Varonat's Open Terrain

It had been a long trip. Well, not that long, perhaps. He had to heal and rest first, though, and by the time he had woken up most of the trip had passed. What remained he passed in solitude, waving away visitors, and keeping to himself. He was coping, after all, with a drastic change in his life. He knew little of the Jedi and their ways, and from what he read on the HoloNet, they were indeed a secretive bunch. He knew, though, that they valued calm, control, order, and justice above many things. Knowing this, he strived to instill those qualities in himself. When he judged something, he asked himself if it considered all points of view. If he felt something, he asked where the emotion stemmed from. Why. He asked himself why, again and again. Deep introspection had been his life as he sequestered himself away on the ship; and as he did so, he attempted to access the powers that had been opened to him. It was very primitive, but in the short while he had been at it, he had come to understand he could gain impressions off of people and places. They gave a sort of...energy. Beyond this, he could sense danger - or, more accurately, surges in emotion aimed at him. True power, indeed the ability to effect anything with any measure...it vastly eluded him. Ultimately, though, he needed a teacher. He needed answers.

Exiting the ship, limping slightly from the wound in his leg - though it was well on its way to heal - Janos furrowed his brow at the scene. The Mandalorian - Ellie, he had learned her name was - was talking to a foreign woman. She wore weapons, and seemed comfortable with them, yet...he felt that she was no killer. Her interest was in mending flesh, not rending it. The pair started towards their own ship, but not before Melia came out from hiding, her rifle poised to blast a hole in the stranger. Everyone was edgy. Everyone was ready for a fight. The galaxy was a brutal place, after all. Was there no way to establish trust?

Closing his eyes, he tried to sense the woman. Her intentions. She was a jumble of thoughts - highly intelligent, a whirlwind of options and possible outcomes. Swirling in her mind, though, was one thought above others; the woman was suspicious. No, not suspicious...she had an inkling, an idea, that they held someone they were supposed to meet. His eyes opened, and Janos held up both hands, walking down the ramp towards the group.

"Perhaps violence can be averted, and suspicion put aside. I think our stranger knows Captain Fel...and I think if she were here to cause trouble...he paused, to pointedly look at Melia...then I think she would have shot us down, and taken the burnt corpses to the bounty hunting office to identify molecularly. Even if she is an assassin, then what do we have to lose? We do not have the skill to mend Fel. Our only chance is if she is a doctor. We do not have time for arguments; and asking a single individual to go into a foreign ship - which is armed to the teethm and home to mandalorians - is asking a little much, yes? Let her keep her pistol. It will do her no good between us."

*Ellie gave a small sigh when she heard Melia start yelling out demands to Ami. She turned and headed back down the ramp at the same time Janos did. Janos, something seemed...different about him. Ellie contemplated what it might have been as the man spoke. Then it hit her, he was force sensitive. She closed her eyes momentarily and did a quick feel of the force around him. There were two things she noticed. One, his strong connection to the force. The second was something on him, something small and familiar. She opened her eyes as the objects identity came to mind. A kyber crystal, he had a kyber crystal. She was going to have to ask him about it later.*

*She turned her attention to the other woman as she argued with her droid. One that seemed to have a malfunction of some sort. At Melia's request, Ami disarmed herself and sent the droid, with her weapons, back into the ship. Now disarmed and standing out in the open, the woman still showed no real signs of fear. This brought a ghost of a smile to Ellies face. She was brave, she'd give her that.*

*Casually, Ellie descended the ramp and walked towards Ami. She stopped in front of the other woman for several seconds as if sizing her up. Without a word, she reached into her side pocket and pulled out a flask. Ellie took a swig of the strong liquid inside, feeling it burn in the way down, making her more at ease around the doctor. Barely giving a glance back at the others, she walked past Ami and headed for the CR-70.* "Don't worry doc. I'll get your stuff. I need to stretch my legs anyway."

Melia couldn't roll her eyes hard enough. The package was now walking down the ramp. Into possible danger, and their accounts had yet to be settled. That wasn't ideal. As if getting off Kessel hadn't been a dumpster fire enough, now their meal ticket, and the entire reason Fel was lying flat on his back, was out and about, security-be-damned.She had one job. One job. Protect Fel. And occasionally, help the idiot do the shit he couldn't do (or was too stubborn to believe he couldn't do) himself. Which yes, included asking people she didn't know to disarm themselves, whether they liked it or not. She sat astride the cockpit glass, a leg on either side of the cylindrical structure, and propped the sniper rifle against her shoulder, dangerous end in the air. Looking down at the blonde, who had just deposited her weapons as-asked on the ground, she returned the withering glare with a very rude hand gesture and a wide smile, before replying Yeah. Better. And just for the record, I'd be just fine wasting as much of your time as is necessary, if I felt it was keeping the Captain safe. 'Cause that's my job, lady. Kark. Some doctor. Leaves her med kit elsewhere, and then gets someone else to go get it. Looking to Jashin Hey -- Hopalong Cassidy... don't go getting lost. Far as I know, we haven't been paid yet. And you can keep your fancy wordstuff to yourself. Passengers don't get to make friendly, lengthy suggestions on this ship ...are you getting an impression of my meaning?

He heard Ellie speaking to them behind them, and Janos raised a hand - acknowledging he had heard the words. She was a woman of duty and credits, and not much would change that. He accepted that. He also accepted that there wouldn't be a scenario in which she'd be too understanding of his situation. The truth was that very little mattered now, not in the wake of this latest discovery. He could feel this deep and personal connection to the universe...yet he had no way of delving deeper into that connection without guidance. He listened to Ellie's words, and her explanation that the powers may have awoken as a defense mechanism. This made a lot of sense, actually. Surrounded by so many force-users, their powers thick in the air, and pushed to the edge of survival...it made sense that if he had any sensitivity, that it would awaken now.


"I...I don't know. I don't know anything about, well... any of this. What can you tell me? Just, you know, a primer?" Janos faltered, then. He didn't really know what he was asking. It came crashing over him then, just how out of water he really was. He knew nothing - less than nothing - about all of this. "Where did you get your training?"

"Nine? You were nine when you began? By Jatayus, I'm far behind!" Said Janos, absolutely horrified. He knew they started young, but...that young? He had visions of himself in a roomful of padawans, the only person in his twenties around a bunch of eight and nine year olds. "When do you usually begin training? Is that early, or late? I didn't know there were Jedi on Endor, why were you there? What does it mean to be a Jedi? What is a Sith? What..." Janos caught himself, as he practically vomited questions upon the poor woman. Clearing his throat, he held up a hand, laughed slightly, and shook his head. "Uh...sorry. I guess I have a lot of questions."


"Yes...yes that would be vastly appreciated. A start; the basics." Nodding at Ellie, he watched her hand over the medkit. That simple action made reality rush back to him. Payment needed to be delivered, Jashin needed to be contacted. So many things needed to be settled before he began on this journey...he had to be patient. Every fiber of his being screamed out against that - demanded that he corner Ellie, and make her answer every single question he could think of. Instead, Janos cleared his throat. "I need to use a long range transmitter...preferably the one on that corvette there. If I can get ahold of my friend, then everyone gets paid, and we get the heat off our backs."

Amy's lips pursed together in mild irritation when the zealous defender of a woman gave her a hand gesture she was all too familiar with, and her scathing response, but she eventually rolled her own eyes and grinned, clasping her hands behind her, and nodded, “Fair enough, then,” she said, “I'll just wait here, for now.”

She had her bioscanner and a few tools that she always had on hand or in her pockets that could allow her to do preliminary examinations until she knew what she was dealing with before she'd need her more advanced tools or equipment from the medical bag. But she stood pretty before the ramp instead of going on ahead. She could respect this woman's position, even if her people skills were worse than Amy's. She suspected this Captain Fel was the nameless spacer for sure, but it wasn't like they knew anything about each other, so she supposed she'd be uncomfortable letting a complete stranger check on her injuries. They had no rapport.

So the wounded man she'd spoken to was a passenger or a client to this woman and Captain Fel, based on what she called out. Some sort of job. By his attire, she could venture a guess that he'd been a prisoner, most likely. There was certainly plenty of prisons around the universe, especially with the Empire, then now the First Order. From what she could venture about the new powers here on Varonat, they were probably busy filling this world's prisons too. All the more reason to get airborne.

All the more reason she and BB-Drunk had best endear themselves to this lot, about as good as any other crew of misfits, quickly and fervently. So if it meant putting up with Lieutenant Abrasive here, she'd learn to live with it. Besides, was she going to always be a Neimodian? There was always hope. Glancing up the D5's ramp, she wondered idly just how many Mandalorians were in there, and how bad the injuries were, and how many. They could crowd the sickbay of the Blasphemy, or there could be just a few of them in real need of medical attention.

When the armoured woman returned with her kit, she reached out to grasp the bag, “Thank you very much.”

She observed the continuing conversation between her and the man, and waited patiently. She made no attempts to board the D5 on her own, seeing as how fierce the other woman was, she saw no need to provoke her further, and only moved when the armoured lady led her, and she easily followed. She also took note that she said patient. Singular. So only one of them was really in need of assistance? Looking at their conditions, she figured they were far more stoic and resilient but she decided she would check on them all later, or at least offer to, because even little wounds can have dire consequences if not properly treated. She'd seen her fair share of such injuries.

Wordlessly, Janos ducked his head and left Ellie's side, heading back to the corvette. It took a while to find the right room - it had been a while since he'd been in a ship so large - but, eventually, he found the comm stations. Powering up a console, he took a seat, carefully putting in a series of verification codes before sending his message. After a moment, the console beeped in response; the message had been sent.

Time passed slowly then, even though it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes. Eventually, though, the console beeped once more, a message received and ready to be displayed.

Janos. Message received. I'll be at your coordinates within the hour.
Short, gruff, to the point. That had always been Jashin's modus operandi. Snorting lightly, Janos stood from his seat, shutting off the console as he did so. What would the man think of his newfound force sensitivity? Probably poorly, decided Janos as he walked down the corvette's ramp to the D5. Nevertheless, he would have to tell the man. He'd also have to tell him of the additional people here...but that could wait. One thing at a time. One thing at a time.

One thing that struck Amy about the D5 Mantis patrol craft: It made the Blasphemy, even in its current state, look like a spacious luxury hotel in comparison. She didn't really see a lot of people, certainly not an army of Mandalorians as she had been half-expecting based on what the man had said earlier. This wasn't entirely a surprise, it was probably meant to dissuade her from trying anything, if she had been out to harm these folk. By their looks, even the two women with her would be enough to stop Amy. When they came to the sickbay, and she saw the nameless spacer, whom she now knew was called Captain Fel, she could only say, “Ferglutz.”

Staring wide-eyed for a moment, she couldn't believe that he was even still alive at all. But the moan told her straight away he might have a chance. Slim, but he might. “Blast...what in the Force were the lot of you in, anyway?”

As she knelt down next to him and propped open her kit, taking out a small flashlight and her bioscanner, she glanced over to the armoured woman. Based on what she could see as a hasty battlefield triage, and the condition of the other man, she could only guess that it was on heck of a war. Fel must have taken the brunt of everything.

“Captain Fel?” said Amy, “It's me, Amy, from the Blasphemy. Can you hear me?”

It was mostly a rhetorical question, as she doubted he'd be able to say much in his condition, but there was no harm in checking. Which reminded her...

She turned to address the two women, “Does he have any known pre-existing medical conditions? Any sort of allergies?”

Running her bioscanner over him, she took stock of the list of injuries and afflictions, then placed it down and gently lifted the right eyelid and turned on her flashlight. She worried about the wound on the midsection. She wasn't sure what facilities were available here, and she wasn't sure he could be moved safely to the Blasphemy in this state. No, she might have to risk it here. “What equipment do you have? I'm not sure we can move him to the corvette's sickbay.” She quickly added right after her last question.

When the fierce protectress spoke and mentioned Blasto, Amy's head shot up sharply and then her eyes fell on the syringe. “Blasto,” she said, barely hiding a tone of worry, “do you mean Blastonecrosis?!?”

Just her luck. Fel was a sick man, and with quite possibly one of the most inconvenient diseases to ever exist. The very thing that might be necessary to cure Blastonecrosis also would kill the patient: Bacta. Left unattended by itself, it was just as lethal, and based on the amount of injuries the man had sustained, the disease would exacerbate his conditions. Why couldn't it be something simple? That would probably be too much to ask for, she supposed. To make things worse, they didn't have much on this ship, based on what the woman told Amy.

“Kark,” she swore softly, under her breath, “blasted kriffing poodoo!”

She wasn't completely inexperienced with cases involving the disease, but it was one of the hardest things to deal with. Her bioscanner showed her that there was potential organ failure in the near future, and the wound itself had congealing blood that was far darker than it should be. Toxic, infected blood. Think Amy, she told herself, clear your head, don't lose it. No good to anyone if you go space-case.

The syringe.

She turned around to look at the woman and the syringe again, straightened up and approached her, using her bioscanner on it, and the results weren't entirely familiar, but the parts she did recognize helped her draw some theories. “It looks like some sort of modified lotiramine compound. Enough to slow the progress of the disease, and even improve his condition...for a while. But regular application will reduce its effectiveness. I have some ingredients in the corvette and I can probably make a similar mixture if necessary, but ma'am...”

She looked at the two women before her, “Captain Fel is dying. He needs a state-of-the-art fully equipped medical facility like...like the Red Dawn Medical Centre on Honoghr, or something close to it. If my scanner's readings are correct, between the Blastonecrosis and the injuries he sustained since, the best I can do is stabilise and keep him alive until we can get somewhere that has what we need to save his life.”

She turned and went back to Fel's side. There was no time to waste, she would have to remove the battlefield bandages and clean the wounds, then apply non-Bacta treatments. The corvette had some Kolto, and her kit had a Pydyrian healing stick. They were less effective than Bacta, but at this point, his only option. While she worked on him, she continued talking, “There has been some progress in making large-scale cures for the disease, and I have a very rough experimental version that might help in reversing the process. But I dare not risk it on someone who's suffering injuries on top of Blasto.”

She glanced at the women, “Unless you say otherwise.”