fracas that had played out in the passenger berth just moments ago. In fact, despite Lana’s sporadic pauses to slice some security terminals in an effort to slow down any pursuers, Caise hadn’t so much as sensed even a wandering trooper between the passenger compartment and the shuttle… Of course, they could be anticipating these very actions and may be content to blast us to dust once the shuttle is clear of the ship…

 
Caise didn’t dwell overlong on this, though. It appeared that the Force was indeed with the group and had it in its will that they should at least escape the Kul Kura. As he slipped through the hatch behind the others, the young jedi finally returned his lightsaber to its place beneath his outer robes and found what passed for a seat in the cramped space among these sentients whom, it appeared, would be with him for a bit longer. It wasn’t until an explosion tore apart the Kul Kura and violently rocked the escaping shuttle that Caise realized that they hadn’t been pursued because, at least in the minds of those who had captured the ship, they weren’t the primary objective and, thus, less than important to the mission’s outcome.

He gave a slow shake of his head as he sensed the lives aboard the Duro vessel wink out of their place in the Force but, otherwise, sat in silence as Mercury did his best to safely guide the shuttle-pod to Tanaab’s surface. That task, the jedi knew, must not have been an easy one considering the damage done to the tiny craft as the larger vessel exploded behind it and the effects of being caught precariously in the planet’s gravity well. Even without physical sight, the controlled “free-drop” to the surface of the planet was disconcerting and, for a moment, Caise was thankful that he couldn’t see the spinning and spiraling approach of Tanaab’s surface as the little ship hurtled through the atmosphere… just the sensation of it threatened to turn his stomach more than once…

“No way we’ll make it to a spaceport,” he heard the young pilot say, “Looks like a crash landing…”

Just as well, Caise mused, preparing himself for the bone-jarring bumps and skids that were yet to come, Landing at a spaceport likely wouldn’t be the wisest of choices considering that the ship we just left behind has just exploded in orbit. He turned his blind eyes towards Damanil. And, since we’ve already been inadvertently branded rebels, sympathizers, or worse I doubt that any reception we might have received would have been cordial…

The impact as the shuttle pod carved a gouge in Tanaab’s crust was violent enough to toss bodies around the tiny cabin but not so bad that anyone had sustained serious injury from what he could tell. After shaking of the effects of the crash, the first thing that Caise heard was the almost impossibly cheerful voice of the young pilot.

“Surprise! We’re alive!”

Following that was the still irritated and impatient voice of the Kul Kura’s engineer. “Now what?” Lana demanded.

“Now, miss,” Caise said matter-of-factly as he freed himself from the tiny seat and made for the hatch, “we determine where we are and where we must go to get to where we need to be.”

((OOC: Okay, let’s get out of this crate and have a peek about before we go running off willy-nilly, shall we? If it’s possible to do so before heading towards the nearest city, Caise will make an attempt to contact Master Trask’s “associate” and let him know that he has arrived… maybe there’ll be a chance of some assistance there?))

Opening the hatch to the outdoors brings the smell of ozone and the pinging sound of cooling metal - the exterior of the lifeboat is still extremely hot. A quick once over reveals that the only way that the shuttle will ever move from this location will be due to the dilligent work of dedicated scrappers - the bottom third of the craft is buried beneath the soil, and the entire starboard stabalizing fin has been raggendly shorn off in the crash. Indeed, a small assortment of metallic pieces lie scattered inside (and to either side) of a gulch dug into the ground by the momentum of the lifeboat.

And yet, the vehicle (and her pilot) has done the job - all of the passengers are able to walk away from the crash.

As you file out of the shuttle, you are treated to a fairly large expanse of undeveloped land. A slightly purplish sky, dotted only by the occasioanlly wispy could, stretches high above. It is warm right now, but not overly hot, and a steady wind blows in from the east. Tall grasses sway in the breeze, and only a few odd trees break up the landscape.

Caise tries his commlink, but gets no response. Perhaps the range is too great, or the frequency is incorrect?

Discussions are made as to how to proceed when Damanil spots a small cloud of dust on the horizon. Realizing the implication, he points to it. "Someone is coming," the red haired soldier states.

Even without sight it wasn’t difficult to determine that, even though the craft had served its purpose and successfully helped them to escape, the little shuttle wouldn’t be making any more journeys of it’s own. The electric tang in the air spoke of the ship’s condition even before Caise could step through the hatch and, though the details of it escaped him, he was sure that the craft looked even worse than it sounded. In his sight, an angry slash of darkened and disturbed energies identified the rough gouge that the shuttle’s landing had carved through what appeared to be a prairie. “Well done, pilot,” the padawan said, pulling his commlink free of his belt and stepping away from the heat of the wreck and into the gentle wind that blew across this plain.

He was vaguely aware of the conversations going on among the rest as he tried to contact Master Trask’s associate and, through their words and the palette of emotions he was able to sense, was assured that the shuttle was in as bad shape as he might have imagined. When his third attempt to raise the Master’s contact on the commlink failed, Caise allowed a frustrated scowl to play on his lips for a moment… Out of range, perhaps, he thought as his blind gaze slowly swept the landscape, or possibly the wrong frequency. His attentions shift from the Tanaabian grassland to the commlink for an instant, verifying that he was transmitting on the frequency that Trask had specified…

(OOC: assuming that the comm isn’t going to work now, but just checking to make sure…)

Nothing, the miraluka scowled inwardly even as he erased the frown from his face and turned to face the others. Resigned to being out of contact for the moment, Caise tucked the commlink back into his belt and rejoined the group. There had been some conversation about how to proceed, he knew, but he hadn’t heard any of the details. “What has been decided,” he asked as he drew to a stop not far from Dime and turning his masked eyes in Mercury’s direction, “we’re the shuttles sensors able to give us an idea of where we are in relation to the nearest city?”

((OOC: assuming some conversation takes place as to planning our next move… backposts as necessary))

Realization.

Apprehension.

Expectation.

Before the padawan can trace these feelings back to any one of the party, though, the soldier pointed towards a disturbance on the horizon.…

“Someone is coming,” Damanil said.

Caise nodded faintly and studied the dust cloud for a long moment. He would like to hope that this was a rescue or at least salvage operation in the works but, given what had just occurred above the planet, he wasn’t content to risk such an optimistic assessment without more certainty…

((OOC: If in range, let’s see what kind of results we can get from an Empathy check… If the “cloud of dust” isn’t in range at the moment, Caise will suggest that they take up defensive postions – just in case – and try the empathy when the target is within range (assuming they don’t start shooting before that)… ))

Opening the hatch to the outdoors brings the smell of ozone and the pinging sound of cooling metal - the exterior of the lifeboat is still extremely hot. A quick once over reveals that the only way that the shuttle will ever move from this location will be due to the diligent work of dedicated scrappers - the bottom third of the craft is buried beneath the soil, and the entire starboard stabilizing fin has been raggedly shorn off in the crash. Indeed, a small assortment of metallic pieces lie scattered inside (and to either side) of a gulch dug into the ground by the momentum of the lifeboat.

Ziv looked over the remains of the shuttle as he made his way out of the craft and shakes his head, “This wont fly again.. “ Stating the obvious. He does manage to grab his gear and anything else he see inside that might be of use and that he can easily transport. He makes sure to hang on to the now dead bothan’s blaster Pistol, it might come in handy again.

As you file out of the shuttle, you are treated to a fairly large expanse of undeveloped land. A slightly purplish sky, dotted only by the occasionally wispy could, stretches high above. It is warm right now, but not overly hot, and a steady wind blows in from the east. Tall grasses sway in the breeze, and only a few odd trees break up the landscape.

Caise tries his commlink, but gets no response. Perhaps the range is too great, or the frequency is incorrect?
Looking around at all the barren land he continues to shake his head, “Out of the frying pan…” he mutters. He turns and watches as the one jedi tries his commlink without apparent success and just shakes his head. Planetside is where he feels the most useless and especially out here in the middle of no where.

Turning to Lana he smirks slightly and says softly, “I don’t have a clue as to where we need to be..,” mocking the Jedi’s statement , “.. but I’m pretty sure it isn’t here.”

Discussions are made as to how to proceed when Damanil spots a small cloud of dust on the horizon. Realizing the implication, he points to it. "Someone is coming," the red haired soldier states.
Hearing the former TDF soldier words, Ziv turns to look and spots the cloud of dust and after a few moments of analyzing it’s speed and direction he says, “Yeah it seems to be coming this way.. and fast too.” He hefts his blaster rife and checks it power pack, still good and holds it behind his leg and waits for the others to decide what to do. He is no soldier and is out of his element out here, but any who know him can tell that he can be fearless when it comes to fighting.

“Surprise! We’re alive!”

Following that was the still irritated and impatient voice of the Kul Kura’s engineer. “Now what?” Lana demanded.

Mercury un-strapped himself from the pilot’s chair. “Well for Gfersh sake. Don’t everyone thank me at once.” He grumbled to himself. “I’ll have you know any landing you walk away from is a good landing.” He said to no one in particular.

Leaving the hatchway, Mercury was quick to survey the wreckage. "Whooo! Look at that! Lost the stabilizer and still landed right side up. Woohoo!" the young man capers about with arms in the air.

“Someone is coming.” the soldier proclaimed. Mercury turned and reached for his blaster, his joy over making a landing suddenly gone.

“Yeah it seems to be coming this way.. and fast too.” Ziv commented.

“Ummm ...What should we do?” Mercury asked, not sure if he should draw his blaster, go hide somewhere or wave his hands in the air to be spotted. “Could be farmers coming to help us out?”

So he'd lived through another day, another job, another crash-landing. Well the first part he wasn't too sure about yet. But beating the odds of hitting the ground in a nearly out-of-control escape pod sure made Damanil feel that way.

Things didn't look too good. He'd lost his target and bounty and had crashed on the surface of the back-water world Tanaab and was now stuck with a blind jedi and a couple of others. No communication. No holo-map. No rations. All they had were their weapons, but the bounty hunter had no idea whether Tanaab hosted any edible animals.

Eyeing the horizon, something suddenly caught the red-headed human's sharp, green eyes. A cloud of dust was moving towards them and probably wouldn't be bringing love and happiness in its wake. "Someone is coming.", Damanil stated in an even, but somewhat tight voice.

Immediately his professional mind started looking for places they could hide in or at the very least defend themselves. But in addition to the wreckage there were only a couple of odd trees here and there providing very little cover. Binos would be nice. Damanil wouldv'e given a thousand creds (well at least a hundred) for macro binoculars. But his were in his backpack on board the DR-400 and it seemed the others had none available either.

The tension in the air is palpable as the dust cloud approaches. Discussions are made as to options, but on this flat prairie, there is really no place to hide. Weapons were readied in case of a fight... there is little else to be done.

Shortly, it becomes possible to distinguish two individual shapes beneath the dust - a pair of rather old landspeeders. "SoroSuubs... probably R45s, maybe 47s?" Mercury mutters to no one in particular. The landspeeders cover the remaining distance in little time, then come to a halt a few meters from the crash site.

The windscreens, until now completely closed to block out the elements, open fully to reveal three beings - a human male and female in the first, an an ithorian (male?) in the second. At first glance, none of them appear armed or hostile.

The human male, a red-haired young man of no more than twenty years, hops of of his vehicle. "Hello!" he greets you. "We saw the crash - is everyone okay?"

Assuming that no one feels the need to make this part difficult...
He nods. "I'm Jaal Darand, from Darand Plantation. This is Jeena and Umalad," indicating the blonde human female and the ithorian in turn. He looks you over and frowns. "You're offworlders, right? That means you don't have any real way around... where are you headed?"

Jeena has climbed out to take a place beside Jaal when apparently, he gets a good look at Caise for the first time. "You're a jedi, aren't you?" he asks.

He nods. "I'm Jaal Darand, from Darand Plantation. This is Jeena and Umalad," indicating the blonde human female and the ithorian in turn. He looks you over and frowns. "You're offworlders, right? That means you don't have any real way around... where are you headed?"
Ziv too recognized the trails of landspeeders as they became visible but he only nodded his agreement with Merc’s assessment. Seeing a couple of friendly looking humans exit the vehicle he slips the blaster pistol that was behind his leg into the back of his waistband and returns their smile. Before anyone else in his group speaks, Ziv steps forward and offers his hand to Jaal, “My name is Ziv and yes we are offworlders, a navigational error,” he lowers his voice, “...damn pilots…” then continues in a normal tone, “caused us to crash and we sure could use your help getting to the nearest civilization.”

Jeena has climbed out to take a place beside Jaal when apparently, he gets a good look at Caise for the first time. "You're a jedi, aren't you?" he asks.
Ziv glances at Caise and lowers his voice and leans over to Jaal while still looking at Caise and says in a slightly disappointed tone, “Yeah.. that’s a Jedi… not what you would have expected is it?” Ziv shakes his head.

Apprehension mounted at the sight of the nearing dust cloud. Almost as soon as it was spotted, Shadoran and several of the others readied their weapons and moved themselves to more defensible positions should whatever was raising that cloud prove to be a threat. Caise, however, stood where he was and calmly watched as the disturbance drew closer… at range, the sight provided to him by the Force indicated only a handful of lifeforms in the midst of the cloud and, as the distance closed, the young padawan was able to sense that there was no intended hostility from any of the sentients who were veiled by the swirling dust.

“SoroSubbs,” Caise heard the young pilot identify the vehicles as the shapes of the approaching speeders became clearer, “probably R45’s… maybe 47’s?”

“I do not sense that they mean us any harm,” the Jedi said as he pulled the hood of his cloak away from his head. He turned his blind gaze on Mercury for a second, offering a faint smile; “Perhaps, as you said, pilot, these are simply farmers coming to offer their help.”

As the vehicles whirred to a stop a few meters away, Caise folded his hands in the voluminous sleeves of his robes and returned his attentions to the “visitors”. The energies of the three as seen by the miraluka identified the two beings in the lead speeder as human - a male and a female - and the somewhat larger being in the second craft as an Ithorian - likely a male, though it is difficult to determine with certainty - even before the windscreens were fully retracted.

“Hello,” the human male chirped, a hint of both concern and friendliness in his voice as he climbed from the driver’s seat, “We saw the crash – is everyone okay?”

Caise nodded in reply… “With many thanks owed to a skilled pilot, yes.”…

((Assuming that the wrecked shuttle’s pilot and other passengers responded in kind…))

“I’m Jaal Darand, from Darand Plantation,” the man offered before gesturing to the female, “This is Jeena,” then to the ithorian, “and Umalad.

You’re offworlders, right,” Jaal asked, a frown tingeing his voice after looking the party over, “That means you don’t have any real way around… where are you headed?”

Caise felt it best to let the others in the party answer first. While he did have his own mission to attend to, it was important to him that he ensure that the rest of those who had escaped the Kul Kura made it to – or at least on their way to – their own destinations before he left them and sought out Leyan Rool. The Master’s associate would surely understand the delay and Trask himself would likely disapprove if his padawan were to take any other course. He heard the male engineer from the Kul Kura introduce himself as Ziv then, as if unable to ignore Master Trask's remembered teachings, he lost himself in the Jedi Master's voice...

“You’re a Jedi, aren’t you?”

“Yeah," Caise heard Ziv reply in a hushed tone, "that’s a Jedi… not what you would have expected is it?”

…Caise had been recalling one of Trask’s lectures and, in this instance, he could not help but quote some of the elder Jedi's words. "For it to be so small a thing," he said, regarding the mechanic as he strode towards Jaal, "the tongue is one of the most difficult things in the galaxy to hold, is it not?"

He smiled then and turned his veiled eyes to regard the man and the woman who now stood at his side; “I am,” he nodded fractionally, “My name is Caise Jhorap…”

“This is Kol Nuro,” he continued, gesturing to the twi’lek whom he also knew as Dime, “and Mr Shadoran,” now gesturing to the TDF soldier. “The others were crew members of the transport we were on… I have, unfortunately, neglected to get their names… Other than Ziv, of course, and he has already introduced himself.”

((OOC: Room for interruptions, etc, throughout… edits and backposts as necessary… ))

Assuming that Mercury also introduces himself...
Lana frowns at Ziv, but follows suit. "And I'm Lana. I thought they quit making those R45's before I was born?"

Jaal chuckles. "Yeah, they are pretty old, but we it's cheaper to keep 'em running than it is to buy new ones. Besides, almost everything they sell these days seats no more than four sentients, unless you wanna pay extra - and my old man hates to pay extra for anything." The last is added with a grin. "Anyway, I'm pleased to meet you all - sorry it's under such circumstances."

The red-heaired human seems to ignore Ziv's comment - if you were to judge, you'd say that he was actually quite taken with Caise. "A real jedi," he breathes, "I've heard the stories, like everyone has, but never met one.

Tell you what - you all look like you could use a lift. You're welcome to come back to the plantation with us tonight, and we'll give you a ride to Dalroth in the morning... we've got to make a supply run anyway."

When Jaal mentions taking you back to the plantation, a look of concern crosses Jeena's face, and she whispers in his ear, but Jaal brushes it off. "Nah, he'll be fine." He turns back to the group. "If you're looking for a ship, you'll probably have to go as far as Pandath... there's no real spaceport in Dalroth, but it's close, and has enough to meet our needs. You can probably hitch a ride there. What do you think, Umalad?"

The ithorian speaks in oddly accented Basic. "I agree that they will fare well in Dalroth, Jaal. I do not agree that your father will be pleased with these guests. He does not care for..."

Jaal cuts him off with a wave. "He doesn't like a lot of things, but these folks need a hand. I'll deal with father." He turns back to the group. "So, whaddya say?"