The First Echo (Part 2)

[Sindri]

My mind was empty; blank. I knew I was in a dream state, but there was nothing in my mind. There was no blue light like before, no memories, or any fantasies. All there was is a black void of silence.
But then in the distance, there was a dim red aura. The light was low, but pulsing. Growing larger and brighter with every pulse.
This light was similar to the one I had seen in my last dream. Starting out as a low, soft light, and growing in detail. But there was a difference between the two. The last one was an ocean of crashing blue waves. This one was a thivk smoke with cracks of lightning striking through.

I then slowely awoken from the dream. I was lying in a small room that had been turned into a makeshift medical bay. My head had a bandage wrapped arounf the orbit of my skull. There was a pile of other bandages that were soaked in my own blood and plasma.
There was also an IV put into my right arm, which I pulled out as I stood from the bed I was laid across. I walked out of the room and into the ship's passages. The ship was silent and empty. The only sound that I could hear was the sound of my own foot steps.

Eventually I passed a window and stopped to look through it. And, to my suprise, we had docked into the Taris Space Port. The ship had set down in a massive hanger. Outside the window, I could see the rest of the crew unloading the cargo.

I didnt want to just sit around and wait for the crew to finish the job. I felt fine, and was obviously able to walk. I returned to my bunk and switched out my night clothing, and back into my work uniform. As soon as I was ready, I began to exit the ship.

As I stepped out of the ship, and began walking down the loading ramp, the bright lights of the hanger blinded me. It didnt take long, but I could tell my eyes were straining to adjust to the light.
All around the hanger, there were cargo boxes piled up and cranes lifting metals out of the transport I had arrived in.

The ship master was down talking to what I guessed to be the manager of the port we were delivering to.

"Gabriel, it is me, Sindri. Is there anything I can do right now?"

"Sindri? What are you doing here? You should go back to the ship and rest."

"I am fine, sir."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well, after that bang your head took, I dont want you to be working here right now. If you wish, you may go and do some sight seeing. Or, go around and visit some of the shops."

"Well, if it's no trouble."

"Go right ahead."

"Thank you sir."

"Just be back in the next three hours."

"Will do."

I then walked away from the ship and it's crew, heading for the doors that led to the port, and to the transports that would take me to all of the shops.

[Sindri]

The transport I hd hitched a ride in was empty in the passenger section. I was all alone. Throughout the ride I had put thought into the dreams I had. Blue crashing waves and red lightning piercing the sky. Why could it possably mean? I hadnt a clue.

The ride was short and smooth. As soon as the transport had landed I stood from my seat and walked out into the landing dock. As I continued to walk I passed up a few Rodian children who were running around after eachother; playing with toy blasters.

After I had walked out of the entrence to the dock, I had entered the main street of the station. Shops, food courts, and bars all around. People walking in masses, along with a few Rodians and Mon Calamari.

I walked around for a while, checking out the shops. Most of them were for clothing, medicine, and food. But, there was the occasional store selling weapons, armor, and other misc stuff.

[Sindri]

ooc: I dont know where the rest of my last post went, but okay... ?

bic:
A short while had passed, and it was getting pretty close for me to return to the ship.

I began heading back, towards the loading bays which were a good walk away, blocked by the masses of crowds of people.
I pushed my way through the masses, trying not to trip over any small child running about.

But then, without the slightest warning, there was a single shot fired from a blaster, followed by the sound of a screaming child. Soon after, more shots were fired.
Confused and frightened, the masses of people began running in all directions; running and tripping over each other without a care for anyone except themselves.

Through the blur of running bodies, I was able to catch a glimpse of the action. I could see three men. Two of them were in just normal civilian wear, while the third was wearing old, but advanced mandalorian armor.
The man in Mando armor grabbed a little boy by the collar of his shirt and lifted him so that they were face to face. The young frightened boy was crying hystericly and then wet himself.

The man then obviously said something, but I was unable to hear him through the screams. He then jerked the boy once, and tossed him away to his side.
The boy suffered a minor scrape to his chin, and then ran away.

I turned away from the men, for I was no police force or a soldier of any kind. I ran to my left, towards a shop that sold mainly food. The shop was empty in the lobby, but once I had made it to the storage facility to the back, I ran into the owner of the store.

"Please, dont shoot me. I'm not looking for trouble." The Bith said.

"No I'm not-"

"Hear, take my keys." He said as he then pulled out a sat of keys and tossedd them to the floor.

He was obviously paniked. He wouldnt let me speak.

"Listen, I am not one of those men. I am just looking for a place to hide."

"How can I trust you?"

"Do you see a weapon on me?"

The Bith looked quickly, and then calmed down.

"Come with me. Follow me to the back door. I have a speeder parked not to far from here. If we can avoid anymore of those men, I can get us out of here."

"You mean, there are more of them?"

"Why yes. These criminals arent your everyday ones. This is an organized force of pirate who have been lingering around for a long whole now."

"And the security has done nothing to stop them?"

"They havent because these pirates have been laying low for some time now. But, every now and then, you will have an encounter with a single straggler who only wishes to cause trouble."

"Right, so how about that speeder?"

"Oh yes, lets move on now."

The Bith then leaned down and grabbed his keys. I then follwed him from behind as we quickly headed out the back.
The Bith unlocked the door, but then slowely opened it, peeking out for any danger.

A few citizens ran past the door. The sounds of muffled blaster fire echoed from a distance.
The landing pad where the Biths speeder was parked was only an estimate of fifty yards away. Not too far; unless your being shot at.

We ran across the walk ways quickly, dodging the other citizens.
A small modified fighter then swooped above our heads, in a attempt to nock a few heads over. Obviously these pirates enjoyed what they were doing enough to threaten their own lives.

We made it to the speeder soon after. It was a small blue speeder with an open top, and four seats.
I hopped into the passenger seat and the Bith started the speeder.
He then accelerated into the sky quickly.

From a distance, the entire slaughter was visible. Hundreds of citizens lying dead around the city. And even though we had escaped into the skies, we were not safe. We had only become a fun target to shoot at.
Blaster shots began wizzing by as the Bith narrowly dodged the shots.

A few shots made contact, only leaving black scars along the speeder. But then two shots hit the ships rear engines, igniting them into flames.

"We've been hit. The engine is englufed in flames."

"Not a problem." The Bith then reached over a flipped a switch.

Behind my neck, I felt a chilling breeze. It was an extinquishing unit the began dousing the flames in freezing air.
The flames were out, but that didnt stop the blaster fire.
From behind us, the fighter had returned. We stood no chance. The pirate fired three shots, blowing the entire back half of the speeder to bits.

We began falling down towards the buildings. The bottom of the speeder scraped against the roof of the first building, and then made contact with another. It barely hit the front end of the speeder, but enough to send us into a spinning descent towards the ground.

We yelled as we fell towards another building.

CRASH!

[Sindri]

I awoke in a haze. The smell of blood filled my nose as I opened my eyes to whitness the destruction of our wreck.
Twisted metal and shattered glass lay around the floor of the building. The lights had dimmed down to almost nothing, but with the occassional bright spark lighting the room now and then.

Around me, I could hear the sounds of people moaning in agony. A few other citizens came running into the area of the crash site, and began looking for survivers to assist.

To my left, the Bith who had saved me was lying his head into the stearing controls. His head was badly damaged; covered in bruises and torn open in a few spots. His blood was running down from his cheeks to his neck. And from there it soaked into his black clothing.

I unbuckled myself from the destroyed speeder, limping out.
My strength was failing me, for I couldnt stand. Luckily, a man grabbed me before I could fall. He held me up; holding my arm over his shoulder. He then brought me over to a safer area, away from the wreck.

"Stay here." He told me as he then ran off to help another.

I sat in the corner of the dark room. And although I was told to sit still, I needed to move. I knew it still wasnt safe. Through the broken wall, there was a short tunnel made by the speeder. It went through several walls. At the end, there was light from the outside. And through the tunnel, you could still see the horrors of the pirates.
Several fighters had passed by; firing aimlessly at targets. Then, the same fighter that had shot me out of the sky began to slowley pass by the tunnel. He moved just slow enough for you to make eye contact with him through the cockpit glass.

He could see every single one of us, including me.
I could see him laughing at the death he had just caused.

He then brought his fighter to a halt, hovering the the air next to the tunnel. The cockpit to his fighter hissed as it began to rise up, allowing the man to climb up and out of the ship.

He began walking down the tunnel, with a rifle hanging to his side. The glass cracked under his boot with every step.

He was tall and muscular. His head was shaven, and had a scar running across his fore head horizontilly. His eyes were dark and beady, almost in-human. He had a disgusting smile running across his face. One that expressed all the joy he had from the deaths he caused in a few well aimed shots.

Everyone in the room, who were still able to move, began to either walk or limp away.

ooc: I'll finish this post later... or just add another... People are stealing me from the house to go play paintball...

[Sindri]

"Your a tough one to kill..." The pirate commented as he continued walking up to me.

"But, your time is now up. So, if you have any last words, speak now."

The man then began to lift his rifles sights up to his eyes so that he could make a precise shot.

"Yes. Why are you doing this? Why all of the destruction? So many lives for what? Money!?" I said as I stood from the floor.

"Yeah. Theres alot of money out there. It's all a matter of how you wanna earn it."

As the pirate spoke, I could see some movement from behind him. Without looking though, I could depict what was going on.
There was three men, dressed as civilians who were grouping together to attack the pirate from behind.

"Well, my time here has run long enough. As for you, and the rest of you rats, I bid you goodbye."

Then, right as the pirate placed his finger around the trigger, he was struck from behind. One of the three men behind him had tossed a large piece of stone debris straight towards the pirates head, killing him instantly.

The pirate slammed against the floor, slowely falling out of the life he held onto. Then, as the blood began flowing from his head to the floor, his eyes began to close.

With a sigh of relief, I slouched back against the wall, then slowly slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

"Are you alright?" One of the three men asked me as he kneeled down infront of me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need some time to collect myself after having a near death experience for the second time today."

"Yeah, sure. Names Cooper by the way." The man then put his hand out for a hand shake.

"Sindri." I replied as I shook his hand.

"Hey Cooper, we dont have time to stick around. We need to get out of here. Lets get to my speeder and get out of here." Another one of the men said.

"Yeah sure. Just hang on a sec. Or, go ahead, and I'll catch up." Cooper replied looking back over his shoulder.

"You can come with us if you want."

"No, I think if I take that pirates speeder, I can use it to get out of here." I said as I began to get up on my own feet.

"Thats a good idea. Just dont stick to close to the pirate patrols. They may see you through the cockpit and recognize that your not one of them."

"Will do. I should get going now."

"Yeah, be safe. And let the force be with you."

"Let the force be with you? Whats that supposed to mean.?"

"It's something that an old Jedi friend used to tell me all the time whenever we would depart. I guess I have come to accept it as a part of my life as well."

"Interesting. Well, goodbye. And may the force be with you too."

We then turned away from each other, as I picked up the pirated rifle and began walking through the destroyed walls, to the speeder at the end.

I hopped in, and closed the cockpit. There were so many controls, I didnt want to touch any of them; in fear that I would end up firing a missile or a cannon of some sort and kill off a few hundred civilians. I just kept to the basic controls that I could identify as the steering and acceleration controls.

I then took off slowly, gaining speed as I moved on. If I flew off long enough, maybe I could exit the pirates sensers and escape without being traced.

I flew calmly through the buildings, trying to not to attract any attention to the other pirates that were blazing around.

As I flew around, a short static began coming from the intercom system, with a low voice speeking. I then turned up the volume to hear what the voice was saying.

"Davin, where are you going? Over."

I knew on the spot that this voice was another pirate, trying to contact me in belief that I was the other pirate who owned this speeder.

Should I reply? No, he would recognize my voice and automaticlly know that I wasnt this Davin who he was trying to contact. I thought to myself.

I continued to fly without responding to the call. But, as I flew, the voice began speaking. Asking the same question over and over. Only, the voice was seeming to have a little more annoyance every time.

"Davin, if you do not respond, I will have to report you to Aila for treason."

Treason? What would they do to me if so?

"And Davin, I hope you start using your brain soon if you know whats good for you. I dont want to lose another friend.... Do you remember what happened to Javik? He was abliterated for treason. And he wasnt attempting to betray anyone. His com link was shorted out!"

Abliterated!? Are this guy serious?

I then turned the speeder around, knowing that if I continued, I would be killed any way. I gripped the rifle on my lap, for I may have to use it soon.

[Sindri]

I flew silently, trying not to attract attention. It was unberable though. Watching the pirates around me firing at the helpless civilians below. I couldnt just sit around and watch.

My fingers began gripping the steering and accelerations controls. Each of my knuckles where starting to become bone white. I could feel an inner anger flowing from my own heart, pulsating. If it were possable; fire would be raging from my very eyes.

Then, from around the corner of a tall sky scaper, 6 fighters flew into the area, finring at the pirates own speeders.
It was Taris' own police force, finally coming in to stop the pirates.

I turned the controls to the left and barreled to the side towards the police force, close enough to let them see me through the cockpit.
One of the fighter pilots made eye contact with me. I could see the distrust in his eyes. But, I wasnt dressed like any of the pirates. I was dressed in civilian clothing, and still had that young innocent look amonst my face.

The leader of the fighter group though, could see that I wasnt a pirate. And then attempted to make contact through the comm link with me.

"The is the Taris police. State your name and how you came to aquire that fighter."

"My name is Sindri Myr. I stole this fighter from a pirate who attempted to kill me."

"Then why are you staying in the city? Why dont you get out of here? We could have taken you out very quickly you know."

"Yeah, I tried. But when I did, one of the pirates comtacted me and said that if I were to leave the area, I would be shot down. They still believe that I am one of them. They dont know that Davin is dead."

"Who's Davin?"

"He's the pirate who attempted to kill me. He was killed before he could shoot me."

"Fine, well, stick close to us, we'll keep you safe. If you know how to use any of the weapons on that fighter, dont be shy to using them."

"Will do."

I then pulled my fighter closer into the group, and gripped the controls. We began flying towards a building covered in fire and wreckege. There were a couple of pirates running along the ground around it, and a few fighters patroling the area.

We were about to enter a dangerous area. And looking through the cockpit window infront of me, all I could do was have hope.