The team all settled in The Ladies Delight, a J-type 327 Nubian Starship that belonged to a Chiss named, Stres'tron'garmis, or otherwise known as Strong. Ladies in the ship were all former Pit Crew staff and were wearing shorts that Lulaire dislike. They claimed they love wearing it, but her eyebrow rose every time they had to stop a few seconds to pull the shorts down. To keep it from riding up and causing the ultimate wedging.
“Ya, yall do be loving them ultimate wedgie maker, huh?” Lulaire brought up with a simple roll of her eyes, her Selen Country accent really shining through.
“A'righty, got a story for you ladies about poor animals on my farm whose poor coochie was-” She stopped as her datapad beeped. Her ornage hues glanced over and grabbed the datapad.
“We be almost on Endor. The Ewoks know we are comin’ and they dun mind us. They do be warnin’ us about uh–” She squinted at the screen to make sure she understood, “a tribe called B'ilda Behr. They be pretty aggressive but they hadn’t seen them buggers in awhile so they reckon it’s safe.” The Firrerreo looked over to her team wonder if they are prepared. She heard a snort and glanced over to her Narglatch, one of her animals, as it was being very well behaved and just laying there and waiting to get out of this ship.
Stres'tron'garmis stands solidly on the Delight’s bridge, arms crossed as he stares out the viewport, standing behind his pilot.
“Ah, Endor! A forest moon of towering trees and diminutive creatures!” his voice booms…and he isn’t even shouting. “What a wonderful day trip this shall be! I am certain the fine hunters of tribe B'ilda Behr shall be reasonable and polite gentlefolk!”
He smiles and nods to himself, glancing over at the others.
“Please, enjoy the facilities that the Delight offers while we travel, and welcome aboard!”
Meero was in the lower deck of the Delight, with his little Lola droid hovering behind him, admiring the ship’s fine, luxurious engineering.
“This is great!” The little kushiban said, his normally white fur turning a soft yellow. “I’ve always seen Nubian Starships like this from afar, but this is my first time actually inside one!”
“Yeah you can definitely tell these things were made with royalty in mind.” Lola beeped.
“Oh I’d love to get my hands on one of the terminals just to sneak a peek at the schematics.”
Lola then stopped, gave him a disapproving glare and shook as if gesturing “no”.
“Hehe… I’m joking, of course!” The kushiban said embarrassed and rubbing the back of his neck. “Unless…” Suddenly, his datapad began beeping which startled the little lagomorph, causing him to flinch slightly. “Oh! Looks like we’re almost there! C’mon, Lola. Let’s meet up with the others.” As he made his way to the ship’s bridge, Meero stared at his datapad, his little furry finger swiping at the screen going over whatever info he had on Endor. “Mhm… I see… Mostly forested, only 8% surface water… Ewoks…….. dandelion warriors and a mountain that cries? This can’t be right. Who wrote this?”
Asani found she had returned to the bridge from a light stroll around the ship. The “Ladies Delight” she heard it ship was called. The outfits the ladies wore left… little to the imagination and made her armor feel all the more like a shield than anything else.
“Maybe bounty hunting isnt a bad profession” she mumbled, anyone close by wouldve likely heard it as she wasnt truly measuring her tone. Standing at attention she heard the name of their location and considered what shed have to prepare for.
“Maybe for once Ill be the tall one instead of the shortest person around.” she joked half-heartedly.
Lulaire grinned at Strong, “I am sure too! Maybe someone just upset B'ilda Behr tribe by accident and things get lost in communication, that happens quite a bit I reckon.” This was going to be a good trip! Meero and Asani had both arrived as Lulaire gave them a wave.
“So! Here be the picture of the torch–” She pulled up the holoimage of the torch. It was beautiful despite it being a Sith artifact. The flames flickered black and blue and on the inside, it looked like stars. The torch handle itself was pure black, it’s sheen glistened. Then the image went away.
“Okay, we should go meet up with the team!” Lulaire clapped her hands as the ramp lowered with a soft hiss. The humidity hit all of them like a ton of bricks as it doesn’t seem to bother Lulaire. Having to work on a farm, on an island, almost her entire life, it was all she knew. The jungle of Endor was alive with sounds but no Ewoks to be seen.
“Right-o! I believe we have to go… that-a-way!” She pointed to a direction that the datapad inditcated they should go to.
As Meero went down the ramp, he adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath when he saw the beautiful and dense woodland that surrounded them. The air was moist, the trees were massive and it was mostly quiet with the occasional sound of wildlife.
“Ah. Now this warms my heart.” The little kushiban said as his fur changed into waves of yellow. “It reminds me of home.”
His little blue-striped droid, however, staid aboard the ship. “So yeah, I’m sitting this one out, Meermeer.” She beeped.
“Really? That’s not like you.” Meero’s head and ears tilted with confusion.
“Yeah. The notes said Ewoks can be… rough with technology. Which I am. I’d rather not risk getting caught.”
“Well alright then. If you’re sure. I’ll try to keep you posted with the comlink.”
“Alrighty! Remember, if you die out there I’m gonna kill you.”
Meero nodded while smiling at his little droid then proceeded to follow the others.
With confident strides the massive Chiss strolled back the various small Arconans that had been dispatched for th is mission…perhaps Consul Zuza had thought them less intimidating to the local Ewoks.
Except none of them spoke the language, and he did.
“Let us meet the locals! Ah! There!” Strong boomed happily as a batch of Ewoks came out of the brush towards them, clearly attracted by the landing vessel. It was somewhat surprising that they hadn’t remained hiding. Or that they were all wearing black bath robes likely pillaged from the Death Star debris, making them all look like little bears dressed up as Dark Jedi. “How curious,” Strong murmurs, stroking his chin. “They normally are dressed more tribal, it is quite quaint!”
The Ewoks chittered at the Arconans briefly, and Strong turned to the others with spread arms
“We are welcomed!” he bellowed happily, before turning to following the robed Ewoks into the woods. The atmosphere darkened quickly, though the Chiss seemed to not notice, conversing with the locals in short ‘Yubs, Bubs and nubs’, right until they arrived at a clearing under the dark trees, to a stone altar covered in red sticky substances, and the Sith Torch set up over it. He looked down as his guides spoke again, before they produced spears that glinted with a surpising amount of metal.
“Ah. We have been welcomed as sacrifices, hmm. Sith artifacts.” The Chiss shakes his head sadly.
Asani took the details of the artifact in making sure to commit what she needed to memory. Once they were heading down the ramp she took a look around, feeling less than easy about the location. Dense forest areas were good for one thing, an ambush. “Are we sure we’re not just walking into a trap?” she asked the group, noticing Meeros droid friend deciding to stay behind she looked to Meero “Oh she’s staying?” the armored lagomorph asked as she paced down the ramp with him. Once the group followed the robed Ewoks, Asani was staring around, it was weird to be the same height as everyone else for a change. It felt strange. Not in an unpleasant way but certainly different. “Ah. We have been welcomed as sacrifices.” She heard the Chiss state. The armored kushiban let out a long sigh, as if to say “I told you so”.
Lulaire was relieved when they were welcomed.
That was, until it seems the skies had darkened or the forest had grown thicker. She wasn’t sure which. Lulaire was going to ask Strong about it but he was having a conversation with the Ewoks and she did not wish to interrupt. The spears were pointing at them and she felt her hair stood at ends.
“Oooooh. Boy. Okay! I will use.. telekinesis to grab the torch and we gotta skedaddle as fast as our legs can carry us… any objections before we get tied up?”
Fully aware of what was about to happen, Meero discretely used his comlink to contact Lola back at the Delight.
“Lola, you might wanna tell them to keep the engines hot. We may need to make a speedy exit.” He whispered so he wouldn’t agitate the Ewoks.
The Chiss raised his hands in a placating manner towards the Dark Ewoks, who were approaching with spears raised.
“Friends! There is no need for this! We come in good faith, bearing the agreed upon trade goods in exchange for the Torch–” Strong is cut off with a resigned sigh as one of the Ewoks lunged at the little one called Asani. With surprising speed the big man kicked the robed Ewok, sending it flying into the forest with a screeching ‘yuuuuuuuub’.
“It would appear they have chosen violence!”
“Perfect” the lagomorphic woman stated, looking in the path of the torch she reached out for that familiar focus.
“Then I choose chaos” she stated, using the Force to shove all of the Ewoks out of the way, they almost looked like a watery mass flying all over from the strengh of the push, their path to the artifact clear of enemies for the time being. “LETS GO!” she shouted taunting the Ewoks and bringing their focus onto herself.
Seeing Asani part the Ewoks like water on rock and taunting them, Meero smiled at her and set his sights on the torch. “Amazing as always, my star.” He said while raising his hand towards the torch.
He felt the Force flow through him as he called the Sith artifact to him with his mind. Though he managed to pull the torch with ease, he didn’t expect to also pull the Ewok that was holding it. It seems the little guy had quite the grip on it.
“Oh dear…” The lagomorph panicked a bit as he saw the Ewok fly towards him at great speed while possibly cursing in its native language.
“Ah! Well pulled, Meero!”
With a quick grab the Chiss took up the torch, not looking as he hefted it over his shoulder like a javelin and turned back towards the direction of the ship.
“Let us send this to the Delight so that we may more easily make our extraction, friends!” he shouted cheerily, seeming to find the developing melee to be enertaining. With a grunt he threw the torch like a spear towards his ship, blinking as he heard screams as he did so.
“Oh my…” Meero’s eyes widened as he felt himself being lifted off the ground and thrown with great force. “GOODNEEEᴇᴇᴇᴇᴇssssss!!!”
The little kushiban suddenly disappeared in the distance along with the Ewok also holding the torch.
“Let’s try avoid killing them!” Lulaire yelped when the massive Chiss had legit, punted an Ewok as it’s screech had faded away. It wasn’t their fault that the dark artifact had influenced them.
Then it all happened so fast- The massive Chiss, who, bless his big heart, had decided to try to speed things up by throwing the torch like it was some kind of Javelin.
One problem.
A teammember and an Ewok was still rather attached to the torch.
“W-wait!”
Too late.
Screams emerged. A very loud goodnessssss from the poor Kushiban and yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuub from the Ewok. They became a shooting star in the distant.
“You threw Meero! With it!” Lulaire scrambled to run towards the ship where poor Meero and Ewok was thrown.
Seeing the pull Asani was quite impressed, even the Ewok holding the artifact was dragged. She wouldve liked to commend him, if it werent for their Chiss companion suddenly deciding to speed up their extraction and send poor Meero and the Ewok flying.
“MEERO!” Asani yelled as she saw her fellow kushiban be launched along with the artifact and the ewok. “Aaaaand hes gone…” the short woman said before dashing after Lulaire towards their ship.
“Oh…oh my,” rumbled the big man as he realized what he had done. Which was more than enough distraction for a swarm of angry Ewoks to climb him much like a tree, tugging at his shirt and trying to batter him with theirittle hands, a swarm of B'ilda Behrs trying to tear him down for flinging their sacred relic away. He thrashed and tossed a few off, fighting his way back towards the ship with the others
As Meero and the Ewok flew through the air at great speed like a furry shooting star, they began fighting over the Sith artifact in a flurry of scratching, kicking and biting.
“Let! Go!” Meero kept trying to pull the torch away from the feral-acting Ewok. “This is for your own good!”
“Eleeo ehshtee ehda siz!”
“Alright! Have it your way!” Meero then placed the palm of his hand on the Ewok’s chest and unleashed a small telekinetic push. Nothing fatal, but strong enough that it finally made the feral creature let go and fly off in a different direction of the forest. “AHA!” The kushiban exclaimed. However, while he was pleased that he managed to secure the torch, he remembered he was still in the air and was descending. “Oh right…”
He allowed the Force to flow through him momentarily using the various tree branches around him to slow his fall. While he nearly lost his footing, he managed to successfully hop from tree to tree, finally landing on the ground and catching his breath.
“Phew… another happy landing.”
“Oh! No!” Lulaire turned to see the poor Chiss was starting to become overwhelmed by the Bilda Behrs tribe.
“Go help Meero! I be helpin’ Mr. Strong!!” Lulaire shouted at the female Kushiban as she quickly started to run along side with Strong.
“Gonna jump!” The short Firrerreo warned Chiss as she jumped on him and yanked an Ewok off of him and threw the Ewok off. A very high pitched buuuuuuub can be heard and a soft whack as it hit a tree.
“Oh! Sorry!” She shouted after the possibly knocked-out Ewok.
“Cover your eyes!” the small mandalorian shouted at her compatriots. “HEY FURRY LITTLE PESTS OVER HERE!” she shouted at the Ewoks. She made sure that as many eyes were on her as possible before allowing herself to flow, and with the Force create a blinding white light. The Ewoks were left in a daze, screeching, howling, begging for mercy evem. “DONT JUST STARE RUN!” she commanded, continueing to make a run for it toward their ship. I hope Meeros okay… she though as she made her way back as quick as her armored legs could carry her.
With a huffing, the Chiss got back to his feet, shaking his head sadly at the antics of the local tribe. With long strides he begins heading back towards the Delight, barely slowing to scoop his smaller comrades up under each arm as he does so, worried of outpacing them.
“Worry not, friends! The Delight shall speed us to safety!”
With swiftness the Arconans boarded the ship, to the hail-like sound of arrows and spears hitting the hull, scratching the silver paint…but doing little to stop them from taking off, the torch in the cargo hold.
“Waa!” Lulaire exclaimed in surprise when she was scooped up by Strong. Asani was next and she spoke in another language. Assuming with such aggressive emotions behind the words, she figured it was a string curses, maybe all in Mando'a if she had to guess.
“Go go go go!” Meero wasted no time as Strong’s crew, Meero himself, and Lola had fired up the ship as Delight roared to life and sped away.
The team all let out a collective sigh. Meero and Asani checked each other while Lulaire was pulling twigs and leaves out of her hair that it had gathered from the run. The Torch was safe.
“I ain’t doing that again.” She huffed.
Then deep in the cargo depths….
A soft yub bub can be heard, unknownest to the crew.
~ Fin ~