Taris

[Kota Ni]

There was nothing but a soft rumble of noise for the most part. At times there was distant uncoherent words spoken, but they were always just far enough away that whatever was said was lost to Kota. The young Togruta sat bent in a curled-up position within a crate that had left on a smuggler ship from Shili that was carrying some illegal Akul beasts and other assortments of goods off the planet. There was a small whimper that came from a now awakening Haatta, Kota's sister. Feeling a deep sense of worry over her, he placed his hand upon the center of her head and gave her a soft rub to help keep her comfortable. Even as he did so, there were some loud bangs and rumbles that told Kota that the ship had indeed landed upon its first stop, which would be the Ni siblings point to leave the ship, whether the crate they hid within was scheduled to be dropped off or not.

 

As there was some more movement and noise began to elevate up a bit more, along with the incoherent chatter going on as the crew began to unload the cargo, Kota used the tops of his montrals to push the top off the crate. Lifting his head ever so slightly to take a look around, the soft whimpering words from Haatta had him feeling slightly nervous. "Kota, why are mom and dad not with us?" The words felt like a tiny needle being stabbed into his heart. His own body began to tremble as he responded to her. "Mom and dad are no longer a part of our lives." Despite the trembling he was still having, he kept his eyes on the lookout for their escape off the ship. Even as he did, the lack of comfort that he was able to show to his sister during this moment was made up from the fact that she bent herself to embrace the midsection of Kota as he peered around what he could see.

 

Sensing quickly that there were more crew coming back into the storage area, he lowered his head, allowing for the top of the crate to cover them again. He lowered his voice to the softest whisper he could and leaned into Haatta. "We are going to leave this box soon. When I say move, follow me very closely." His own abdomen grew damp from the soft and quiet tears from Haatta, and Kota only felt them because of his sister nodding her head while still clinging to him. It was then that he had a single thought race through his head that seemed to play over and over again on repeat for a few seconds. Am I even fit to take care of her? It was a strange thought to have, but one that he knew would need to be answered sooner rather than later.

 

Listening carefully, he heard a few more grunts and movements as some crew took more supplies off the ship. It was then that his whisper was loud and clear to Haatta. "Move." Kota himself sprang up, making a quick motion to spin and roll at the same time to grab the top of the crate so that it would not crash so loudly upon the floor of the ship and bring all of the crew rushing in to see what was going on. The less anyone took notice of him and his sister the better they would be. It was a motto he had better start having them live by in order to survive.

 

Upon his own sister springing up quickly out of the box they had smuggled themselves into, he quickly slid the top back on and grabbed her hand, pulling her quickly down around a corridor and to the left. He knew where he was headed, he was able to hear to landing gear not far off from where they resided within the crate. Turning the corner, he quickly spotted the maintenance hatch and opened it, throwing his sister down first, followed by himself as he was the one who needed to pull the hatch closed behind them. As soon as he landed, he could see his sister's face staring at him in the very low lights the lit the maintenance tunnel. Her face, which was blue skinned with some white held no look of worry. She trusted Kota with her life. "Left." At his word, she turned and moved a few feet before coming to the main landing gear leg that was extended. She was slow to poke her head out to make sure that they were clear, then dropped. Kota followed really quickly.

 

Upon landing, he took her hand again and moved her quickly and nimbly through the landing bay area that the ship was docked at and towards the main building before them. The two were fast and got into the port authority building without being noticed by the crew of the ship they had smuggled themselves onto. The port authority however found them almost immediately. There were two security guards who quickly pulled stun batons out, and a security droid and the dock officer turned around and stared daggers into both of them. Haatta quickly grabbed her brother's hand tighter than before. Taking in a deep breath, he looked the dock officer square in the eyes.

 

"Two Togrutas… Conveniently off a docking pad that has a ship that just made its way from Shili. I bet somewhere back home is your master looking for two runaways. Kids from the looks of both of you. Guards, place them under arrest until I contact the Zygerrians and if they are missing any new acquisitions."

 

It was then that some panic set in for Kota. He needed to get his sister free form this mess, and fast. Thinking on his feet and having an exact understanding of where the two guards were at, he took his right hand and flung his sister towards and opening that would be out of range from the droid and the dock officer, while at the same time, throwing his own body low. Upon his sister leaving his hand, he kicked out his left leg to break the kneecap of the guard to his left. Upon doing so, he moved himself to go to his belly, and then used his hands to spring up to avoid the stun baton coming down at him. As he was springing up, he spun around and had his own feet wrap around the neck of the other guard and spun him into the side of the wall head first.

 

The droid began to hum around, which drew Kota's attention to him. Picking up both stun batons of the guards, he moved from left to right, bouncing off of things with great acrobatics, and landed upon the top of the droid. He drove both stun batons into the droid with as much force as he could muster-which was enough, as the droid began to shut down from the electric circuits shorting out. Slowly standing up, he put the two stun batons into the back of his pants. Turning around slowly to see where his sister was at, he heard the distinct sound of a blaster disengaging the safety.

 

"Bad move…" Feeling desperate, Kota picked up both of his hands to shield his face from the shot that would kill him and end his attempt to keep his sister away from the slavers. Almost as soon as he closed his eyes and shielded his face, he heard a loud thud and crack. Fearing the worst, he slowly uncovered his eyes to see the dock officer on the opposite wall, bleeding out quickly from the back of his head. Kota didn't know how, but the dock officer had somehow been flung into a metal post beam in the dock authority office and had busted his skull wide open.

 

Not wanting to risk any more attention or having the two guards come around like the droid was sure to, he wanted to leave the area fast. "Haatta, come." The girl quickly came out of hiding, and the two ran as fast as they could out of the port authority offices. Even as they ran into the lower levels of Taris, Kota was trembling at what he had just done to protect his sister…

[Kota Ni]

*** Ten Rotations Later ***

 

Kota moved quietly through the streets as he glanced from market stand to market stand. Stealing had become very easy for him over the past few days. The need to eat without having any credits made motivation to become better a reality that few could understand. Over the past few days, Kota became far more motivated to move into stealing things that would provide better security of the two Togrutas, as opposed to the beginning of him stealing elements of things that wouldn't be missed. While he enjoyed building things from his own bare hands, the idea of taking larger things was a help to cut time down from being away from his sister Haatta.

 

Even on days like today, whispers and talk circled around wannabe bounty hunters who were taking up their own chances to build a name for themselves. What made things worse was the talk of what the bounties were worth. The Zygerrians really didn't care as much about him as they did his sister. They were only offering up 1500 credits for him, dead or alive. Haatta on the other hand, they wanted her only alive, 15000 credits. It was almost insulting to him, yet he understood that dangers of letting such a thought remain within his mind. His sole responsibility now was to protect her with his life.

 

Moving very quietly in between the crowds of people, Kota picked up what he thought the two would need. Fruit that could fit within his pouch that was slung around his shoulder. Some standard rations that just happened to be sitting out on a market stand. He also managed to grab a starport visa. Carefully, he moved himself back out of the crowded space and began to head towards the less busy access street that connected two apartment buildings. Upon entering, he made sure no one was looking and then jumped up to a ledge of an open window that one of the apartments had open. From there, he slowly began to climb.

 

As he climbed, he could hear some movement within one of the apartments that he was scaling up the outside walls of. He took a moment to stop and listen in to what they were saying. The words were quiet and soft, yet distinct enough for Kota to get an idea of what they were saying. "... Hidden out at the old... She doesn't seem to leave... He's been spotted a few times near... Rumor has it... They're going to make a move tonight... Those credits would be worth a..." That was about all that he needed to hear. He had to move and get Haatta out of the apartment tonight. If he was lucky, he could easily steal a ship near the lower level docking hangar near the old racing district. There was always plenty of pilots that came in and out of those ports looking to move big and small items.

 

It took him about twenty minutes to get into the old abandoned apartment. He found Haatta sitting at a desk that was recently wiped clean on dust and she was looking at a deck of pazaak cards that Kota had recently stolen. He dropped some fruit on the table and gave her a sympathetic glance.

 

"We need to leave within the hour. Eat and pack your things. We are headed for the lower levels."

[Kota Ni]

*** Six Hours Later ***

 

Kota kept Haatta close by the entire time as the two of them slowly climbed down the fire escapes of the apartment complex that they had found their way inside of ten days ago. The climb down wasn't as bad as perhaps the climb up would have been, mainly because Kota had gotten really good at both elements of it after ten days of doing it. As the two climbed down, he found himself wondering what sort of mess he had gotten them into. They were not on their home planet, away from their parents, and to make matters worse, had a bounty on both their heads. As of right now, he needed to get them both far away from Taris as possible. Although he had to admit, it was going to be tough. Even if he could get them past the security at the docks, stealing a ship would be almost impossible to accomplish. Not without a massive amount of luck could he do this.

 

As the two of them moved quietly through the streets in a very discreet way, dodging and weaving throughout the crowds of people-which wasn't too much as it was late at night. Kota had to strategically move them so that they would stay in the more crowded areas, or else they could be found easily. It was a bit tricky at times, but otherwise he found the best way to the lower level starport docks. From his limited view, he could tell that at least three ships occupied a pad, and a few ships were either coming or going-he was unable to fully tell. This is going to be a bit difficult

 

With some slow movement towards the outer office at the starport dock, Kota could see that there were indeed three ships docked at a landing pad, although it looked like one was being loaded up with supplies, one seemed cold as if it had been resting there for a few hours already. And the final one looked as if the crew was still disembarking. With some luck, that ship will be the easiest to take. And from what I hear, Lambda-class T-4a shuttles are fairly easy to pilot… It would still take a lot, as the security seemed to have picked up as the docks since their arrival almost eleven rotations ago. He would need a distraction.

 

"Kota… I have a bad feeling about this…" Kota turned to look at Haatta. She herself was also taking a look to see what sort of trouble the two of them could fall into. She held a point. Even he could feel something deep within him warning him of an impending doom that was about occur if they stayed on their path. Yet what choice did he have? The hideout he had found for the two of them had become compromised. Bounty Hunters were looking for them on the planet now. If they didn't leave within the next two hours, both would most likely become just a recent trophy in the career of a rookie bounty hunter looking to make a name for themselves.

 

"We don't have a choice anymore. We have to succeed, not matter what. - Let's go." Kota stood up and began to move alongside crates full of supplies that had been unloaded and were scheduled to be moved sometime tomorrow. They needed to find something to use as a distraction to help lure the guards away from the docks. It was something that he knew he had to find in order to give both him and Haatta a chance to get off the planet.

 

Making a few stops and runs behind crates that helped shield him and Haatta from unfriendly eyes, along with allowing for him to pick up words from the conversations happening around the dock. It was very useful to hear that the pickup of security was due to supplies needing to be taken to the Galactic Alliance. Some ship named Aero Prancer apparently was expected to make touchdown on Triple Zero sometime within five rotations. That could easily work to his advantage if he could figure out which ship was the Aero Prancer. But what would help him the most would be a distraction to draw people away…

 

It was then that something caught Kota's eye. A glimmer from armor of a man who was walking upon a ramp about four levels up near the starport dock. If only there was a way to get him to fall or trip and fall down… He stared at the man, wishing heavily for him to fall, when suddenly-he did. He fell over by a speeder racing too fast and close to where he was walking and the man fell over the ledge, landing near the main office of dock authority. Upon him landing, all of the officers and extra crew of other ships quickly ran towards the man who had fallen over. "Now's our chance, run towards that ship!"

 

Quickly him and Haatta stood up and began to run towards the ship that Kota had pointed to. With everyone else extremely distracted by the man falling, the practically had a clear run to the shi-. No. Two men in armor jumped out of nowhere, fully armed with blasters pointed at the two of them. So much for a clear shot. Haatta stopped as fast as she could and threw herself behind something for cover. Kota kept charging, sliding low as he pulled out his staff and swung it to knock down the two men. As he continued his slide and spun around to stand up to see what sort of offensive he would need to do in order to let his sister get past them. Much to his own surprise, they were both knocked down on the floor. The six guys who had snuck up behind them however, were still standing.

 

"The Zygerrians are offering a lot of credits for you two… well, more like just her. I think you're as worth as much to us dead as you could ever be. Kill him." Almost as soon as the wannabe bounty hunter spoke the order, he grabbed Haatta forcefully by the arm and began to pull her backwards away from the fray. Kota had a moment to think before he had to react. Blaster fire had begun to ensue, causing massive mayhem and drawing the attention of the dock authority officers, who were now trying to return to settle things down. As Kota moved to get away from blaster fire, the two men whom he had knocked down began to arise again. Kota spun where he was at and delivered a few focused strikes to one of them, while keeping himself in a position of where the other hunter would have to risk being hit by a stray blaster bolt or have the other stop for a moment.

 

The focused strikes were enough to put one of the hunters into a daze as he knocked him unconscious. Using a nearby pole as momentum, Kota ran up part of it and spun around to kick the other attacker who was close to him in the chest, providing temporary cover as he knocked him back towards the other five men who were shooting at him. He quickly found himself hiding behind a crate for cover as blaster fire resumed after the very short pause. He struggled to look around to see what angle he could gain to help take out the rest of his assailants and get his sister back.

But it was then he saw it, from the corner of his hiding spot, the bounty hunter dragging his now stunned sister by her head-tails up a ramp and into his ship. There was suddenly a great emotion that was overflowing within himself. It was a very hot white anger. It was a strong sense of disappointment. It was grief. It was somehow all three at the same time. It encouraged him to act, yet it paralyzed him with fear. For the first time since he decided to smuggle him and his sister off of Shili, he didn't know what to do. But he had to do something. With nothing but a second of a thought, he acted.

 

The white-hot rage overtook him as he watched the shuttle that held his sister began to pull away from the landing pad. He stood up and with a loud shout, he lifted his hands and pointed them with force at the men shooting at him. He wanted them to feel his anger, his pain. He wanted them to know that he was hurt deeply. Kota himself didn't even understand why he decided to use such an action to display his emotions, but he did. And for some reason, he was rewarded. There was a loud sound that came like a hurricane blowing strong wind that knocked and pushed all seven men backwards a good fifty feet. The action itself put the young Togruta into shock for a second. But it could only last a second, as he had to act. He quickly had to turn and run. He wasn't going to get a second chance at this.

 

With a burst of energy and adrenaline, he ran towards the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle and quickly boarded it and got it off the ground before the dock authority could put a lock on the ship. Using the momentum he had, he had the ship blast off towards space and with some luck, a chance to find and rescue his sister…

 

 

Meanwhile on the dock, the main port authority officer quickly rounded up the bounty hunters and placed them under arrest for the disruption they helped cause at the docks. Turning towards his men, he spoke. "Send word to the GA and CoreSec. A runaway Togruta male, responsible for killing three men on a Lambda-class shuttle. He's their problem now."

[Kota Ni]

Kota did his best to maintain his own emotions as he reached out and tried to feel out his sister. But, all he could feel within the Force was tossing and turning. It felt like he fell in the midst of a hurricane of emotions. Waves after wave struck him, all having it's own thought and pattern of how it wanted to move, and none of it seemed to make sense to him. While trying to stay within the current of the Force, he spoke to Tobias, hoping that he would provide some wisdom on what he should do to help filter out what was not needed.  

"Tobias, please... I can't filter out the noise. It feels like a hurricane of emotions down there..."

It was about all that he could do to explain what he was feeling. The emotions were stirring and felt like he was asked to pick out a needle in a hay stack. Too many people with too many issues on the planet below.

[Kota Ni]

Kota felt like he was feeling pushed down and over weighted by so many decisions. Although, none of them were actual decisions, but rather just the feeling of something that he had to accomplish. He felt the pressure to find his sister. He felt pressure to perform well before his master. He felt pressure to filter things out. And all of that pressure felt like a great weight that was clogging up his own mind and locked him in a position of where he could no longer feel a direct feeling from one source or another. 

Trying his best to calm himself down, he reached back out into the Force in an attempt to feel, but all that came into his mind was chaos of emotions. It felt like an endless wave-an impossible task given to him. Almost as if he was asked to find a spark of light flashing within a sun. The sheer thought of him trying to find anything that could help them felt like he would fail outright. Trying to breathe in and out slowly allowed for him to find some form of focus. Letting each breathe reset his own emotions to reduce them into nothing. He felt like he had been sitting on the floor of the ship for a good few months almost before he opened his eyes. Instinctively, he reached out to Tobias through the Force. I... I think I found something...

[Kota Ni]

Kota tried to shake the feeling that he really had nothing, but he at least needed to report on what he did have to Tobias. 

"It may be nothing... But I can sense very familiar thoughts... feelings almost. Like I know the feelings personally. But sadly, that's about all I can do."

Kota made no attempt to hide the fact that he was disappointed with himself at his own results. But there wasn't much that he really could do at the moment. His training really hadn't taught him how to locate people.

[Kota Ni]

Kota felt a slight shiver run down his spine unexpectedly at hearing his name spoken. He couldn't really figure out why, but decided that it must have been nothing. So he instead looked back down between his legs at the durasteel he was sitting on with his legs crossed. He reached back out into the Force to see where exactly he felt like these emotions and thoughts echoed from. He then found them. 

 

"I could be mistaken, but I believe that they are coming from the dock security office..."

 

It was right then that Kota remembered why the feelings and thoughts felt so familiar to him. He had felt them before he used the Force to kill three dock officers to help him and sister escape.