Star Wars: Jent in Junkertown

After the ship's collapse, Jent picked up the unconscious Ian and made his way down to his Landspeeder.

Jent had found and repaired the old Landspeeder by himself. Among his tribe, he was the only one who had done so, because the only sections of terrain on Lotho Minor that were flat enough for its use were the areas cleared out by the fire-breathers.

Junker's, for the most part, naturally feared the fire-breathers, hulking automatons that consumed huge sections of junk, indifferent to the possibility of anyone dwelling among said junk. But Jent had always been a risk-taker and perhaps a little too confident in his own ability, so to Jent, the prospect's of the far off unlooted sections far outweighed the dangers of running into a fire-breather on the scorched path.

Having made his way to his Landspeeder, Jent dumped his pack on the back seats and placed the unconscious Ian in the passenger side seat, upfront.

Jent got in, and with a clunky rattle, the speeder hovered off, emitting a haze of dirty black smoke in its tracks. The scorched path was clear, wide, and fenced in on both sides by compact junk, so there was little worry of crashing, allowing Jent the leeway to assess Ian's state.

Jent looked over at Ian and poked him a little, his metal finger prodded at Ian's cheek, the boy was still breathing, but Jent was worried as Ian showed no signs of waking up. It had only happened for a split moment, but Jent had seen what Ian had done, he didn't really understand it, but he was certain the boy had saved his life.

The speeder whirled on towards Jent's Village.

Jent's village, like most Junker settlements, was built deep underground. Small refuges were built on the surface and each refuge had a tunnel; an excavated route that connects directly to the village. It was near one of these refuges that Jent stopped at.

Jent got out, picked up his pack, slung it over his shoulders and hoisted up Ian, holding him in his arms. After a short journey through the heaps, Jent found the refuge, a small building of cobbled-together junk, and knocked on the door.

"Getty, Briken, Nu'bar, you there? let me in," Jent said, receiving no response.

Each refuge was usually guarded by three or more Junkers, to defend against trespassers, alert the village of fire-breather activity and to take a portion of a Junker's loot as a form of tax.

"Oy, are you bastards sleeping again? Let me in!" Jent yelled. Still, to no reply.

Jent knocked on the door for a while longer, before pulling out the Beskad, the Mandalorian blade he had found. "For the last time, let me in or... I'm gonna break-in, and I ain't paying for the bloody door!" Again silence. Jent was getting worried now, the guard was a lazy lot, but even when they bunked off work they took turns, leaving at least one to man the entrance.

Jent swung the blade and cleaved straight through the doors hinges. He then kicked the door, knocking it inward and stepped through the frame.

The insides were a mess, not unusual for a refuge if you didn't count the blood-splatter that painted the walls red. There were no bodies, just the remnants of a fight. The floor and walls had been nicked and dented by something... sharp.

"What the..."

Jent gripped the blade tighter and hugged Ian in closer, he stayed still and alert, scanning the room for threats and listening out for movement. A few minutes passed, but there was nothing, whatever had done this was gone.

Jent stepped over the disarray and made his way through the tunnels.

The tunnels ran deep, under the encasement of junk and to the cool earth below. It was the reason the Junkers built underground, to escape the caustic heat of the overworld. That and the fire-breathers didn't bother digging down this deep.

As Jent journeyed through the tunnel he remained cautious, the door had been locked from the inside and whatever had killed or abducted the guards may very well be still in the tunnels.

Jent stopped, he had sensed something, vibrations in the tunnel, something was moving ahead.

"Who's there?" Jent called out, tense.

"Identify yourself" Jent heard a loud voice echo through the tunnel in response and recognising the voice Jent replied, "Is that you Nu'bar, it's me, Jent... what the hell happened?"

"Jent, Jent the scorch-rider?" asked Nu'bar, "Yes, it's me Nu'bar, I'm coming down to you," Jent said sighing and walking further down the tunnel, he met up with Nu'bar.

Like Jent, Nu'bar was a rather wide, short fellow who wore a cloak and orange-eyed mask. Unlike Jent, he still had all his original appendages, a perk of being young and not having risked the dangers of the heaps; Nu'bar being a guard and all.

Standing mask to mask Jent queried Nu'bar.

"What happened, I've seen the refuge; there's blood everywhere, did someone refuse to pay the taxes or something, were we attacked by another tribe, raiders?" Jent asked, and Nu'bar started shaking.

"I.. I don't know, I.. I went down to the village, to pick up some parts for Getty, He... He wanted to upgrade his mask, anyway, further down... Someone or s... Something has burrowed there way into the tunnel, chewed the dirt up real good. Jent.. are they dead... Getty and Briken I mean?" said Nu'bar, his voice trembling out of fear.

"I'm not sure, but judging from the mess up there, probably," Jent said, walking passed Nu'bar. "Come on kid, let's go back to the village, looks like we've, both got some explaining to do to Werrin... look what I found," Jent said, hoisting up Ian so he was more visible.

"Is that... is that... what exactly is that?" Nu'bar stammered, puzzled, and Jent replied, "Its an off-worlder, I will explain later, let's just get going."

Jent and Nu'bar made their way through the tunnel passing by the off-shoot that burrowed into the original Junker tunnel. Jent gave it a passing glance. The earth looked as if had been torn apart by blades, angry slashes carved out furrows that formed an unstable tunnel.

Moving on, the two Junkers reached the tunnel's end. It opened up to an enormous cavern system lit up by glowing purple crystals. The village was much like an ants nest, caves interconnected by tunnels centred around a single, exceptionally vast cave. Maskless Junkers roamed through the caves going about there business and both Jent and Nu'bar took their masks off, as was the custom when inside the village.

"Alright then, you go update Werrin on the situation. I'm going to stop by at the Docs', somethings wrong with this little off-worlder and if anyone is going to know what's wrong with it, its gonna be the Doc... Tell Werrin I will drop by later, with the little one if he's up."