Sanis Prent and the Urns of Korriban

[Sanis Prent]

Bespin



I'd gotten the summons two days ago through a courier on Sullust. That was the first strange thing. In this day and age of whizbang instant communications, a courier seemed pretty anachronistic. Either somebody too important to talk to me face to face, too busy, or just way too incommunicado. The courier had kept it simple. There was lucrative work for me, and I'd find it on Bespin. Good for me, nobody's schedule was full. We had seen as much of Sullust as was necessary to get our fill, so we pushed on.



* * *


I nudged my co-pilot's shoulder, as Layla began her descent, cutting a vapor trail through Bespin's feathery stratus periphery, leading to the glittering metropolis suspended on sun-sweetened cumulus dunes.

"Hey, we're up on approach. You want to navigate the vectors?"

I smiled lopsidedly, stretching in the pilot seat I'd occupied for too many hours.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Would jI!" Daani popped upright from behind the pilot's seat and jumped in front of Cirrsseetto. "Please! Can jI!"

Her brother pulled her into his lap and tousled her blonde hair with a huge hand. "Daanji..." He was probably tired of dealing with her. James hadn't been on board since her accident, and everyone was starting to feel the stress of having to deal with Daani more than they were used to.

"C'mon, jyou've been teachjing me how!" She flashed Sanis a toothy, angelic smile as Cirr flushed under his captain's sudden scrutiny.

"You've been teaching her what?!"

Daani bounced up and down on Cirr's knee. "jYeah, when jyou and s'jIl werrre jin Sullussst Cjity! Can jI! Pleeeeeeease!"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"Me too!"

The patter of bare feet could be heard as Tak made her presence known. Months spent playing with Daani, and being with the rest of the crew, had given her a bit more of a command on Basic. Of course, it wasn't really unexpected to hear her lapse back into Cathar, but what few phrases and words she knew she used.

And 'me too' was one most often used.

Scrampling up into Sanis' lap, Tak grinned cheekily at him.

"Me too!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Ugh..."

Cirr slouched forward, letting go of his little sister as he wrung at his ears. Technically, approach vectors were as simple as coloring inside the lines. The harbor master brought up the waypoints in your nav computer and you just steered them. Still, this was Daanarri, and Cirr had reservations about her even touching his gravity wrenches.

"Sanjis, don't let herr crrash us. jIf jI surrvjived, Mama Taa would kjill me anyway."

[Sanis Prent]

I nodded back to my mechanic.

"She can work the vectors until we're over the pad. I'll take over if we deviate. Don't worry big guy.

Daani, show your brother that you aren't as left-thumbed as he is."

I laid an arm in Tak's lap as she scampered up onto mine.

"And you...little helper. You have to turn on the running lights."

I held onto Tak's little wrist gently, and guided her hand to a switch on the main console.

"Press that one!"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"WOOHOO!" Daani hollered, kicking Cirr out of the co-pilot seat and strapping herself in. She pulled the secondary flight stick from the console and studied the first set of waypoints as she flew the freighter towards them.

"jI can land too, jI prrromjise jI won't crrrash!" Which was, of course, a bold promise she couldn't back up.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Concentrating, and with Sanis' help, Tak bravely toggled the switch he held her hand over.

Her job done, she sat back with a large sigh - just as she had seen Sanis do many times after having sat too long in his chair.

[Sanis Prent]

I laughed at Tak's determined mimicry, and mussed her hair a bit.

"Good job, co-pilot."

Letting my attention turn back to my Cizerack harbor pilot, I watched as she carefully steered through the holographic waypoints as they formed on the screen. Cloud City grew large in the forefront, the individual spires of the city center now clearly visible. To the left, a cloud car buzzed, keeping pace.

"I'm slowing to one quarter, Daani. You're a natural. Keep to the center and don't yaw."

The comm switch blinked active, and I thumbed it for audio.

"This is Layla. Are we cleared to land, harbor master?"

A professional-sounding voice filled the pilothouse, crackling lightly with ambient static.

"Freighter Layla, you are cleared for Pad 14-D. I have a communication request being routed through to you. Shall I link you, or record it to comm cube for after landing?"

That was pretty unusual.

Gently, I hoisted Tak off my lap, gesturing for Cirr to take my seat. Standing in the back of the pilothouse, I switched the comm to my personal device instead of the overhead.

"Go ahead with that comm, harbor master."

I looked back at Cirr, who arched an inquisitive eyebrow. He knew this was out of the ordinary too.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani bit her lip, eyes fixed tightly on the holographic HUD in front of her. It would have been fun to play with the yaw of the ship, but Sanis warned her not to as soon as she thought of it. She grimaced with pretend concentration and continued towards Pad 14-D.

Glancing at Tak from the corner of her eye, the cub grinned. "Wanna go somewherrre else, Tak? jI can take us... anywherre!"

[General Dan]

"Mister Prent. Good to see you made it."

The voice sounded warm with sincerity.

"I hope our mutual friend is aboard and well. I can't dawdle on this message for long. Others may be listening so I'll be brief. My man will contact you, and bring you to a place we can talk.

Welcome to Cloud City, Mr. Prent."

And with that, the comm went silent.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Climbing up to sit next to Daani, Tak grinned from ear to ear.

"Cat'ar!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr's ears fluttered as he watched Sanis come back from taking the call. Sounded like Dan wanted an immediate parley, and it sounded pretty serious.

The old man paid well for his work and was fair handed, but Cirr had never heard him with all of his feathers up, so to speak.

"Daanarrrji, you take Tak and go wake Mjiss Lok. Sanjis and jI have grrown-up thjings to do."

It was part honest request, and partly a scheme to get the girl out of the pilot's seat.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Okajy!" Daani bounded from the seat, the flight stick rebounding violently as she grabbed Tak's hand and pulled her towards the passage to the rest of the ship. "Don't crrrash us, Cjirr!"

[Sanis Prent]

"Krasst!"

I nearly face-planted on the deck plating as Layla bucked. Fortunately, Cirr's fast fingers transferred helm to his station, so the wild ride didn't get too out of hand.

"Freighter Layla, please maintain your vectors." the harbor master scolded in a clipped tone.

"Sorry bout that, harbor. Had a little, uh, wind shear."

I ducked into the seat Daani abandoned, returning flight controls back. Cirr leaned forward, propping his chin against his knuckles, lost in the view like he was trying to count windowpanes.

"Don't break a sweat, fuz. The old man probably has a lot of money in store for us on this one."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Pulled along by Daani, Tak was soon happily skipping along beside the Cizerack girl.

Taking her hand from Daani's and looping her arm into the other girl's, Tak began singing one of the more naughtier songs that Daani had taught her.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She'd fallen asleep hours ago, curled on her side with one of her books still open on the page she'd been reading before nodding off. Her slumber was a peaceful one, unfettered by nightmares.

Lok s'Ilancy soaked in what little peace that she could get, having spent the last few days cheerily entertaining both Daani and Tak with stories, games, and when her motherly instincts demanded, chores. She worried for James though, and every so often it showed in her demeanor.

But now, having been thoroughly tired out by the two girls, the Lupine had fallen fast asleep.

In the quiet of the Cat, s'Il slept on, oblivious to everything and everyone around her.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani put her finger to Tak's lips as they drew near to the Black Cat. "Shhhhhhhhhh..." The two girls giggled as they crept into the shuttle, inching closer and closer to Lok on their childish tippy-toes.

The freighter was making it's landing as Daani and Tak leapt onto the bed, both of them shouting "Steamrrrooooller!" and rolling around on the blankets and the woman sleeping underneath.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"jI don't doubt that."

Cirr shrugged, his drooping ears telegraphing his dour mood.

"jI guess jI'd just rratherr not expect bad news, rratherr than keep lookjing overr my shoulderr forr jit."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Roused from her sleep, s'Il recognized the two voices as the two girls they belonged to rolled haphazardly atop her.

Eye lighting up, the Lupine allowed Daani and Tak to have their fun for a few seconds before deftly wrapping an arm around each one's middle. Pulling them down into the covers, she tickled their sides mercilessly.

"So that's how it's gonna be, is it?"

[Sanis Prent]

"I dunno. Maybe it's our destiny if you believe in that sort of thing. We don't exactly pay taxes in our profession, so maybe our comeuppance for making it big is a healthy dose of paranoia."

I shrugged, smirking at Cirr.

"You'd rather be pushing cattle between farming moons? I guess a little bit of danger and uncertainty is healthy."

I glanced back with annoyance.

"What the hell...is she up or not? Some Jedi warrior, she sleeps more than you do, fuz."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Giggling furiously, Tak did her best to squirm from Dama's grasp.

Dama was always more fun to wake up than Sanis.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"No! Nooo! jIt wjill be... some otherrr way!" Daani shrieked with laughter and soon her wiggles to get away from s'Ilancy caused her to fall off the bed. She quickly scrambled towards the door. "Sanjis sent us. jI thjink we'rre herrre."

Wherever 'here' was. Daani bared her pointed teeth and then ran away before the Jedi could catch her. Even if she wasn't being chased!

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Watching Daani dash off, s'Il called after her. "Don't run too fast - you know my old bones can't keep up with you!"

A joke that even Daani knew was untrue, s'Il grinned at the sound of another squeal from the fleeing little one. With a playful tickle, she hoisted Tak up and sat her on the edge of the bed. The Lupine placed her bare feet on the decking, and with a lumbering groan pushed herself up to stand.

Pulling on a slim fitting, open backed shirt, she opted to leave on the black trousers she'd been wearing. Her hair she left down, and it fell to partly conceal the double half moons branded between her shoulder blades. With a huff the Lupine scooped her daughter up, hefting the little girl easily while heading out of the Cat.

"Here I come!" she called out again, setting Tak down and watching the youngster scamper off to join the little Cizerack.

[Sanis Prent]

"Hope you're well and rested. Seems our good fortune brings us back to the employ of your grey-haired renaissance man."

The landing pad loomed below the ship as we approached.

"I don't know if that means we're that good, or if he just misses your company. Judging by the message, seems more on the business side of things."

We jostled slightly in unison, as Layla gently touched down on the landing pad.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a slightly bewildered look at Sanis, s'Il rubbed her hands over her pants, as if to remove some unseen dirt.

"You speak of him being mine as if that's a bad thing."

Her stride brought her closer to Prent, and she cast a quick look around, seeing that Tak had effectively vanished in her search of Daani.

"Besides - I'm as surprised as you are that my 'grey-haired renaissance man' is here. He's not the one who put out the call for this job, is he?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Not directly."

I powered down the ship's systems, and stood up from my station.

"It's a job. I'm not about to mince loyalties here. Whatever you've got with Dan or whatever you don't have, that doesn't matter to my bottom line."

I parted my jacket, and opened the breech of my shell gun, checking my ammo situation. I topped off two shells, and closed the breech.

"I don't anticipate trouble. Not at first, at least. Of course, an ounce of Jedi clairvoyance is worth a pound of cure, so keep yourself on the swivel."

I patted my Cizerack first mate on the shoulder.

"Cirr, you've got the ship. Me & s'Il are goin out into the world."

I punched the control to the gangplank, and moved toward the exit.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr nodded, glanced out the viewport, and paused.

"Sanjis."

He pointed to a figure standing alone on the platform, looking up at the ship.

"Looks ljike we've got company. Dan's escorrt maybe?"

The figure had shoulder length brown hair and a thick beard. He was clad in a mishmash of plastoid armor plating and a tunic. A scar ran down the right side of his face, bisecting his eyebrow.

"...jI hope."

Cirr's thick eyebrows knit as he looked at the man outside. If he wasn't one of the good guys, he looked like more than a handful if blows came to blows. The felinoid's tail twitched erratically from the side of the seat.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira eyed the ragtag Corellian freighter hawkishly, walking around the pad's perimeter so that he would face the gangplank exit. A black-gloved hand flexed and relaxed around a cyllindrical object, partially shrouded by a hem of tunic.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

As she and Sanis headed for the ramp that would take them from Layla out into the skies of Cloud City, s'Il ducked into the Cat once more to retrieve the leather carrying pack that held her secondary sabre. The Lupine had decided it would be best to leave the gauntlet, and in its' stead she chose her slugthrower.

Buckling the leather belt around her middle, she made sure the firearm was secured safely before fitting on the sabre pack. It rested along the small of her back snugly.

Standing beside Sanis, s'Il gave a last cursory glance behind her - the girls were still out of sight, and if she wasn't mistaken, had already forgotten their reason for hiding and had started in on some new game.

Turning to look down the ramp, s'Il narrowed her eyes at the figure who stood waiting for them. Instantly on her guard, she ticked a finger on her gunbelt.

[Sanis Prent]

I froze on the gangplank. Everything about this situation conflicted itself. The armor was clearly Imperial, but wookie-rigged into a setup that was probably non-regulation. The cut of the man's hair, or lack thereof, was clearly outside of military spec, and I had no clue on the tunic.

He looked hard, and I usually only gave myself a half second to sort these types out, because they'd sort me first if I didn't.

"Imperial."

My hand slid up to the hilt of my shell gun.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani was sneaking around in the cargo bay when Tak caught up to her. The two girls giggled with the knowledge that they weren't really supposed to be in there alone, and then set to exploring.

It was mostly cleared, but there were a few empty crates and shipping containers that could easily be turned into a fort or a series of 'caves' to play in.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Shoving hard against an empty cargo crate, Tak only managed to move it a few inches. She stood back to survey it, one hand on her hip and biting her lip - just like Dama did whenever she was thinking.

She had high hopes of recreating the most-best playfort ever, and beckoning Daani over to help, the little girl pointed to where she wanted to connect two crates to form a suitable hallway.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Not Imperial... look at the way he's dressed; his personal upkeep. Maybe at one point yes, he was Imperial. But now... "

Focusing her gaze on the partially concealed cylindrical object that the stranger fingered, the Lupinesquared her shoulders. Her muscles remained taut, ready to spring, but for now she would let this introduction play out.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"No."

Anbira placed a gloved hand in between himself and Sanis, as if it would be enough to shield him from any accidental onslaught.

He looked to s'Ilancy.

"I'm here to bring you to Dan. Stow your weapons. Bespin is a cosmopolitan place, but enemies will be watching."

[Sanis Prent]

"Damn."

I cursed in a mumble, retreating from my grip on the pistol's contour. s'Il seemed convinced, but I was still half-cocked to go on my first hunch. The moment had passed for it, though.

"You're a bit rough around the edges for a cosmopolitan planet, friend. Dan trying to say something without saying it?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her eyes were either on the newcomer's face or what she heavily suspected to be a lightsabre.

As she started down the ramp, s'Il wondered if this was what Dan meant by keeping her close to him. Furthermore, the Lupine found herself thinking back to what he'd said before about joining other Jedi.

Was this man one of those Jedi that Dan had spoken of?

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"He's trying to say that he's interested in keeping you safe."

Anbira replied to the smuggler matter-of-factly. Gesturing to a vehicle at the pad's periphery with a gloved hand, he looked to s'Ilancy.

"We can leave right away."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It was strange; there was no real sense of danger to the man, but s'Il still felt a bit of uneasiness surrounding him. She wasn't skilled enough to pinpoint anything specific, only a rough estimate on the level of safety. And right now, that level seemed to be swallowed up into a void of greyness.

He said Dan had sent him though, and the Lupine hesitated for only a moment before looking to Sanis, minutely shifting her weight so that she was only slightly closer to him than before.

"I can't tell," she started in a soft voice, "but if he says Dan sent him... "

[Sanis Prent]

She was right, and I was reluctantly siding with her.

"Yeah..."

I covered my gun with the hem of my jacket.

"Let's go."

I paused, and tapped the comm switch on my wrist.

"Cirr, we're moving. Wake the old man and let him know what's up."

Stepping down the gangplank, I eyed the bearded escort as I headed to his speeder.

[Zem Vymes]

I woke to the big felinoid jostling me on the shoulder.

"Yeah?"

I growled out, my face snarled in irritation at having to wake. He gave me the down low on where s'Ilancy and that smuggler were off to, and it was enough to rouse me. I sat up on the cot, and gave a half attempt to straighten my mussed up hair as I stumbled down the gangplank.

"Best wait up for me." I spoke to s'Il as I squinted my eyes against the sun.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il had allowed Sanis to lead the way, and she'd only made it to the end of the ramp as Zem appeared. One foot on the tarmac, the Lupine turned just in time to reach a hand out, steadying Vymes as he seemed to precariously lumber his way after her.

There was a flash of mild confusion in her eye as she fell into step beside him, but that passed soon enough. As they followed Sanis, s'Il kept partial attention on the stranger while fussing with Vymes.

"You look like you got run over by a bantha."

Reaching up to straighten his hair as they walked, her tone took on a bit of reproach. "... and when was the last time you brushed this sarlacc nest??"

[Zem Vymes]

"Hell!" I snapped, a dour expression on my face.

I kept walking in silence for a few seconds, then produced a comb from my jacket pocket, and ran it through my hair for a few passes. The sounds of knitted and protesting hair could be heard snagging through the teeth.

"Got mighty useful not caring about things like this."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Well it's gonna get mighty useful to start caring about things like this."

Momentarily satisfied that he was tending to his hair, the Lupine busied herself with straightening the buttons on his jacket and making sure that they were, in fact, buttoned.

"It wouldn't kill you to look halfway decent once in a while."

They stopped at the speeder, and s'Il motioned for Vymes to get in first. As they settled into the seat cushions, she gestured to Sanis while going on.

"I mean, even Sanis knows how to make himself presentable." She turned down the collar of Vymes' shirt while dusting away unseen specks of dust from his shoulders and pulling out as many wrinkles as possible.

She paused then, leaning forward to sniff the fabric.

"When was the last time you washed this?"

[Zem Vymes]

I glanced at her, opened my mouth like I was going to say something, then thought the better of it, and turned to face forward.

[Sanis Prent]

"Does it matter?"

I looked at s'Il incredulously as the armored man began to drive.

"We're going to meet Dan. It ain't exactly a Corellian debutante ball."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"It matters to me," was her grumped answer as s'Il sat back in her seat.

And as an afterthought, she brushed a lock of hair over her shoulders.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

The speeder hummed and yawed through Cloud City's business district, dipping two skylanes down before coming to a row of squat buildings, where it settled parallel to a small one.

Anbira powered down the systems, and glanced about carefully, looking for any sign that this rendezvous was compromised.

"We're here."

He led the trio into what appeared to be a bakery.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Staying closely just behind Sanis, s'Il eyed her new surroundings before turning her eye back to the stranger.

She might not be able to sense any sort of danger from him, but the Lupine still put on an air of cautiousness.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira let them through the door, then held them up in the vestibule.

"I'll need your weapons, of course."

He knew well enough that the smuggler was armed, and he suspected the woman to be as well. The older gentleman could go either way.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a ticked brow, the Lupine unbuckled her gunbelt, handing it off.

Her sabre she left in its' concealed leather carry-pack strapped over her shoulders, and she made no move to remove it. Her slugthrower she could part with, but for who she was, she would not relinquish the weapon she'd come to rely on second only to her own senses.

[Sanis Prent]

"Like hell I will."

The words were barely out of my mouth before s'Il had her gunbelt in the man's hands.

"Dammit."

I did likewise, unlatching my shell gun's holster and bandolier belt and handing each to Anbira. It didn't hurt to forget to mention that I kept a pair of westar blasters, a holdout derringer, and a few other nasty suprises stashed about.

[Zem Vymes]

I looked to the armored man and shrugged.

"Don't lump me in with these brigands."

I spread my coat wide for emphasis, truly unarmed.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il took advantage of the moment, and with a deft move she began to swiftly tuck Zem's shirt into the front of his pants.

"At least us 'brigands' know how to dress ourselves."

[Zem Vymes]

"You and this again..."

I growled out the side of my mouth.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira knew there was some mistruth going on. Most of it seemed to come from the smuggler. He couldn't ascertain anything about his female companion. The older gentleman seemed to show no signs of deception at all.

"I'll need to search you."

He gestured to both Lok and Sanis.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Looking up from her task, s'Il waved the stranger off with an idle hand.

"Come off it," she said finally. It was the first time that the Lupine had spoken to the man.

Her voice took on a strange tone, as she tried her best to lace her words with what little Force persuasion she could muster. It wasn't much; in fact it was just about laughable.

"You have our guns, that should be it."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira's hand dropped to his side, the cloth of his tunic covering it once again.

"It isn't."

He arched an eyebrow at the woman. He'd felt the force tugging at the seams of his thoughts. Was it her? Hadn't Dan mentioned that she had some degree of talent in the Jedi Arts?

He began to wonder if that scar over her eye was any accident.

[General Dan]

"Would you four cut the foreplay and come out of the vestibule?"

Dan emerged from the kitchen in the bakery, holding a tray of steaming bread.

"You look ridiculous. Nobody's killing anybody on an empty stomach so lets eat and gossip first."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Whatever retort she'd wanted to reply with was cut short with Dan's appearence.

Staring at him, s'Il furrowed her brows at the sight - Dan... baking? She knew he liked to cook, but for some reason the thought of him baking was something she hadn't considered.

As if realizing what she was doing, s'Il pulled her hands from Zem's pants and stood up straight.

[General Dan]

"Lok, my apologies. I don't usually like to send hard looking bastards to fetch my friends about town, but you'll have to deal with my recent panache for paranoia."

Dan carefully ran a knife on the center of the bread's crust, releasing a puff of steam.

"Fantastic."

Setting the knife aside, he gestured to Anbira.

"This is Anbira Hicchoru - Jedi Knight and agent of the Rebel Alliance."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She dusted her hands upon themselves, standing with her weight on one leg as Dan spoke. He had never, in all of their years together, seemed so preoccupied with something as inconsiquential as baking bread while in the same breath admitting to being paranoid. In fact, the Lupine had not heard him utter the word itself in a very long time.

It made her suddenly uneasy.

Such restlessness wasn't helped in any way at the introduction of the stranger.

"Is this what you meant by joining with others of my kind?" she said, only partially accusatory at Dan's cloak and dagger method.

[General Dan]

Dan took on a pained expression, disapproving of her airing their dirty laundry in front of other people.

"It isn't always about you, kiddo."

Reaching down, he presented the sliced loaf to all four guests.

"Here, eat. I have presitto oil and herbs, hang on."

Dan escaped s'Il's needling behind the counter in the serving room, procuring a long-necked glass bottle of an amber fluid, in which numerous dark flecks were suspended.

"Anbira, gloves off."

He scolded before the Jedi could reach at the bread with his black-clad hands.

[Sanis Prent]

I didn't have to be asked twice to eat. I pulled a slice from the loaf, biting away half of it as the other half billowed steam.

"mm...ht!!"

I winced. It was soft and delicious, but almost too hot to eat.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She almost went after him. Almost. All manner of very un-Jedi-like words were on the forefront of her mind, but the Lupine knew that now was not the time to offer a retort in defense.

She wasn't so self-minded to think that Dan had gone through all the trouble of hiring another Jedi to escort her and Sanis... and Vymes... to what had to be a front business just to once more entice her into joining his cause. Although, that Dan had chosen a Jedi in the first place to act as his muscle woke the alarmist in her. Too many years on Cathar - and on the run - had taught her that things like this were the forerunners to something much more largescale.

It was that 'something' that worried her, and the look in Dan's eyes was enough to hold her back from speaking. It didn't mean that she couldn't stew however, and s'Il scowled deeply; almost hurt by Dan's mild rebuke.

But, he was right in his own way. She leaned against the wall without taking any of the offered bread. Instead, the Lupine cast a cursory eye towards Anbira before settling her gaze on Vymes' back.

[General Dan]

Dan picked up on the Lupine's ill vibes a mile away, and opted for discretion.

"Enough of my minced words. I'll let Anbira explain the gist of the situation here."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Swallowing a piece of chewed bread, Anbira stepped to the forefront, to speak to the guests.

"Since the attack on the Death Star at Endor, the Rebellion has been keeping a low profile, choosing its battles to avoid the wrathful remains of Palpatine's remaining Empire. A lot of reconaissance, espionage, and special work. We need time to prepare for another conventional attack, and these things allow us to maintain pressure."

The Jedi Knight pulled out a comm slip from a utiility compartment on his armor.

"This recording was received from a listening post on Bothauwi. I apologize in advance for the poor audio quality."

"....INCOMING...Protocol sevente... Cypher disc..vered....Dantooine. Cartogrophers to sector... ...three urns.... ... ........Korriban....Prince Xaliec...[end transmission]"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Poor quality or not, the Lupine felt her attention become accutely focused on garbled message. Eyes narrowing, she slowly crossed her arms. Urns, Korriban, Prince Xaliec...

A sinking feeling suddenly descended upon her.

"The Urns of Korriban," she whispered.

[Sanis Prent]

"The what of what?"

I stepped closer to the media player, hoping to hear the garbled feedback any clearer than before.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Sith urns."

Turning to Dan, s'Il spoke once more, a bit of an unbelieving tone in her voice.

"You can't mean to send a ragtag bunch of independants into something like this."

[General Dan]

"Ragtag compared to the rebellion?"

Dan's eyebrows quirked at that statement.

"I trust Mr. Prent about as long as my wallet holds up, but he's more than qualified when it does. I don't think I have to repeat what I think about you."

Dan looked at the aged man alongside s'Il and paused.

"And those you choose to travel with carry my trust by proxy.

Really, we need a small group that can observe and act, and you fit the mold better than any commando unit I could recommend. You're resourceful"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il still fought this notion of Dan's. Going after Sith urns was very different than carting a cow across the galaxy; it was a repugnant thought to her, that she was being asked to find the remains of deceased Sith Lords. She shuddered involuntarily at the thought.

"This isn't a simple snatch and grab," she persisted, "We're talking about going in and stealing the ashes of Sith."

The Lupine started to go on, but closed her mouth and looked to the ground. Her brows furrowed in unspoken frustration, and she turned a pleading eye to Zem in the hopes that he would help her to express her misgivings.

[Zem Vymes]

"What she's trying to say..."

I spoke up where she left off, running a hand through my hair.

"...is that these things sometimes are more than just historical heirlooms."

I struggled with my words. By virtue of my past, I had a closer knowledge of these things than Lok, and likely of this other Jedi Knight. Ironic, since I'd all but abandoned my training.

"The Sith...of the old times...had intimate knowledge to imbue unnatural powers to objects of reverence and other relics. The archives of the old order would no doubt have volumes on this, but they are largely lost."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira's eyes picked up on the old man's words, and he produced another data slip.

"It isn't the archives of the order, but we have some scraps here."

He inserted the slip into the reader, and a multi-tiered interface flickered to life on the holoprojector. There were copies of hand-scrawled texts, a few vague videos, drawings, and prints.

"From what we know, the urns come from the seventeenth dynasty of Drax. The Sith Emperor of the previous succession died without naming a successor. He bore three sons, identical triplets blind at birth. Unable or unwilling to wrest power to a single man, the three brothers ruled the Empire as a triad consul."

Anbira manipulated some of the documents and images viewable to the group.

"There aren't many details, but historical documents show this to be a time of increasing power and expansion of the Empire. The dominion pushed the Republic back to the inner core, and ruled throughout to even beyond the Unknown Regions.

It lasted less than two decades. In the span of a year, each brother fell incurably ill and languished on their deathbeds. When they died, the power they had consolidated was broken in three by their respective lackeys. The Sith bickered among the scraps of the spoils for generations. This is where the facts end and speculation takes off."

[Sanis Prent]

"What's this?"

I pointed to a drawing suspended in one of the holograms. It showed some kind of old-style battle, back when people used a vibroblade at the deference of a blaster. At the forefront, a man in an ornate headdress held an object over his head, which the other army was shrinking away from.

"Is that one of them?"

[General Dan]

Dan leaned forward, scrutinizing the drawing.

"They're terrified of it, whatever it is."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She said nothing, standing stoically as the holo showed what information had been gleaned. At the sight of the handscrawled texts the Lupine took a single step forward, having to stop herself from reaching out and run her fingers through the projection. In her eyes gleamed a small bit of anticipation, but it was soon squelched as she caught herself, once more asserting her self-control.

Her eyes glanced to the illustration that Sanis had asked about, and s'Il pulled in a long breath.

"It's one of the urns," she said quietly.

Master Windu had not imparted much in terms of Sith History, but what he had was enough.

"Just one is powerful enough to conquer whole civilizations. If the Empire got ahold of all three... "

[Sanis Prent]

I laughed out loud, shrugging off s'Il's gloomy admonitions.

"Its an urn. A pot with some dead guys ashes in it."

A bird perched at an open window, and I walked over to feed it a few scraps of bread that were left over.

"Look, I heard stories about monsters on Nar Shadaa that would pull little boys and girls down to the bottom level if they got too close to the gutters. Scared the hell out of us, but somebody told us that tale to keep us from falling through a sewage duct or whatever. "

The bird pecked gingerly at the bread in my palm as I talked.

"I might be mindful to know that you Jedi wizards have special powers, but I draw the line at whole planets rolling over on account of a few buckets of charcoal.

It's got to be money. Some old codger in Imperial grey has an antique fetish and too much disposable income. I've acquired a lot weirder stuff for equally weird little old rich men who dig that kind of thing."

[General Dan]

Dan pointed in Sanis's direction.

"That's my initial feeling too. I'll be the first to say that I don't know up from down in the Jedi ways. It all seems ridiculous."

He reached for a piece of bread from the tray, and ran it along the rim of the oil dish.

"But our Bothan intercepts indicate that there's a significant amount of size and scope to whatever efforts the Empire's making to find them. That, and coupled with what the Jedi have to say, make me at least open to the possibility."

He took a bite, watching Sanis feed the bird another piece.

"The Empire's making it their business to get their hands on these urns. There's a reason why, somewhere. We can find that out later, but it's probably a good idea to play better safe than sorry, and get to the urns first."

[Zem Vymes]

Thunderclouds rolled all over my expression as I fiddled with a crust of bread.

"We're pokin a Gundark's nest with a pointy stick. I don't like it either which way."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira walked to the window where Sanis stood, and shooed the bird away, closing it up after it took flight. He stood at the window for a moment, looking about to spot anybody taking an unhealthy interest in their meeting.

He turned back to look at s'Ilancy.

"If what you say is true, the Empire could be close to attaining some kind of super weapon? You have deep reservations about this, but is there any alternative for us?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a steely expression, s'Il clenched the muscles in her jaw as her eye locked with Anbira's with a somewhat accusatory glance. Dan had said he was a Jedi - he should know better than to meddle with anything Sith.

"You speak as if we're going."

[Anbira Hicchoru]

"I'm asking you to put yourself in our position. Can we afford to let this fall into the Empire's possession?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Anyone who practices the Jedi arts would know the dangers of doing what you propose; it is not something people should suffer to be around. You of all people should know this. We are a scattered few now - our masters and everyone else who would have been strong enough to do what you're asking is gone."

s'Il nodded at Vymes.

"He and I understand and respect our limitations. It would be in your best interest to do the same."

[General Dan]

"I can respect the inherent danger here, but there's a difference in a risk of accident and dealing with people willing to use something like that willfully.

The Empire has shown again and again, they have no problem reinventing the definition of depravity. They annihilated Alderaan; obliterated an entire core world for nothing other than to make a statement.

How can I afford to look the other way, Lok? If these things are what you say they are, we're doing nothing less than giving them the means to do the same thing all over again."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Looking to Dan, s'Il blinked.

"And if the Rebellion were to sweep in and take the urns from the Empire, the same thing would happen. Your precious Alliance would become corrupted with such power, and would turn into the very thing you are fighting against right now."

She paused, staring long into the old gunman's eyes.

"The only way to ensure they are not used for evil is to destroy them. Are you willing to do that?"

[General Dan]

"I can't make that choice on my own. This is coming from above me."

He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"But you have my assurance that I will make it clear what has to be done. My word carries weight with it, as does a Jedi's word. Alliance command will listen."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il let out a long breath, her head falling until she was staring quietly at Dan's hand upon her shoulder.

Her mind raged; the Rebels had no idea what they were doing - what sort of horrendous power they wanted to wrest from the Empire. Of course, the Empire didn't have the urns yet, but to her it made little difference. It was the potential; the sheer possibility of what could happen if either side obtained just one of the urns - let alone all three.

Unable to argue her point any longer, the Lupine cast a doleful eye to Vymes.

[Zem Vymes]

I met her eyes, and weakly nodded.

"He's got a point. We still don't have to like it none. The Empire had nothing of the sort in the dark times, and they put nearly every last Jedi in the order to the sword. Even with Palpatine dead, it seems they're married to evil."

[General Dan]

"And the Sith didn't die with Palpatine, either. What about the man in black, Decepis?"

Dan reminded s'Il of her terrible encounters with the Dark Lord.

"If you're right, and you didn't put him down on Cathar, what's to stop him from looking for the urns as well?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il could say nothing, silently conceding to Dan this victory of sorts. Zem was right though - they didn't have to like it.

It was Dan's mention of Decepis though, that struck her the hardest. Even the mention of his name caused her muscles to bunch together, tensing with a mix of fear and anger.

Whether he knew the effect his words had or not, she felt his hand tighten momentarily.

She looked to Sanis then, waiting on his final word.

[Sanis Prent]

"I still think you're chasing after ghost stories."

I tossed aside the remaining scraps I had intended to feed the bird.

"But it looks like the Empire believes them too. For my crew to make trouble with them, I'll need 75,000."

[General Dan]

"That won't be a problem, Prent. We pay for good work."

[Sanis Prent]

I looked back to s'Il for an inkling of protest. Her face was tight with concern, but she nodded after a few seconds.

"Then you've just hired the Layla."

[General Dan]

"Then get the hell out of here. Your first stop's Dantooine."

With a nod to Anbira, Dan tossed a towel aside.

"Be careful around others. The Empire has eyes here, and everywhere."

[Sanis Prent]

I headed for the exit without another word. Zem and s'Il followed my lead on the way out.

[Anbira Hicchoru]

Anbira waited for the trio to leave the bakery before speaking.

"The meeting was compromised. I can't be specific, but I know somebody was eavesdropping."

[General Dan]

Dan took a bite from a piece of bread, before laying the rest of it back on the tray.

"I don't need a Jedi Knight to tell me that."

He looked up at Anbira.

"Follow them discretely. I'll find my way off Bespin myself. Contact me on Dantooine when they arrive."

With that, both Dan and Anbira exited from a doorway in the back of the kitchen, disappearing into the city.

[Callomas Savoc]

A bird is one of nature's works of art. The flow and aesthetic of it's plumage, the frenetic energy of it's dance through the sky. No wonder men flew in gaudy, mechanical starships. A bird's flight is not a thing science is meant to copy.

The bird finally took it's perch at another open window. One in which sweet flowers hung within easy reach, their blooms open and inviting. With quick movements, the bird wet it's beak on nectar, before a gentle hand cupped around it.

"Oh, you are back. I am glad you are here, because I was lonely."

A bespectacled man cooed to the bird, caressing it lovingly as he moved from the window and back into his florist shop.

"Aubri, you have been a naughty bird. Did you spoil your dinner at that bakery?"

The bird cocked it's head inquisitively at it's eccentric owner.

Seating the bird down on a perch near a computer terminal in the back of the shop, the florist gently ran his fingers through the soft white plumage on it's underbelly. The bird shivered slightly, but allowed him to work.

"But you have brought me a present, so it is...okay. You can be a piggy."

He patted the bird on it's head with a finger, as one might do with a dog. The other hand gently pulled a semi-clear strand of filament from the underfeathers, connected to a pinhead-sized golden disc.

Satisfied, he waved his hand at the bird, who returned to the nectary flowers.

"Go now, piggy Aubri."

Very carefully, the florist inserted the filament into a small recepticle on the computer's side. Light could be seen glowing through the thin strand as the pinhead was held fast. The computer's monitor showed four men and a woman, chatting about in a bakery, and the florist listened intently.

After a few minutes, the florist rose, placing a small worker's cap on his head as he activated a wall comm.

"Dispatch? I need a connection to Coruscant."

[R. S. Esalis]

As of late, Director R. S. Esalis had been busying herself with Arya Ravenwing, extracting as much information as she could from the Lupine. A long and sometimes painful process for Arya, it had been a long and more than frustrating one for the Director. And so it came as a welcome distraction when the comm unit built into her desk indicated that a call was being sent to her.

A thankful sigh escaped her lips as she let the file she'd been studying drop to the surface of her desk. She depressed the comm button.

"Yes?"

"Director, you have an incomming transmission from Cloud City - priority 2."

A brow ticked upwards, and Esalis responded. "Very well. Patch the good florist through."

Waiting a few seconds, the Director allowed a rare smile to grace her features as a holo sprang to life, showing the trim face of Callomas Savoc.

"Mr. Savoc. A pleasure to see you again."

[Callomas Savoc]

"Many thanks, Director."

Savoc nodded curtly.

"The Rebels are moving to your camp on Dantooine. They know about the cypher stone."

He arched an eyebrow.

"And everything else."

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Fey'dann. Breadbasket of the Carshoulis Cluster, and ground zero of the Forgotten War.

No one talked about the Forgotten War, of course. But the scars of the confrontation still could be seen on the planet, these fifteen years later.

Sasseeri Reeouurra, Vigo of Black Sun (she was considering adding 'Grand' to her title), stood on the grassy plains of Fey'dann, her platinum blonde hair wrapped up in a silken scarf to protect it from the winds. Michael Cline and Kal Olorin were supervising the off-loading of the ship ten meters behind her. Tick and Tock, identical twin warrior Twi'lek's who served as her main bodyguards, were ranging about the countryside, checking for dangers.

Directly in front of her were the ruins.

No, they were not large, nor visible from space. They weren't even above ground which was why they had never previously been discovered. But she knew where they were, and was paying handsomely to excavate the site. A prominent archaeologist was with her group, and quite a few worker males had been procured from the nearest farming village, just one klicks to the southeast.

Her mind played over the intercepted transmission that she had gotten ahold of courtesy of her contact in Bothan intelligence. "....INCOMING...Protocol sevente... Cypher disc..vered....Dantooine. Cartographers to sector... ...three urns.... ... ........Korriban....Prince Xaliec..." Korriban. The three urns.

And she was practically standing on top of one of them.

[R. S. Esalis]

Back on Coruscant...



"And everything else."

Esalis sat in silence, thinking on Savoc's last words while gauging her response.

"An unfortunate, if not predictable occurance. The Rebellion has consistantly shown in the past to be adept at sticking their noses into the wrong places.

"I trust that you have audio and visual recordings of your findings?"

[Callomas Savoc]

"One minute please, I will send them."

Callomas initiated a datastream transfer to the director's office.

"There is a chance they have not yet left the city. I can solve this problem."

[R. S. Esalis]

Esalis sat back in her chair with a languid motion as the information finished loading. As a sidescreen flickered to life, the Director turned her attentions from Savoc momentarily to watch what he had sent her.

She watched lazily at first, then slowly began leaning forward, staring at the recording with growing excitement. The Director of Imperial Intelligence wasn't exactly prone to bouts of wild imaginings, but the sight of the five people conversing together was steadily pulling her minds from the doldrums of her previous despair.

One person in particular.

The same person who Executor Sevon had showed her in the recording he'd brought back from Cathar. And then one of the men said her name.

Lok...

Coincidence had no room in her now-whirling thoughts, and Esalis stood with a sudden new life. A swipe of her hand stopped the video.

"Stop them - I don't care what it takes, but stop them. I want that woman alive."

And without waiting for the informant's acknowledgement, Director R. S. Esalis cut the transmission while in the same motion scooping up her files and 'pads, almost running from her office.

[Callomas Savoc]

An arched eyebrow was Callomas's only protest. The woman didn't appear to have any real value over the others. But then, Director Esalis's mind was always on many things at once.

"I can do that. Goodbye, Director."

Cutting communication, Callomas left his office and stepped inside his washroom. He traced his fingers along a false wall adjacent to the refresher, and applied pressure. The wall slid to the side with a hiss, revealing a narrow room that was slowly being lit by illumination lamps flickering to life.

Row after row of fireams, blades, munitions, body armor, and other sundries of an assassin were visible, hanging on pegboards, resting in cases, or laying on workbenches.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Following thoughtfully behind Sanis, s'Il allowed her mind to wander. Such a mission was something that she couldn't shake very easily, and the Lupine let a sigh seep through her lips as she cast a frustrated stare about her.

The group approached the landing tarmac that Layla rested upon, and s'Il slowed her pace just a little.

Still somewhat very nervous of this whole endeavor, she stared at the ship for a few seconds, having coming to a gradual halt.

[Sanis Prent]

Noticing that she stopped, I stepped back to face her.

"You gonna be okay?"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

The crates had been transformed into the ultimate fort. Daani called it 'Echo Base,' after something she'd heard once. Somewhere. It sounded awesome!

There weren't any echoes, however, though Tak and Daani spent a considerable amount of time pretending their voices were echoing, giggling uncontrollably as they repeated their words over and over.

A hunger for snacks had sent Captain Raurrssaatta scurrying from the base in search of sustenance. In the bleakness of Planet CargoBay there were no other lifeforms, but the nearby moon, Galley, was supposedly full of delights. Leaving Corporal Tak with strict instructions to follow if she wasn't back in ten minutes, Daani crept up the ladder towards the next level.

There were dangerous monsters in space. Like the dreaded Cirrsseetto Grease Monkey!

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

It didn't take long before Corporal Tak was very, very bored. She had patrolled Echo Base twice now, andso far no danger had been found.

Clamboring up onto one of the crates, the little girl let her legs dangle over the edge for a few minutes, waiting semi-patiently for Daani to bring back snacks.

Of course, more than two minutes was far too long to sit in one place - let alone still, and Tak was off once again, this time to explore Planet CargoBay.

Perhaps she could find more tools, and once Daani got back they could build more rooms onto the base. Eyes lighting up, the little Corporal dashed off to see what other wonder's Cirr's toochests held that already hadn't been pilfered.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

While the two girls were off to play, Daani's big brother had fallen asleep in the middle of a diagnostic in the engine room. He lay on his side, tools strewn about as he snoozed.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il said nothing for a few moments, staring past Sanis. Finally the Lupine shook herself from her misgivings.

"It doesn't matter how I feel. You've accepted the job and that's that."

Of course, that didn't mean she wouldn't be giving Dan a bit of a dressing down the moment the two were alone.

[Sanis Prent]

"You've got a say in it too."

I stepped sideways so that she had to look at me.

"If you want to sit this out, you're still entitled to your share of the bounty. I'll make sure to it."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"I wish it was that easy."

Forced to look at Sanis, the Lupine absently dusted off the front of her shirt.

[Sanis Prent]

I stewed on my thoughts, kicking the ground a little.

"You could've said no."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Suddenly concerned about her cleanliness, s'Il continued to swipe unseen specks of dirt from her person.

"I did," she replied while transfering her nervous ministrations to him, hands reaching out to briskly dust off the front of his jacket even though Prent was as nearly spotless as she.

[Sanis Prent]

"Not at the end of it all, you didn't."

Her nit-picking was annoying me, and I reached up, grabbing her hands by the wrists.

"What caused the change?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A blank stare was all that answered him for a moment, then s'Il sighed heavily. She made no effort to remove his hands from her wrists.

"What would it matter? Dan made up his mind that we were going before we even landed. I can't say no to the man, and you can't say no to the credits."

[Callomas Savoc]

A humbly-dressed man in spectacles approached the landing pad, carrying a large duffel bag in one hand, with a larger wardrobe bag slung over his shoulder. His back hunched over with the effort of carrying his luggage along, as he looked up at the Corellian freighter.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It was true that the Lupine could not detect the finer points of a person's thought. However, there were some times when she could very easily percieve the vague hints of something about to go wrong. She was no mindreader, but she could still sense danger; after all, that was why Sanis had accepted her offer to stay aboard Layla.

And that danger was what invaded her thoughts. Their previous discussion instantly forgotten, s'Il turned her right wrist in towards Prent's thumb, easily extricating her hand from his grasp. In the same motion she reached down and easily unclipped the latch of his holster, drawing his shellgun.

Her body half-turned, and the firearm was pointed solidly at the man.

Baggage check," she said, her voice flat and her features dark.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Captain Raurrssaatta, laden with boxes of crackers, cookies, and juice, was bravely attempting the Past-The-Engine-Room Run with her smuggled supplies. Running past as fast as she could, the little Cizerack stopped short at the ladder junction.

She could go down, to Planet CargoBay, or up and into the cockpit. It only took her a split second to decide. Poking her head down she caught sight of Corporal Tak doing some recon, and frantically waved to get her attention. "C'mon, Cjirrrr jis asssleep!"

Then she scrambled up the ladder and into the cockpit, dropping the 'supplies' on the floor as soon as she managed to scrape her way to the top.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

A sharp salute and Corporal Tak was off like a shot, bounding up the ladder to join her comrade-in-mischief.

Careful to tip-toe past the sleeping, hulking form of Cirr, she kept on into the cockpit.

"Korp'rol Tek heire, Kep'tin," she intoned smartly, her accent just a little think still.

[Sanis Prent]

It had all happened so fast. We'd gone from zero to s'Il-pointing-my-gun-at-complete-stranger in less than a second.

"Uh..."

The guy looked like any other shuffle-footed traveler on any other world. A little heavy on the packing maybe, but he hardly seemed threatening. He even had a friendly face.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her finger tighted on the trigger; not enough to fire, but enough to bring her that much closer to putting a hole in the stranger's chest.

[Callomas Savoc]

The corners of Callomas' mouth turned upward slightly.

"Please excuse me. I was wrong to attempt subterfuge. You are very clever and observant."

He remained still, standing in s'Il's field of fire, easing the duffel bag to the ground until it "clanked" on the pad's surface.

[Zem Vymes]

Sanis couldn't see it, but the writing on the wall was clear enough for me. I was as coiled up as s'Il was. This guy was a real operator.

Hell of a time for me to be out of pocket for a shootin' iron or a blade. I cursed under my breath, as a breeze picked up.

I strained my ears, picking up what I thought was muttering in Gran, from some distance away.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Among other things," the Lupine very literally growled.

She watched the man set the duffel upon the tarmac.

"The other bag - on top of the first."

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas complied exactly as ordered, easing the wardrobe bag down on top of the first. More clanking and rattling about could be heard, as obviously the contents of the bags were not clothing.

"Is that a Mandalorian shell gun?"

Callomas canted his head, looking at his assailant's weapon with curiosity untarnished by any fear or trepidation he had for s'Ilancy, the others, or the weapon itself.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She ignored his question.

Her other wrist still in Sanis' hand, s'Il gestured with the gun, not satisfied. "Empty your pockets."

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas complied, removing three credits and a pack of gum.

"I may not be the most profitable person to rob, unfortunately."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A decidedly feral smile crept across her lips. "Oh, I've no interest in robbing you.

"Lose the jacket."

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas unbuttoned his jacket, and let it drop behind him. In it's place was a masterfully crafted combat rig, full of sidearm holsters, spare magazine pouches, grenades, blades, darts, and other sundries, all sitting atop a a full upper bodyglove of ballistic mesh and reactive colloid body armor. A small fortune in personal defense and small arms.

On visual cue, a dozen or so Gran made their presence known at the periphery of the landing pad, each brandishing some sort of weapon themselves.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her smile did not wane; instead it seemed to grow almost imperceptably deeper. s'Il slowly lowered the shellgun, sweeping it back handle-first to Sanis as her other hand came free of Prent's hold as easily as the first. She kept it behind her back though, deftly loosing the clasp that held her sabre snug in its' carry-pack.

She spoke to the man again, paying no mind to the group that now surrounded them.

"A firm believer in taking your guns to town, eh."

[Callomas Savoc]

"Purely for self defense purposes."

The sunlight glinted off Savoc's specatcles.

"Cloud City can be a dangerous place."

[Sanis Prent]

This was stupid. Why were we even standing here talking? The guy was just buying time until his buddies closed distance. Right now, they had this goon dead-to-rights, three against one.

"You'd best get to defending yourself then. I once shot a man on Ryloth, just to watch him die."

My fingers tightened on the shell gun's hilt as the man's expression changed. It was now or never.

I was gun in hand, and I had the drop. He made a cross draw reach over his chest, but I'd already swung to bear. The crack of my shell gun split ears, and the slug punched through his blaster to his chest, throwing him to the ground in a puff of smoke.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Moving in tandem with Sanis, s'Il twisted on her heels while in the same motion pulling her sabre from its' housing.

She refrained from igniting it though, isntead grabbing Prent's arm with her free hand and pulling him with her towards Layla. She didn't know how long the stranger would stay down, and she had no intentions of finding out.

[Sanis Prent]

I spun around with s'Il's insistence, heading up the gangplank at full sprint. At mid-stride on the walkway, I lost my footing, falling halfway on and halfway off, until I slid fully onto the ground.

Coughing, I instinctively rolled beneath the gangplank when I heard blaster fire, using the thick durasteel decking as cover.

"What's that smell?" I asked nobody in particular, with a dazed slur to my voice.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Rrrjight!" Daani saluted back to Corporal Tak, and climbed up into the piloting seat. "Gatherrr the suppljies and then jojin me at the contrrrols! We have to ..." The cub's voice faded as the whump of blaster fire began outside the ship.

Standing on the seat, she peered through the viewscreen, trying to see what was happening beneath them without actually climbing on the console. "Corrrporrral Tak! Belajy my lassst orrrderrr! Cljimb up herrre and tell me what jyou sssee!" Daani indicated the console. The viewscreen was perfect for flying, but it was hard to see underneath the ship with all the systems powered down.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

"Yes Sirr!"

Scrambling up to stand next to Daani, Tak had less restraint about climbing aboard the console. She bravely clambored up, bare feet depressing a myriad of buttons and toggles as she scootched herself up as close to the transparisteel viewport as possible. Face pressed against the cold hard surface, the little girl could barely make out movement far below.

"S'arrd to look. Ve'rre too... too high - vhoops!"

A slip was all it took, and to steady herself Tak threw out her hands. One slapped at the exterior landing lights switch, and isntantly the landing pad around Layla was swathed in light, illuminating even the shadows caused by the late afternoon sun.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Ahhh..." Daani squinted downwards at the far away duracrete, and then squeaked, "We'rrre underrr attack!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The suddenness of Layla's hull lighting flaring to life was enough of a distraction for s'Il, and the Lupine dropped easily off the boarding ramp to land in a crouch. Another quick move and she was at Sanis' side.

Snaking an arm up under his own, she hauled Prent up and to the side before pulling him with her back onto the ramp. She needed time though - precious time - and the Lupine knew that that was precisely what they didn't have enough of.

"Zem!!" She pryed the shellgun from Sanis hand, looking franticly for Vymes.

[Zem Vymes]

I made my way to the gangplank by some hairbrained miracle. The Gran brute squad was already following the assassin's lead and peppering the area with gunfire.

"He's hit!"

It was stating the obvious. The burn wound went clean through his chest. May have clipped a lung but that looked to be the sum of it.

I pulled free the Westar blasters the smuggler wore in a double hog-leg rig over his shoulders.

"Get him in. I'll cover you!"

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas rose to his feet without protest, slinging his ruined blaster free from its holster. The armor had held. With a grunt, he peeled the flattened slug off, throwing it aside in the same motion as he reached into the wardrobe bag to retrieve a rail gun. Loading the first slug, he primed the monopolar coil, and fired, sending a shot clean through the metal gangplank. If that wasn't enough convincing for everybody to come out, he followed it with three more.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Stajy put, Corrrporrral! Tell me anjythjing jyou sssee!" Daani's ears flattened against her skull as she flipped switches, powering up the Layla. A hum reverberated throughout the ship as the engines began to warm up.

Another row of switches brough up the forward cannon HUD and its holographic targeting display. Underneath the cockpit the gun swiveled around, and then energy bolts began to blat out of it and towards the now clearly visible line of hostile Gran. The targeting HUD used infared scanning to pick up heat signatures and overlay them against the real-time holographic display.

"On second thought, get yerrr butt down into the co-pjilot's ssseat and ssstrrrap jin!" Daani stopped her cover fire to help Tak down from her precarious position.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The commotion in the engine room woke Cirr with a start, and he sat up, bumping his head hard on the engine manifold.

"Arrrrgh!"

Rubbing his noggin, he scrambled to his feet, punching the comm on the nearby wall.

"What jin the hell jis gojing on??!!"

There was weaponfire outside. A LOT of weaponfire.

And that's when he heard it. The forward turret opened up.

"Dammit!"

He scrambled out of the engine room, and then froze. He'd fallen asleep mid-diagnostic. The engines were cold, and would be for a while until he could get things back together. Nearly tripping over his own two feet, he snagged two handfuls of tools and got to work, frantically squaring things away.

"Would somebody tell me somethjing? Anythjing?!" He yelled to nobody in particular.

[Sanis Prent]

"Gimme that!" I snarled at Lok, punctuated by a coughing fit.

"I can still shoot dammit!"

The slugfire got my head down. I could see four neat circles of sunlight splash down on my face.

I lay on my side, opening the breech as I loaded another pair of shells.

"I'll cover you!"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She had watched with wide eyes as Daani opened fire on the attackers before the Cizerack girl was scurrying over. With the mindfulness only a child could possess, Tak let Daani help her down from the console. She landed easily in the copilot's seat, but instead of hunkering down the little girl made to jump to the deck.

"Dama! Kep'tin, I haff to help Dama!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Using the sabre hilt she held in her hand, s'Il forcibly lowered Sanis' gunhand while flexing the muscles of her arm that was wrapped around his back.

"Zem's already doing that for us," she barked in reply, her voice stern before its' tone shifted into concern.

"This isn't the time to excacerbate our situation." Again she pulled up, attempting to bring him to his feet with her.

"Heroes are only good for one thing, and that's dying.

"You're no hero - and I rather like you that way."

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Frowning in concentration, Daani eyed the readout that the sensors were giving her. There seemed to be three blobs hiding underneath the ramp.

She swiveled the forward turret around to the enemies directly across from the ramp and gave them what for. It was an awkward angle, but she was able to scare the approaching Gran into diving for cover.

Caught up in the moment she slapped the intercom and yelled, "jI need those engjines rrrunnjing Cjirr! What's gojing on down therrre?!" In the meantime Tak was moving towards the ladder. "Corrrporrral!"

The little girl hesitated, "Dama, Kep'tin!"

Daani's ears flattened against her skull, and she nodded. "Go sssee jif jyou can help Cjirr. jI'm helpjing Dama." The forward gun blatted again, The blobs under the ramp seemed to be moving.

[Sanis Prent]

It was all nice and endearing, but with her playing babysitter to me, it left us a little short-handed. I snapped off a shot the moment we cleared cover. A high explosive shell. It hit a few feet short of Callomas - enough to spray shrapnel all over him.

"Go!"

I made for the gangplank as quickly as I could, almost shrugging s'Il off of me.

[Zem Vymes]

I opened up on the assassin from the flank edge of the gangplank, unloading with both westar blasters at the same time. I kept moving, making for cover away from the ship, so as to keep him in between me and his Gran goon squad. The guns on the freighter opened up, hammering the assassin's support before they could close in on the ship.

That was when the explosive shell hit, and all hell broke loose.

[Callomas Savoc]

The dust from the explosive shell cleared, only to show a crouching figure ensconced by a shimmering field of light. Rising to his feet, Callomas checked the energy level of his defense field before throwing aside the rail gun, opting for an over/under repeating blaster with a flechette undermount.

Chok! Chok! Chok!

The cargo crates Vymes had maneuvered around were broken apart into smoldering splinters as flechette rounds hit.

Savoc then rolled forward quickly to avoid the freighter's cannon before spraying a stream of blaster fire at Sanis in particular. He seemed to be taking care to not hit s'Ilancy.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She moved quickly - far quicker than anyone could have expected. Releasing Sanis, s'Il twisted her torso, her body following fluidly as her arm came up and her sabre flaired to life. Brilliant amethyst showered both her and Sanis, and stepping in front of Prent and in the path of this new blaster fire the Lupine brought the blade to bear.

Bolts ricocheted away cleanly, some even going back into the group of Gran as she let her movements flow naturally. Time had seemed to slow down for the Jedi, and her body moved as if she were simply dancing.

The last of the salvo was deflected easily.

And then she lashed out with an outstreched palm at the stranger. An invisible force slammed into his body, sending him off his feet and through the air away from [i]Layla[i].

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Daanji, what the hell arre you dojing up therre?"

Cirr was torn between screaming at the comm box and frenetically putting the finishing touches on bringing the engines back online.

The sounds of gunfire outside were growing. Cirr began to sweat, big fingers fumbling with his tools as he worked to seal a series of stem bolts around a manifold.

[Sanis Prent]

"Damn, he's got a defense field."

s'Il cut loose with her Jedi power, throwing the guy to the ground a dozen meters or so away from where he was.

"Well, that's one way to do it."

I topped off a fresh shell into my gun, and whirled to the side to spray an incendiary flechette in an approaching Gran's face. He went down hard, wallowing around to snuff out the burning shot fragments.

I paused, leaning against the hull of the ship. All of this moving about was making me dizzy

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Following Daani's orders, Corporal Tak had scurried from the pilothouse for Cirr. The little Cizerack girl's words of helping Dama had helped somewhat, and now Tak was scrambling down the ladder as fast as her little legs could carry her. Blonde mop mussed and blue eyes wide, she hit the deck at a run, headed for the engine room. She burst through the doorway in a rush of feet and words.

frantically tugged on Cirr's tail while hopping up and down. An arm shot out, and she pointed at one of two remaining bolts still loose in the hopes that her guidance would help to speed up the process.

"Thet! Theire theire!"

[Callomas Savoc]

A magnetic grappling line snapped taut against the freighter's hull, and Callomas shot forward from where s'Il had bowled him over. Using the tension of the line assisted by repulsorboots, Savoc shot over the Jedi's head, and perched on the side of the hull itself before slinging a garotte down at the ailing Sanis and catching him around the neck.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A surge of frustration swept through her as he sailed over her head to perch along Layla's hull. He was more stubborn than Sanis, and that was quite an accomplishment.

The garotte had barely tightened before an overhead strike from her sabre severed the line, and s'Il grabbed Sanis by the arm before very literally throwing him a short distance further up the ramp.

Her body lowering in a defensive stance, she held her blade in a reverse grip parallel with her right shoulder as her left was presented forward. Metallic eye glaring daggers up at the assassin, s'Il stood her ground, waiting for his next move.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani swiveled the gun around again, but there was nothing in the arc around the turrett to aim at. The blobs were close enough to the ramp that...

"Hmm..."

The little Cizerack slapped the intercomm. "Engjines needed jin thjirrrtjy ssecondss!"

The turrett HUD disappated and Daani slapped the panic button. Used to scare off large animals on planets where the wildlife could be a problem, she figured it wouldn't hurt. Outside the freighter a clairion blared, loud enough to cause a vibration on the hull. Then she toggled the open entry ramp to the closed position. It would take ten or so seconds for the ramp to fully close and seal.

The cub gritted her teeth and hoped she wouldn't be grounded.

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas smiled, and the sun caught his spectacles in a glint.

"I have never fought a Jedi Knight before. This is very enjoyable."

He snapped a large sidearm from a drop-leg holster, holding it in a secure-retention style. The blaster featured a main barrel, and another, stainless durasteel barrel mounted parallel, with a double trigger. He fired the secondary setting at s'Il, a small ion bolt that choked out the magnetic bottle of her lightsaber and made the weapon reset itself briefly.

With only a split second of opportunity, Callomas pounced, jumping over s'Il, but not before chin-checking her with the durasteel toe of his left boot. Landing behind the off-balance lupine, he caught her roughly by the hair, and ducked low, rolling her center of gravity over his shoulders before throwing her hard against the base of the gangplank.

That's when the siren started. Callomas was trained to adapt to changing environments, but the shriek of the siren wasn't just distracting, it was painful.

He gritted his teeth to steel against the din.

[Zem Vymes]

s'Il's rear end had barely hit the ground when I charged Callomas in full, both blasters spitting hellfire down his way. Every bit of sense in my brain had evaporated into a burning rage. Even the ear-splitting shriek of the freighter's klaxon seemed to fade into the periphery of the sound of pumping blood in my ears.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She took the beating in stride, rolling from the gangplank back onto the tarmac with little effort; the momentum of his throw enough to do the job. No sooner had she come to a stop however, when the ramp slowly began to raise up. A quick scramble and the Lupine pulled herself back onto the decking as it ever-so-slowly lifted.

Zem's attack, thankfully, was enough to distract the assassin and s'Il surged forward to come up from behind the older Jedi, barreling into Savoc with all of her force. A madness shone in her eye, and traces of yellow seeped into its' normal metallic hue as she brought herself in too close for him to use any sort of blaster. One hand going up, she clutched at the underside of his jaw while pushing his head back, the fingers changing against his flesh; nails becoming harder and digging into the flesh over his cheekbones. The other hand brought her now unlit sabre to rest against the back of his neck, its' emitter pushing into his skin.

Even through the Lupine rage that was beginning to show itself, her intentions of skewering him through the neck were plain as day.

[Sanis Prent]

Between the garotte, the jostling, and on account of my perforated nature, I was a bit loopy. I'd attempted a crawl further up the gangplank, but when it started to retract, I figured that I could just take it easy and let gravity do the rest eventually.

I looked down at the shot. It looked like a big cigarette burn. That sort of seemed funny in my delirious state.

I lay back against the gangplank, with the din of the siren beating my brains about like an alarm clock of a hangover victim.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Originally posted by Daanarri Raurrssaatta
"Engjines needed jin thjirrrtjy ssecondss!"

"Ka'iirra'ja'ie' ra'te'iaie' jeei'laa' jit doesn't worrrk that way!!!"


Cirr moved onto the bolts that Tak pointed out, handing a spanner to the girl as he primed the main ion dump.

"jI need the batterrrrjies onljine forrr a purrrge. Second rrred button to yourrr rrrjight Daanji."

He closed his eyes. sealing a conduit with a pressure gasket, and leaning back on a lever to torque it flush with the manifold.

"Go now!"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani found the second red button on the right, and pressed it down as far as it would go before letting up. "Done!"

The ramp was slowing down as it got higher, but it was still closing. "Hurrrrrrjy, hurrrrrjy!!" she urged on the blobs on the sensor screen.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Thjis jisn't somethjing jI can speed up, Daanji!!!"

Cirr threw a boltdriver at the comm's general direction.

"jIon saturratjion happens at a cerrtajin speed. Morre, and we'll rrupturre the condujit and cook half the shjip wjith rradjiatjion!"

The big felinoid looked at the viewer of the scene outside with a grimace.

"Just...keep dojing what you're dojing. Anotherr mjinute!"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Small hands clutched the spanner tightly as Tak watched Cirr rush about. She stood back a small ways as he seemed toscurry to every corner of the room, and with nothing to do but hold a tool, she looked up at the viewer that the big Cizerack had stared at just moments before.

The sight made her grip the spanner even tighter, and Corporal Tak stood up straight before wheeling around and dodging from the engine room. She'd seen Dama, and she'd seen Sanis as well. Well. Daani was helping Dama, so she was going to help Sanis.

Small legs pumping, Tak ran through Layla, intent on getting Sanis to safety, and maybe even using the spanner as a weapon against the bad man.

Maybe she'd even get a promotion!

[Sanis Prent]

I'd half crawled my way into the cargo hold, and lay back again. s'Il and Callomas grappled on the precarious edge of the gangplank. I propped myself up, working into a sitting position as I unholstered my shell gun again. Breathing was becoming a bit of a chore, and the dull ache I'd felt before was really starting to hurt.

I leveled my shell gun at Callomas, but s'Il had positioned herself between my field of fire. Cursing, I fell back again, half crawling to a wall so I could prop myself up to my feet, and get her out of this mess.

Tak rushed to my side, and reached for my gun. I quickly brushed her to the side and reholstered it. squeezing the little tyke on the shoulder. She needed to make herself scarce, especially if this guy managed to get into my ship.

"Tak, where's Cirr?"

The outer door sealed shut with a CLANK-HISS, and deposited Callomas and s'Il roughly onto the floor decking, still locked in a deadly grapple.

"Run Tak, now!"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

The ramp was closed. Three of the sensor blobs had managed to fall inside the ship, which was all of them. Once she got airborne...

"This is Cloud City control to the freighter Layla. Come in Layla."

Daani jumped with surprise and stared at the comm. "Uh, hello?"

"Who is this?" The voice sounded surprised.

Daani's chest puffed up, "Thjisss jisss Captajin Rrraurrrssaatta!"

"Freighter Layla you must stand down your weapons and cease firing. Prepare to be boarded by City Security."

"But jI'm not fjirrrrjing anjy morrre..." Daani looked at the console again to make sure she wasn't. "Nope, jI'm not. We arrre underrr attack though. Can you help wjith that?"

The voice sounded more confused. "Ah... Captain Rawr...raoor... please stand by." The comm crackled and then went silent.

Daani hollered to the intercomm, "We'rrre gonna have morrre companjy!"

[Callomas Savoc]

"Gragh!"

Callomas was hemmed up, and couldn't make the Lupine budge as they both crashed to the deck. She had him dead to rights with the lightsaber, and he didn't have many options, save for one.

As he struggled to pry the emitter's edge from his neckline, his opposite hand slapped a panic button adjacent to his belt buckle. Both he and s'Il began to shudder violently as a stun blast of electricity rippled through their muscles and nervous system. Both bodies contorted during the brief three second pulse. When the current abated, it would hopefully be enough suprise for him to avert his checkmate.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Gritting her teeth as the surge of electricity coursed through her body, s'Il held on doggedly. Never one to give up, the Lupine endured what she could, the half claws of her left hand gouging into Savoc's cheek before finally ripping clean away and leaving deep furrow's down the side of his face.

She broke contact then, rolling to her side and pulling her sabre from beneath him, igniting it. A mere second later - maybe less - and the blade arced downward yet again, this time to cleave Savoc into two halves.

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas rolled toward s'Il on the floor, thrusting a holdout blade into the underside of her arm during mid-swing, and giving the pommel a swift punch to ensure that she didn't complete the killing swing. Her lightsaber arced across the hallway, embedding in the wall adjancent to the engine room.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A sharp intake of breath was the only response she gave as he punched the knife further into her arm. Eye now a pale, tawny yellow, the Lupine gave him a surprisingly shocked look, her brows furrowing as she paused for a split second. Then, grabbing a hold of the front of his shirt, she lashed out with her injured arm, slapping him across the face.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Watching with wide eyes, Tak crept up as close as she could to Dama and the man she fought, careful to be sure she was unseen. Still clutching the spanner, the little girl watched as the man hit Dama, then Dama hit him back.

Crouching behind a crate, Tak had the very front row seat. Until she decided to take it further. The Captain would HAVE to give her a promotion!

And lifting her spanner high, she brought it down on the strange man's head...

THUNK!

[Sanis Prent]

I rushed forward to get Tak out of arm's reach, unaware as to exactly what she'd done.

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas could feel the distant, numb jarring feeling, and as the red stars glinted in the periphery of his tunnel vision, he knew that he'd been bushwhacked.

His eyes rolled back as they closed, and his head thudded on the deck.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr watched the ion saturation meter pensively, drumming his claws along the manifold as he waited. He wondered how much, if any corners he could actually cut in the saturation rate to fire the startup. The chamber was well within it's operational life, but he didn't want to fudge it.

The second time he heard a lightsaber, he decided it was enough. Dialing the ion acceleration up another 25%, he backed away to the farthest corner, wringing his ears against the side of his head in nervous anticipation. The entire conversion chamber began to shudder. After another ten seconds, the saturation meter went from red to green, and Cirr practically fell on top of the sequencer, feeding power into the chamber to start the ion drive reaction.

"We'rre up!" he squeaked, happier to be alive than to see the engines working.

Falling back against the wall, he breathed a sigh of relief...until the edge of a lightsaber blade stabbed through the wall just a foot away from him.

"AIIIIEEEE!!!!"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani's sensitive ears waggled at the screech that came through the intercomm system into the cockpit. "Then we'rrre a go for launch."

She toggled the comm, "Uh, Contrrrol? Thjis jis the Layla and we'rrre takjing off."

"Freighter Layla you are not cleared for launch. Stay put and prepare to be boarded. There are stormtroopers coming to -"

Daani turned off the system. If they tried to talk to her it would just distract her and Sanis would kill her if she scratched his ship.

Back on the intercomm she barked, "All hands we'rrre leavjing Cloud Cjitjy and we'rrre headjing out hot. Storrrmjiesss arrre jinbound frrrom the cjitjy!" With that she fired up the repulsors and pulled up on the yoke ever so gently.

The freighter began to rise off the landing platform.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

At the sound of Daani's voice, s'Il rolled to her knees, then on up to her feet.

"Zem," she hissed, "... he's still out there... "

The Lupine jerked the knife from her arm, throwing it off to the side as she stumbled toward the now unconscious Savoc. She beckoned to Sanis, a silent order for him to put Tak down and help her gather up the fallen assassin.

As an afterthought, s'Il began removing Savoc's firearms; after all, it would make him lighter to carry. A hand slapped at one of the wallcomms before she grabbed Savoc under her arms.

"Daani, wait... Keep Layla steady for a few moments... "

[Sanis Prent]

I set the little girl aside, giving her a prod to keep her away from the ship's hatch.I followed her lead, disarming the man as he lay motionless.

"Good grief, he's his own small army."

Tossing a small pile of weaponry to the side, I hoisted the legs as she wrangled him at the shoulders. With one arm free, I slapped at the hatch control with a grunt, causing a blast of wind to hit us in the face.

Below us, Zem was keeping a squad of stormtroopers from venturing onto the tarmac, hammering the area with small arms fire with a pistoleer's expertise.

"Daani!" I yelled up at the pilothouse. "Put us between them!"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani stuck her tongue out at the intercomm. "Keep jit sssteadjy, put uss between them. Between who?!"

"ZEM!"

She gulped, "Oh."

Daani eyed the sensors as she pulled the Layla up a bit quicker, and then turned the freighter to expose the thick hull to the stormies and the hatch to the old guy. Why he hadn't jumped in with the others she had no idea. He was old though. You couldn't think as fast when you were old.

"Hurrrrjy, 'cause the hull can't take much. Asss jyou know."

[Zem Vymes]

Just as the Gran had been routed, the bucketheads were takin' their place. I held them back pretty good, but I was just one guy. They'd outflank me easy if they rubbed two brain cells together to figure it out. Till then, I gave 'em hell.

Just before my pistols gave out, I seen a long shadow cast across me, as the ship touched down broadsides, giving me enough cover to get aboard. I booked it about as fast as my legs could take me, arms pumping with pistols at the ready as I made for the gangplank. Waiting for me were Sanis and s'Il, running side-by-side, carrying the black assassin lengthwise.

I gave a mighty leap and made it up the gangplank, letting them to their business.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Savoc was still a little heavy, but it wasn't anything s'Il couldn't handle - at least, it would've been far easier to deal with if there was no stab wound in her arm. Which said nothing of Sanis who'd taken a bolt in the breast. But, she knew the man would be able to carry his weight just as she was determined to carry hers.

vymes made quick work of boarding the ship, but the Lupine paid him only a peripheral glance as she and Sanis continued on with their work.

[Sanis Prent]

I looked to s'Il and we gave a heave in unison, sending Callomas sprawling along the tarmac, rolling over a few times.

"That's it, lift off!"

The stormtroopers were getting the idea, and moving to flank on the tarmac. Of course, by this time, I was already pulling s'Il along, slapping the gangplank control again to raise the door. The stormtrooper blaster fire pocked uselessly against Layla's hull as she ascended.

When the door sealed, I fell to the deck, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani pulled up on the yoke, nearly standing up so she could reach the rudder pedals as she took the freighter in a lazy spiral upwards and outwards. As soon as they had cleared the city she slapped the shields on and straightened the ship out, heading for open space.

"Wherrre arrre we jumpjing to?" She grinned, "jI hearrr Carrrshouljisss Prrrjime jis njice. Maybe we could go see Motherrr."

Daani flicked off the intercomm so they couldn't hear her laughing hysterically at the thought.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

With some sense of calm, Cirr found the strength to bolt from the engine room, bound up the ladder to the pilothouse, and leap into the copilot's seat.

"Wherre the hell djid you learrn how to do all that?!"

Cirr's ears did a 180 and flapped back against his head as the tone of his voice crescendoed.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"jI am Captajin Raurrrssaatta! jI spent yearrrss jin the Academy learrrnjing to be the best pjilot jin the galaxy!" Daani frowned in concentration, and hopped back up into the pilot's seat, reaching for her restraints. "Mjight want to sjit down, co-pjilot. Do we have a dessstjinatjion?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She knelt over Sanis while mumbling somewhat to herself, and somewhat to him.

"Stupid. The man was a professional; you're lucky he didn't nail you in the face... " she grunted, feeling as her own wound began mending itself. "... should've known better."

Of course, both of them knew that what seemed to be harsh admonishment was simply another manifestation of her worry. While most of the time her nervousness could be seen in nit-picking and compulsive cleaning, this much more rare form seemed to only present itself in Sanis' presence.

Swift fingertips unbuckled his holsters, and the Lupine ran a palm over the burnt spot on his shirt.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Ourr destjinatjion?"

Cirr quirked an eyebrow at her. That cocky little brat had barely warmed her seat and it was enough to get her tail in a curl.

He took his seat, fastening his restraints before transferring the helm to his position.

"jIf you'rre the captajin herre, jI'm the Admjirral and you'rre lucky jI don't toss you jin the djirrty clothes hamperr brrjig."

Cirr stewed as he selected the jump coordinates. In all actuality, she was good, and obviously had a knack for piloting. It still didn't change the fact that she'd nearly blown a gasket on his ship, not to mention gotten him nearly quite dead.

[Sanis Prent]

"Well he didn't, so I'm still pretty."

I smirked lopsidedly at s'Il as she tended my shot.

"OW!"

I recoiled from her touch, pushing her hand away.

"Don't pick at it."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il slapped his hand.

"I'm not picking at it," she retorted while beginning to unbutton his shirt.

"Besides. What is it that your little hussies say? Pain is beauty?" The shirt was pulled apart with a quick jerk, a few of the buttons coming off in the process, "Or was it something else?"

A sweet smile. "There's so many of them that I forget."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Breathless, Tak had followed Cirr up into the pilothouse. Still brandishing the spanner, the little girl stopped just inside the door to straighten her clothes - they'd become a bit mussed when Sanis pulled her away from Savoc. Just as she'd seen Dama do, Tak dusted off the front of her shirt, held the tool casually over her shoulder, and very nearly swaggered over to Daani.

A quick salute.

"I kill'd ze emeny, Kep'tin."

[Sanis Prent]

"Don't recall ever hearing that one."

She fiddled with my wound again and I winced. It was then that I noticed the stream of blood coming down her arm.

"Forget about me for a minute. You're worse off."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr paused from what he was doing to stare at Tak, mouth agape.

"You what?"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani took the news in stride. "Good worrrk, Corrrporrral Tak! You'rrre bejing prrromoted to Ljieutenant! jI see a long carrreerrr ahead of jyou jin the Motherrr'sss Navjy."

The Layla cleared the atmosphere of Bespin, and the cub accellerated. "Coorrrdjinates rrready, Admjirrral?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr's head drooped in resignation.

"Courrse lajid jin forr mjicrrojump. We'll adjust forr courrse upon arrjival."

He was half tempted to do the whole damn thing himself, but shrugged it off and gestured to the hyperdrive engaging switch.

"Go forr jit."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Another salute, and Tak even clicked her bare heels together as she'd seen on some of the holovids that Dama had let her watch.

Grinning from ear to ear, the little girl stood up just a little straighter. She knew it! She got a promotion for bravery and courage in the face of danger - not to mention she helped Dama and Sanis.

In no time at all she knew that soon she would be a captain too. Standing smartly between the pilot's and co-pilot's seat, Tak held her spanner out to Cirr.

"Heire Admir'rel. t'enk you."

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Fantassstjic!" Daani checked to make sure they were up to speed and clear of the gas giant's gravity well. Clicking the intercomm back on she cleared her throat. "We'rrre makjing a mjicrrrojump, ssso be rrreadjy, and stuff ljike that."

Cirr scooped the lieutenant up off the ground, spanner and all, and Daani activated the hyperdrive.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il brushed off his concern.

"It'll heal soon enough; don't fret over me-"

The sudden shudder that passed through Layla as they made the jump was enough to cut off her sentence, but the Lupine paid it little mind except for to gain a firmer hold on Sanis' arm before her body compensated.

She cleared her throat, finishing.

"This isn't but a scratch that'll heal in a few days."

Which was somewhat true; it would heal, though her metabolism would mend the injury before the day ended. Sanis knew nothing of this though, and with the slightest of frowns, s'Il busied herself with helping him to his feet.

[Sanis Prent]

"Really? That's some fantastic Jedi healing then."

I begrudgingly allowed her to continue what she was doing, though I was ready to slap her away if it hurt too much.

"That guy back there was pretty serious. Looks like somebody else wants this thing as bad as we do."

[Zem Vymes]

I stooped down beside the smuggler, producing a flask that I held to his lips.

"Get a drink of this down you."

The booze would help to take an edge off the scorcher in his chest. At his words, I added my own musings.

"Five'll get you ten he's Imperial. Caridan, given his proficiency. Mild mannered and harder than a durasteel nail. The way he handled guns, knives, and combat in general...the only other people I've crossed that do that are Mandalorian."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

As Zem pushed his flask on Sanis, s'Il took the time to quickly check on her own wound. Prent had seen blood, yes; but it wasn't fresh blood. Her metabolism had already begun its' work, and her skin was already starting to mend itself.

"Quicker than a man should have a right to be, too," she mumbled grumpily. A thought occured to the Lupine then, and she looked up to cast a perplexed stare around the cargo bay.

"Where's my lightsabre?"

[Sanis Prent]

I gulped down the whiskey Zem offered, and gestured weakly to a sizzling, sparking thing stuck in the wall.

"I don't much like the idea of you playing around with that thing on my ship. After all...someone might lose an eye."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

In the process of helping him up still, s'Il stopped at his barb and turned her head to look at Sanis. It was a strange thing to watch, the once concerned lines at the edges of her eyes now losing their gentleness.

And more than a little abruptly, the Lupine released her hold on him so that he no longer had any sort of support. There was only one way for him to go now, and that was very much down.

There is a point that a person reaches when anger takes over and renders a person's voice innoperative; now was one of those times. Not a word was said to Prent as s'Il stood, and with a measured stride the Jedi began putting distance between herself and the two men. An outstretched arm called to the sabre, and it dislodged itself from the wall to zip through the air and into her hand. It hit the skin of her palm with a sharp smack.

She didn't even stop at the hatchway leading into the Cat, instead simply walking through without a single word before it slid shut.

[Sanis Prent]

"Ow!"

I contorted on the ground, looking in s'Il's wake with bewilderment on my face. I eased myself back to the wall, looking at Vymes.

"Wonder what that was all about."

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Captain Daanarri Raurrssaatta sat back in the pilot's seat, her tail draped over the arm of the chair as the multicolored hues of hyperspace swirled around the Layla. Newly promoted Lieutenant Tak pressed a box of cookies into her hand, and the Captain gratefully pulled it open and helped herself.

"Admjirrral," she looked seriously at Cirr, who's ears pricked forward as he turned to regard his kid sister. "Admjirrral, Tak and me - jI mean, the ljieutenant and me arrre headjing back to the carrrgo - err - Planet CarrrgoBay. Please take the helm."

With that she hopped down from the seat and helped Tak gather up the hastily dropped 'supplies' from their games earlier. As they labored down the ladder, Daani confided to her friend, "jI hope the rrresst of thjiss trrrjip jis easssjierrr than that was. Now, wherrrre's thjisss dead gujy jyou told me about?!"

The two girls scampered down the passage towards Tak's Dama, and Sanis, and the old guy. Their adventure over, they were already inventing a new one.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

Fey'dann

The wind whipped her hair around her face as Sasseeri strode back up the ramp into the freighter they had traveled to the Carshoulis Cluster in. Cline and Olorin were still setting up their camp - a series of tents that blended in with the surrounding grasses. It would be difficult to spot from the air, though not impossible.

"Mr. Ferrr, jI hope that machjine was not damaged jin trrransjit." She pulled the useless scarf off her head, wrapping it absently around her hand as she walked around the reason no one was sleeping on the ship. A huge... contrrraptjion... was taking up a great deal of space in the hold. Kellen Ferr, an awkward looking hyuu-man male, was sitting on a wooden crate, leaning over a huge datascreen that was spread out on a table she'd had bolted to the floor just for him.

Sasseeri tapped her foot impatiently as she stared at the machine. "We'll need jit for the next locatjion. Of courrrse. Unless therrre jis nothjing herrre."

Kellen frowned to himself, then jerked upright as he noticed his employer in the room. "Huh? Oh! No, it works, all right." He rubbed skinny hands together. "Its incredible to see this ancient device actually realized. And I just can't thank you enough for the opportunity to create it."

Sasseeri nodded, "Well, just see that nothjing happens to jit. jIt was expensjive." She turned and made her way out of the ship, to check on Cline and Olorin's progress with her tent.

[Kal Olorin]

Sassy's tent was a frelling piece of work. And a pain in the butt to put up. However, Cline's enthusiasm made up for my lack thereof, and the prarie colored creation was now upright.

I wiped my hands off on a rag, sweat dripping down my back from the humidity. "That should do it."

Cline nodded, self satisfied. He still had that damn sparkle in his eye every time Sassy came by. He'd learn, but she was a harsh mistress and the learning curve was steep. She was heading our way, and I tossed Mikey the rag. "Got some dirt on your face, boy."

His eyes narrowed at the name, but he wiped anyway, putting a satisfactory smudge on his forehead. Krasst but he was just a boy. With a future that didn't have to include Black Sun.

"Got jit up, Olorrrjin?" She purred at me, running her hand down my arm. I wished it didn't, but her touch still electrified me. Got it up, indeed.

"Of course, Sasseeri. The climate controls haven't been activated yet, but I was just going to -"

"No, you need to take the speederrr to the nearrrest vjillage." She pressed a datacard into my hand. "My letterrrs to the Matrrrjiarrrch. We need worrrkerrrs, and jI am payjing forrr the use of herrr males. Just don't meet herrr eyes, whateverrr you do."

Great. The only creature more domineering than Sasseeri was a full breed Cizerack, and the one I had to talk to was one with a great deal of power in these parts. "Certainly. Am I to go alone?" I looked at Cline purposefully.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Cljine needs to set up my cljimate contrrrol. Take Tock jif you arrre afrrrajid to be alone."

Of course he did. Afraid to be alone? "That won't be necessary." I might as well shoot myself in the brain if I was going to show any weakness to Sassy. "I will be back before dark."

The speeder was top of the line, and fast. With the wind in my hair, and Sasseeri to my back, it almost made me happy.

[Michael Cline]

He finished wiping away some dirt and watched Olorin speed off. Pleasant enough guy, even if he had taken to calling him boy. He'd managed to have a few good talks with him, Kal definately had some stories to tell.

He turned back to Ms. Sasseeri with a smile and a nod, "I'd best see about that climate control." turning he walked the short distance to where he and Olorin had set up their generator unit. State of the art, VERY expensive. Ms. Sasseeri had insisted on the quietest model available, something about not interrupting her beauty sleep. Understandable, not that he felt she particularly needed it.

He fiddled with the simple controls for a moment and the thing hummed to life, and then quieted itself to barely a whisper. Following the cable from the generator to the climate control unit he flipped the switch and smiled as the cool air blew across his face, a pleasant relief from the nasty humidity he'd been working in all day.

"All set Ms. Sasseeri!" He called over to her.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She walked behind him into the tent, and purred as the cold air began to fill the enclosed space. "Perfect."

The bed that they'd put up was not quite as sturdy as the one she had on Coruscant, but it was passable. It wouldn't be considered a campbed by any stretch of the imagination. Nor could the tent really be called 'roughing it.' Rugs covered the ground, a desk was set up and there was even a small section partitioned off for the refresher. No, Sasseeri traveled in style.

"Arrre you enjoyjing yourrr job so farrr?" Cline had been in her employ for only a month, but he seemed to be taking to his new lifestyle like a sajoi to a piece of taana cheese.

[Michael Cline]

He moved away from the climate unit and nodded with a pleased smile. "It's everything I could want in a career."

A month in and he'd learned a lot, Ms. Sasseeri had to have her dinner prepared just right, even the slightest bit under, or overcooked compared to her expectations and well... she had a bit of a temper, but at the same time it was that fire that he enjoyed so much about her. Things had to be done her way at all times, and they always were, one way or another. When she wanted to be, she could be the sweetest thing on any given planet, or as harsh as the burning deserts of Tattooine.

"I hope I'm living up to your expectations, Ms. Sasseeri." He replied as smoothly as he could, still smiling. He had purpose, he had direction, he had a future. Life truly was sweet.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Mmm, even above jit at tjimes." She sat on the edge of the bed, kicking off her shoes and tucking her bare feet underneath her.

"Have you everrr been to an arrrchaeologjical djig beforrre?" She licked at her lips in just the way that drove him crazy, though giving no other indication that she wanted to do anything else but talk.

[Michael Cline]

He tried to hold back his obvious blush, Ms. Sasseeri could flatter one in such lovely ways. It was all to further what she wanted he was sure, her intentions were always rather clear, but he didn't mind at all. Because what she wanted, would give him what he wanted. It was also a very fun ride...

He twitched his eye slightly as he watched her lick her lips and felt a shiver run through him, before turning back to meet her eyes, "Not that I'm aware of, and I think I'd be aware of something like this."

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She nodded, "Yes, yes jI jimagjine you would be." Sasseeri pulled the scarf out, and began wrapping it around her hair again. "Speakjing of, Mr. Ferrr jis needed. Fetch hjim forrr me, Mjichael."

They both walked out of the tent back into the humid afternoon sun. Sasseeri walked towards the ruins, Tick nonchalantly falling in slightly behind her, his sharp eyes scanning the far horizons. She did not expect Olorin back until the next morning at the earliest, though he might push to get back to camp sometime in the night.

The ruins were just that - ruins. Kellen Ferr had mentioned an underground room locked with unlockable locks, but there was no access to anything below the surface of the prairie.

"What a heap." She looked at Tick, who solemnly nodded in agreement.

[Michael Cline]

He walked towards the one called Ferr and stood just behind him. Geeks, bah - he remembered when he was 11, he was given a choice for his birthday, a set of encyclopedias, or a wrench set. His parents wanted him to be able to choose what he thought he was best suited to. His mom being a teacher, and his dad being a ship captain.

He'd spent the night thinking about it, and choosen the wrench set. He wondered sometimes, what he'd be like if he hadn't - who he'd be. Seeing Ferr here gave him a pretty good answer, probably just like him. He coughed and waited for him to turn to see who was behind him. When he did he motioned towards the ruins.

"Ms. Sasseeri wants to see you."

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Does she?" Kellen rubbed his hands together and then tweaked a bit of thin metal tubing on the machine in front of him.

Cline waited for a moment, then cleared his throat again.

"Oh, now?" He stepped back from the machine slowly, and then turned around. "Let me get the maps, just a... second..." Kellen Ferr started rooting around the desk, scattering datapads and cards and he searched for the right ones. After a few minutes he emerged victorious, and indicated he was ready to follow Cline to his employer.

[Michael Cline]

Rolling his eyes behind the mirrored lenses of his glasses he nodded and rolled his hand for him to follow. He was hopelessly oblivious - that much was clear really. A nerd through and through if ever there was one. He led him, glancing back every so often to be sure he hadn't just wandered off, to the ruins.

Tick and Ms. Sasseeri were already there, looking over some things, he caught the tail end of a comment about the status of the ruins. As usual Ms. Sasseeri was right about the situation - it was a complete heap.

The strange little man spoke up from behind him, "I beg to differ! It is in pristine condition for a ruin of it's age and location, why it is nothing short than a fantastic find..." His ardor for his studious passions got the better of him, speaking up ratherly loudly. Cline simply let out a small sigh under his breath. GEEKS. Where's a waste receptical to stuff them in, when you really need one?

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Of courrrse, of courrrrse, Mr. Ferrr. But jI need to know wherrre the underrrgrround rrroom jis supposed to be. So we can begjin excavatjing the arrrea jimmedjiately." Sasseeri managed to resist rolling her eyes, and indicated the area in front of them.

Kellen Ferr, a professor from some forgettable university on Chandrila, stepped forward, walking through the grasses towards the weather worn rocks. "According to the records the room should be fifteen degrees from ..."

He kept talking, and Sasseeri motioned for Tick to follow him. The guard did without question. She looked at Cline, who seemed relieved that they weren't going to listen to the professor jabber on about uninteresting things. "He jis cerrrtajinly an odd one. But you arrre not to do anythjing to hjim, Cljine. He jis worrrth hjis wejight jin crrrredjits."

She eyed the weedy looking hyuu-man, and then amended, "Perrrhaps twjice hjis wejight."

[Kal Olorin]

The journey to the village was too short. I got out of the speeder and was quickly surrounded by a flock of youngsters, pulling on my bantha hide jacket and feeling in my pockets for goodies. I don't know if there's a training manual for kids, or what, but they always seem to think there is going to be candy, or money, in the pockets of strangers.

A pinched looking female, suckling cub on her breast, yelled shrilly from a doorway. The kids scattered, leaving me standing by myself at the edge of the town square. I looked at the female. She looked back.

Then she spat in the dirt and marched back into the shack she'd come out of. I said I was in the town square - but I only called it that because the village seemed to be centered around a clear area. It was dirt, and dusty, and there was a well in the center of it.

I turned slowly around. "I have a letter for the Matriarch. From my... mistress." I held up the datapad in case anyone was watching.

No one seemed to be. "Great." I stuffed the 'pad back into my jacket, made sure the speeder was locked, and started to walk.

[Michael Cline]

He stifled a laugh, at Ms. Sasseeri's comment about his weight and value, and nodded if ever so slightly. What Ms. Sasseeri wanted, Ms. Sasseeri got. Even if he would greatly enjoy stuffing the nerd into a locker, if one were available that is.

"Of course Ms. Sasseeri, I'll make sure nothing happens to him, from my hand or any other." The last part probably wasn't necessary, but certainly sounded good.

He turned from her attention to watch Professor Ferr prattle on aimlessly, it was almost comical in a way - like one of those exagerated scenes from a holofilm. He recalled seeing something similar in his youth, some nerdy professor yipping away about a discovery or some such. He couldn't help but think just how much Ferr reminded him of that, but if Ms. Sasseeri said he was valuable, then he was.

[Grym Kandle]

An air speeder approached the site from the sky, coming in at an angle and settling beside the freighter. The vehicle landed smoothly and in moments, the cockpit opened and a figure slipped out, dropping from the height of the raised cockpit to the ground with a lithe grace. The site wasn't easy to pick up visually from up above, but the coordinates of their location had been provided along with the message that had been sent requesting his presence.

The ivory mask of the figure scanned the area slowly before it stopped, gazing towards the ruins where the Vigo obviously was located at, Grym began to make his way towards her location. His cloak did not retain its general dark color, but had changed to blend in with the more natural environment. His clothing and gear beneath the cloak were hard to discern from even up close but what little could be seen was dressed in tan leathers.

He reached the ruins and noted the other three individuals besides the Vigo. His mask had picked them up at a distance but from this close, he had the young man's pulse on a readout. Sasseeri had 'requested' that Grym appear, not giving any clear reason in the message, and had added that it be more or less immediate in response. He'd never met any of the others and he honestly had no clue what ruins in the Carshoulis Cluster could possibly have to do with him. Nonetheless, he stepped forward, making sure his next steps were loud enough to be heard.

"You requested my services, Vigo?"

His voice was autonomous, digitally monotone and void of any trace of what might could possibly lie beneath the mask. The mask was serene, one ruby eye gleaming in the daylight.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

"Ah!" She clapped her hands delightedly as Grym Kandle approached. "So glad you could jojin me."

Cline gave the newcomer the once over, and returned to watching Tick and Ferr wander through the ruins. Tock was around someplace, probably trying to kill something with his bare hands in the prairie. Sasseeri beckoned Kandle over to her side, and he obliged.

"To explajin what we arrre dojing: jI am jin the mjiddle of fjindjing a prrrjiceless Urrrn. jIt jis supposed to be beneath ourrr feet, and Mr. Ferrr jis locatjing the exact locatjion.

"jIt may be borrrjing rrrjight now, but thjings could get trrrjicky laterrr. They seem to, when one jis dealjing wjith rrrarrre arrrtjifacts." Sasseeri pulled a pair of sunshades out of her pocket and put them on to protect her eyes from the late afternoon sun. "Grrrym Kandle, meet Mjichael Cljine, my assjisstant."

[Michael Cline]

He gave the man the once over, a very... unique character, to say the least. He wondered what his position wtih Ms. Sasseeri was, and quickly thought better of it, it's probably better that he not know.

"A pleasure," He said cooly, extending his hand to the masked man. "Mr. Kandle." He narrowed his eyes slightly, giving him a more further look over. Hmmm, he didn't sense any immediate bad intentions from him, that was a good sign. Of course, he wouldn't see why he would, Ms. Sasseeri was VERY careful with who's company she kept in. Had he been anything more than on the up and up, she would have found it, without question.

[Grym Kandle]

Grym's gloved hand shook Cline's in a polite gesture and then returned within the folds of his cloak. Grym had no idea who Cline was but then again, Grym had been in the Outer Rim, securing the changeover to Reeouurra's interests and making sure her lieutenant was able to inspect and approve of Grym's operation. So he hadn't been given the luxury to stay up to date on who came in where. If he was her assistant, and obviously not one in the no-brains-all-brawn kind of way, Kandle went ahead and categorized the kid in the human-pda type, just making the Vigo's life easier in any convenient way she could think of. He barely returned a nod to Cline before turning his attention back to Sasseeri.

Grym had questions but he kept himself from asking them. Anything he might ask would be something that of course the Vigo already had in mind. She had called Grym here for one reason or another; he wasn't going to stress over the details. Priceless artifacts had changed hands before his eyes a few times in his life time and a smaller amount of those had actually ended up being a clean deal. For now, he was content on just standing by and watching.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She was opening her mouth to say something when the call came from Kellen Ferr. "Here it is! Ms. Reeouurra!" He was waving at them, partially obscured by a stone pillar that had fallen on its side.

Sasseeri activated her commlink, "Tell hjim to shut up."

Tick nodded, and put his hand over the professor's mouth. She sighed, and started to walk to their position, Cline trailing behind her. "The locatjion of the rrroom?"

Kellen nodded, and Tick removed his hand from the hyuu-man's face. "Yes, Ms. Reeouurra. According to my calculations and the ancient scripts - ah," her face registered her impatience, and for once he noticed. "Yes, right underneath us, several meters below the surface, taking into account soil build up."

[Kal Olorin]

It only took a few more minutes to locate the Matriarch. Or, rather, for her to locate me. Her two manservants, big, burly males, flanked me and took me to her hut.

Sure, I hadn't really known what to expect when we arrived at Fey'dann, but I've seen Carshoulis Prime, the planet and the City, and I have to admit I expected better than the squalor these Cizerack were living in. The Matriarch was a wrinkled up prune of a sexpot, probably plotting a way to put a collar on me, and she smiled a toothless grin in my direction.

She seemed to be half blind, or maybe more than half. A younger female, most likely her daughter (granddaughter?) was standing just behind the Matriarch's wooden chair, whispering in the old biddy's sensitive ears. I kept my eyes mostly downcast and handed the datapad over. I wasn't worried about not getting the manpower Sassy wanted. The money she was offering for the use of as many males as the Matriarch would spare was probably more than these females had seen in quite a while.

It wasn't harvest time either. We'd checked.

"Raau'traa'sseen prrran'aa s'tka bu'unarrrji..." The matriarch nodded, waving her thin hand in my general direction. She kept talking, and the younger female (quite attractive, but I'm not that kind of stupid) spoke up in badly accented Basic.

"jYourrr mjissstresss wjill have herrr labourrrerrrs, Olorrrjin. The Matrrrjiarrrch demandsss half payment now, and half agajin at the completjion of the prrroject."

Staring at the ground was difficult, but I managed it. "Thank you, esteemed ones. My mistress has anticipated your request and I have the credits on hand for you." I slowly dipped my hand into my jacket and handed off the duly imprinted credit chit to the male on my right. He inspected it, and then handed it respectfully to the young female. She pocketed it.

"Then you ssshall have jyourrr males wjithout delajy." She made as though to summon the entire village at that instant.

I looked up, settling my eyes on her chin. "My mistress requests they arrive tomorrow morning, and you will find our camp to the east, about a klick. Kilometer. We do not have tents for them but -"

"We do not need tentsss," she snapped, "Saanjarra blessssesss usss bjy dajy, and herrr serrrvant Nomaani bjy njight."

I studied the tops of my boots. They needed shining. "As you say," I agreed, though I had no idea what she was talking about. I ducked my head even lower in an aproximation of a bow, wished I was far away, and waited to be dismissed.

[Michael Cline]

Looks like Ms. Sasseeri was right, as usual. The geek was worth his weight. He looked down at the ground they were standing on, not seeing anything paricularly special about it, but that wasn't his area of expertise he'd imagine. He cast one eye up at his employer and smiled a bt, whatever they were after must have been something special to interest her this much.

He'd been in her employ for a while now, but every now and then, he couldn't shake the feeling she wasn't telling him everything. In fact he was sure of it. Ah well, whatever it was he'd be told in time. He cast a glance back at Mr. Kandle as well, he'd been thinking of who he was, and why he was here. Hired gun maybe? Security? He couldn't be sure.

[Grym Kandle]

Grym had his arms folded across his chest as he watched, still back where Sasseeri and her secretary had been standing. He hadn't seen any heavy construction or excavation equipment, nor had he seen in cages brim full with slaves either. And with her virtuous patience, how was she going to meet those demands? Was Grym here to help transport the relic or slaves? Or were one of these individuals standing here a prospective assassination in the Vigo's mind. Well, under the slightest changes, anyone could fill that slot.

Observing the scene again, Grym could only conclude that this really would take a bit. He moved a bit closer but only to find a crumbling column that served well as a stool. Nothing was immediate and Grym was feeling more compelled to relax in the time he had, maybe even get a hit of glitterstim before too long.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

The next morning, things were a lot clearer. The males from the neighboring village arrived, as Olorin had said they would. He looked as stonefaced as ever, but Sasseeri could tell he was relieved to have gotten away from the village. There were about seventy-five males, all strong and able, and Kal was getting them situated with the equipment that had been brought on the ship.

Sasseeri sat in the shade of her tent, Kandle at her side. She had sent Cline to babysit their intellectual inside the freighter. Learning some patience would do him good. She fanned herself, and looked at Kandle - sitting stiffly, looking from side to side periodically. Tick and Tock were guarding the outer perimeter of the camp. Everything was quiet, and everything was running smoothly.

She was suspicious of anything that came too easily, though one look at the machine in the hold of the ship reminded her that it did have a very expensive price tag. "Mr. Kandle, have you any stims on you?" Sasseeri flicked her tail and settled her blue eyes on her newest employee.

[Grym Kandle]

Of course he did. He never used his stim sticks around people; they were for his complete privacy where he could be rid of his mask and cloak. He used a more subtle liquid dose that he injected into his body when unable to obtain the degree of privacy he generally enjoyed. But he always had a case of his best stim sticks on him. Not the kind that the druggies in the slums passed off. No, these were the high caliber sticks that passed into the hands of the high paying individuals who had never touched glitterstim on any public record.

Only a moment after she had asked the question, Grym had withdrawn a small, black case from some pocket within his cloak. One gloved finger hit a pressure sensitive slot and the case opened to reveal a neat row of 15 stim sticks, three had already been used from the total 18.

"At your leisure, Vigo."

[Kal Olorin]

The expression 'like trying to herd nuna birds' came to mind as I instructed the Cizerack males. They were fairly fast learners, however, and I quickly singled out ten of them who seemed to have leadership potential. I put them in charge of the others, showed them where to start digging, and told them to come get me when they found anything, including a room.

I left strict instructions for them not to enter any open space underground that they might uncover. Gods know what might be in there, waiting to trap the unwary. I didn't think they were too impressed with being ordered about by a non-Cizerack male, but Sassy was too busy fanning herself and smoking a stim cig to help out.

Spice. She hardly touched the stuff, but today was probably considered a special occasion.

I stumped over to the freighter, banging on the hull as I swung myself into the hold. "How's it hanging, boys?" Cline looked bored out of his skull, and Kellen Ferr was fiddling with the machine.

[Michael Cline]

He'd thought he'd go insane, in all truth. The professor just kept going on and on and on and on and on! It was like being in school again, with the most boring teacher he could imagine. Finally Ferr seemed to tire himself and had started messing with his machine. It was about this time Olorin made his appearance.

"Hey! Not too bad at all really." he grinned a bit, a friendly face. A friendly unboring face. Ms. Sasseeri was busy with Mr. Kandle, and Olorin had gotten the workers started, which had of course left him with the geek, but it looks like his shift was over, or at least going to be a bit more entertaining.

[Grym Kandle]

The mask turned slightly in the cowl of the hood. The mask served as a simple rebreather, filtering the air. Even through that, if not just a mental perception Grym could smell the spent glitterstim, taste it. What a wonderful thing. Just to get his mind off the substance, Grym decided to engage in idle conversation, directed towards business, of course.

"The kid, Cline. Where's his weight come in, Vigo?"

Something had to stick out that Grym had missed because he was sure the Vigo of Black Sun could've hired anyone in the universe to be a secretary and then some.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She exhaled the smoke from her lungs, a smile on her face. In the distance she could see the Cizerack getting to work. "Cljine? He's..." she waved a hand about flippantly, "...nothjing. A playthjing."

Sasseeri took another drag, adding, "Of courrrse, he's got the potentjial to be morrre than that. jI'm slowly aquajintjing hjim to my busjiness. The legjit sjide fjirrrst. Now thjis." She put the stim to her lips again. "A prrrjivate operrratjion, as farrr as he's concerrrned. But jI am not so crrrazy a prrrjivate collectorrr as he thjinks."

She turned in her lounge chair to face Grym, tapping off some of the ash from the stim. "The arrrtjifact we arrre afterrr jis bejing sought by the Empjirrre, and no doubt also the Rrrebel Alljiance. But we arrre herrre fjirrrst."

[Kal Olorin]

"Yeah right." I leaned against the wall. "What say we leave the Professor to his tinkering. Tick is coming in to make sure he doesn't run off."

Kellen wasn't even paying attention. Hells, I doubt he'd even notice if we left. Cline hopped up, and we put it to the test, walking out into the humid sunshine. "Gotta keep an eye on these Cizerack, though they're pretty trustworthy types. As long as the females want the other half of the payment, the males will do what we want." I lit up a stim and offered another to Cline.

[Michael Cline]

He looked over the large male cizeraks, intimidating species to say the least. Of course, he did know Ms. Sasseeri, so that came as no real surprise. He glanced at the extended stim stick and shook his hand.

"No thanks, don't touch the stuff, myself."

Didn't have a reason to really. It wasn't like he needed the kick it offered, far better things to provide that, heh. He leaned back, watching the work being done and cast a glance towards Mr. Olorin.

"So... what exactly are we digging for here?"

[Kal Olorin]

I tucked the battered paper case of stims back into my jacket pocket. "Oh, you know. One more thing for Sassy to claim as her own." I took a deep drag on the cheap stim and slowly let the smoke trickle out of my nose and mouth. "I think it's called an urn - you know, what they put ashes into after you're cremated?"

We walked slowly around the dig site, but I wasn't watching the Cizerack. My eyes scanned the horizon and the skies constantly, though occasionally I looked at the kid next to me. "If its here, it's a priceless antique. She wants it for her collection."

Just like you, kid. Another one for her collection. I wasn't jealous. I just knew what he was in for.

[Michael Cline]

Urn, cremation? That was interesting, actually. A few thoughts struck up into mind immediately, who was cremated and put into it, being the foremost. For it to be such a rare antique, worthy of so much interest, especially Ms. Sasseeri's, it had to have been someone major.

He nodded a bit, noticing Kal's glances around, and at himself. Something clicked and he frowned a bit, before quickly turning the frown away, to keep himself in as good of spirits as he could, and to not worry Mr. Olorin. They wanted to be sure no one came calling, which only led to more questions. Who would be?

[Kal Olorin]

At the far side of the dig I stopped walking, looking at the area the males were excavating. The turf had been removed, exposing the rich, dark soil underneath, and that made me nervous. Well, not nervous. On my guard, perhaps.

Kellen Ferr's instructions as to the location were a little vague as far as the size of the area to dig out. So we were taking out quite a bit in hopes that we'd only have to dig one hole and be done with it. Only problem was, all that exposed dirt was noticable out here in the middle of the prairie. I sat on a bit of broken pillar, and dragged on my stim, pondering.

[Grym Kandle]

Interesting. The kid was completely oblivious. Ignorance was bliss. Those who knew the least seemed to enjoy their jobs the most generally. Grym liked to keep his contracts much in the same way. He didn't like to get the person's biography if he didn't have to. He just needed to know where they slept.
And the Vigo was now sharing quite the headline for their little trip to the ruins. Rebel and Imperial? Grym sold to both markets even while both sides would say his business was a detriment to the other, whether it was on this self righteous soap box or on that one. Beating them to a punch line though. That was pushing the envelope as either one could get desperate to keep the other from the merchandise. But this was Black Sun, not some simple mafia organization.

"Where lies the better profit, Vigo?"

[Michael Cline]

He watched the sky, casting a glance towards Mr. Olorin every so often. Then sighed, he could just out and ask, but that might make him seem far too nosy, and he didn't want Ms. Sasseeri to think that of him, in case Mr. Olorin decided to share their conversation with her.

"So... this urn is valuable then. Very valuable, I'd imagine. I'm surprised no one else is out here looking for it?"

Smoooooth.

[Kal Olorin]

I chuckled, "Yeah kid, priceless." I shrugged, looking over at him. "Its all just old junk, if you ask me." No need to get Cline all excited about it.

I saw the assassin, Grym Kandle, talking to Sassy. Hope you're enjoying yourself. I wasn't sure who my thoughts were referring to: Kandle, Sassy, or me. I looked to the left, past the workers, and saw a movement in the grass. Tensing up, I eased my blaster in its holster.

It was Tock. I settled back again, flicking my spent stim to the ground where I ground it out with the toe of my boot.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She smiled, putting out her stim even though she'd only smoked half of it. "That's the trrrjicky parrrt. jI don't know. Yet."

Sasseeri could just make out Cline and Olorin on the far side of the dig, sweltering in the sun. She smiled to herself. "Of courrrse, jI have a plan."

[Michael Cline]

He just shrugged and put his hands behind his head, whole ordeal seemed utterly boring really. Ms. Sasseeri at least seemed to be enjoying herself. That was a good thing, if it pleased her, it was worth the effort.

He yawned a bit with a stretch, watching the Cizerak males work.

[Grym Kandle]

The other two kept looking back to the Vigo. Boredom was the psychological attrition to these kind of things. Fortunately, Grym wasn't out there watching a bunch of natives dig a ditch in the ground. He was in the middle of small talk concerning ridiculously big business with the Vigo.

"However I can help then, Vigo."

There really wasn't much else to say. He could inquire to her plan but what good would that honestly do a man who obviously wasn't out there to sell glitterstim. Somebody was going to die, that was the simple outline to his presence.

[Sasseeri Reeouurra]

She smiled, almost demurely, but said nothing. There was nothing that needed to be said. In time, they would locate the Urn. Then Kellen Ferr would manipulate that expensive machine that she'd financed and they would have the location of another urn. He was working on figuring out the coordinates of the second urn already, with little success.

But one in hand was worth three in the bush, and she was prepared to make full use of the one she felt certain they would find here. Sasseeri Reeouurra adjusted her hat and lay back in the shade, watching the hired males dig.

END PART 2

[Sanis Prent]

<center>Somewhere...IN SPAAAACE!</center>

It was a two day jump from Bespin to Dantooine, and in that stint, I had plenty of time to sore up from my run-in with the Imperial assassin. Life carried on for the most part, though I could barely get a sentence out of s'Il when I tried. She was pretty ticked at me. Still, I'd gotten patched up, and the bacta patch was doing its work. As Layla continued on auto-course to the Dantooine system, I took a little time out in the galley to fry up an egg sandwich. Cirr sat at the table, working on polishing off some monstrosity he made involving dried fish, pickled eopie flank, hardbreads, six raw eggs, peppers, and cake frosting.

"Sometimes I really wish we weren't in space, so I could open up a window when you eat that."

I flipped the bread in the skillet over as my mechanic shrugged indifferently. I made a point to use my weak hand as much as I could, to work the stiffness out of everything. If what Dan and Anbira had hinted at, and what the assassin preluded, we would be in for a bit of a tough time there.

"So how long before we make realspace?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr finished chewing, wiping a bit of raw egg off his chin with the back of his hand.

"We'rre due jin half an hourr. Guess jit's the calm beforre the storrm now."

When he was worried, he ate. Then again, when he wasn't worried, he ate. There were plenty of problems that could be procrastinated by getting a bite to eat, and since Layla wasn't fussing and fretting, he figured he'd indulge while the gettin was good.

"jI took the ljiberrty of dojing passjive sensorr sweeps. jI thjink jif you'rre worrjied about rrunnjing jinto an jImperrjial fleet out herre, you can rrest easy. No majorr trraffjic has been waypojinted nearr herre. That doesn't mean therre won't be somethjing though."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il had mostly stayed to herself, keeping Daani and Tak busy while the rest of the crew went about their own business. As for Sanis, the Lupine most often had been giving him a bit of a wider berth than normal, answering his questions with the least amount of words she could bother to utter. Her arm had long since healed, though for the few days following she'd favored it whenever in Sanis' presence.

The Cat had been her refuge since leaving Cloud City, and she'd spent her time either telling stories to the two little ones, or writing in her books.

At the moment though, both girls were fast asleep on the bed. It was a most welcome break, and she chose to use her quiet time talking with Zem. In fact, the two seemed to have spent most of the trip so far catching up with one another, and so it was no surprise that he now sat in the Cat as well.

The low table that usually held her books had been cleaned away, showing a polished - if not well-worn - surface. A few trinkets still rested upon it, but the clutter of books and papers was now gone; carefully put away.

Sitting crosslegged, s'Il reached out to toy with a small, woodcarved bust. It fit easily into the palm of her hand, and her fingers felt along the familiar grooves of the vornskr head. Her metallic blue eye tracked almost lazily over the length of the table to Zem; he still hadn't combed his hair since waking up.

"He doesn't know," she said finally, taking a few moments before answering the older man's question.

[Zem Vymes]

I nodded to what I'd figured was apparent. She'd only confirmed it. It made sense. Lok had never been very forthcoming about her true nature.

"It was a while before even I did. Old habits die hard, yes?"

I ran my hands along the wooden table, feeling the crags in the wood grain as I slid them along.

"Don't suppose you'll be telling him, either?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A long breath was drawn into her lungs, and she let it out slowly.

"I don't really know. I'm a bit worried as to what his reaction will be if I do."

The bust was deposited onto the table as she leaned back against the side of her bed. "It's something that I take great pride in, but I suppose years living by myself, and being immersed in the history of it all makes me a bit leery of advertising it.

"And until 7 years back, as far as I knew I was the last one left."