"Hey, I'm not saying that I'd go looking for a fight. Neither would he, probably. But you put two soldiers of opposing sides of an ongoing war together in a small space with nothing to do but talk? It's only a matter of time."

"Look, I'm giving him a chance and I swear I won't try and sabotage his recovery, or whatever you want to call it. Frankly, that's the best you're going to get out of me. My advice? Have him sit down with the Captain. Torin's used to being Space-Dad. Beyond that, I've got work to do, Mel's sitting alone in the cockpit, and Wix is probably going to start tearing through bulkheads if you don't find something for him to do."

OOC: 'Bulkheads' are walls on board ships.

Koi sighs: rescuing people doesn't involve so much explaining in the holovids.
But she should probably let Captain Ploon know what she promised Wix and his people in order to get everyone rescued.  And maybe he has some ideas about how to make it work.  "Right, I probably should talk to Torin myself. I'm guessing he wants to know what happened once I found out you were not there. Let him know I'll be there in a few minutes, please? I just need a quick zap in the sonic shower."   She really wasn't obsessed with being clean, but she thought it might be easier to take her and Wix seriously if she was clean and dressed neatly.  She wanted to do her best for Wix.


After one of the more efficient sonic showers in her life, Koi was scrubbed pink and neatly dressed in a wrapped tunic with matching trousers fastened with wood buttons. The mottled greens of the tunic and wide legged pants seemed to echo the sunlight leaves of a forest and probably would blend into a tree quite well. She found Wix (hopefully not taking the ship apart) and crouched down so she could speak to him quietly. "I think it would be good for us to tell Captain Ploon about our plan to help you and your people. Is that agreeable to you?  I trust him and he has a lot of experience and good advice."

Wix shook his little head in agreement, and than disagreement.

"Wix don't know. Talking good, but relation with other Jawa complicated now. Wix owe debt."

Koi sits back on her heels. "Is this something I can help with?  I know we borrowed the droid, but we can probably give him back.  In addition to that, I was hoping that bringing assistance from the New Republic would be considered making good on your community's investment in us. Is my understanding incomplete or wrong?" She asked thoughtfully.  Koi had only put together her understanding of the Jawa with intuition and (so far) good guesses.  But it is better to learn than rely on luck -- hopefully Wix can explain this to her and she can help him do right by their commitments.

"Jawa share everything" Wix replied, beginning to take the long way around to answer the question "Many families or clans on one sandcrawler. Work together, share together, live together. Everything belong to all, and noone. Wix took droid for Wix and friends, not for Jawa. If wix owe to other Jawa, Wix not sharing. Meaning..." He left the thought trail on, looking at the ground, beginning to mope again.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:03, Thu 10 Dec 2020.

"Oh Wix.." Koi exclaims softly. She wanted to hug him -- but she wasn't sure if Jawa were hugging people. "I'm so sorry that saving my friends caused you so much trouble. It is very brave that you were willing to help me anyway."  She asks after a moment, "will you tell me if any of our plans will cause you trouble? I should have been more careful to ask until I understood properly. I will be a better friend," she promises.

Wix nodded slightly "Wix understand. Do again. Did right thing. Difficult life for Jedi."

There was a slight pause "We become Jedi, right?"

Koi considers thoughtfully, “if you would like to learn than, I’d like to learn with you.” She says in Jawa. “I’m not much for fighting, so I’m not sure if I’ll be very good one. It’s hard to imagine fighting like those spirits did. But I think it was good to help the old ghost and my friends. And it’s nice to even just see more about the world around us. I'd like to learn more about that, even if I am not very good at it.”  She grins, "but you can already do amazing things -- like walk through a wall.  I wouldn't try it on a ship -- but it was very magical. Surely you will be a superlative jedi."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:25, Fri 11 Dec 2020.

Wix nods in agreement "Jedi defend others. Last Resort. No attack others." Wix put his hands together and waved them around "Still, Wix build lightsaber. Only Jedi make. Wix learn how. Make greatest lightsaber ever!"

"Yes. You already have some of the parts, which I think is a good sign." She considers for a moment, perhaps showing up at the New Republic as two jedi will give them more authority to ask for help on the Jawa's behalf. "If we tell Captain Ploon, I think he will help us. Not only with helping the Jawas, but I think also with finding how to make a lightsaber. We explore a lot of places on this ship -- surely we can find the right materials on one of the planets that we explore?"

"Of course I'll help" The Kel Dor pipes in, having left his compartment. "Although, it's a rather large task."

"The Jedi have been gone for more than a generation, folks largely figured they were gone and never coming back. Now though, there's talk that there is a Jedi somewhere. That she was the one who defeated the Emperor and saved all of us, and that she's still out there in some part of the galaxy."

The captain leaned against the bulkhead of his ship with his arms crossed "You two would be the last people I think anyone would expect to become Jedi, but I guess that's kind of the point. Either way, I guess it's a good thing you both are here, and not just because this is twice now you've saved our lives."

Koi beams at both of them, but admits. "It is a lot. I am proud to be able to help Wix with translation, but I'm..well..I'm shy. I don't have a lot experience advocating for anything this big -- Wix is charismatic and a good diplomat for his people, but I want to help too. I hope you can help me find the right person to talk to about help for the Jawa people. They helped a lot, and they have been bullied a lot by the First Order. I think the New Republic might be able to free Tatoonie if they have the Jawa's help."

She sighs, not used to the idea of being a Jedi. "Well, I think it would be interesting to meet this person. But we should be careful in our travels too.  I think the Emperor's death..stirred up some ghosts. Like smoldering coals stirred up by an ill wind. A good one helped me, but we met an angry, bad ghost in the desert -- he's at peace now. But if someone with bad intent stirs one up, they could cause a lot of harm. The ghost Wix and I met threatened to destroy Tatooine City..and I think he could have done it.  So we might find more like him too.  Or some ambitious person might find one think they can make a deal..that might even be worse." Koi rubs her arms as though cold.  Surely her and Wix wouldn't be so foolish, but some of those bad people that Oro thinks make up so much of the galaxy: the swindlers and the spoilers..well, they might have.

Being a Jedi and/or meeting Wix has made Koi a lot more chatty.  This is probably as much as she's ever said all at once.  Koi shifted from foot to foot, as though she's feeling like she's talking too much.

Torin shook his head slightly "That's quite the story. Wish I could have been there to see it. If you two really are all that, I'm sure we'll be seeing even more than an angry ghost before too long."

"As for help with his kind, that's a difficult problem to fix. Nobody has a strong presence and control of the Outer Rim for millenia, and I think we should stop trying. Haul every last person out of Tattooine and leave the natives to themselves. Course, even if we were going to do that, getting the First Order out of town is still the first order of business. I don't know how we're going to do that. All I know is we got our own mission to accomplish first."

He pushed himself off the bulkhead, raising his hands in an unknowing gesture "Who knows, maybe we'll find another sandblasted planet in our expedition, and we can just put all the Jawas there to live on their own. Wouldn't that be something?"

Koi chuckles, clearly proud of her friend. "Wix is all that. I'm just trying to help."  But her merriment fades quickly, "I know it's too big a bite for us now, but I'm hoping maybe you and Mel can help me be more..I dunno..better at convincing people to listen. I think whatever help the New Republic gives the Jawa should be up to the Jawas, but they've been made unwelcome and silent on their own home planet for a long time.."  She frowns, glancing at Wix. "I'm not sure how to fix that. I might have to get a lot wiser to even try." 

She glances over to AG, "speaking of getting wiser..can you talk to him? Oro thinks he needs a Captain Space Dad..."

"Ohhh, the infantry" Torin mused "They commonly refer to senior leaders as being their Mom or Dad. I don't get it, and makes my glad I went into Aviation." He brushed the thought away with a hand "I'll give the young man a talk, but we'll do it on his time scale. At a time like now, if I went in there, he'd probably think I'm being overbearing, invasive, and predominantly trying to recruit him to the Resistance, which he wouldn't be wrong about. Even a grunt like him has to know something, and I'm sure there's folks who would want to find out what that is."

"Complex problems don't have simple answers, whether it's a planetary diplomatic matter or a young man trying to redefine himself. My own experience says to let him know that there's an open door, and let him come to us when he's ready to do so."

"Speaking of ready, I'm sure Mel could use a hand in the cockpit..." There was a slight laugh, and odd sound from a Kel Dor with his mask "I'm sure he'll love to meet our newest, smallest crew member too."

Koi feels like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders just from talking to Torin. The reminder that not everything can -- or should -- happen all at once makes her feel like she might be able to accomplish those mountain-high goals eventually. And his thoughtful manner takes the sting out of being wrong. "I didn't think of that. I'd assumed that anything AG told me in confidence should stay there. Just like Wix or Oro or anyone else. I can't imagine doing otherwise. I suppose if he told me something really bad was going to happen, I'd tell you -- but I'd like to think he'd tell you himself if he thought innocent people would get hurt."  Koi admits innocently.

He might brush aside the idea of being Space Dad, but Koi secretly thinks Oro might be right about Captain Ploon having a paternal vibration in the Force.

She smiles a grin that looks younger than she's looked before.  Like rescuing them and meeting Wix -- and even meeting AG -- has filled in some of the grieving places in her heart with hope. "Yes Captain," she agrees, Wix and Mel will either get along like seeds in a pods..or thunderously. "Come'on Wix, Mel's great.  He's really good at fixing things -- you'll have lots to talk about."

The ship being so small and compact, the journey to Mel's "office", the cockpit of the ship, was not long at all. There was a hearty greeting the moment the hatch began to open.

"Well, there she is! The hero of the day. Come on in little beansprout. You're just in time, we're about to come out of hyperspace. Get to have the first set of eyes on a brand new system, and a fat pile of credits, if we're lucky..."

There was a slight pause as Wix entered his field of view "Ahhh, and there's the other half of the daring rescue. The Jawa who jury rigged a combat droid, is now aboard our ship. I had thought you had stayed back on Tattooine. Well, I guess this gives me the chance to thank you in person."

Koi slides in the co-pilot seat and chuckles..okay, it's mostly a giggle..at Melveleh's superb introduction -- just like she and Wix stepped off a holovid. "Unfortunately, Wix's family is pretty mad about him borrowing the War Droid." She winces a little at the oversimplified summary of the culturally complex situation. "And we're friends, so he's going to stay for a while." Koi feels very lucky to have a friend like Wix -- and that they are both the kind of person that can be friends so easily.  Maybe the Force is helping! Maybe they're both just too young and naive to be suspicious of each other.

"Thank you for flying us out of there while everyone was yelling, Mel." She says sincerely. "I think we'd still be in the hanger if you weren't being practical."

As Mel starts prepping the sensors for their exit from hyperspace, Koi practically vibrates with excitement. A whole new world to explore!

"Often times, the voice of reason is silence. Remember that kiddo. Now, here we go. Exiting hyperspace in 3...2...1" As Melveleh counted down, Wix shuffled himself into the co-pilot seat to better watch the view.

On the count of 1, the streaking mess of hyperspace faded away into real space. The Herglic let out an exciting whoop of delight as the first sight came into view

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 "Whoooo ya. We got ourselves a system, and got at least one planet around a main sequence star. Alright there beansprout, lets turn on the sensors, and tell us the goods."

As he relayed instructions, Wix sat up in the large chair and started to marvel at the controls, to which he was chastised.

"Hey, don't touch anything. Everything on this dash is exactly where it needs to be..."

"Oh, there is are some other planets too." Koi announced as she methodically manipulated the sensor arrays. She focused on her task, and while she didn't have the graceful fluidity of a true expert she was learning steadily under Mel's teaching. "I looks like there is at least one planet around that gas giant -- it looks like it has an atmosphere, but I'll have to get closer to get a more specific composition."  She frowns, "Oh and there is a small planet near the sun - no atmosphere.  And a second planet with..um..some different kind of atmosphere and well..it looks like it has some debris around it.  Like something exciting happened to it a long time ago."

She looks up at Mel. "Which one should we investigate first? I'm not sure the satellite around the gas giant is a natural structure.  It could just have a high metal composition, but it might be artificial."

"What did I just say?" You hear as Melveleh doesn't answer your question immediately.

"Sorry there beansprout. Your friend here is...fidgety" He says to try and be diplomatic. "I'll bring a pass around the gas ball. Seems like that's the only real prospect we have out here." He starts working the navicomputer "Any new system is worth at least knowing about, but unless these moons have buried treasure, we're not getting our payday..."

The Gas giant has an immense gravitational pull, which is probably why it has so many moons and of such large size, nearly planet sized themselves. Four of them were completely uninhabitable, either for having no atmosphere or being entirely toxic to most life. Ten or so, including the one you already scanned, appear to have a breathable atmosphere.

[

Koi jumps a little before she realizes that Mel's glower was aimed at Wix. She carefully hides a smile, "Go easy on him Mel -- it's his first space trip."   She leans forward eagerly, perched on the edge of her seat. "Ooh..is the bigger one green?  Maybe it has trees!"

She turns to Wix, "What do you think?  Any of the planets seem promising to you?" Koi pauses an idea occurs to her -- perhaps she can sense life on the planets using the Force.  Maybe if one has a good presence in the Force, they should visit it first.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Sat 19 Dec 2020.

"A couple of these look like a promising vacation home for me or Oro, but that's not what we're here for..."

The planet was quite odd, in that the moons around it seemed oddly paired. Two of the planets were largely barren; atmospheres and gravity that could probably sustain life, but "the spark" of life never happened on either, just endless rocky terrain and canyons with occasional sources of water. Two others were populated with dormant volcanoes that had each created strong cave systems as the lava cooled and water slowly eroded. Two were almost entirely covered in water, with groups of islands spotting the surface. Some were large but none so large to be defined as a "continent". As Mel suggested, likely picturesque of what one may describe as "paradise" but not satisfying the mission.

The last two though, might. On either side of the gas giants orbit is a planet seemingly well suited for life and habitation. Temperate plains and grasslands, with some forests, and even the mountainous areas seemly largely habitable.

You feel something on two of these planets. On one of the island worlds, there's a peculiar sense on one of the islands. A remnant of some kind. But not quite what you had sensed with the angry ghost on Tatooine.
Both of the grassland planets seem to be full of life, but one seems to be much stronger. Though it's impossible to make anything out of it. One has a distinct sense of having thoughts.

"I don't know Mel," Koi suggests, half in dry jest, as she focuses the sensors on 'force presence' on the island planet.  "Maybe a little vacation would be good for Oro.  She's pretty annoyed with me right now.  I wouldn't mind if she could relax for a few days."

Maybe there was some kind of structure where it was coming from..something that would give them a clue about whether it was friendly or not. Koi didn't expect that she was particularly good at picking up the subtleties of the Force. But if she saw a big, black spiky castle decorated with skulls, she might give it a skip.

"She's a tadpole, and a soldier. Folks like her are always annoyed by something, whether they vocalize it or not. Still, after being prisoners and set for death twice in as many days, a means to vent could probably do us all some good. I'll bring her in, try to find a suitable spot to land."

As the Gamorrean Rose entered the atmosphere and touched down, the sense you were feeling became simultaneously more clear and more confusing. Whatever it was, was beneath the water, but too deep to be able to perceive. Of course, the idyllic view of the surface of the moon and planet it orbited could be quite distracting...

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/bc/2...54d6c90c59b348f6.jpg" data-lightbox="images-msg-54">https://i.pinimg.com/564x/bc/2...54d6c90c59b348f6.jpg" alt=''>
This message was last edited by the player at 21:44, Tue 22 Dec 2020.