Wars Amongst the Stars: Rebellion: Vol: 1

Chapter Twenty

The Jedi arrives in the hold, standing on the platform, just as the Twi'lek walks through the door.

"You played that perfectly. Thank you," the smuggler flirts.

"Oh, you're welcome," Hera replys, before punching Lando directly in the choobies. Keen can't help but laugh.

The smuggler coughs, his voice going up a few octaves, "I deserved that." Slowly, he recovers, adding, "But can we get back to the job at hand flying us past the Imperial blockade? Otherwise, I don't have to pay you or give your droid back."

"What was in that crate?"

"Come on. I'll show you," he glances over his shoulder, looking directly at Keen, "both of you."

Rolling her eyes, Keen deigns to follow the two of them, slightly curious about the crates contents herself. A door slides open in the common room, and running right past the door is a little yellow puffer pig. Following directly after it are Ezra and Zeb, both attempting to grab the pig.

"That's what was in the crate. Grab that puffer-pig, but don't scare her."

The Lasat grabs the pig, trying to keep a grip, as she fidgets, "Got her!" he growls. Keen facepalms, watching the Lasat wrestle with the pig, waiting for it to inflate, as Lando yells at him. "I'm not scaring her! Karabast!"

The creature inflates, filling the hall. Zeb and Ezra are trapped on the side with the cockpit and Kanan, while Hera, Sabine, Lando, and Keen are stuck on the other side.

"Whoa," both Mandalorian and Twi'lek say.

"You see? You scared her."

Keen rolls her eyes, helping Hera to her feet. "Dank Ferrick, do I have to do everything around here?" she asks, slowly approaching the pig.

Delicately, she reaches a hand out toward the creature, placing it on its side. She shuts her eyes, summoning help from the Force. Slowly, the pig deflates, as the Jedi lowers to a seated position on the ground. The puffer pig, now fully deflated leaps onto her lap, laying down.

"Next time someone says, 'don't open the crate.' Don't open the kriffing crate!"

Zeb glowers down at her, and the pig. The creature who had been cuddling with the Jedi, glanced up at the Lasat, squealing with fear, as it inflates once again. This time, the Master is trapped beneath the creature. "Zeb, once I get out of here, I swear I will hurt you!" She shouts.

"What is going on out here?" she can hear Kanan ask.

His Padwan speaks up, sounding just a little nervous, "It's a, um, puffer-"

"I don't want to know. We've reached the blockade. I could really use Hera on this side of the pig right about now."

"And I could use a little help down here, but it looks like neither of us will get what we want!" At this point, Ar'iabel is getting just a little bit irritated.

"Keen?" Kanan asks.

"Yes."

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, absolutely stellar." Truthfully, Keen is not at all stellar, but, seeing as she's stuck with her current situation, not much use in complaining.

She can sense Kanan's slight panic, whether it be because Hera's on the other side with Calrissian, or that he needs her help with the Imperial blockade, or maybe it's just because she's trapped underneath a puffer pig, although that last one's doubtful.

"Is there anything I can do?"

She turns her gaze in the Knights general direction, "You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes at you. We have bigger burra fish to fry, fly the ship you moof-milker!"

The conversation on the other side of the pig filters in just as Lando is explaining about his past attempt to bring some unauthorized mining equipment to Lothal

"So long as this ship of yours can mask it's signal."

"You know it can't until you ask Chopper to fix it."

The smuggler laughs, "You're catching on. All right, my little friend. Would you like to be a hero and fix it for me?"

Keen hears Chopper grumble, as he totters off somewhere down the ship.

Apparently he gets the jammer back up, because Ar'iabel feels the ship continue to move, while the smuggler decides to change tactics, and flirt with the Mandalorian instead.

"Sabine, once we get back to Lothal, I'd love to purchase some of your art."

"Really? My work. You'd pay?"

Out of seemingly nowhere, the pig inflates some more, squishing the Jedi further into the floor, as the sound of blasterfire fills the air.

"Esehigi," she swears, "What is going on out there?"

Ignoring Keen, Zeb turns and shouts at the Jedi Knight, "Uh, Kanan, when they shoot at us, Hera usually shoots back."

"Yeah, well, I'm not Hera, and I'm having enough trouble just keeping ahead of these guys!"

"Cloud cover!" Hera yells to the Knight.

"What?"

"Find some."

Keen tunes out the chatter around the pig, trying to move her arm, even just slightly. Calming down the pig is her best bet of escape. The yelling that's occurring around the creature isn't helping it's fearful state, and the Jedi's not sure that there is much hope of calming her down. Moments later, the pig deflates, and Ar'iabel gasps in a deep breath.

"What the dosh just happened?"

Lando looks at her, and shrugs, "I simply calmed her down."

"And how long could you have done that for?"

Kanan gets up from the pilot's chair, coming over to the rest of the crew. "Are you okay?" he addresses Hera.

"Yes, love, I'm fine, I wasn't the one being crushed by a pig." The Twi'lek looks at the Jedi Master, "Are you alright, Keen?"

The Jedi nods too her, "Yeah. Like I said, just peachy."