~| Day 3, 18:05-19:50 GST |~
~|Location: Tatooine, Mos Eisley|~
Fa held her breath for a few moments, then let out a grunt as she finally secured the last piece of her armor, apart from the helmet she was carrying in the pack on her back. She had a much more difficult time than usual putting on the set, mostly because she was attempting to do so in a small, cramped storage closet. Her room, unfortunately, was not a private one, so it was rather inconvenient to get equipped without anyone else seeing the Republic armor. Of course, she never really found wearing armor or clothing to be comfortable, given her upbringing, but she could tolerate it when blaster fire and shrapnel were heading her way. At the very least, her armor was light compared to Vebra’s.
Once the hard part was out of the way, Fa put on the cloak she had taken from Vebra’s room, making sure it properly obscured her armor and weapons. Though annoyingly large by her standards, it would at least keep her from attracting attention. With it, she was finally able to get moving towards the loading bay to meet up with Vebra, carrying with her a case containing her larger weapons, and the meal she had grabbed from the mess: a whole, uncooked gizka.
Vebra had taken quite a bit of time making his way to the loading bay after he dropped off the cloak for Fa in their bunk. His first stop had been back to the mess hall for atleast something. It had been awhile since "morning's" breakfast so he figured food could become hard to come by on the desert world, well good meat anyways. His hopes of good meat were quickly dashed however as he found that the were serving gizka. While at first apprehensive to the idea of eating the tiny lizard bottom feeder he quickly warmed up to it when he could feel his stomach snap at him. He elected to have it raw seeing as he probably wouldn't be able to taste the diffrence anyways. He devoured the creature right there and then after sitting a table seeing as he was actually hungry. While most of the bones he elected to just eat considering how small they were little impeded the Zabrak's consumption.
After being satisfied with his work on the carcass leaving little more then big bones and parts of the digestive tract he discarded the carcass and grabbed a cup that he left with back to the bunk. He began working the bones out of his throat and mouth spitting them into the cup while simultaneously working his way through the somewhat oddly designed ship. When he finally arrived at the bunk he saw that Fa had cleaned all of her gear out and Vebra quickly went to work doing the same. While he had packed rather lightly this trip the fact that he had to stow his helmet took up quite a bit of room in his pack. After checking to make sure no one was around he went to work attaching anything that he couldn't carry in his pack to his waste. This mean his blaster and it's sling were going to be wrapped at his waist and he would not be able to bring it to bear quickly. He wasn't terribly concerned though as if they got into trouble his armor could atleast absorb a shot or two for him, had before. Then there was the blade at his hip that while not quite the rang of a blaster could be rather useful even in a blaster fight.
Throwing his pack on over his cloak he began to make his way down to the loading bay where he was sure he would meet Fa. Just then the captain piped over the ship's intercom that they would be landing within the next several minutes and something about getting off his ship. the hallway before the loading bay was full of individuals and families alike gather all of each other together to leave this rust bucket. Some of them looked like they were carrying their whole lives in bags and other like they had just left with the clothes on their backs. The impending Imperial occupation was not something a lot of people wanted to be around for. He figured that was enough reason to get out of Balmorra, he had seen occupied worlds before. While clean and orderly usually he knew about all the secret raids of dissidents in the night and the constant fear all of the populace lived in of the Empire. There was no reason this time should be any different.
He quickly found Fa in the huddled masses as with the cloak on she looked almost more raggity than most of the refugees. Coming up to the side of her making sure she knew that it was him approaching her he spoke over the sounds of planetary re-entry that were sounding dulling through the hull. "For a second I thought you were a refugee. Maybe teaching you how to blend in was a bad idea." Vebra said with a grin as he threw up his hood being careful of his horns.
Fa was among the crowd in the loading bay, somewhat near a garbage chute. She was most of the way through the gizka, which meant the viscera was plainly visible to any watching her. Indeed, she had already received a few judgmental and disgusted glares from some of the other refugees, but at the same time, none of them were actually willing to confront her. Few among the refugees looked like they had the confidence to confront even the smallest of percieved threats or offenses, and Fa could not say she blamed them. The fighting on Balmorra, from where most of these refugees had originated, had been dragging on for so long that it had sapped the will out of even many trained soldiers. For these civilians, Fa could only imagine their state of mind, After being caught in the fighting for so long, peace could only seem like a myth, and with the expansion of the Empire throughout the galaxy, that might not be far from the truth.
Casting aside those thoughts for the moment, Fa gave a nod to Vebra as he approached. The hood obscured most of her head in shadow, and the cloak hid her tail, so the only visible indication of her reptilian body was the end of her snout, which protruded a few centimeters beyond the hood. Overall, it was an adequate disguise, as long as no one paid too close of attention to her. Otherwise, she would need to be careful not to let any piece of her armor peer out from underneath the cloak.
"Vebra..." Fa began as she let down her hood, then ripped out another chunk of meat from the gizka's insides. She looked at him and gave a smile, revealing her sharp, blood-soaked teeth. "...I'm never going to blend in." She joked.
Vebra smiled at the lizard as the massive cargo doors began to open on the freighter. The hot dry air flew into the relatively cool ship, carrying handfuls of sand with it. While he didn't mind the heat he had to consciously close his eyes to avoid the onslaught of sand that hit him. Not having his helmet on was something he would have to get used to again, seeing as the war was "over". The huddled masses of refugees began disembarking some running off the vessel and kissing the dirt while others collected all their things walking off solemnly. As the doors came to a rest on either side of the hold Vebra walked out onto the short ramp down the hold and felt his boots hit packed dirt. Even in the biggest port of the planet they couldn't be asked to laydown some dura-steel, he thought.
He lightly brought his gloved and hooded hand close to his blade at his waist just to ensure that it was still there. Confident with the quick brush of the sword against his finger tips he continued forward on the dirt moving towards the far side of the port and out of the landing area. While Vebra was not terribly tall for a near-human most of the people around him were obviously refugees which meant they were hunched over their respective belongings or bending to weight of them. This meant Vebra had an easy time seeing over everyone as he attempted to locate transport. He briefly watched as two speeders flew by in front of him leaving a massive cloud of dust behind them in the "street". After blinking out the sand he was greeted with the sight of two Dewbacks and a Jawa holding the reigns of both of them looking off to the side conversing with several other Jawas. Vebra approached the Jawa and pointed to the Dewbacks and nodded it's head yes while also saying something in it's launguage. Vebra threw two credit chips at the Jawa who let go of the reigns to catch them. He figured it was a fair price and he wouldn't very well be able to barter with the Jawa's considering that he couldn't speak their language.
Vebra grabbed the reigns of one of the Dewbacks and jumped his leg up over the Dewback's back. Resting his hands on the saddle he called out to Fa. "Well, let's make this quick then."
"Yeah...quick." Fa commented before climbing, slightly reluctantly, up onto the beast. Sitting in the saddle of the ungainly, overgrown lizard was just about as comfortable as it looked, and her armor was not helping. At the very least, the cloak was nice for keeping out the sand; all she had to do was pull up her hood to deal with the dust cloud from the speeders. "Just two chips? I'm guessing they have some way to track these things, so...we might want to get off a little ways from our destination, just to be safe." She suggested.
Since Vebra's datapad was the one with their intended destination on it, Fa was able to just follow his lead...not that there was any kind of view to appreciate. Tatooine was the definition of a backwater planet, and Mos Eisley was a slum with more corruption than sand. Even the rich on the planet were poor by most galactic standards, and just about every place on the world would try to kill you in some way. Overall, it did not seem like anywhere close to the ideal destination for any refugee when first thinking about it. However, she felt she might understand the reasoning for some. Obviously, the Sith and Republic were yet to turn the desert world into a battleground, so the standard day went by with considerably less blaster fire. And, even if the Empire did go out of their way to capture such a worthless place, it was honestly unlikely that much would change for its inhabitants. It would still be a dry and dangerous rock in the middle of nowhere, just with different tyrants collecting the taxes.
The hot dry air constantly blowing into his face with the occasional bits of sand thrown in was rather annoying to Vebra. He wished more than anything he could put on his helmet if only for the fact that he wouldn't have to keep rubbing his eyes. Luckily Vebra didn't have to guide the Dewback much as it went pretty much straight without him doing anything. He kept having to pull the cloak over himself tight again just get the hood to block out some of the dust. Even by Zabrak standards this place was hot, while he found it just outside of comfortable he assumed Fa didn't mind it even more than he did, being she was a lizard and all. Still he would need to remember to keep drinking water or he would dry up and die out here. The last thing he wanted to do was to die from the elements on some forsaken backwater with his helmet not on.
With speeders constanly racing back and forth in the streets it became hard to see more than a hundred yards infront of himself. He began to wonder what the Jedi thought they would find here. He knew that people hid here when there was nowhere else to go but the Empire couldn't possible be so far ahead of them as to have already driven any sources into hiding already. Not being terribly familiar with the endless junkyard of a planet Vebra managed to occupy most of his time checking the datapad compulsively hoping that they weren't lost.
As they slowly reached the outskirts of the town on the beasts of burden Vebra turned around as another gust of wind kicked up more dirt into him. "I think that domed building up ahead is it. I don't see anyone outside but be prepared to get into trouble." Seeing as the dust had cleared up and they were only a few yards away he decided to hop off his Dewback with a swing of his leg. He then patted the beast on it's neck and told it to go home. The Dewback made a ghastly noise then turned to go back they way that they had come from. Vebra adjusted his pack so it fit over his shoulder pads making him look slightly less threatening.
Fa was cautious as the pair approached what appeared to be a scrap yard in the distance. It was a place that seemed shady and at least potentially dangerous, although; to be fair, so did every other part of the city. In this veritably lawless frontier of the galaxy, safety was provided by the speed at which one could draw their blaster. Luckily, her sonic blaster was well-within reach just under her cloak. The heavier weapons were still in the case she carried under her arm, but they would not be as useful to grab on a moment's notice regardless.
Dismounting from her dewback alongside Vebra, Fa sent the trained beast on its way as well. Their apparent destination was just a short walk ahead of them, but inside, they had no idea what kind of welcome awaited them. Lyric's Jedi could have run into trouble since they had last been able to contact him. Of course, if a group of Jedi ran into trouble in such a small, confined area, Fa would reasonably expect them to come out of it just fine.
"That's it, then? Let's just hope Lyric actually took the time to radio ahead. The last thing we need is for the Jedi to be doubting us." Fa commented as they approached the door to the domed structure. She looked between the door and Vebra, then shrugged her shoulders. "So, I guess we should just...knock?"
"Well if it all goes sideways it wouldn't be the first time we've had to improvise." Vebra said quietly as he crossed the street with Fa in tow. This place was comparatively quiet considering where they had just been. Though if they got into a fight he supposed no one would really come running to help them. Once they reached the metal door Vebra reached up with his gloved fist and made an effort to knock instead of banging it. It had been awhile since he had to actually ask for a door to be opened.
