Continuum

[Kiera Antilles]

Kiera effortlessly stepped through the gate, her feet firmly planted on the ground. About two seconds later Jag joined her and the two of them stared at Raza down on his knees in the grass. They turned to each other and shrugged. Maybe it was a Barabel thing. Who knew?

While Jag activated his scanner which immediately began taking readings, Kiera took a moment to observe her surroundings. It was very strange, but strangely beautiful as well. This side of the planet was heading into nightfall and there was a low mist creeping up on them, giving a sense of the eerie to everything around them. Kiera expanded her focus.

"Master, we're not alone."

"Yes, I senz them too."ť Raza straighten up, facing in the direction of where the beings were coming from.

"I'm reading seven -- make that eight, and humanoid."ť Jag stated and Kiera and Raza forebore mentioning they already knew that.

They also knew that, at this moment, they weren't in danger. They were sensing awe and some fear, but nothing more.

Slowly the beings emerged through the mist. They crept up in crouched positions and when they were within several feet of the gate travelers, they fell on their knees and began chanting in some unknown language. They looked, in fact, very much like they were worshipping gods.

"Well, I didn't expect this." Kiera remarked.

"It makes a nice change from getting shot at. I could get used to it." Jag replied.

[Raza Sebatyne]

Raza got up from his knees and approached one of the natives. "Do you speak basic?"

"Allaum ma'no pao toy..." The man began speaking gibberish and was shaking as he stole a glimpse of Raza.

Raza tried to repeat the words, "Allahuhm...ah, thiz one cannot speak thiz language." He looked over at Jag and Kiera. "Do you understand him?" They shook their heads no. "We should have brought a protocol droid."

"It's unlikely any protocol droid would understand them..."

Raza detected something in Jag's voice, something in the way he paused ever so slightly between words. Like he was...

"You didn't think of thiz, did you?"

Jag blushed. "Neither did you." He pointed out.

Raza thumped his tail in approval. "Very true. Next time thiz one will bring a droid."

Meanwhile Kiera was doing something with her hands and arms as she tried to speak to one of the natives. Raza quickly realized she was trying to communicate with gestures and tone. Good idea.

Raza looked down at the native prostrated before him. "We come from another world." He reached his arms up to sky.

"Nooo waanda whi!" The little man rolled over in fear and scurried away screaming in his foreign tongue.

None of the other natives seemed to be disturbed.

"What did thiz one do wrong?"

Kiera looked over and laughed. "You're a giant fanged lizard with sharp looking claws who can talk and just popped out of nowhere. They might think you're a demon."

Raza cocked his head sideways in thought. These native did appear humanoid, mostly. Their skin was pale, but pink. They also appeared to be hairless, which wasn't common for humans. And there was something strange about their stomachs. All of their clothing took pains to expose their bellies, but they didn't look like normal human abdomens.

"What iz wrong with their belliez? They do not look right."

Jag took note and studied one who was in the middle of raising his hands to the sky before pressing his face back down into the grass. "No belly button. Also...some kind of growth...maybe a muscle protrusion."

There was definitely a lump there, almost folded over like, as if it were hiding something.

[Kiera Antilles]

Since they were getting nowhere fast trying to communicate the normal way, Kiera used the Force to reach out with her mind, giving the idea that they were peaceful visitors. That brought an instant response. One of the natives approached and stood directly in front of her. Suddenly from the bulge in the man’s stomach a tentacle unfurled and attached itself to Kiera’s forehead. Her mind was flooded with images. From somewhere she heard Raza hiss dangerously, and felt Jag’s mind turn in a dangerous way.

“It’s alright.” She reassured them. “He’s just communicating with me. There’s no danger.”

At first it took all of Kiera’s determination to just stand there with that thing attached to her head. But after awhile she felt a soothing almost drug-like sensation and she relaxed allowing the tentacle to probe her mind and read her thoughts. It wasn’t a bad experience at all. In fact it was quite enjoyable. The tentacle finally released her, and she stood there for a minute gazing off into the distance with a dreamy expression. She turned to Jag and Raza.

“There’s nothing to worry about. They’re peaceful and they only want to learn more about us and have us learn about them. Their village is that way.” She pointed in an easterly direction.

The natives clustered around Kiera and as a group they began heading in the direction of the village.

[Raza Sebatyne]

It didn't take long to get to the village, but Raza was on edge. He didn't like the way the tentacle appendage felt in the Force, at least not when it was wrapped around Kiera's head. There was something wrong about it, with a hint of something close to an intoxicant, and that was definitely a warning sign. Peaceful acts did not typically use an intoxicant to induce their fellows.

However, Kiera seemed perfectly fine with the strange species, so Raza was reluctant to voice his concerns. Instead, he kept his senses open and stayed on alert. If he saw anything else suspicious, he would fill Jag in.

The village was definitely primitive looking. The buildings were tear drop shaped and appeared to be made out of mud with a green tint. The door ways were open, but they did have windows with what appeared to be glass.

Not too primitive.

There were a lot of small natives playing between the buildings, most likely the children. The adults kept their distance, but Raza couldn't gauge their emotions.

"No shipz." Raza commented out loud.

Jag looked around. "No vehicles either, but I guess they might put them in one of those bigger structures."

Kiera was still walking ahead of them as the natives were guiding them toward a large building that towered over the others. Curiously, Raza noticed a new species standing guard by the door. This one did not look human at all. It stood on all fours with rough, pebbly red skin and a short, stout little tail. It also wore thick leather garments that had an armor like quality to them. There were no weapons to be seen, but their large talons looked adequate.

"Wonder where they are taking uz?"

[Jagged Antilles]

Kiera’s reassurances not withstanding Jag didn’t like this place. He didn’t care if he was with two Force strong individuals who could sense things he couldn’t. One thing he could sense was Kiera and she’d felt wrong from the moment that thing had suckered itself to her head. Besides, he had his military instinct and it was screaming at him that they were walking into a trap.

“Look at the kids.” Jag voiced. “No bulges, no little snaky arms coming out of their stomachs.”

It was true. The children’s stomachs were smooth and flat, no sign of the strange appendages the adults all seemed to possess.

“Raza, if we go into that hut, I’m betting we’re all going to come out with our own little snaky things. We really need to get out of here.”

“We have a problem, Jagged Antillez.” Raza inclined his head in Kiera’s direction, where she was surrounded by adult villagers. “That one will not help us. She iz their hostage.”

“Well, stang.” Jag mildly cursed, then reached into his jacket and pulled out a thermal detonator. “How far can you toss this thing? I don’t want to kill anyone; just create a diversion so we can grab Kiera and get out of here.”

“Taking a hostage of our own might prove productive. We must learn more if we are to continue these missions.”

“If you can snag one alive, fine. I’ll grab Kiera. Diversion.” Jag handed over the thermal detonator.

Raza took the detonator, activated it and lobbed it just far enough so as not to actually hurt anyone. The ensuing explosion produced mass pandemonium as villagers scattered and ran in all directions or cowered fearfully.

“Next time we fly.” Jag shouted as he ran for Kiera.

[Raza Sebatyne]

As Jag grabbed Kiera away from the startled worm people, Raza went for his hostage. Out of convenience, he simply snagged the nearest person who turned out to be a somewhat elderly looking male.

The being struggled as Raza put one taloned claw on his shoulder. The man snapped around and Raza was surprised to see his tentacle like appendage waving around out of his stomach in a very threatening gesture.

Moving fast, Raza grabbed the tentacle thing and jerked it, causing the man to gasp in pain. Slipping behind him and putting his arm in vice lock hold, Raza oriented his hostage in front of him and then dragged the man toward Jag and Kiera.

By now the other worm people were beginning to focus on him and Jag.

Raza clinched his hostage in a threatening manner. "Stay back or thiz one getz it!"

Figuring they wouldn't understand him anyway, he made sure his tone carried the message and he emphasized it with the Force.

Those nearby flinched and kept their distance. Raza wisely edged up near Jag. "Now would be a good time to escape thiz one thinks."