"This is the freighter Starshine, awaiting contact at rally point. Please advise."

Her index finger released pressure from the button, and the channel died. Nearly all sound inside the freighter died with it; there was breathing between the two Jedi, and little else. The younger Jedi waiting on the older Jedi to explain, to give guidance, to be the Master to their Padawan. And yet...Satele Shan didn't say a word. With the glimmer of gold from the inlay of her unusual set of robes as she slid her weight against the back of the bucket seat at the communications console, noiseless, lost in her thoughts and the vast infinity of the Force. 

"We should have already gotten a reply."

Satele's green eyes set upon her Padawan slowly, like a pair of emerald stars falling across the Padawan's atmosphere: measurements were made of the character, of the mind, of the situation. The Force was strong with the girl, that had been enough for Satele when she selecting a Padawan. Satele believed in what she saw and felt from the Force on the matter, the Padawan was most likely as far from certain in the Force. They weren't skills and senses you developed that quickly, not for most, and not in the period of tense intermission the Galaxy was currently in. 

It wasn't peace, and this had stopped being comfortable. Finally Satele Shan sighed.

"Prep the speeder bikes. We'll go to the village ourselves, Grim's not coming to meet us." She hadn't heard from the Mandalorian like she was supposed to. There was a pattern to their communication, every beep of every call a signal and sign, everything timed out, every little thing had meaning. But silence? That had the worst meaning of it all. Even Brye, her Padawan, was going to start feeling it. There was no softening it, there was no hiding it, and no further any point in delaying it: "It's a trap, but it's not one we can run away from. Grim is a respected clan leader, he's never lied or steered me wrong, but he's never avoided contact either."

[i]Can't lie or steer me wrong if you won't respond to me,[/i] a thought that festered in the back of her mind with irritation. It wouldn't last. If Grim was betraying her, he was betraying her for his Clan. Grim had never made any bones about where his loyalties lie, even ahead of pals. Satele and Grim were pals. That meant a lot to both of them...but they weren't Clanmates. She was a Jedi, he was a Mandalorian warrior. They'd fought before. The memory was always fresh enough in her mind. Even if because it was one of the few times she had smelled so much flammable gas at one time--and all of it aimed at her. 

She still had a burn mark on the top of her left foot. 

That was battle, there was honor. 

Traps? Satele snorted at the thought, and bolted from the bucket seat of the Jedi freighter. The Padawan had gone about the checklist for each speeder bike, Satele punching away commands at the cargo door that would open and let them take out the speeder bikes, the command panel for the massive door heavy and thick and it's buttons mechanical, built to last no matter the heavy condition. She hoped the bikes would be just as dependable in the thick, humid, air of Dxun's dark jungles. 

Satele couldn't help but feel her heartbeat quicken when the bikes were led down the cargo ramp. The ramp was retracted, the cargo door shut, and the Starshine sealed. Save for the dim glow of operational light from the skin of the Starshine the two Jedi worked their speeder bikes in darkness of the jungle clearing that was connected to by two "roads"--paths ripped through Dxun's jungle using very large equipment, and no more. In Dxun that alone was considered a luxury, and it was along the one path heading the direction they needed to go that Satele felt anxious about. The roads of Dxun were precious few, and never peaceful. 

With that thought in mind Satele swung her leg over the frame of the speeder bike and twisted the throttle with a hard motion, bringing about more light than noise: the exhausts of their speeder bikes had been muffled for a sensitive insertion three missions back, and were so quiet they just never asked to have the modifcation removed. Not that Satele thought it mattered all that much here.

Everyone knew they were coming. 

A quick tap of her bike's control and the dim blue holographic map projected into being between the bikes of the two Jedi. Most of the map was blue-blurred, representing thick jungle. Two lines arched away from the clearing they were in, one to an eastern coastal trading town, the other marked as off limits and hazardous by the Republic map: a Mandalorian Village. 

The long arching path had several specks just off it; huts, a single independent ranch, and way-stations for the foolish ambitious few traders who would actually brave a Dxun clearing for profit. Nothing else. "Watch the treeline on either side of the road. This is as unfriendly a place as it gets, and it's pitch black until something's already too close to you so if you're not looking...it's easy to get surprised. I have a bad feeling about this, Brye," emphasis set with Satele's green eyes, a hard stare accompanying the warning to the Padawan, "so keep your lightsaber close and your wits about you.....and if I tell you to leave me and run, leave me and run."

The engine to her speederbike revved, and Satele blurring across the jungle opening and towards the western road.

There were predators just beyond the treeline. Satele felt them, but they weren't what she was reaching out for. A natural predator was a neutral party. Anything as dangerous to those attacking her as it was to her was a trade-off Satele could live with. After a few moments she even heard Brye catch up, but those were miles. A few moments more and more miles. The speeder bikes were too fast, but that had been part of why Satele picked them.

If the Jedi could react in time to avoid the natural dangers of Dxun, then the speed might provide an advantage.

Or bring them right in the middle of a mess before they knew it...not that Satele didn't already know it; lights from several speeders, another speeder overturned and burning in the black Dxun night. Bugs whizzed by and buzzed about, but they grew less frequent the closer Satele got to the fire. She stopped first, coasting to a full halt not even ten feet from the burning speeder. She hoped Brye would stop further back, but knowing the Padawan...

No words were spoken. The scene didn't surprise her. That she found Grim close to the burning, flipped over speeder? Of course she did. The second she felt the Mandalorian's presence, her heart sank, and that had been nearly a minute ago on the western road through Dxun jungle. The last minute was trying to keep a distance with the Padawan, and preparing herself for this moment. 

For the four Sith that stood over Grim. The four Sith seemed surprised two Jedi appeared out of Dxun darkness...but they weren't surprised in the Jedi. They were surprised in the timing of the Jedi. All four of the Sith were masked in black masks of sharp lines and a fearsome shadow expression. Each carried red lightsabers that the Sith closest to the wreck brought to his hand.

"You're early," he said to Satele, as the other three spread out behind him, two of them intently focused on the Jedi behind Satele. Satele paid it no attention. Just Sith sniffing out a Padawan, and trying to isolate it for the easy kill. Welcome to the War, Satele wanted to tell Brye, but somehow the Grand Master knew better. Whatever this was, this wasn't that. The other three Sith ignited their lightsabers, their two seat speeders turned off.

Satele followed their movements, but she didn't look at them. Her eyes had been on Grim. He was alive, but barely just, a twist of broken bones under his unshining, dull, blue armor. Satele told him without words to relax as best he could. His thoughts responded as only they knew how: [i]Just fuck off and kill them before I die here.[/i] Satele broke the connection with Grim's mind, focusing anew on the Sith before her, sliding off her speederbike.

Sudden as a Dxun Maaalraas brilliant blue light washed the entire scene in it's glow, the angry hum of Satele's double-sided lightsaber announcing her intent as she twirled it at the ready in a flat light before her otherwise unmoving, straight standing, form. 

"We will not kill you, Shan...but your Padawan does not share your bloodline, and we make no promises to their safety. Come with us and we will simply let Padawan Farlance take her speeder back to her ship. Make this a fight and I promise only one of you will walk away."

His voice was deep, almost shaking with anger, and...excitement? It wasn't what Satele usually perceived from Sith before a fight. But it wasn't every fight that a Sith knew your name, and the name of your Padawan. "It's not only a trap, it's a very specific trap." Green eyes narrowed, and something dangerously close to anger became to be heard in Satele's low tone. There was only silent for what seemed an eternity. It became clear they weren't moving first, a bizarre thing for Sith. It was just as clear she was a target, not her Padawan.

Should she endanger the girl?...was the girl a Jedi?

"Brye," the name spoken louder than normal, Satele not looking back to address her Padawan. Not taking her eyes off the strange Sith, "you're ready for this."

Then the black night of the jungle moon Dxun blurred to life as the four Sith separated into two groups of two moving in opposite directions. Satele didn't hesitate in charging the left group, the group that included the Sith warrior who had actually spoken to them. He was a warrior, the other Sith with him was not a warrior, but something else. That was obvious in the clusmy way they tried to check and counter Satele's initial charge, yet even a clumsy counter was enough to warrant Satele's best effort considering the Sith warrior that taken a glancing blow from Satele's initial charge, only to come howling back at her the moment her back turned to deal with the clumsy one. A Sith at each side of her, but the double-bladed saber kept each off guard just enough to allow Satele to move the fight where she wanted, at a pace she felt comfortable with.