STAR WARS VII: A NEW WAY

[lari]

A not quite as long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

A young Jedi Knight was cursing whoever decided to live in Tatooine.

Pollux Trikaan was irritated. The sand and the heat was killing him. His ship was parked in the outskirts of the town he was currently visiting with only his-his brother's, actually-Droid watching over it. The seventh town he's visited, to be specific, which alone was enough to tick the impatient boy off. And to top it all off, he was on the hunt for a girl who he's never seen before on a planet that's way too big for one man to search. But something about the town he walking toward now seemed right. He could feel it.

"Be careful, Lux. Every move you make now is very important and will determine where your future lies," came a voice to his right. He glanced toward the sound, though he knew what he would see. A transparent man walked next to him, looking like an exact copy of Pollux. If he didn't know better, he would think it was his conscious physically speaking with him. But no, it was his twin brother.

This wasn't the first time Castor had talked to him in this way. It didn't happen often, but whenever Pollux did something stupid or was in grave danger, Castor appeared. It was funny how he still looked like Pollux, even as a ghost. When he died, he still had the Padawan haircut-the pony tail, braid, and all. But that was all gone, like how it was all gone with Pollux.

"Funny. Wise words for one who never even became a Knight," Pollux mused, his Coruscanti accent thick. His ghost of a twin knew it was only teasing. That's all they ever did. They would tease and play around. Pranks weren't uncommon and most people never knew which was which when they were both alive. But they also were fierce fighters, especially when together, and what one lacked, the other made up for with excellency.

"Death makes people wise, oh brother. Which you may or may not be getting into in the next couple of months. Hell, next couple of hours, even, if you screw something up." The idea of death didn't worry Lux. Sometimes he even wanted to die. Life wasn't the same without his twin. He was left with the burden of their Father, complaining that his precious first born, the more force-sensitive of the two, was dead and he was stuck with the horrid Pollux. Then there was the Jedi Council, loading him with missions to keep his mind off of his twin, afraid he would fall into depression, which would only lead him to the Dark Side. Missions he wasn't ready for. Like capturing a Rogue Jedi that may or may not be better than him. Sure, he'd been a Jedi Knight for five years, but for all he knew, he could be up against some Master. It's not like the Council bothered to tell him anything about this chick. "I don't want you to die yet. I'm having way too much fun watching over you. If we're both dead, the rest of eternity's going to be boring! Don't be stupid."

"I thought wasn't supposed to be afraid of death. Fear leads me to the Dark Side or something crazy like that," Lux said with a smirk. "Now leave me. I have a mission to do, 'member?" It's not like he didn't enjoy these lovely talks with his twin. It just made him remember everything that could have been if he was alive. Seeing him, looking as if he was also 28 and walking through the sand with Pollux broke the living boy's heart.

Pollux entered the bar-the center of all towns. If there was anyone who knew this Ex-Jedi chick, they would be at the bar. Maybe even the lady herself would be there. Many stared openly at Lux as he walked in. His Jedi outfit, cloak flowing behind him and lightsaber clearly visible, made it clear who he was. Was that a good thing or not? Did the people here respect or despise the Jedi? He should have done more research on this before coming. Not like he had time. He came back to the Capital from a mission trying to make peace on a planet approaching civil war, only to get his wounds healed and have him pushed back onto his ship. He sat down on a stool and ordered a drink as he surveyed the crowd. He knew three things:

The Rouge Jedi was female. That cut the possibilities in half, at least.

She was human. Which helped even more, as the planet didn't seem to have a majority human population.

And her name. It's not like he could go asking for her, as people would get suspicious and if he asked the wrong people, she would know he was after her and she would hide. But he could keep an ear open for her name mentioned, at least, and be able to confirm it was her when-not if-he found her. Tamaya Neetu.

---

Lux has an uncanny resemblance to Ben Barnes.

He enjoys his Jedi costume's style to look similar to this crazy Padawan here, except with a bit lighter shades of brown. Can't have it too dark, now, as he is in Tatooine.

His lightsaber is blue, which shows that he is an act-first-think-later Jedi warrior.

[Purple]

"You're crazy Grando!" Tamaya snapped, her voice low but no less heated for its loss of volume. "And you can tell your boss that if he seriously thinks he's going to get a Jedi escort for that price he's got bantha dung for brains."

The whole tavern went silent for a moment as the door opened. Normally that was nothing strange, people went in and out all the time, after all, but the newcomer was a Jedi Knight. That much was obvious from his clothing and, of course, the lightsaber. The dark-haired girl studied him for a moment, wondering what he was doing here. Jedi didn't just wander through towns like this. Something was up. He was young, though not so young that he was still a Padawan. He was a Knight, but not yet a Master, that was for sure. There was something else too, something just a little bit off. The Force was strong with him, but his feelings weren't like every other Jedi's. He leaned, not towards the dark side, not even towards her way of thinking, but just, away from the traditional Jedi thinking, just ever so slightly. The young man sat down at the bar and conversation picked up again, including her own, forcing her attention back to the matter at hand.

"He says you owe him for the shotty job you did keeping those smugglers out of trouble," the thug sitting across the table from her replied. The girl only rolled her eyes.

"Those smugglers went looking for trouble! It shouldn't be any surprise that they found it," she snapped, "I did the best I could, but it was two Jedi against me and that idiot with the blaster you hired, and he was dead a minute into the fight. There was nothing I could do."

"You could have killed them," Grando said, his croaky voice grating on her nerves more than ever. Tamaya stood up, knocking her chair over, and grabbed him by the front of the shirt.

"I've told you, and I've told the boss from the very beginning, I don't kill Jedi," she growled, her voice low but rising slightly at the end. The urge to choke him with the Force or simply slice his head off with a quick flick of the lightsaber was tempting, indeed, but she wouldn't go down that path again. Anger was one thing. Murder was quite another. Instead she released the man with a push, sending him back into his chair with a thud. She had hoped he would fall over, but he didn't. The human began to walk away, intending to get one more drink at the bar and then leave, however, Grando had different plans as usual.

"You still owe him, girl," he said, standing up.

"I owe him nothing," she snapped without turning around. There was the sound of a blaster being unclipped from a holster. Tamaya clenched her fists. With that Jedi here it would be beyond stupid to pull her lightsaber now, and her blaster wouldn't do her much good when he had a head start on her and she would likely miss when she spun around anyway. She closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts and feeling the Force moving around her. She let all the anger and frustration float away for the moment, focusing only on her next move. A moment later Grando's blaster had flown out of his hand and across the room. While he was looking at it a fist hit him square in the nose, crunching bone and drawing blood. He did fall down this time, and Tamaya left the bar and got into her speeder, forgetting about the drink for now.

---

Tamaya looks a scary lot like Neetu Chandra

Her outfit is made up of these pieces and looks something like this when she's wearing it, only with the jacket unzipped and the belt lower.

Her lightsaber is purple, meaning she has a different way of thinking than the traditional Jedi teachings, but at the same time, she is not a sith and always touches on but never crosses the line to the dark side. She also carries a blaster at all times.

[lari]

Pollux was distracted away from his drink when he saw the girl knock over the chair. He got a strange feeling about her. Was she the Rogue he was looking for? (No, these are not the Rogues you are looking for.) She was strong with the force, but also different than anyone else he had met. Maybe she was just force-sensitive and not trained in the Jedi Academy like the rest of us? "I don't kill Jedi," he heard her say. OK, so maybe she was the Rogue he needed to find. She fit two of the three small bits of information he was given--female and human--and since he didn't know her name yet, there was a good chance this was the girl. He had a gut feeling telling him this was Tamaya. And they were usually right.

Tamaya was walking away, but the creature--Lux wasn't sure of the species of it--pulled a blaster on her. Pollux stood up, not liking were this was going, which gained the attention of some of those around him. He did not come all the way to Tatooine just to have the person he was collecting to die. He didn't know what the Council had planned for her, but he didn't think they were going to kill her. It wasn't the Jedi way. And it had to be important if they were sending Jedi who could be doing much more important things after her.

It had been a long time since population of Jedi almost disappeared. They learned about it in the Academy a little, but Pollux could tell that they were afraid--actual fear from the Master Jedi--of history repeating itself. Luke Skywalker was only a legend, with so many stories about him that it was hard to separate the truth from the false gossip. The word Sith was a curse word. The Empire was a name used in scary children stories, in ways that convinced them to eat their veggies and share their toys. They were supposedly in a time of "Peace." But peace didn't exist. Moons declaring independence from their planets, civil war among the species of another planet, and one planet trying to take control and rule their whole sector. There were plenty of things the Jedi needed to do. Maybe that's why he was sent to find the Rogue. The Jedi needed more hands, ones with more experience than a Padawan, to help get everything in control. Maybe there was actually a point to this mission.

Tamaya threw the blaster away with the force and punched the dude. Pollux resisted the urge to cheer and ask for a high-five. She continued to walk, and Lux followed her out. She got into her speeder and left. "WAIT!" he yelled, as if that would help. Well, there's no way Lux can catch her on foot. He went to a stand near the bar, with all different types of vehicles. Pointing to the one nearest to him, a hovering motorcycle with the keys idiotically placed on the seat, Lux said, "You will let me borrow this."

Obviously, the man was weak minded. "I will let you borrow that." Lux could tell he wasn't the manager of the store, but only an idiot employee. He almost felt bad that he would be getting the kid in trouble. And worse that he would probably never get the chance to return it to him--it never seemed to work that way in the past.

"May the force be with you," Lux said out of habit, speeding off. There was no way that he would be able to catch up to the speeder completely, but he was slowly closing the distance. If only he could use the force to stop her vehicle like his father--or as the old man preferred to be called, Master--had done before. Lux looked around, trying to figure out why he suddenly felt like this was a bad idea. Then he saw one, his head poking out from above on the cliff. He was far away, and not paying attention to Pollux, but to the speeder. The sand person pointed his weapon, lining his weapon up with his target. If only his Master would let him carry a blaster, then the bugger could be dead by now. But there were other methods. "WATCH OUT, TUSKEN RAIDERS," he yelled, hoping she would hear him. The one hiding up able the cliff seemed to be startled at this, just now noticing the second one. But his attention was distracted away from the girl for now.

Lux waved his hand, and the Raider lost balance, falling off the cliff and down into the valley. But naturally when there's one, there's a dozen more. Two Sand people popped out of no where and jumped at him. Lux fell off his vehicle, landing on the ground with a roll. He quickly jumped up, lightsaber now in his hand. He saw his stolen vehicle ended up crashing into the side of the cliff in the process of this. Yup, I don't think I'll be returning it. Lux stood with his blue lightsaber in front of him like a shield, staring down the two Raiders, waiting for them to make their first move. I knew there was a reason I never liked Tatooine.

[Purple]

Tamaya had been eyeing the sand people peering over the cliffs for some time, wondering when they were actually going to pounce. She knew there was no point in trying to blast them yet, especially with the Jedi on her tail. That would only bring out a full-scale attack whereas if they came for her they might only send a few which she could easily kill and scare the rest off. She looked over her shoulder at the shout, shaking her head. This Jedi was clearly not from Tatooine. The natives like herself knew how to handle the sand people, but foreigners always got in trouble with them. She would have ignored his warning and kept going, but now he was in trouble, and she had enough of a conscience that she couldn't just leave a Jedi to his fate.

She pulled the speeder to a sudden stop, hopping out and running towards the boy, who had managed to crash his vehicle and get two of the raiders pissed off. He had his lightsaber out now, ready to fend them off, but his back was unprotected, and there would be more. Tamaya pulled out her blaster and shot down one of the raiders as soon as she was close enough, leaving the other for the Jedi. When she reached him she turned, her back to his, and sliced the heads off of two incoming sand people. There were several more seeming to be about to come down from the cliffs and attack, but seeing their comrades fall so easily they scattered. She knew, however, that they would only be going back to their banthas to get more weapons and perhaps greater numbers.

"Come on!" she said, heading back to the speeder which had thankfully been left untouched. "They'll be back."

[lari]

Blasters were always frowned upon among the Jedi, who taught Lux never to use one. He didn't see what was wrong with them; it seemed so easy and useful when Tamaya used hers. Maybe a little too easy, like a life shouldn't be killed that easy. But was that so wrong? He was going to kill him anyway, what makes a different if it was don't in an easier, less personal way? When the fellow Jedi blasted one, Lux immediately attacked the other, easily getting rid of both of them. It reminded him of Castor, who always had his back, as Tamaya literally had his back.

The rest of the Raiders seemed to run, but that didn't make Lux feel good. The battle obviously wasn't over. He knew Tusken Raiders didn't give up that easily. Lux nodded at her suggestion to run. Sure, the Sand people were much like animals, but Lux didn't do slaughter. He wasn't willing to kill all of them. Murder, no matter the species, was not something Lux believed in. He was taught that anger and hate and murder led to the dark side. And even though some of the Jedi ways weren't things Lux liked, he did believe in this rule.

Hopping into the side seat of the speeder, Lux looked behind the vehicle to make sure none of them came up from behind as the got away.

He couldn't wait to get off this planet, that was a fact.

[Purple]

Tamaya focused on driving, letting the Jedi look out for sand people, though she didn't figure they would be much trouble to them now. Tusken Raiders were known to ambush, to flee easily, and to come back stronger, but they were not known to give chase. Their mode of transportation was banthas, which were far too slow to be any sort of challenge to her speeder, and the sand people themselves were rather stocky creatures designed to be hardy, not fast. Still, it was good to be careful and get out of there quickly.

"I'm Tamaya, but I expect the Council told you that," she said, "How is Master Xenbar, by the way? Still alive?" She wasn't sure why the Jedi Council would want to send someone after her, or what his "mission" was exactly, but to figure out that the Jedi trailing her had been sent by them was a no-brainer. The only reason he'd be on her tail if they hadn't was if he was a Rogue like herself or a Sith. She didn't sense that he was either. The Force was strong with him for sure, and his feelings were rather conflicted, but he still reeked of Jedi Knight. He was still stuck in their ways, for the moment at least.

((Master Xenbar=oldest Jedi Master, considered the wisest and strongest with the force. He's basically Yoda, but in this millenium. He'll be an NPC later when he's actually in the picture. He was always Tamaya's favorite of the Council, and he didn't really want to kick her out but was overruled. He's probably the most flexible of the Jedi Council as far as the ways of the Force go.)

[lari]

"I'm Pollux," not Castor, he thought the last part. He chuckled a little. "Master Xenbar is very much still alive, though some of the other masters aren't happy with him. You tell one poor Knight that it's actually okay to grieve the loss of your very own twin, and everyone starts to think you've gone to the dark side. It's a crying shame." Lux shook his head at this. Even though his voice was light hearted, it was a very serious matter. Even his own father, a Master himself, said not to grieve, but Xenbar disagreed and explained it was a natural process of all creatures to do. They haven't turned on Xenbar of course, as he is the wisest and best of them all, but their opinion of him was a bit tainted. The Jedi have gotten stricter than ever on the Jedi morals, afraid that Jedi will turn to Sith. But fear is what leads to the dark side, so fearing of people fearing is in fact making themselves vulnerable to the dark side. Crazy how logic works. "He told me to tell you 'I've never lost faith in you.' That probably means something important to you."

"As you've already probably figured out, I'm here to bring you back to the Jedi Council. Don't ask me why, because I of lowly Knight status am much to young and niave to understand the ways of the almighty Masters. I don't think they're going to kill you or anything harsh, if you're worried. I have strict orders to bring you back alive, which is quite unusual at this time." He didn't want her to think she was going to be harmed. He wanted her to come willingly with him. "That probably doesn't sound convincing... I'm a fighter, not a presauder. The Masters obviously don't know what they were doing sending me on this mission." No, they probably did. They were thinking, 'Let's send Pollux so he has no time to himself to make sure he doesn't fall into depression.' Did they not realize that missions were more depressing than free time? Missions reminded him that Castor was supposed to be at his side; free time, which he never had much of and doesn't associate with Castor, gives him time to meet knew people and relax.

"So what do you say coming along with me? Maybe on the way taking you back to this horrid planet we could even stop somewhere actually pretty to make all this worth while? Vacation sounds nice, huh?" It was more for him than her, actually. It would be easy to say they got held up with some Galatic problems along the way when really they were relaxing it up on the mountains of Qutowe or swimming in the clear oceans of Cereoi. He needed some vacation time.

[Purple]

"It is a shame," she said, none of the sarcasm or light-heartedness to be found in her voice, "That's why they kicked me out of the Jedi Knights, you know. Grief. Granted, my coping mechanism was violent revenge, so perhaps it wasn't so awful of them." She smiled at the message from Master Xenbar, glad to hear from him after so long. Pollux was right. It did mean something. It meant the world to her. Master Xenbar had trained her master, who had been like a father to her. They had taught her that emotions were normal, even the darker ones. Anger, fear, grief, all these things happened; they were meant to. What they weren't meant to do was consume you.

Unfortunately it was this last that hadn't stuck with her the first time around. When her master was killed, she went on a hunt for his murderers, and it wasn't until after she'd killed all five of them that she realized her error. The Jedi Council found out, and despite Master Xenbar's assertion that she would learn from her mistakes, she was expelled. It was good to know that he still had faith in her, that he hadn't come to believe that she was dangerous and unstable as the rest of them did. Ironically enough, she was probably more stable than all the masters wasting their time pretending their emotions didn't exist.

"If they believed I was a Sith then they would definitely not know what they're doing sending you. You're far too conflicted right now, too vulnerable to the appeals of the dark side to go after a Sith master alone. They could think I'm a Sith's apprentice, but more likely they'd come get me themselves, not sent you on a retrieval mission, if that were the case. I'm guessing they've been sensing some strength in the dark side and want to make sure I don't have anything to do with it and won't in the near future," she said, more thinking out loud than explaining it to him. She had been watching the actions of the Jedi Council with shrewd cynicism for the past few years and was getting better at guessing their manner of thinking.

"At any rate, I'm not coming with you, not quietly anyway. I happen to like Tatooine, and knowing the Council, it could be a while before they let me back here, though I'm up for a spontaneous vacation, and I imagine you need one," Tamaya said, grinning. He was right, Tatooine was a horrid planet, which was both why she loved it and why she needed to get off of it for awhile at the moment. She didn't need to be dealing with Grando and his boss and the Jedi Council at the same time. If she was lucky she would avoid dealing, maybe get to know a handsome young Jedi Knight, and then go back to her normal. But of course, she really doubted she would be.

[lari]

Pollux just shrugged as she tried to guess what was going through the heads of the Jedi Masters. "I stopped trying to predict their reasoning years ago," he said somewhat bitterly. It seems like the paranoia of the dark side rising was getting to the better of the best. They made no sense to Lux anymore. "If I had a choice I'd--" Lux paused. He loved conversing with strangers, but there were somethings that not even his closest, most trusted friends could know. Not that he had anyone he would consider close or a friend--the only candidate for that was dead. He wouldn't even want to tell the ghost of Castor what has been running through his mind these days. He loved the force and he loved helping people, but he didn't like being a Jedi anymore.

Castor would beat him if he heard his brother say that out loud. Sure, back when they were both alive, it was a bit fun. Castor, as the oldest, was their father's favorite. Master Trikaan, as Pollux had been instructed to call him, loved only his heir. He taught Castor everything he knew before he was even a Padawan, brainwashing him beyond repair to the Jedi ways. As a little boy, Pollux was jealous of his brother, though he didn't show it. He sometimes dreamed that he would grow up to be the stronger one, and impress his father. But dreams always tends to turn out bad; Castor's now dead and Pollux still isn't allowed to call Master Trikaan, Dad. And even ghost Castor, who shows up every now and then, is so strongly in favor of whatever the Jedi Masters want. It was one of the only differences between the boys--their opinion of the Jedis. And even if Pollux wasn't worried about disappointing his twin, he knew that the moment he decided to become a Rogue like Tamaya, his father would hunt him down. And maybe even kill him.

But that's only if he ever found Pollux.

"Vacation it is!" Pollux sang happily. "Have you ever been to Whitop? Probably not; it's a moon off of Naboo. Not the closest place to go; it's all the way to the Chommell sector. I went their once to stop a civil war. They're at peace now, so it should be fine going there. One half of the moon's mountains and the other half is ocean. They have some pretty fine beaches in the middle of the two halves. It's a pretty popular vacation spot." For honeymoons, usually, he added in his head. He didn't want to say that part out loud, as that would probably make her not want to go there. He wasn't going to try anything on her, he has just always wanted to go there when the place isn't at war. It's not his fault it was a couple hot spot. He grinned with excitement. In the back of his mind, he wondered how he would eventually get her to the Council. It's not like he couldn't not bring her there sometime. But how? Those things weren't important now, though.

[Purple]

Tamaya gave the boy a sideways glance, wondering at his unfinished sentence. She didn't expect him to trust her, in fact she suspected even less friendliness than she had gotten so far, but still he could hide things at least a little bit better. It was obvious he wasn't happy with the Jedi Council, and she was certain that what he would choose if he had a choice was something similar to her way of life. She wouldn't say anything though. Tamaya would not hold with the Jedi's ways of teaching, but she knew better than to try to convince good little Jedi Knights that their masters were wrong. Most wouldn't believe her anyway, and the Council would be on her ass for "corrupting" them or some shit like that, which she definitely didn't need. The Council was on her ass now, but it at least had the semblance of being cordial.

"I've stopped on Whitop once to drop some cargo, on the ocean side," she said, "but I've never stayed. Sounds nice." She didn't add that the cargo had been weapons to fuel the very civil war Pollux had been stopping. It didn't bother her--the Swadi paid well and political matters didn't concern her anyway--but she knew it might offend him a little bit. Still, Tamaya rarely stayed anywhere but Tatooine for more than a few days, and then it was all work. Making deliveries under the Jedi radar and following around the self-declared center of the universe to make sure they didn't get killed was hardly a vacation.

"What sort of ship did you come in?" she asked, "I'd rather take mine, but if yours is small enough we can carry it with us." They were approaching her ship now, which was a newer version of the old J-type star skiffs, but with several modifications of her own. Its cargo hold would fit a small fighter along with her speeder, but anything slightly larger could be attached to the bottom hull and carried that way. The only issue would be making sure it didn't fall off when they jumped to hyperspace.

[lari]

"I don't like piloting, so your ship it is. I have a fighter," he confirmed. "Honestly, it's a a right fowl ship, and I don't care whether we leave it or take it one way or the other. It's one of the left over ships they had lying around at the Temple that one of the masters let me take. I recently crashed mine." He did not want to elaborate on how he crashed it, as that is a long story. It could be fixed, if Pollux trusted anyone to fix the ship. His brother had made it from scratch, and it was a very complex ship that Pollux didn't enjoy to fly-he is a fighter, not a pilot-but it came in handy. No one would know how to fix the unique ship his brother devised. And if they tried, it would never be the same.

"Just as long as I get my Droid first," he told her. "It's just north of the horrid town I found you in." He smiled at thinking of the little Droid. It was just as stubborn as both Castor and Pollux was. And it was better at navigating a star ship than Pollux ever could dream to be. Especially when it came to the Jedi Fighter, which Lux had no hope of working. "I just realized something," Lux said, eyes going wide. "They gave me a one person ship, knowing that I would be getting another person during the mission. I'm starting to think they were more concerned about getting rid of me than they were about collecting you." Lux's eyes narrowed a bit, thinking about the Masters. What were they up to?

[Purple]

"Alright, we'll swing by there and pick the whole thing up. Having an extra ship could come in handy later, and I'd rather not just leave it for the sand people to tear apart," she said. Tamaya pulled the speeder up close to the ship and pushed the com link button. "Open the cargo bay please, 3PO," she said. There was a crackle of dead air before the droid picked up and replied.

"Right away, Miss," the polite mechanized voice said. A moment later the hatch swung down and Tamaya was able to pull the speeder up into the small area, positioning it up against the wall so that they would be able to fit Pollux's fighter as well. She locked down the speeder and closed the bay again, heading for the main part of the ship without looking to see if the Jedi followed. She assumed he didn't want to wait in the cargo bay the whole time. "I sure hope this droid of yours is friendly," she called over her shoulder, "I've got one or two of them around here."

To say that she had "one or two" droids, however, was quite an understatement. Having no one but herself on the ship most of the time, she needed any extra hands she could find, even mechanical ones. She kept 3PO mainly for translations and for someone to talk to when she got desperate, but she also had an R2 unit running around to help with maintenance as well as two medical droids and three pilot droids for when she got tired. She had an autopilot of course, but she didn't really trust it anymore than she trusted the droids, so usually she would set all three of them to monitor the autopilot as it seemed that whatever a human pilot could do took three times as many droids.

"Pollux, this is H-3PO and R2J2, I mostly call them 3PO and Red," Tamaya said as they entered the main control room, motioning to the silver and red droids where they stood off to the side. She sat down at the controls and began preparing the engines for take-off.

"Pleased to meet you, sir," 3PO said in his usual manner.

"Strap yourselves in boys," she called, nearly cutting him off, and began raising the starship into the air. It wasn't really meant for such short trips, so it got a little jittery at times. Best to have everyone secure. As they cruised over to the spot where Lux had left his ship, Tamaya finally commented on what he said about the Masters. "You can fit two people in a one-man fighter if you're desperate enough to, but it's no way to travel long distances," she said, grinning at the memory of that one battle off of Bespin.

"Likely they just didn't think about it or figured that I'd have a ship. Honestly they shouldn't have sent you this far in a fighter anyway. You could have easily been sucked into an asteroid belt and crushed or taken out by another ship. But I've noticed the Council doesn't think too much about individual needs when it's a question of the greater good." She had started out conversational, but there was no mistaking the bitterness at the end.

((just picture 3PO as a silver C-3PO and Red as a red version of R2D2, the other droids will come in later))

[lari]

"Rue is very friendly, thank you," Pollux replied to her, smiling at the thought of his droid. It was probably pacing back in forth on the ship, dying from boredom. If the little bot had things her way, she would go where ever Pollux went, with a blaster in her mechanical hand. Their relationship was to the point where Lux could guess what she was trying to tell him. And even though she didn't have a gender necessarily, Castor had decided that she was a girl, based on her fiery programming.

Lux nodded in greeting toward the two droids she introduced him to; when people introduce droids, that's usually a sign of attachment. If a droid was just a servant to someone, then that someone wouldn't care enough to introduce their droids. He made him happy that she seemed to have a relationship with her droids similar to his and Rue's. That must mean they're good droids, someone who could keep Rue company. Silly thing puts a whole new definition to the word 'bored'.

Strapped in, Lux was unusually silent. He was going through what their plans would be in his mind. Where they would say on Whitop, how to avoid the Council. When he could get to his ship, there was a great chance that the Masters had sent him a message through Rue. He would have to lie to them all. It wouldn't be the first time, but it still makes him nervous. He decided not to continue on with the conversation of his fighter plane and why the Jedi Council sucked royal Bantha dung. He was upset with them; did they not care about him?

When they finally landed next to his ship, Lux stood and headed for the exit. By the time he made it to the cockpit of his ship, the lime green droid was practically attacking him. She was probably saying something along the lines of 'what the hell took you so long?' Her eyes were flashing, telling him he had a message. "Calm down, Rue. What's my message?"

'Pollux, how is your mission? Do I need to remind you of the great importance this is?' the hologram of his father, Master Trikaan, told him. 'You must bring the rogue as soon as possible; it's of utmost importance that you do so. Contact me immediately so I know you are not dead.' Lux glared at where the hologram once was, not pleased with his father.