OOM: Leaving Coruscant p3

[darksister]

[OOC: Plot points are inspired by An Unlikely Companion by Black Stormraven and used with their permision.  It is awesome and you should go read it. I'll wait. In their fiction, Asajj finds an akk dog but plots I have in mind for Asajj's future don't allow for such a large friend. Thus, I am inventing my own species.]

The first call barely registered on her consciousness; a tickle in her thoughts, less than a half-remembered dream.

The second crept into her awareness and raised a sense of alarm that had her looking about her, expecting an attack.

The third made her realize someone or something was reaching out to her through the Force. Half-angered that anyone would dare and half-curious to see who was foolish enough to think she would help, she followed the impulses until she came to an alley with five younglings. At first she thought one of them must be the one who called to her but she quickly realized that wasn't the case since they were grouped in a circle, facing in and hadn't even noticed her.

Shaking her head, she turned to leave when a tiny chitter of alarm echoed within the alley, quickly smothered by harsh and cruel laughter of the younglings. The call within the Force spiked as well.

She wasn't even aware she had decided to intervene when she spoke out, "Okay, boys. Play time is over."

Nearly as one, they looked up and turned to face her. They also drew weapons and the largest of the lot spat out, "Run off yourself!"

She didn't even bother to roll her eyes, just raised her closed fist to her chest and then opened it with her fingers splayed. The younglings went flying with the Force, striking the walls of the alley to fall stunned or unconscious. Harsh perhaps, but she had warned them.

Now that the younglings weren't blocking her view, she could see her beseecher and she was confused. In form, it was much like a Trandoshan monkey pup, but while it had the six limbs of the usual breed, it also had skin stretched between the arms and legs, much like many species of gliders.

Whatever it was, it was hurt and much as she didn't care, she knew what it was to be abandoned. She carefully scooped it up and went in search of a veterinarian.

___________________________________________

"An interesting specimen," the Rodian veterinarian Asajj had found was saying. "I am not entirely certain of her species, but I am sure she has some relation to the momong, though no flying members of that species has ever been recorded. And why anyone would think bringing it to a planet such as Coruscant, is beyond me. A crime! Shameful!"

"What do you mean?" Asajj asks, not really caring but as long as she kept him talking, he wasn't asking for credits.

"Momongs evolved in the Trandoshan system, either on Trandosha itself or the moon, Wasskah. Both are covered with heavy jungles and our friend here must have evolved in a similar ecology. Look at her claws and grasping paws? She is a predator, as well. A planet such as Coruscant is not suited for her biology. No trees, no natural prey. I fear she may be suffering from malnutrition as well as the trauma of those thugs. I will make a list of supplements for her but you should find a source of fresh meat for her, if not a place for her to hunt. She is young enough, I fear her skills may be poor."

"No. Get down," Asajj told the momong who had been trying to climb back into her arms as she spoke with the doctor. "This is not my animal."

"Oh dear. Well, that is a problem."

"Perhaps, but not mine." The Rodian's ears drooped, prompting Asajj to ask, "What happens to it now?"

"I am afraid I'll have to turn her over to animal control. She will likely be euthanized since she seems bonded to you and likely will not accept another companion."

"That is not an option."

"If you would agree to care for her," the Rodian said after a pause, "I will search for her home world. Assuming I find it and she has not domesticated, she will likely chose freedom on the world of her birth. You can take her there and set her free."

"Agreed," Asajj said after a moments pause. Giving in to her fate, she let the momong climb to her shoulder.

"There is the matter of payment...but if you provide me with detailed journals of her development—growth, preferred food, what she hunts, and the like—I can agree to a discount. I would require a means to contact you if I find her home world."

Sighing, Asajj reaching for her credits.