Sanis Prent and the Urns of Korriban 1.2

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

continued from here. (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14623)




There was a snarl, and a narrowing of her eyes as she reached out with the Force.

The blaster was wrenched from his grip to skitter across the dirt, too far away from him to reach without her already being upon him.

Her free hand went out, clamping onto his ankle once more. She wrenched his leg violently, pulling him closer.

"We're not done," she growled out with a wheezing breath.

[Callomas Savoc]

Callomas winced with pain, and kicked the side of his grabbed boot with his injured foot, causing a hidden blade in the sole to pop forward, piercing the Lupine through the hand. He kicked back, tearing completely through the hand between the knuckles, and kicked again, driving the blade alongside her left collarbone, causing energetic spurts of blood.

"Die well." He nodded, soothing her to the afterlife.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The shock was enough to stall her, and s'Il rocked back. Her hand was brought up to vainly stem the flow of blood from the newly opened gash along her collarbone. It was a wasted effort, and the Lupine went down on her side once more. She coughed, blood clogging her esophagus and choking back any words of protest she might have had as her eye rolled back for a few moments.

In the throes of pain, s'Il managed another cough and only managed to expel more blood onto the ground. Her chest heaved as her body began dealing with these new injuries, and she jerked, legs kicking dust and pebbles away in their spasms.

And yet still she drove onward. A staggering lurch upwards to her knees, she supported her upper body not by her arms, but by her forehead. All the while she spit out blood from both her mouth and the wounds he'd inflicted with his knife that'd been hidden in his boot.

One knee was drawn up beneath her then, and the Lupine pushed upwards. It was not a movement meant to bring her to her feet - she had too little energy for that - no, it was to propel her forward. She bulled into Savoc, the curved blade in her hand glinting for only a moment as she brought it around, intending to open his neck from ear to ear.

But her aim was skewed, and the edge missed his neck to slash along his jawbone from ear to chin.

[Callomas Savoc]

Doggedly, Callomas wrenched her offending blade hand away, his body armor slick with his blood mingled with hers. There they lay, locked and immobile, bleeding together. Callomas smiled, painful as it was. He even laughed a little self-interested laugh.

"You are a character. I will remember this fight fondly."

A gloved hand made for the Lupine's throat, and the electrostun barbs hit below her jaw. In their embrace, both fighters took the full brunt, and as their muscles locked impossibly tight, they screamed in unison.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Such agony. It pierced her to the very core of her being, and s'Il felt her body lock with his. Even through the stench of blood and viscera she could small him; his sweat, the fabric of his clothes. Her nostrils flared as she cried out, face buried in his chest and his hand at her throat.

It was in desperation then, that the Lupine let her body go. She shed her human facade completely to allow the change to take over; it had been a long time since she'd allowed such raw feeling to dictate her transformation.

Even with the electricity coursing through her, s'Il pressed herself into Savoc just a little more as her bones and muscles reformed themselves into a wholly new body. Beneath her clothes white fur grew and spread - though now her once pristine coat was stained with both hers and the Imperial's lifeblood. The blaster shots in her chest marred her stark white beauty, and if one looked close enough, they could see through the opening at her collarbone - and even the horrid mess that was once her hand - and at the bones, muscle, and tissue themselves reshaping.

In less than ten seconds the white vornskr lay atop him, her cry turned to a maddened howl. Her head lifted, moving to the left in an attempt to cut contact with the stun barbs, and opening her jaws, clamped down on Savoc's entire hand.

Electricity fired through her head. Her teeth clenched down through muscle and bone, and the beast's neck spasmed, her entire body jerking up...

[Callomas Savoc]

"Aaaaaagh!"

The skin and sinew split and pulled away, as Callomas's hand was lost to the Lupine. He cradled the stump close to him, bathed anew in blood, and then, passed out from the shock of more blood loss.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Toppling over, the vornskr dropped Savoc's hand. She lay on her side, twitching and pulling in quick, shallow breaths.

A violent shudder ran through her body before she once more tried to pick herself up. The Lupine's bulk was slow to rise, but rise it did. She let her split paw hang useless, bracing herself unsteadily on three legs. Blood was still seeping through the wound along her collarbone; a sign that her own body was unprepared for the extent of the damages she'd received.

The urn...

A stumbled step brought her closer to where the relic lay, and she crashed to the ground beside it with a whine.

Where was Sanis? Had Layla crashed? The last she'd seen of the ship had been its' plummet from the sky. Had Cirr and Prent been able to level out? And Zem and Daani - had they gone back to Layla?

The beast let out a mournful howl then, unable to do anything but struggle against the dusty ground as her strength finally left her. There was nothing left, and her body was shutting itself down.

Teagan...

[Sanis Prent]

With the wind beneath my wings once again, I bore down on the tent. Daani busied herself with targets of opportunity along the way, hammering stormtroopers as they scrambled for cover. I eased up on the throttle and hiked the repulsors, causing the freighter to decelerate rapidly along the descent, the nose tipping skyward as an immense plume of dust was kicked up on the ground below.

I could see the scene below, and my jawline set tight. s'Il was hurt, and badly.

"Old Man, I need you."

I stole a glance behind me, at Zem, and punched the gangplank. The ship rocked to the ground, and I was out of my seat in an instant, leaving the engine hot. I barely had time to snatch my gun belt off the rack along the way before yelling down the ladder to the engine room.

"Cirr, take the stick. We're stepping out."

[R. S. Esalis]

Esalis watched it all with a cold gaze.


She had done nothing even as the Lupine tore Savoc's hand away, but the freighter's sudden reappearance and landing caused her to move finally.

The blaster Karrnage held was taken away with a rough snatch, and the Director shoved him to the side. Unless it was ensured that the still struggling vornskr stayed down permanently, there was still a chance that she would excape. Arya had shown her the resiliance of the species, and Esalis would take no risks.

Sighting along the blaster, she pulled back the trigger. The blue bolt hit the Lupine full on, and the animal finally went limp.

[Zem Vymes]

"The next thing that gun better do is hit the ground, or you will."

I growled out my threat with a gravel voice, behind a stony expression as my boots hit the dirt. The wind blew, and I looked at the two opposing me. The pale man seemed to shrink from my presence, but the woman had a little more backbone.

I peeled back my dusty jacket, and the lightsaber beneath caught a glint of sunshine. I looked down at s'Ilancy, her nude humanoid figure laying bloodied and prone on the ground. Unconcious fingers clung tenuously to an object I could only surmise was one of the Korriban Urns.

[R. S. Esalis]

With eyes that barely held in any sort of control by now, Esalis glared icily at the newcomer. He was but an old man; she could shoot him and be done with it. Her grasp on this situation was perhaps not all lost.

Until she caught sight of the lightsabre he'd revealed.

Grinding her teeth, the Director let the firearm drop to the dirt.

[Sanis Prent]

"I don't have the Jedi's charity."

I strode down the gangplank, pausing at s'Il's body. I noticed my Mandalorian shell gun an arm's length away. Stooping, I lifted it from the dust, checked the chamber, and leveled it at the Director.

"There are two of you. I have two barrels. And there's an awful lot of dirt here to bury you in."

[R. S. Esalis]

"That would be an exceedingly bad idea."

The words were clipped. If she could keep the younger one talking, that would give her soldiers enough time to regroup.

"You are in a poor position to make demands."

[Sanis Prent]

"I'm in a position for all manners of desperate things, like shooting you two in cold blood. So keep your mouth shut and I might change my mind."

I nodded to Zem, and he stepped to s'Il, scooping her limp body in his arms. Even unconcious, she seemed to still hold onto the Urn. The old Jedi shuffled her along, back up the gangplank, and I stepped carefully behind him, keeping the two Imperials in my line of sight. Already, I could see the stormtroopers recovering from the pasting Daani had given them on the way down.

[R. S. Esalis]

She had lost control of the situation, and thusly lost both the Lupine and the urn.

Hands balling into fists, R.S. Esalis committed both mens' faces to memory.

They would learn the consequences of stealing from her.

[Sanis Prent]

We headed up the gangplank, and as I was nearly all the way up, I paused, looked back, and shot both of them square.

I was not kidding.

Watching them fall, I spit on the dirt below, and ducked inside, slapping the plank control as I headed up.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Everything was happening so fast! First they were flying up, then falling; that had sorta been fun... and now they'd landed. With wide eyes she'd watched Sanis run from the bridge; was Dama ok? She'd not come back with Daani and Zem, and Tak could only guess that Sanis had landed to pick up Dama.

And with that thought in mind, she scurried down the ladder leading out of the pilothouse.

[Zem Vymes]

I continued to heft s'Il inside, and was moving her to the galley when Tak ran in. I yelled at Sanis.

"Dammit, get her out of here!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Another wild surge of adrenaline, and the Lupine's body spasmed. Her eyes opened wide as she pulled in a long, ragged breath.

The bloodied, mangled mess that was her hand latched onto the collar of Zem's shirt, and still cradling the Urn, she clutched it tighter.

She coughed, throwing her head back and spitting up more blood.

[Sanis Prent]

"C'mon Tak, let's go."

I scooped her up around her waist before she could say otherwise, and hefted her up through the hatch to the pilothouse.

"Cirr, let's get out of here!"

I followed the girl up, as the ship shuddered, the engines thrumming as they accelerated us. That's when the first TIE fighter made a fly-by.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani squeaked as the freighter lifted up, and she got a good look at what was around them again. Being underneath the ship wasn't much fun when it was on the ground.

Then something zipped by, higher than she could see, but loud enough in the atmosphere that she could tell what it was. TIE fighter. Daani flicked on her intercomm, "We got companjy!" She was pretty happy about it - she'd never been able to test her skills against a live TIE, just sims. She did pretty well against sims.

As the Layla rose, the cubling swiveled around, trying to see if she could get a fix on another TIE.

[Sanis Prent]

I spent about two seconds depositing Tak in the copilot seat, and gave Cirr a knowing look before taking the seat from him. I lighted out for low orbit, no sense in trying to suprise anybody. The Empire knew we were here.

"This is gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets better. Hang on!"

Danni's squeal caught my ears on the intercom, and my eyes hit the horizon like a hawk. I could see three silhouettes, cutting against the sun's glare.

"I'm pitching up. You got three coming in at 10!"

Yanking back on the stick, I grabbed higher sky, as the TIE's came swooping down.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

The first stages of a confused, child-like panic swept over her. She'd seen blood on the body that the old man had carried in - was it Dama's? She was sure that it was her mother that she saw, and Tak sat rooted in her seat, hands clutching at the armrests.

Her lower lip trembled then, and she looked up to Sanis as he piloted the ship.

"I want Dama... "

[Zem Vymes]

"Easy, easy. Hold it together."

I lay beside her on the floor, next to the table, cradling her head as I hovered over, waiting for her eyes to regard me.

"You took a hell of a beating, kid. Made that smuggler get a screw loose seeing you like that."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Another shudder as the aftereffects of both the stun barbed glove and the blast ran through her. Her split hand tightened in reaction, and she cried out. Each injury was making itself known, but her skin was steadily warming to the touch; a sign that at least her body was beginning its' healing. Still though.

Unconsciously she gripped the Urn with a white-knuckled grip.

Zem's voice seemed to call to her from so far away, and her eye finally registered him; he was over her, beside her, there with her, and yet the face that she saw was not crossed with the lines of age nor weathered by time. Tears formed then, and she sobbed.

"Don't leave me," she managed to choke out through the blood clogging her throat, "I need you... "

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"I'm pitching up. You got three coming in at 10!"

Daani zeroed in on her targeting screen as the ground dropped away from underneath the bubble. The Layla tipped up and turned to run for it, leaving Daani with a face full of blinding sun and three TIEs screaming in towards her.

She frantically screened out the sun, switching to another view that gave her a clearer picture of their pursuers. Aquiring the closest target, she squeezed the triggers and blasted the fighter out of the sky. The explosion was loud enough to be heard inside the ship - in atmosphere sound actually traveled, unlike in space.

[Sanis Prent]

I didn't even look on the HUD. I heard the thunderclap. The blast was close enough to shake the ship a little, and I angled my path to put the fireball between myself and the other fighters.

"Good shooting Daani. Keep them off me a little longer!"

A beeping klaxon notified me of more trouble. At least a squadron coming from above, reinforcements from the star destroyer.

"Hang on down there, I'm gonna burn sky. Cirr, I need ion sublights."

A string of curses rattled back from the engine room.

"We'll flame out thjis low jin the atmospherre and blow the rreactorr!"

"Don't fade me, big stuff. Keep your paw on the switch and let me grab thinner air. We don't have heat sinks for no reason!"

Layla shook as we took a strafing from the approaching TIE vanguard, and I hooked a tight barrel roll to the left, jamming the atmos to the floor.

"We're damned if we do and damned if we don't."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She was crying by now. Sanis was so busy, Daani was shooting things in the sky, and the old man was somewhere with Dama. Why wouldn't he let her see Dama?!

Holding tight to her seat, Tak stretched her little body around to look behind her - at the door leading from the pilothouse.

[Zem Vymes]

"I'm not going anywhere. You don't either."

I noticed her still holding onto the Urn doggedly, and frowned.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her head rolled to one side for a moment, and her eye passed over the galley - but it wasn't Layla's galley that she saw. They were on their ship; the ship that they'd stolen. Blood still seeped from beneath her neck and over her chest, and the Lupine turned to look back up into Zem's eyes.

"He took my eye," was all she was able to rasp before another spasm overtook her.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Roger roger!" Daani shouted, strafing the remaining TIES behind them with a splattering of blue bolts. She wasn't thinking about anything else, just vaping the eyeballs behind them. It was like a hologame, really, and she was really good at games.

Well, games where you could shoot at things. She winged one of the eyeballs, sending it careening to the grassy plains far below.

[Zem Vymes]

"You've had worse."

She shook, and I braced her, keeping her from flailing as the pain hit.

"Come on!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Every muscle in her body seemed to rage with a fire, unresponsive to her commands and beyond her control. The torn mess of her hand clutched his collar, and as the tremors subsided moved to the side of his face, leaving a trail of blood in its' wake. His features were so smooth; she actually smiled, an almost grotesque display that ended in a coughing fit and blood.

She shook as if cold, and yet her body was warm.

"Don't leave me," she repeated once more, the smile degenerating into a tearful grimace, and her voice dropped to a trembling whisper, "Master... "

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr wiped a streak of sweat from his brow, trying to figure how to make this little stunt work. The reason ion drives weren't let loose in atmospheres were because a planet's atmosphere was significantly more combustible than the cold vacuum of space. The wash and thrust would be huge, but the heat could quickly ruin the space engines, and worse, the shearing force could actually cause a breakup.

Working quickly, the brawny felinoid tackled a 20 gallon keg of coolant lounging in the corner of the engine room, and unbundled a spare hose from above him. Siphoning raw coolant into the air intakes was a dirty and inefficient cheat and might not even work, but it should keep the engine below critical if they hit the juice.

Working quickly, Cirr grabbed a bottle of compressed air and torqued the neck of it onto a nipple at the coolant keg's side. He rested his hand over the switch, ready to purge when he got the all clear.

[Sanis Prent]

It was everything I had to keep going forward against this onslaught. I caught a target of opportunity ahead of me and hit it with my forward-fixed blaster, but that was a rare shot. We were running for our lives. By now, the wolfpack of TIEs had pounced us, and I was trying to buy time to hit the upper atmosphere, where we could cheat and hit the ion drive with little to worry about. The sky around us pitched up and down, blue fading to a deep purple as we caught the curvature of the planet below.

Layla rocked hard as we took another beating from a strafing TIE. I jammed the rudder to port, faking my attacker off and causing him to peel back, which in turn made him careen into another TIE. The sky was thick with 'em.

"Cirr I need ion drive, now!"

I was watching our shield status, sweating a bit. And that's when I saw the Star Destroyer.

"Now now now!"

[Zem Vymes]

"I ain't your master anymore, kid. I'm just your friend."

I wiped away the blood from her face.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

His words seemed to cause no reaction on her part for a few moments, and she winced as his fingers grazed over the burn score along the side of her face. Those words though - they stung so hard, and her face contorted into a mask of pain and sorrow. What was he saying?! Of course he was he master!

Layla bucked, and the Lupine clutched at the urn for fear that it would jump from her grasp.

"... A deeper... " her body folded in on itself as her metabolism strained to begin its' healing process. s'Il felt tears forming, could feel them cut thin rivulets down her cheeks as she struggled to finish the age old words he'd once spoken to her.

"... Commitment... "

[Sanis Prent]

Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

"No sweat now. I got 'em just where I want 'em."

That was, to say, everywhere around me. But at least now I could cut loose with my ion drive, and I dumped it. The wicking flames of combusting ionosphere caught at least one pursuer in my engine wash, and by then I was accelerating hard.

The destroyer and the planet were the two reference points in my field of vision, and they began to swim about freely as I danced through space, gunning Layla's heavy engines and cutting as hard as my ailerons would allow me.

"Everybody keep your seats, we may be experiencing turbulence."

I gritted my teeth, dumping the nose downward to avoid a strafing, but we still caught a few bursts of blaster fire across the dorsal shielding.

In between all of this, I still had to feed coordinates into the nav for a jump. There was no way I'd stay here even five minutes. Nobody was that lucky.

[Zem Vymes]

"You've learned as much as I could ever teach you as a Jedi. Whatever you learn from me from now on is a life lesson.

I taught you, trained you. However well, that's to be seen. You've got your own wings now and can fly where you please. You choose to stick with me, its you who chose that way."

I looked on the urn again, and frowned.

"Let loose of that thing."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Whether or not he could tell, she wasn't in her right mind. Her grip on the urn was involuntary, her desperate hold spawned from the dark thing itself. It fed on her fears, on her feelings for Zem himself and the memories that the two had shared. It took from her every raw emotion from all those years ago - the abandonment and the despair - and magnified them ten-fold.

And so once more she was reliving those horrid days, of finding him gone; of being left to her own devices in a galaxy that was ready to crush her beneath the heel of its' boot.

Her body jerked in another spasm, and she retched. More blood. It came up her throat and choked any answer she had for him as the arm cradling the urn lashed out to smash along the leg of the table Zem had laid her beside.

The urn flew from her fingers then, rolling crazily across the galley's deck, one of its' ornamental jewels broken off.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Everything was happening all at once, and Tak's lower lip trembled as she tried to stop her own crying. Visions of the body that Ssem had brought aboard danced before her again, and she burst into fresh tears. Now though, there was anger in her sobs.

She looked at Sanis, soft child-like features angry, and her clear blue eyes flashed yellow for a split second.

"I! WANT! DAMA!"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani sat wide-eyed at the controls of the aft guns, clutching the sides of her chair as the ship dipped and spiraled around crazily.

[Sanis Prent]

"Dama needs to rest for a while!"

I banked hard, dodging the big, lazy turbolaser blasts from the looming star destroyer hanging beyond us. Hitting the acceleration hard, I corkscrewed, keeping the heavy guns off of us as I tried to gain ground. The TIEs were everywhere and I was treading water to keep them off my butt.

Oh, and then I had to run the coordinates, and now I had to console a bawly-eyed little girl who wanted her mom.

"Daani they're coming up high, I'm pitching low, you'll have two in your face..."

The stars shifted again, and we were pointed planetside as I dove, suddenly kicking the retro's to line my gunner up a quick kill.

No time to think about it. I beat on the comm box.

"Cirr, we good for hyperdrive?"

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

The little cub jumped at the sound of Sanis' voice coming through the intercomm, and tried to look at the targeting scanner for a likely kill.

She managed to knock off one of the following TIES before turning to the side and losing her lunch.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Depends on how many bumps we'rre jin forr."

Cirr carefully walked over to the compartment that housed the motivator, and tapped a monitor affixed to it.

"Marrcus, we need a solutjion..."

The ship bucked suddenly, and the lights flickered briefly. Cirr raised a fist in the direction of the pilothouse and screamed for no reason.

"jI sajid watch the bumps!"

[Marcus v4.0]

A small cyllinder near one of the engine room consoles whirred to life.

"I am assuming you are attempting to establish a hyperdrive solution. What coordinates do you wish to set?"

The felinoid looked at the MARCUS droid module with a blank face, then pointed in the direction of the pilothouse.

"My mistake. I will ask Sanis instead."

On the console of the pilothouse, an identical cyllinder blinked to life.

"My apologies for intruding, Sanis. Cirrsseeto has sent me to gather coordinates for your hyperspace jump. Please give either the system of interest, or the three dimensional spatial orientation grid readings of your destination."

[Zem Vymes]

My frown only deepened. There was something awful within that urn, alright. The way she held onto it only confirmed it. I walked over to the thing, reached for it, and stopped myself short.

"This isn't for you or me. There's nothing good in here."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her bloodshot eye rolled up into her head briefly before settling into a near glazed-over stare, and s'Il allowed her body to override any desire to seek comfort with Zem. The last of her spasms died out, leaving her an unmoving wreck upon the decking.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She was about to yell back at Sanis when something caught her attention; something that surprised her so thoroughly that she stopped her crying momentarily and stared at the thing. It spoke in a strange voice, and sniffling, Tak watched it in silence.

Even if Dama needed to rest, the little girl still wanted her mother, and she reiterated that fact with a halting, shaky voice.

[Sanis Prent]

"Ah hell, I don't..."

I got distracted, and a TIE raked me somewhere between dividing my attention between MARCUS and a wet-eyed Tak.

"Dammit."

I faded back high and gunned it. making for clearer sky.

"Marcus, chart the Bylia system, quick!"

I jammed the stick again, and cut across the bow of the looming star destroyer, getting uncomfortably close to its heavy array of guns. A turbolaser shot fired too slow, incinerating two TIEs in hot pursuit.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Uh," Daani activated her intercomm, "jI wasss sssjick down herrre. An' the jinerrrtjial dampnerrrrsss arrren't... ACK!" The barf on the ground was trying to become airborne! Inertia pressed her into her seat, and all she could do was stare at the grossness on the ground and pray it didn't manage to attack her!

[Marcus v4.0]

Marcus busied himself with the computations to Bylia while he multitasked elsewhere...

A hatch swung open in the gunner's turret, and a MARCUS module descended.

"Oh my. Humanoids are sometimes finicky about space travel. Not to worry. I will bring some dessicant for that. Is there anything else that you need, Miss Raurrssatta?"

[Zem Vymes]

I gently lifted s'Il up, once she had succumbed into unconciousness, and gently carried her to her quarters on the Cat. There wasn't much to do now but to wait for her extraordinary metabolism to right the wrongs.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

The sound of Daani's voice was enough to rouse her from her fascination of the modular droid. She slid from her seat, hands careful to steady her from the rocking.

"I'm gonna halp Daani," she started.

[Sanis Prent]

"Daani, just hold in what you can. We're almost out of this."

I was sweating, but still trying to be nonchalant. My stupid idea to catch my tail of TIE fighters in a cross fire from the Star Destroyer had worked, but it had gotten my shields cooked, and I was looking at a few red lights on the board telling me such. Cirr didn't help, screaming through the box about not being able to pinch another joule of power for the generators and that we'd have to cut weapons for it.

"Fine, shut them down! Daani, get out of there, you've done plenty."

I kept my evasives wily and looked expectantly at the progress indicator on the nav computer.

"MARCUS, move your processors, we're on borrowed time!"

Tak protested and went to help, and I put a hand on her lap.

"Sit still, Tak. I need my copilot to hit this switch when I tell her."

I pointed to the hyperdrive actuator, running out of ideas of how to keep Tak away from s'Il for now.

Another hit, and the overhead lights went out.

So did the shields.

"Easy baby, easy baby..."

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani undid her restraints and scrambled out of the way as a MARCUS module dropped from the ceiling. "Uh, yeah, jI want to get the frrrell outta herrre!"

Swearing was fun. The cubling scrambled up the ladder as Sanis told her to "get out of there!" and promptly slipped on some red stuff on the deck above. Blood! She screeched, flailing about as she skidded into the bulkhead opposite her.

[Zem Vymes]

"Easy kiddo, watch for..."

I paused, made a face, and kept Daani at arms distance.

"What is that smell?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr knew that sound. The shield generator was spent. At this point, there was nothing else to bleed into the shields that wasn't already going to sublights. He frantically brought up the nav to see the ETA on the jump. Seconds were turning into hours.

Cirr crouched on the floor and wrang his ears with his hands.

"Come on, come on, come on!"

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Her ruse to go find Dama failed, Tak finally lost her temper. Her arms flailed crazily, and instead of the previous flash, her eyes stayed yellow. She screamed, yelled cried, and kicked away Sanis' arm. She didn't want to help, she didn't want to be his copilot, she wanted Dama!!!

And at the crescendo of her tantrum, one little balled fist came down, hitting the hyperspace actuator...

[Sanis Prent]

I watched in horror as she hit the motivator before the nav was completely acquired. Pressed back into my seat, I saw the stars slide lazily into streaks as we accelerated and made the jump, leaving the Empire in the dust.

It was a few seconds for the entire trip, but it felt like ages. Flying blind, I fully expected us to hit an asteroid or a moon or something. Amazingly, we didn't.

Just as soon as it began, it was over. Layla quickly slipped out of the ether, and back into realspace

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

"Aaack!" Daani floundered into Zem's arms, the two of them dancing awkwardly for a moment as he tried to hold her at arms length while keeping her upright.

Then the ship jumped.

They both toppled over with nothing but each other to hold onto, and Daani managed to land on top of Zem.

[Zem Vymes]

"Agh!"

I toppled over with Daani as the ship lurched - what I assumed was the long-awaited hyperspace jump.

What a mess. I sniffed again, and made a face.

"You. Shower. Now."

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Thrown back into her seat, Tak held on doggedly until Sanis stopped Layla.

After that, she was out of the chair in a flash, scrambling down the ladder, and intent on reaching the Cat.

[Sanis Prent]

"Dammit! Zem, stop her!"

I was out of my seat behind her, but she was too fast. She practically jumped down the ladder tube and hit the ground running.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani scrambled to her feet and pouted. "What, no medal forrr sssavjing ourrr collectjive butts?" At Zem's thunderous face she yelped, turning for the refresher and slamming into Tak as the little girl came down the ladder from the cockpit.

"Oof!" Once again Daani sprawled to the floor, and Tak fared only a little better as the smaller girl fell hard on her butt.

[Zem Vymes]

Hearing Sanis and seeing the tawny-haired kid come tearing down from upstairs, I leaned forward and scooped her up as she fell.

"Come on, now. Dama needs sleep. She'll be okay."

I held her up, patting a big hand over her shoulder as I did.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Another batch of angry tears welled up in her eyes - now once more a clear blue - and Tak pounded at Zem with angry fists while struggling in his arms.

"Noooo!"

The site of blood on the deck spurred another burst of squirming, and she kicked her little legs, catching him in his stomach more than a few times. "Aar'ri'ssa e'oma Dama," She sobbed, lapsing into not Cathar, but the softer Lupine tongue.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr popped the hatch from the engine room and climbed up, pausing at the top to wipe the sweat from his brow with the bottom of his shirt. He stopped, and sniffed the air.

"What's that smell?"

He followed it back to his little sister, and laughed.

[Sanis Prent]

I sat there for a second, and exhaled deeply, wiping the sweat off my face. That was a lot closer than I wanted to admit to anybody.

I made a quick check of systems. Everything green. For the moment, we were safe.

I climbed down the ladder to the main deck, and met up with everyone else.

"Zem, need to talk."

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daani made a face and kicked Cirr in the shins from where she was sitting on the floor.

[Zem Vymes]

I looked at Tak, then to Sanis, and back again. How should I handle this? Was the girl ready? Was Sanis?

I approached the smuggler, who diverted me into his quarters to speak in private.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

She glared at the door to the Cat, her thrashing starting anew as she continued to growl angry, foreign words at Zem. And in a fit, she bit his shoulder, clamping down and locking her jaw tight.

[Sanis Prent]

"Tak, that's enough!"

I spoke hard, and with more authority than normal. She was fast becoming inconsolable and I needed some way to bring her back into the here and now.

"Dama got in a fight, but she'll be okay. She's very tired right now and needs to sleep. If you want to help Dama, you gotta let her sleep. She'd want you to do that, and to behave for Zem."

I put my hands on top of her tawny hair, gently.

"Can you do that for Dama?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Hey!"

Cirr hoisted Daani up, mindful of her mess, and smiled big.

"jI'm just glad you'rre okay. You can use my 'frresherr, just put all that jin the hamperr okay?"

He wanted to hug her, but decided that would wait until she was a little more presentable.

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

Daanarri Raurrssaatta (Cizerack cubling, lvl. 2, alignment: non-aligned) attempts destiny roll: A combined throw of 15 or greater = Tak (Lupine child, lvl. 2, alignment: non-aligned) and Daani help the crew of the Layla fight off space pirates (mixed aliens, lvl. 8) on their way to Fey'dann! A combined throw of 14 or less = Daanarri takes a shower and goes to sleep until they arrive. Daanarri Raurssaatta has rolled a combined total of 12 with the dice! Daanarri Raurssaatta cleans up and goes to sleep!*

*shamelessly stolen from here (http://www.sw-fans.net/archive/forum/showthread.php?threadid=22127#post366529)

[Zem Vymes]

"Now both of you need to listen."

This was always something that s'Il had confided in me, but the situation now warranted something more to be said.

"Tak, your Dama is okay. She got in a fight, and got hurt, but she is healing."

I shifted my feet.

"She's got a gift. She can heal, faster than me, faster than Sanis. But she needs to be left alone to do it. She'd want that from you."

I skirted on the edge of fully revealing s'Il's secret. That she hadn't even told Tak was a suprise to me.

[Teagan s'Ilancy]

Sanis' tone of voice had done well to stop her fit, and Tak sniffled, growing still in Ssem's arms. One hand now clutching at the collar of his shirt, she hiccuped.

"Kh-*hic*kheh ehdri'ek," ... I know.

She knew all about Dama, but had been told to keep it a secret. Dama had said that she wasn't to tell anyone no matter who; not even Sanis. Wiping the back of her hand across her wet eyes, she sniffed again and nodded.

[Sanis Prent]

"Tak, I'll need your help in a few minutes, okay? Wait outside for me."

The little girl reluctantly climbed down from Zem's grasp, wiped her eyes, and shuffled out of my quarters, and I shut the door, looking Zem square up.

"I saw the beating she took. There is no way she's just gonna walk that off. We've got to get her to a facility in a damn hurry and you know it."

[Zem Vymes]

"We don't have time for that. We lucked up and found the first urn, but you can bet the Empire is after the second, if they don't have it already. There's more danger here than I think we realized when we started."

I rested a hand on the smuggler's shoulder.

"You gotta take my word on s'Il. I've known her for a while."

[Sanis Prent]

"So have I."

I crossed my arms and stepped away.

"She's a ragdoll. If she were concious, maybe I could buy into that Jedi mystic stuff, but the only thing she's doing right now is bleeding. If we don't get her some help, she's going to die. Aren't you people supposed to be healers? Why aren't you in there with her?"

[Zem Vymes]

I was at an impasse. With s'Il unconcious, we weren't gonna get any closer to solving this mystery. What would a short segue hurt? I still felt obligated to protect her secret, no matter how cumbersome that task was at present.

"You're right. I should be."

I backed away, and let myself out of the room.

"Before I do, there's something I need of you."

I beckoned him to follow, back toward the galley.

[Sanis Prent]

Zem seemed a little cavalier about our whole exchange, and that just made me madder. I followed him, but I was wearing my feelings on my face.

"What?"

And then I saw it lying there. If that wasn't an Urn, I'd never seen one.

"Oh."

[Zem Vymes]

"I need you to pick it up. Put it in a safe place. I don't want to know where, and you shouldn't tell Lok either."

I kept my distance from the thing. I'd seen how Lok had held it, like it was a lifeline. It still disturbed me.

[Sanis Prent]

I started to needle the old man about his superstition, but I saw the way he looked at the thing. There was something about this that made my skin crawl. I still didn't think there was anything to it, but he sure did.

I slowly stooped down and picked the urn up, tucking it under an arm.

"You're the boss."

I headed back to the pilothouse, paused, and pointed a finger at him.

"Take care of her. However you do it, take care of her."

[Zem Vymes]

I nodded slowly, and turned back toward the doorway leading to the Cat, and let myself in. Lok still lay curled on her side on the bed, and I sat at the foot of it, laying a hand on her leg as I meditated.

I was uneasy. It was feeling like the old days, and I needed to remember who I was. Who she was as well.

[Sanis Prent]

Stowing the urn in a combination locker along the way, I returned to my seat, sat silent for a while, and punched the console as hard as I could, tearing my knuckles open. Again and again.

The sudden release of adrenaline after the conflict, and seeing s'Il laid low had caused me to boil over, and I sat silent, fuming, watching my split knuckles bleed as I cued up MARCUS.

"MARCUS, get me a solution to the Rebel fleet for a rendezvous. Hurry."