Somebody told me...

[Dire Wolf]

Planet: Dantooine
Time Peroid: 3604
Players: Dutch, Wolf

Dantooine wasn't much, but it was home. Tahlia had grown up on the humble little farm world's Jedi Enclave. All of her time wasn't wasted in that particular little piece of real estate, though. Tali may not have left her homeworld more than once or twice during her apprenticeship, but her master made up for it by taking every possible assignment on the world itself. Ingemar Odin was the Jedi Watchman for the little agri-world, after all.

And now Tahlia was the watchman of Dantooine.

A small smile formed on the woman's lips as the nexu tooth on her necklace rolled between her fingers. Some small amount of her master's presence still lingered within the incredibly old canine. Something told her that Ingemar would be proud of the Jedi that Tali had become. Kirin was certainly proud in a motherly sort of way. The wind licked her hair and tore at her face from the seat on her speeder bike. Entire fields were nothing but a blur as she sped past it at a mind numbing pace, her destination was the little town of Flint. The Watchman had heard that a Sampson would be there, and it had been far too long since she'd seen or heard from a member of that clan.

Memories flashed across the woman's mind's eye as she spotted Flint in the distance. Tali was no more than ten years old the first time that Ingemar had brought her to Erle to be taught the basics of marksmanship. The Blaster rifle she held was sized for a child her age but still shook from weak grasp she held on it. Imagine her surprise when the recoil from the blaster was little more than a light push against her shoulders, and the red bolt actually hit the target, no less! The smile on her face was bigger than it had ever been before, and would ever be for a very long time.

When Tali finally arrived the dingy little space port she allowed the speeder to slow to a stop before throwing a leg over the bike and finally planting both feet on the ground. She imagined seeing Erle open up some random door just as she started off towards the sidewalk, but no one came out. Something whispered to her shortly after that. Erle wasn't the Sampson in town. There was something she felt, though. A presence that was raw and untrained.

The smile on her lips grew a little larger when she finally recognized the source: it was Dutch. Dutch was perhaps the brother that she never had. Kirin was right all those years ago: she may not ever experience the joys of having blood relatives, but she had indeed found family in those around her. Erle. Dutch. Kirin. Rin. They were all a family to her, even if such bonds of that nature were supposed to be eschewed by Jedi. In her view they were strengths. Not weaknesses.

[Dutch]

"Dammit Dutch, how many times do I have to tell you, we don't carry A1-B4 type power converters anymore. I know that's what your pops prefers, but they simply don't make them anymore!"

Said the gruff looking Balosar behind the counter of "Fennit's Repair". Fennit himself was an old friend of the Sampson family, the surly Balosar their main man for equipment parts. He crossed his arms behind the counter and stared Dutch down. Dutch stared back. Several moments passed until finally Dutch raised a single eyebrow. Followed by a grin.

"Dammit Dutch... fine. I'll go look in the back."

Fennit growled and sagged his antennaepalps in defeat. Dutch snickered to himself and pulled a bit of jerky from his coat pocket and nibbled on some. He could hear his dad's friend clang around in the back as Dutch chewed on his snack and looked around Fennit's shop. Always something fun in there. He almost, almost went and purchased a remote droid for Al, but then Fennit said that the droid had an odd habit of flying straight into genitals. Dutch may wrestle with Al, and punch him every now and then, but even he didn't want to see Al in that kind of pain. Well, almost didn't, he thought to himself with another snicker at the image of Al doubling over from a remote to the sack.

"Here, three, just like you asked. Guess I got a crate of 'em in the back. Lucky I owe your pops..."

The Balosar said as he wrapped the three converters in anti-static wrap and banded them together. Dutch paid the man and tucked the power converters under his arm. He waved to Fennit and turned to leave the store. As he opened the door and stepped out to get to the Windchaser... a familiar face was right next to him on his left. Dutch blinked once in surprise before grinning and pulling the girl into a one-armed brotherly hug. He laughed jovially before saying

"Tali! Hey! Whatcha doin' in Flint?"

[Dire Wolf]

The city of Flint may have been a space port, but it wasn't particularly large. It didn't take long for the former Jedi investigator to find the man she had been looking for. Though one might venture to say that Dutch found her. She had been just about to open the door when Dutch suddenly appeared from behind a door. Tali had sensed his proximity, but he still surprised her nonetheless. Before the Jedi knew what was happening she found herself in a one armed brotherly hug. All Tali could do was wrap her arms around him and cast a smile up at the man's face. Dutch was the closest thing to a brother she ever had.

"Do I need a reason to see the famous Dutch Sampson? Its been, what, four years since I've seen you, your dad, and the rest?" She released him from the hug and crossed her arms. "But yeah... I'm kind of the watchman of Dantooine now. So, I suspect that you'll all be seeing some more of me."

"Hey. Hey Billy Bob and Jenny Sue, are you guys cousins or brother and sister? I mean, the family that sleeps together, stays together, right?"

A gout of laughter erupted from the small swoop gang behind them, and Tali turned to meet them with an eyebrow crooked. "Actually... you're both... brothers..." she took a moment to think of something to say, "shutup, random biker guy."

She wasn't the best at comebacks or insults. Even after living with the criminal underground for so long.

[Dutch]

Dutch released the hug as well, though the grin didn't leave his face. He nodded in agreement to how long it had been since they last saw each other. His eyebrows raised in surprise as Tali announced that she had been made watchman of the planet. Whatever that meant. Probably some hokey Jedi fanciness. He gestured over to a swoop parking area and as they walked he hefted the power converters slightly.

"So... that means what again? Heh. Sorry, Jedi stuff, y'know."

He said before he shrugged and placed the power converters into a saddle bag on the side of his Windchaser. Dutch latched the leather straps to secure his cargo and stood up with a sigh as he heard the insults. Hawk's gang. Useless bunch of buzzards. Dutch looked at them in a disapproving manner before he moved his hand to his hip and lay it on the holster of his pistol.

"Look, why don't you go to that lil' rat fink excuse of a 'boss' of yours, and bite the pillow for a bit."

Dutch growled as he removed the leather strap that held the gun in its holster. His eyes watched the gang as they picked up their makeshift weapons and cobbled together rifles. He waited to see if any of them were going to try something. Part of him wished they did. Nothing better than a good fight.

[Dire Wolf]

"...YEAH!" Tali yelled out at the small gang of men from Dutch's side as if he needed positive reinforcement. A broad grin spread her lips thin as she looked at the irritated faces of the men until she noticed that some were taking the insult a little too seriously. Two rather big and surly men broke away from the herd and began to walk towards Tali and Dutch.

Crimson eyes shot a cautionary glance towards the taller man before walking out to meet the two angry mountains of men. They were tall enough to make Tali crane her neck upwards just to look at them. She almost came up to their pectoral muscles. Tali couldn't help but notice that they were big. Very big. "Mind sayin' that to our face?" The man's voice was baritone and his demeanor that of a mad dog kept on a very weak chain. "Umm... Yeah?"

"Then do it."

"I just did," she gave the man a confused look.

"Huh?"

"I just said it to your face. He," when she looked back to point at Dutch the irritated man launched a backhand at her cheek. She sensed it coming but wasn't prepared enough to fully dodge the assault. The snap of flesh on flesh could have been heard for miles as she stumbled backwards and tripped over her own feet. Part surprise, part pain. She hadn't been slapped before.

[Dutch]

As the two larger men moved forward, Dutch moved in kind. His face a sneer of confidence, despite the men being much, much larger than himself and Tali. Hell, the two of them probably didn't equal one of the men. Dutch did his best to not chuckle at Tali's snark. Same as always. Seems even some of the oh so mystical Jedi had a bit of a smartass within them. Dutch had originally attributed her sass as just being young back when his pops had been training her- now he knew differently.

What Dutch didn't expect, was the sudden backhand that sent Tali reeling backwards. That was bad. For the two goons. Dutch's right hand slipped into his pocket and a shiny pair of knuckle dusters was pulled out, already gripped in his hand. Dutch dropped into his fighting stance, both dukes up. He growled a laugh of excitement and began to attack the other man, the one who hadn't slapped Tali. The larger man wasn't prepared for Dutch's rapid fire attack. Several jabs to his stomach made the larger man double over before Dutch let loose a right hook that sent the man tumbling to the side and onto the ground. Dutch's feet danced across the ground as he maneuvered around the fallen man.

"Really? Gonna let a small fry like me take you down so easy? Frak, Hawk really hires some sad help these days."

Dutch kicked the man viciously in the ribs with his steel-toed boot and laughed against cockily. People underestimating him had long been a good weapon to the young man. His gray eyes flickered over to check on Tali, he wasn't too worried, a Jedi versus anyone normally didn't end well...

[Dire Wolf]

Tali's cheek stung and she couldn't help but clutch it as she lay on the ground. The much bigger man towered over her even as Dutch practically flew in and obliterated the gangster's friend. She had never been slapped before, and least of all not by a sluggish simpleton swoop gangster. Perhaps it was arrogance lead her to her current embarrassing position. Tali offered herself a mild shrug before she picked herself up and glared up at the grinning lummox.

"Do you feel like a man, now," a small smirk formed on her face despite the glare in her eyes. The colossal man only returned her smirk before throwing yet another slap at her face. This one wasn't thrown while her head was turned, and the back of his hand only struck air because of it. Her lithe body was little more than a blur as she threw a punch at his kidney, but he barely flinched at her full power strike. Tali's abilities lied in finesse rather than power, and unfortunately her skills at fisticuffs lacked because of it.

"Must be tough hittin' girls like that," she evaded an enraged flurry of punches, kicks, and even one attempted head butt. Tali may not have been the best at fisticuffs, but one thing she was skilled at was evasion. Being fleet footed was a necessity when it came to being an investigator, and she was one up until a few months prior. Her evasive movements were almost casual up until the point where her foot slammed into his testicles.

Time seemed to stop as the lummox of man's eyes welled up with tears and a high pitched groan clawed its way out of a tightly closed mouth. He sunk to his knees with a heavy thud and hung there for a moment. "Boo-yah, mother trucker," she yelled before her comparably tiny fist slammed into his nose. Tali's kidney punch from before was unassisted by the Force. This one was. It had enough power to shatter a duracrete block. The gangster's back hit the ground as if he was thrown by a hurricane, a river of blood gushed from his nose, and a high pitched squeal of pain tore at everyone's ears.

Her hands met her hips and a horribly arrogant smirk graced her soft lips as she towered above the giant writhing mess.

"Was that just me, or was that just completely badass?"