บท 5: Chapter 5: Victory
If you asked Vancil, he would say he had an interesting way of solving problems. He really wasn't sure exactly what it was, or how to categorise it, but he had managed to nail down three different modes his brain would go into if he was in trouble. First was the 'Improvise' mode, where if the situation was not too serious, he wouldn't have to think about it too much and could wing it. This was the mode he was usually in even if he wasn't in danger.
Second was the creatively named 'Uh oh' mode, where he would actually have to think critically about the best and most efficient way to get out of the situation, also giving him a reason to discard some of his personal feelings regarding matters that would affect the situation. This was what he had done with the Mandalorians, and it was why he had even considered allying with the Jedi.
Now though, with a swarm of whistling darts only moments away from piercing and killing the both of them, Vancil's mind switched to the third mode. 'Oh, shit fuck, code red, shit's going down, all hands-on deck'. In scenarios like this, there were only three main priorities to Vancil.
In order it went:
1; Defend all allies.
2; Protect himself.
3; Eliminate the threat.
And he was going to try his damn best to fulfil these priorities.
Step 1: Get the Jedi out of harm's way. His senses heightened as he drew upon the dark side of the force, making everything seem to slow to a crawl. There was a roughly equal amount of whistling darts heading towards her as him, and they were already approaching at a dangerous speed. Looking to his own approaching swarm he deduced that he could likely stop most if not all the darts in a single swarm if he really incensed himself in the force, but stopping both was not possible. He observed the Jedi's position and distance from himself and was surprised to find that she was actually fairly closer than he had expected, about half a meter from him.
His mind swirled with possibilities at a rapid pace as he calculated how much force he could draw on and where to utilise said force. The conclusion he had come to from these intense thoughts unfortunately had the effect of disgusting himself at the very thought of what he had to do to ensure the success of priorities 1 and 2. Of course, that part had been promptly sent into lockdown with the declaration of the emergency mode, so its opinions on the matter had no sway.
Raising his right hand, he reached out with force with blinding speed, seizing all the whistling darts targeting him and stopping them in their tracks. Raising his left hand to the side, Vancil grabbed the Jedi's arm with whatever force he had left to spare, pulling her sharply towards him and out of the line of fire of her whistling dart problem. Unfortunately, much to his own chagrin, to be absolutely sure that his ally was out of the way and protected, he had to go even further.
As soon as the Jedi came within reach of his left hand, Vancil tugged her into a tight embrace, wrapping his arm around her waist as he spun to put his own body between her and the still moving whistling darts, so that even if they managed to swerve to retarget her quickly enough, he would manage to shield her from harm. He braced for the impact of these darts. Thankfully though, instead it had seemed he had acted too quickly for them and they had simply run themselves into the grassy ground harmlessly.
And finally, to round it all out, while he had spun, he had swung his raised right hand down, sending all of the ones he had grabbed whirling back into their owner, the volume of them killing the Mandalorian so quickly he didn't even have a chance to react or even yell in pain.
All in all, the whole sequence of actions only took roughly two to five seconds, he hadn't been counting. He stood still for a few more seconds, not moving an inch and still holding the Jedi close to him as he reassessed and analysed the situation once again.
The breath Vancil had been holding was released in relief as he checked off all the priorities, his tense form loosening as he released his hold on the Jedi and allowed her to stumble away from him as his arms fell to his sides and he took a deep breath.
He chuckled lightly, remarking in his head how this had gone far better then his last 'Oh, shit fuck, code red, shit's going down, all hands-on deck' episode. He tilted his head upwards, idly looking at a gap in the tree cover, the sun shining down through it. Had he forgotten something? He struggled to remember exactly what it was, but he felt like he was missing something important. Looking down however, he remembered it soon enough.
He had just put his life on the line for a Jedi.
*****
Kandria was…shocked. Shocked at many things in fact. Shocked at how close she was to dying. Shocked at how quickly and efficiently the Sith had acted. Shocked at how he had thrown himself between her and danger. That last one was particularly the most shocking.
The Sith had…risked himself for her. He had risked getting a back full of whistling darts to make sure she didn't get any in her. But…why though? She had no formulative or calculative approach to this. There was just no discernible reason for this man, a Sith, to risk his life for her, a Jedi. And then there was the contact. She hadn't really done it much, nor did she have much knowledge about it, but she was sure that was something like a…hug? She was so stumped by all of this in fact, that she failed to decide if she should thank him for saving her life or question his reasoning behind it.
It didn't matter in the end however, as the Sith spoke before she could, "Fuck you, Jedi." He said simply.
He then promptly walked past her in the direction the Mandalorian had pointed in before his untimely demise, leaving Kandria standing there dumbfounded, still staring at where he had been standing. Shaking her head, she whipped around and speed walked up to his side, look at him in confusion.
"Uhhhhh, you want to explain what that was?" She managed to get out.
The Sith didn't even move his head an inch in her direction or change his speed as he replied, "That was an insult Jedi. I know your kind is stupid but surely, you're not that stupid."
"I think you know what I'm talking about." She ignored the quick jab and pushed past his deflection of her question.
She could feel the scowl of the Sith despite not even being able to see it under his mask, "That was something that will hopefully never happen again."
She frowned slightly at him not answering the question properly once again, "Really? Well why did it happen in the first place?" She pressed.
For some reason or another that got the Sith's attention and he walked in front of her before stopping dead in his tracks as he turned to face her. He simply stood there silently as he glared at her through the lenses in his mask, intimidating Kandria slightly much to her dismay.
"…We were still allies at the time." He said after a few seconds of pregnant silence before he turned and continued to walk.
Kandria tensed up as he did this. Not so much as to his core reason, that had offered some answer to her question, rather it was how he had worded it. Were. As in past tense. Kandria stood still for a moment, watching the retreating back of the Sith cautiously as she rested her hand on the hilt of her lightsaber.
But…he hadn't attacked her yet. And he still seemed willing to talk to Kandria instead of trying to behead her. And if there was one thing she had learned about this Sith so far, it was that, like his compatriots, he was a chaotic one, and that trying to make sense of his actions would leave her as baffled as trying to make sense why the Sith do the cruel things they do.
So, she simply remained quiet and followed behind him, not wanting to provoke or even risk the Sith breaking their alliance. After all, they were both essentially in the same boat, and the most reasonable thing to do was to work together despite their differences just what the hell happened.
With this resolution in her mind, she continued on, eventually coming up to walk side by side with the Sith, albeit now it was deathly quiet, the only sounds being that of the crunch of grass and the occasional noise from whatever wildlife dwelled in this forest.
Eventually however, they spotted their destination. Or at least what she thought was their destination. She had never heard of an ST-70 before you see, and only assumed that the box-like ship was their goal due to its silver colour and the yellow stripes going down the length of it.
The ship had landed in a clearing ahead, so both she and the Sith stopped at the edge of it. Kandria reached out with the force to search for any danger or lifeforms near the ship, sensing the Sith doing the same.
"I think we're in the clear." She concluded, glancing to the Sith to hear his own verdict which came in the from of a gruff grunt and affirming nod.
Slowly, they emerged from the foliage, cautiously approaching the ship and entering its already opened hanger bay. Kandria made sure to both keep a hand on her lightsaber and keep an eye on the Sith in case he made any sudden movements towards her. The hanger of the ship was relatively empty however, save for a few seats attached to the sides as well as crates labelled as 'Munitions' strapped to the floor and piled in the corner.
Kandria soon found a small ladder leading up to the cockpit which contained several pilot seats and a myriad of buttons she was at least somewhat familiar with, the Sith soon emerging just after her.
Taking a seat, she tapped on a console, ordering it to bring up a map of their location as the Sith watched from over her shoulder. They appeared to be near the equator of a planet called Krant, the planet itself appearing to be completely covered in the same forest that surrounded them outside the ship, excepting a few ancient ruins of unknown origin.
Frowning she expanded the map to the galactic view, the air getting tense as both she and the Sith awaited the moment of truth. Was the planet controlled by the Sith Empire, or controlled by the Galactic Republic.
The information given, however, was not helpful for answering this. The computer gave them a brief description of where they were in the galaxy; Being a small planet near Bothawui in the Mid-Rim Bothan sector. But then it did not give any information of who controlled it, nor did it give information about who controlled anything anywhere in the galaxy.
The only thing she noticed that would even slightly give her any indication as to who controlled what in the galaxy was a series of enclaves marked by dotted lines, each simply marked as 'CIS'. Slightly confused, she attempted to access the HoloNet but quickly found the signal be atrocious where they were located, as though some sort of signal was blocking it.
Kandria groaned, slightly frustrated at this clearly malfunctioning piece of technology, "I'm going to take off, see if I can access the HoloNet when we're off the planet."
The Sith scoffed as he sat down, buckling himself in, "Well hurry it up then. It's already bad enough watching you fail to locate critical information, but you also have to do it slow."
Kandria rolled her eyes and ignored the Sith's insult, as her Jedi teachings told her, "Taking off in three…two…one."
Slowly the ship lifted into the air, slightly wobbling due to Kandria's unfamiliarity with the ship itself. Thankfully she managed to correct her flying knowledge to fit this ship, an easy task when you considered that she was already familiar with flying.
Once they were high enough above the foliage, Kandria retracted the landing gears and climbed rapidly through the atmosphere, soon breaching into vacuum above the orbit of Krant. And it was at this moment, that the Sith spoke once again.
"Let's make a deal." He said, causing Kandria to turn to look at him as she continued searching for a HoloNet signal, "If we are in Imperial space, I vouch for you. If we are in Republic space, you vouch for me."
Kandria tilted her head curiously, "And you want to make this deal because?"
The Sith swivelled his head to look into the black void of space beyond the viewport, "I may be an asshole, but I'm not a bitch. Call it me repaying you for accepting my alliance offer."
Kandria blinked owlishly as she pondered his admission. She didn't get long to think about it however, as a transmission request suddenly popped up on her display. A sense of hope filling her she answered it immediately, not even pausing to check who was calling before a small hologram appearing before her of a young man with his arms crossed, dressed in what appeared to be leather armour.
The man had a stern look on his face as he spoke, his voice slightly garbled over the transmission, "Mandalorian ST-70, this is Jedi General Anakin Skywalker of the Command-Venator Resolute. You are to surrender yourselves, your cargo, and any prisoners you may have for inspection immediately or face arrest under Republic Law."
Silence filled the cockpit as both she and the Sith stared as the hologram flickered out and three capital ship signals soon appeared on the radar shortly after. Slowly, she turned to face the Sith, who had also turned to look at her, his expression impossible to determine due to his mask.
"…Say, you wouldn't mind being taken hostage again, right?"
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