Breathing New Life into History

[Arya Ravenwing]

[Con't from here (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16340)]

Sump.

It wasn't a vacation spot, that was for sure. Arya Ravenwing began scanning for orbital depots in the vicinity, hoping to avoid entering the toxic atmosphere in search of fuel.

Everything was abandoned, and she could well imagine the decay on the surface. She and her passengers would survive a trip down, of course, even walking about, though it would be unpleasant.

Frell. Nothing.

"Hey guys," she called into the intercomm, "We're going to have to go to the surface for fuel. Should be a short trip." Arya clicked off the intercomm, and plotted her vector towards the likeliest location of an abandoned fuel station. The spaceports would be the best options. Finding a satisfactory place, she began the slow ascent/descent as she piloted towards the planet suspended in space above them.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Sitting opposite Sol, s'Il stared at him. Her shoulders slumped; how could she begin to tell him of everything that'd happened? There was so much of it all, so many trials, tests, and tribulations. Her quiet interim on Cathar that lasted just over twenty wonderful, peaceful years. As well, how could she - anyone really - explain the Man in Black? How he'd taken her eye and burned his mark upon her face?

And then there was Zem, how the two had found each other once more. She thought of Serena, and how the red-headed Jedi would react when s'Il saw her next with word of Sol - or maybe even Sol himself? Now more than ever, Dan's words that she wasn't alone were coming back to settle over her. She knew he'd been right, but what she hadn't counted on was finding those she'd found.

The Lupine opened her mouth, determined to at least say something, when Arya's voice cut her off.

"Hey guys, we're going to have to go to the surface for fuel. Should be a short trip."

s'Il blinked, closed her mouth, then started once more.

"There's just so much," she ventured, "what happened at the Temple... and afterwards, it never seemed to end. There was nowhere safe back then."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon nodded slowly. "I reckon everyone who's still around has pretty much the same sort of story. Rescued like a piece of a lamb's ear from the mouth of the lion. Nothing left whole. Just remnants."

He leaned forward and couldn't help the painful eagerness in his voice. "But there are others? You have found others?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

There was a little turbulence as the freighter cut into the planet's atmosphere, and Arya gripped the controls tightly as everything shook around her. Teeth gritted, the smuggler relied on her sensors as they were enveloped by a thick brown cloud of what she could only assume was a mix of water precipitation and industrial waste.

Disgusting, thick, and smelly toxic waste.

After a few minutes of flying effectively blind, the Raven broke through and Arya was greeted with a post-industrial wasteland. There were no living things in sight or on sensors, but that made sense. All the colonists of Sump had been evacuated years ago and the whole planet written off as a loss. Swooping low over stagnant lakes, she directed the freighter towards the spaceport she'd located from orbit, settling the Raven down as close as she could to the huge fuel storage tanks.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her eyes closed and she nodded. "I happened across a knight and her padawans. I know there are more than that, but I do not know where or how many."

Her shoulders sagged, though it was not through any sense of misery. "I haven't been out of my own exile for very long, unfortunately. I only started traveling because of other issues that arose."

She broke into a slow smile then. "But yes, there are others. We are coming together, however slowly."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon had to grab the table to keep his balance as the Raven grabbed air turbulence. A glance out the viewport revealed clouds of toxic smog and a barren wasteland below.

He shook his head in wonder. "After all that's happened, I wonder if I can rightly say I belong with them. You think they have a place for an old country preacher who's out of practice with a lightsaber?"

[Bay Nova]

"Hold on guys! We've nearly got 'em!" barked a voice over the intercomms of 18 starfighters, rumbling through the murky atmosphere of Sump. The message itself came from the lone YT-2400 leading the pack of rough, modified ships.

Ahead of them, the straining thrusters of 5 Imperial Shuttles, fleeing the group of rebels. They'd been chased across half the system, and needed somewhere to re-fuel, and make a stand against the fighters.

Inside the 2400, Bay Nova stood, clutching a wire on the ceiling to avoid falling over. He was hunched over the pilot, pointing towards the Imperials. Having repelled the small garrison of troops from a tiny planet not willing to give up it's freedom across the system, the rebels and their hired mercenary leader, Bay, were still chasing down the soldiers.

The shuttles were gone from view for a few moments as they broke free of the muddy clouds, but were soon in sight again once the renegades made it out as well. Bay spied out another ship already landed in the distance, but chose to ignore it for now. He had other things on his mind.

The shuttles let down their landing gear, but not wanting to slow down in the air, they simply began to plough into the abandoned warehouses and factories with horrendous noise. The weakened frames of the buildings gave in easily, breaking and collapsing as the shuttles skidded a to halt.

"Land a hundred or so meters from them! We want most of them alive, so there's no use hunting them down with these metal birds!" he called into the intercomm.

The small fleet started to set down, and Bay was the first to leave the vessel onto the polluted ground, followed by the crew onboard, and soon joined by single pilots and small groups from the other ships.

"This is it! No time to stand around waiting for them to prepare! You're paying for me by the hour, so lets save you some credits and get this over with! Kill only if you need to."

Turning on his heel, the unarmed Bay sprinting off into the wreckages of buildings, followed by a hoard of screaming rebels.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya's eyes widened and she stood up to stare out of the transparisteel viewport of the cockpit, leaning on the control console. Was that...? There was a rumble and the whole freighter shook as warehouses and the like collapsed in the distance. It looked like Lambda class Imperial shuttles land/crashing and... what might have been a mish-mash of other small ships.

If they were Imperials, she didn't want to draw more attention than necessary. In and out. No need to worry the others. Anyway she could always just turn over Loklorien as her 'out of the brig' free card. Arya hit the console with her fist, and turned and quickly walked down the passage to where her 'guests' were sitting.

"Well we're here. You sit tight, I'm just heading out to take care of the fueling."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Oh come now Sol, you don't -"

The rumble that shook The Wing of the Raven was a bit less than conspicuous, and cut her off mid-sentence. With a confused look to Sol, she gripped the side of the table, levering herself up to her feet as Arya appeared. There was no way the other Lupine couldn't have felt the shaking, and she gave Arya a look that said as much.

"What was that tremor," she asked, the previous warmth in her voice replaced by a cold caution.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon strained his ears toward the commotion outside - it was muffled, but it took him back to Gehenna - weapon blasts, collapsing buildings.

"Sounds like we've landed in a war zone. I thought this place was abandoned."

[Bay Nova]

All hell had broken loose.

A hail of red rifle fire rained down on the approaching renegades. The Imperials had set up a barricade quickly, and now defended it wildly. Mounted gun on supply boxes, even the shuttles themselves providing covers for the soldiers. However, Bay and his men were getting closer.

The collapsed rubble provided plenty of cover, a trail of it leading to where the Imperials were holed up. Bay scampered between piles of debris, dodging over with turns and jumps and acrobatic feats, almost as if he could feel where each incoming shot would be, and avoided each one as he ran.

The rebels themselves were a little less graceful with their advance. Several of them had been shot down already. Many were returning fire, making a break for the next piece of cover whilst a friend supressed an Imperial turret for a few moments.

Bay slammed his back into a fallen building support, keeping low. Sweat was seeping through his vest already. Pulling his boots tighter and pushing the hair from his eyes, he poked his head over his cover, scanning the makie-shift base of the Imperials. There were only about 30 of them, but they were desperate and ruthless. 4 mounted guns.

"4 guns...5 shuttles..maybe..."

Bay's idea of taking them all prisoner was starting to dwindle. He'd never killed in his life. Mind you, he also never tried to incapacitate quite so many Imperials at once. Still, he had a small chance.

"Keep 'em busy!" he shouted back at the renegades, noticing several more had fallen. "And try not to get killed!"

Heading sideways off the "corridor" they had been attacking along, Bay managed to avoid fire until he found himself in a building that hadn't been crumbled by a shuttle. Taking a moment to compose himself, he started to make his way through the abandoned buildings, working along the Imperials' flank.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya looked nonchalant. "A couple buildings collapsed after we set down." She was already walking towards the ramp, and didn't bother trying to talk over her shoulder, so her voice trailed off as she hit the controls to open up the hatch. "This place is a real dump!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il was no fool. She could hear the bedlam from outside the ship, amplified due to her heightened auditory senses. Why was Arya trying to shrug it off? Surely she knew that her counterpart had just as good hearing as she did.

Bare feet fell silently on the decking as the Lupine followed. Something was happening out there, and the closer to the boarding ramp she got, the louder it became.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon watched the two Lupines disappear in the direction of the boarding ramp, and then he followed as well, though he couldn't keep his boots as quiet as s'Il's feet.

Something else was going on - tremors in the Force. He wasn't opening his feelings to them, not after what Loklorien had told him about Arya's bloodline - but he couldn't ignore the ripples caused by sentients giving up their lives in bunches. It set him on edge.

He fingered the stunstick to make sure it was still there at his side.

[Bay Nova]

Bay’s eyes peered out at the backs of Imperial troopers, all their attentions on the advancing renegades. Several members of each side had fallen, lying sprawled out, lifeless. A sight Bay hated to witness.
<O:p</O:p
Heading in slowly, he approached the open hatch of the closest shuttle, searching for the fifth mounted turbo laser.
<O:p</O:p
“Hey you!”
<O:p</O:p


Dammit, he’d been seen.
<O:p</O:p

A lone trooper had followed Bay inside. Without hesitation, Bay advanced on the man before he could be shot, applying a swift kick to the side of the head to knock the Imperial unconscious. He clattered to the ground, and no doubt others had heard it. With no mounted gun in immediate vision, Bay scooped up the trooper’s rifle and switched it to stun.
<O:p</O:p
He was right, others had heard. 3 more troopers appeared at the bottom of the ramp, but Bay incapacitated them within seconds.
<O:p</O:p
“No need to play it quiet now. Just need to survive.”
<O:p</O:p
He sprinted out again, Imperial eyes settling on him as he made a break for cover again. Once more, laser fire rained down on him, but he made it back inside one of the buildings. He didn’t have long to compose himself as he heard the shouts from outside.
<O:p</O:p
“Grenades men! If we kill the leader, the others will surely surrender!”
<O:p</O:p
Cursing under his breath, his eye caught sight of 4 or 5 fuel tankers within the building. If they took down that building…
<O:p</O:p
No time to think, no time to reason. Just run. And that’s exactly what he did. The explosion would wipe out both factions fighting it out. With unwilled, inhuman speed, Bay ditched the rifle and fled the scene. 3 second delays on the grenades. 3 seconds to get out of the blast radius of the tankers. 3 seconds to live or die.
<O:p</O:p
1…2…3…
<O:p</O:p
Just as Bay thought, the entire building erupted in an inferno, a plume of flame shooting into the air. Pieces of rubble, shards of metal. His legs pumped harder than even. He’d escaped the explosion somehow, but debris was thrown out unrelentingly.
<O:p</O:p
“Ah, aaaahhhhh!”
<O:p</O:p
Bay collapsed on the ground, 2 shards of metal that had contained the fuel embedded in his flesh. One by his right shoulder blade, and the second in the back of his left thigh. He could just feel that all the others were dead. For a moment he thought he was going to throw up. Lifting his head, he spied the outline of the lone star ship a few hundred meters off, but his vision was starting to blur from the nausea. Digging his right foot into the ground, and grasping ahead with his left hand, the dirtied, bloodied Bay began to crawl. He was no pilot, and even if he was, there was no way he could fly in this state. That ship was his last chance.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Just as Arya stepped out into the putrid Sump landscape, a huge explosion rocked the area, several hundred meters away from the old spaceport. Not nearly far enough away.

Arya didn't stop to stare at the huge fireball, but raced to the fuel station and pulled out the umbilicals manually, tugging them back towards Wing of the Raven. Loklorien looked thunderous standing at the base of the ramp in her bare feet, and the Reverend had followed her outside as well. His face was turned away, towards the explosion.

"Look, this isn't my fault!" The smuggler shouted over the noise of the roaring fires that were burning in the distance. "We're just getting in, and then out. No complications! How was I supposed to know some Rebels would turn up!"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Silent, s'Il fumed at the sight before her. Building - now reduced to crumbled masses - set ablaze. Her ears picked up the sounds of dying men, and the smell of fresh death was more than noticeable; the look on her face said as much. The only solace she took from the situation was that Arya's olfactory senses were taking just as much of a beating.

The sooner they could get the ship refueled the sooner they could leave. And that meant helping. Setting out after Arya, s'Il paused midstep and shouted at the other woman.

"Where's the hookup?"

A wave of the hand at a portion of the hull off to the side was her only answer, and setting off at a jog, she called out over her shoulder to Sol. "Be ready for us."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon nodded and hurried round the Raven's starboard quarter. It took only a little searching to find the release lever for the fuel panel, and then he set to work on unscrewing the valve so they could feed the fuel line into the tank.

As he did so, a distant movement caught the corner of his eye. He turned around, tipping the brim of his hat so it shielded his vision from the blazing fuel depot.

There was a human figure crawling over the black cinder ground between the landing pad and the depot with a lurching rate that said grievous injury. The preacher glanced toward the two women, still struggling with the coils of fuel line, and back at the wounded man.

He gave the valve one last spin to ram it open and then ran off toward the stranger. By the time he reached him, there were glowing embers falling all around them.

"Easy now, I'm here to help..." He flinched as the fuel depot sent up another fiery plume - it wasn't done yet. "Give me your arm!" The preacher knelt to take the man's uninjured arm across his broad shoulders.

[Bay Nova]

Bay let out a weak groan, laying his left arm over the shoulders of the stranger. Pushing his weight down on his right leg, he forced himself upright, relying heavily on the support of the man.

In his mind, screams of men echoed, the sound of the explosion repeating over and over. His head span as he fought for consciousness. He'd never felt so bad so quickly after injury before; if he had enough strength to think straight, he'd be wondering why the hell this was happening to him.

He tried to string a sentence of thanks together, but failed miserably. A small trail of incoherant noises escaped his lips, before he gave up and focused his energies on keeping moving towards the ship.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya pulled out the thick fuel umbilical, struggling a bit with the cumbersome hose. Usually there were droids around to do this sort of thing, but Sump was quite abandoned.

Well, aside from the huge firefight/fireball that was not quite far enough away. The ground rocked as another explosion took out what might have been another fuel storage tank. Arya sent up a silent prayer to whatever was out there that was looking out for her, and thanked it for making her set down at these fuel tanks and not the ones currently burning up the sky.

Loklorien jogged to her side, and pulled on the fuel line. Solomon prepped the valve on the side of the ship, but looked like he had attention deficit disorder as he started running towards the explosions. It smelled horrible over there, and Arya wrinkled up her nose, making a face as she concentrated on fueling up the Raven. With Lok's help she was able to get the hose to the fueling valve in short order, and with a few deft moves the smuggler attached the umbillical.

Solomon looked like he'd picked up a stray. Arya froze at the sight of him bringing the wounded man towards them, the smell of his blood thick on the air as they got closer. "Ah, got to start the pump going now." She still didn't move, on the verge of telling Solomon not to bring the guy. What to do!

She didn't have enough food for three people, let alone four and one injured. And Loklorien distrusted her. Solomon liked her, but he wanted to save this guy, whoever he was. If Arya said no, Solomon might not come either. He was the type to stay behind and help even if it was pointless. And Arya liked Solomon. He was calm.

But if this was someone from the Imperial shuttles she'd seen touching down... or crashing... then a whole world of trouble was waiting right around the corner. In addition to the other worlds of trouble she was already in.

And Solomon was almost back to the freighter!

Loklorien was staring at her, the dark haired woman realized belatedly, and shook off the look of horror that must have been painted on her face. "Got to start the fuel..." Arya started backing away. "If he brings that thing on board tell him not to get anything dirty and he has to share a room with it!" The last words were shouted over her shoulder as she ran back to the fuel tank to start the flow.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She watched Arya back away before turning to run for the pump, a somewhat confused and slightly perturbed look falling over her features. The acrid stench of smoke mingled with that of the dying and dead, and s'Il stood back from the valve, her lingering gaze on the other Lupine broken by shifting attentions.

More distance was put between her and the ship as she turned her eye to Sol and the injured man. Her feet shifted in the dirt, and she was unsure if it would be much of a good idea to take on another passenger. But, something caught her eye. Something...

With a sudden look of not-quite-panic, the Lupine cast a quick look to Arya, then started toward Sol at a clipped jog.

[Rev Solomon]

Bay was flagging badly, obviously losing blood with every step. Now that they were out of the fuel depot's blast range, Solomon crouched, took the younger man's whole weight in his arms, and carried him the last fifty meters, taking care not to aggravate the shrapnel wounds in his thigh and shoulder.

The preacher met Lok's eyes and didn't even pause to try to explain himself. "Help me get him aboard - we need someplace to clean these wounds."

[Bay Nova]

Bay was past the point of making any noise now. Having been scooped up by his rescuer, his body started to feel limp, his eyes flickering, struggling to stay open as he fought against passing out. The pain had started to numb, with a strange, tingly sensation where the shrapnel had penetrated.

Bay's mind, however, was a hive of unwanted, and unwilled activity. Repeated visions of the explosion, the men dying, both renegade and Imperial. The sounds of straining voices and fading whimpers. Perhaps it was infection that was making him hallucinate. The shrapnel was still covered in oil when it severed Bay's flesh, and no doubt he'd picked up something from the polluted ground. Sump wasn't exactly a place of hygeine. Or just maybe, it was something more.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Reaching the pump activators, Arya studied the controls for a few moments. It looked like it needed some sort of keycard, which obviously she didn't have.

Squatting down the smuggler pulled a small tool out of her pocket, and popped of the access panel just below the grimy console. A mass of wires and circutry greeted her, and she stuck her hand in and pulled out one of the node bundles. The whole thing smelled like hot electronics, and almost masked the smell of the pollution and the fires burning in the distance.

Arya pulled out a few wires, cut them and bared the metal on both ends. Crossing them with a twist, she reached up to slap the activator controls and was greeted with a satisfactory hum.

Pulling herself to her feet, she dusted off her hands, and turned to look back at the ship. Her ship. Solomon and the rag doll he'd found had disappeared up the ramp, and she almost growled with frustration at how little control it seemed like she had these days. Arya remained at the control console out of stubborness more than necessity, waiting for the failsafes to cut off the pumps when the freighter's three tanks were full.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She'd helped Sol drag the wreck of a man into the Raven. It was precarious work at best, as both were taking the utmost care to try and not cause any more damage than had already been done. The man was spouting gibberish now, and s'Il gritted her teeth, the smell rolling from him like waves. It was of flesh, raw and opened, oil in the mix too. She could pick apart each and every scent; his hair, his clothes, his breath, and his blood. It was very close to being overwhelming to the Lupine's sensitive nose.

She hadn't known Arya but for maybe an hour and a half, but already she could hear the future griping from the Loveloxx. s'Il harrumphed to herself at the thought.

As carefully as they could, the two Jedi managed to lay the man on the bunk of what s'Il assumed was Sol's quarters. Stepping back, she took a knee, bringing her face in close to the man's.

It was faint, but she could see it. To her it looked a deep burgundy. It was almost invisible but for a few flares in his fluttering eyes, but there was no mistaking it. She was looking at the Force aura of an adept; or someone already proficient enough to be considered an out and out 'user'.

Out of strange habit, the Lupine moved to sniff at his neck - he was still delirious as far as she could tell.

Turning to look at Sol from over her shoulder, s'Il hissed.

"He's an adept; or a user. I can't tell which right now."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon was already opening an emergency medkit on the foot of the bunk. It was loaded primarily with remedies for common shipboard injuries - burn treatments, antiseptic foam, medical sealant, a roll of gauze and shunts for splints. No bacta, of course; the stuff was too precious. The preacher pulled out a clean cloth and a tube of burn ointment.

"He's a wounded man, that's my first concern." Of course, if they were taking him off the planet, it would be a huge concern even if he was just an adept.

Solomon's large hands worked quickly, but gently. He'd acquired some experience treating wounds in the field with even less at hand than he had now. Taking a utility knife from his pocket, he slashed away the bloodied trousers that were covering the shrapnel wound in the man's thigh. Removing the metal fragment outright might unelash a fatal bloodflow.

"Loklorien, is Arya still at the pumps? This man is fading - one way or another, I need to stablize him."

Her terse nod was the answer he was looking for; he didn't have time to answer her unspoken question. Instead he laid his hands on the man's bloody flesh and closed his eyes in concentration.

"Lord of life, I beg your mercy for this, your child. Touch him with your healing hands and preserve his body from the grave."

The Force flowed around and through the Reverend and into the wounded man. And slowly, his plummeting vitals began to level off, and a color other than death began stirring in his cheeks.

[Bay Nova]

Bay felt himself pass out of consciousness, and it was almost refreshing. Everything was quiet for a few moments, peaceful. No horrid images, no disturbing sounds, no pain. But then something started to pull him back, and his awareness rose again.

"Lord of life, I beg your mercy for this, your child. Touch him with your healing hands and preserve his body from the grave."

A strange feeling started to bring Bay back round to reality, a tingle that ran through his whole body. It was slightly familiar, almost like the rush he felt in battle, like the feeling he got when his injuries started to numb. His heartbeat became more regular, and his eyelids slid open without flickering.

And suddenly, everything was very real once again. The nausea had retreated, and the visions were gone. But the pain still rattled through his nerves. Gritting his teeth, he let out a muffled scream, like a fresh injury had been suffered. It was, in fact, the pain of his current injuries taking hold again.

Bay's eyes flashed around quickly. He recognised the man vaguely, the one that had come out to aid him. There was woman he didn't know. And the insides of a ship...

It hit him like a thunderbolt. He'd made it.

"Bloody hell that hurts..." he groaned, holding still so as no to aggravate his wounds.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Minutes ticked by, while the pumps hummed and the secondary fuel depot burned down to the ground less than two hundred meters away. Arya gave the console a good thump while it regulated the pumps that were halfway done filling the Raven's second tank.

Then she looked back towards the freighter, and wondered what her passengers were up to. She was almost certainly not getting paid for jetting Loklorien around (well, not in the traditional sense), and the Reverend was probably not going to be able to afford to pay double for the stray he'd just picked up.

Luckily, the fuel was free. Abandoned tanks, and all. Arya leaned back on the console just as it buzzed and a text message showed on its screen.

Insufficient fuel in reserves, cannot complete fill.

Great. Just great. Only two tanks full. She checked the gauges again, did the math in her head, and frowned. One and three-quarter tanks full. Krasst. Still, it would get her far away from this system.

Arya made sure the pumps were actually shut down and there wasn't a drop more fuel to be had, and sauntered up the length of the hose towards the ship. And that's when she saw the uniforms making their way through the debris field that used to be a spaceport towards her ship. Double krasst! Looked like some Imps had survived the crash, firefight, and explosions. Arya ran to the hookups, twisted the umbilicals free of the ship valve and gave it a spin to lock it closed.

She thundered up the ramp, a headache beginning that centered between her eyes, and slapped the controls to close the hatch up. "We got more company coming, so looks like we're all done and leaving!"

After shouting that towards the cabins, the smuggler ran into the cockpit, skipped the start up checklist and warm-up, and started the repulsor engines going. The ship lurched upwards and she made a break for the low clouds before anyone down below could start firing at her.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The Raven lurched, and s'Il had to grab the edge of the bed to stabilize herself. A muttered curse in a language that was easily not Basic, and her other hand went to Sol's arm in an effort to completely steady herself. She'd still been crouching beside the man's head, and her position was precarious at best, trying to shift her weight on the balls of her feet while doing what she could to stay balanced.

She knew Sol didn't have to be told, and so the Lupine didn't bother to tell him to stop his hold on the Force. But this newcomer... her eyes narrowed, one a shocking blue and the other a sightless white, and she thrust her face inches from the bloodied features
of this new passenger. She could still see it, that burgundy tinge to his Force connection.

"Stop using it," she hissed angrily, "Stop touching the Force."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon was already applying ointment to the burns that scored Bay's legs - it went on ice-cold over the charred flesh. From there he went to the ticklish problem of removing the shrapnel. He gently rubbed a clotting agent into the wound.

"You'll want to focus all your energies on surviving, son," he said softly, a counterpoint to s'Il's harsh warning. "There's an analgesic in this salve, but we don't have much else in the way of painkillers. You're going to have to trust us and just hang on."

With the bloodflow stemmed, he took a firm grip on the metal splinter and drew it out.

[Bay Nova]

"Stop using it. Stop touching the Force."

Bay gazed at the woman, tilting his head slightly, with a confused look on his face. Well, as confused as it could be whilst he hurt like hell.

"What are you talking about?" he forced out between gritted teeth.

"You'll want to focus all your energies on surviving, son. There's an analgesic in this salve, but we don't have much else in the way of painkillers. You're going to have to trust us and just hang on."

Bay gave a quick nod, sealing his lips together and readying himself.

His throat strained to scream as the shrapnel was slid from his wound. His whole body tightened, hands shaking as a cry escaped his mouth, followed by a rather loud obscenity. His left fist thudded down onto the bed he was on.

The wound tingled once the metal was no longer in contact. To Bay's suprise, very little blood seeped from the wound. He had no idea what the man had applied beforehand, but it worked.

[Arya Ravenwing]

The ship shuddered, and the intercomm crackled to like, piping Arya's tense voice to her passengers in the back of the ship.

"Whatever it is you're doing, stop please." There was a pause. "If I let go of the steering yoke right now we'll drop back into the atmosphere and be burnt up in moments."

As if to punctuate her words the ship yawed to port before compensating and straightening out.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The burgundy dulled, but it was not enough to satisfy her, and at Ary'a voice over the comm followed by the Raven's unexpected pitch to the side. Her grip on both the bed and on Sol tightened as she leaned back, throwing her head to the side and casting a stern gaze through the hatch of Sol's quarters.

The Lupine huffed a breath through her nose, and her lips curled back in tense aggravation.

This was doing no good; either he wasn't aware of it, or he wasn't understanding; either way she couldn't take the risk of Arya succumbing to her wilder nature. Attentions going back to the man, she released her hold on the bedframe, pulled her arm back, and belted him across his temple, hoping to knock him out.

[Rev Solomon]

"Lok! For Force's sake!"

Solomon grabbed for the bedpost as the Raven lurched once more and steadied herself. It seemed, one way or another, Arya had regained her composure.

And Solomon did, too, realizing that s'Il may just have saved all four of their lives.

"Look, why don't you go check up on Arya, just in case she needs a steady hand at the yoke? I'll finish patching him up - and hope to God he wasn't already concussed from the explosion."

[Bay Nova]

Bay had little time to react. Being to focused on the pain from his shoulder blade, and then suddenly feeling a fist across his head. He was unconsious in that same moment.

He hadn't seen that one coming.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya pulled the freighter out of the upper atmosphere, and quickly scanned the system again for Imperial ships. Nothing.

She didn't know where the shuttles and their pursuers had come from, but it hadn't been an ISD in orbit. The smuggler put the ship on course for a suitable jump point and started the navcomp computing a jump to Hoth.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Strangely enough, the Lupine was glad to have been ordered away; she was not the best when dealing a kinder hand was needed. As she headed from Sol's quarters, s'Il gave one more look to the two who remained. And then she was gone.

The short trek to the pilothouse was completed in silence; even Klavius was quiet. He hadn't spoken in a long enough time for her to realize that his silent disdain for her choices ran deep. Either that, or she really was going insane as she'd earlier suspected.

Sliding down into the seat beside Arya's, the Lupine let her body relax. They had avoided disaster two--fold for now; the inferno at the fueling station and a Force-induced Loveloxx rage.

"Cousin," she said, addressing the other Lupine by the customary greeting. She paused for a moment, then went on.

"... thank you."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon finished tending the stranger's wounds as well as he was able. If nothing else, s'Il's heavy hand had provided some well-needed anasthesia.

Bay's leg and shoulder were blanketed in muslin and medicinal salves by the time he started coming to. Solomon was seated next to the bunk and wiping his hands and sleeves with a waterless disinfectant.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," he said. "Try not to move too much. Wait for the flesh sealant to harden. You're patched up like an old jacket but you're going to pull through just fine."

He finished rubbing his hands dry and gave the man a paternal look. "The name's Solomon."

[Bay Nova]

Bay's eyes opened slowly, as if he was coming out of a deep sleep. The pain was all but gone now, apart from where the woman had hit him. He let out a sigh, before hearing the voice off to one side.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. Try not to move too much. Wait for the flesh sealant to harden. You're patched up like an old jacket but you're going to pull through just fine. The name's Solomon."

Bay's mouth curled into a grin.

"You've done a fine job. I'm Bay, Bay Nova."

The wound on his thigh started to itch a little, but Bay resisted the urge to scratch.

"And thanks. I'd have rotted if you hadn't done all this. I appreciate it."

Rubbing the bruise that had inevitably formed on his temple, he began shifting carefully, so he was sitting up.

"Who was the lass? She's got quite a right hook on her" he chuckled softly.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Cousin. Arya hardly knew how to take that, and the thank you that followed was no less confounding. "Uh, you're welcome."

The navicomp spat out some coordinates, and she fed them into the jump sequencer. "Hoth, right?" Arya looked sideways at the other Lupine, adding, "If that's where you got nabbed in the first place, you know that's where they'll look first, right?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il looked to the side, her jaw tight. She knew that Hoth would more than likely be the first place that would be searched. But... how else was she to rejoin Sanis; see her daughter once more?

"I know," was her quiet reply.

[Rev Solomon]

"Oh, that was Lok - but I'd better let her introduce herself properly. She's an old friend, but... well. We only just hooked up again after nearly twenty years."

That was as much as he'd say on the matter - all of it true, and calculatedly uninformative. But then Solomon's face turned grim.

"Bay, nobody on this ship has any love for the Empire, but I'm anxious to know just what we hauled aboard. Why were you fighting them? Is there anyone after you we need to watch out for?"

[Bay Nova]

Bay shifted slightly. He knew the questioning would could at some point. Solomon had helped him more than he could say, and so Bay wouldn't object.

"In short, I'm a mercenary. I help rebel groups in their campaigns against the Empire. Not just the Alliance, others too. The men I was fighting with today, they were from a planet I can't even begin to pronounce. You'd think right out here the Empire wouldn't bother, but the just don't stop.

I have skills that can help these people. Don't get me wrong, I'm nothing like the Jedi were, but I'm pretty nimble on my feet."

Bay paused for a moment, running the fingers of his unwounded arm through his hair.

"I don't think the Imperial's know enough about me to be able to track me, though I wouldn't count it out. A few may know my face. I try to keep them alive, the soldiers that is. Tehn sent them back on a ship piloted by the last conscious member of the squad. All this death, it's not right" he explained, shaking his head. "I don't really know if they'll be after me this time. But by the way you guys have shot away from Sump, I'd guess you're no stranger to Imperial attention yourselves."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya chewed her lip, then nodded. "Right then. Off we go." She activated the intercomm, "Preacher, we're making the jump to hyperspace, better brace yourself. And your guest."

Returning her attention to the console, she made sure the coordinates were all ready to go. Back to the frying pan. Seemed like her life was never going to be the same again. At least she'd gotten rid of Whitey. Arya shuddered slightly, and then punched up the hyperdrive.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

As the start stretched out into thin lines, s'Il felt her body press down into her seat. It was a surprisingly comfortable feeling. So long had she been in one place that she'd almost forgot the sensation.

Eyes closed, she let her mind wander over these most recent events. The silence that had descended upon the two Lupines was welcomed, and she breathed in deeply. Arya's scent was strong; strange and familiar at the same time. Everything on the ship had the same tinge to it, which only served to make her long for her own 'home'. But, her wishes were kept to herself.

She could think of nothing to say, and thus, said nothing. Words spoken long ago echoed through her, as she opted to listen. Once she'd done that, the Losstarot would know exactly what to say.

[Rev Solomon]

"Oh, the Empire's got bigger fish to fry than us. I just wanted to make sure you weren't one of them."

Of course, as soon as he'd said it, his mind went back to the fugitive bulletin that had run on s'Il back on Bespin, and the associated reward for live capture. But he wasn't about to mention that until he was certain of this stranger.

"Now, I didn't exactly get our captain's permission before bringing you aboard, and I'm not sure how she'll react. Hopefully won't be worse than you already got. But she'll probably want to put you off at the next civilized port."

His eyes narrowed, and it was plain to see he was chewing something over. "You ought to know something, if you don't already. By rights, you should've bled out before I could stabilize you. But there was something inside you keeping you alive. The hand of God is on you, Bay. It's on you in the same way it's on the Jedi."

[Bay Nova]

"Must have been luck, I suppose. The same luck that planted you on Sump the same time I was there, and in the same place too."

Bay shifted his weight a little, feeling the sealant start the harden. Luck, he'd had a lot of that over the past years. He looked down at his waist, a joking smile on his lips.

"Nope, no lightsaber here" he laughed lightly. "Maybe it's just good vibes, my man" he replied.

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon chuckled - a deep, honey-like sound.

"In my experience, son, there's no such thing as luck."

[Bay Nova]

Bay smirked, turning sideways and letting his legs hang off the side of the bed.

"Seems to me that all my experiences are down to luck. I even managed to get out of being killed the same time my parents did. That was...ooh...about 20 years ago? I don't know exactly."

His face twisted into confusion for a brief moment, before returning to normal.

"So where are we going anyway? I guess I better know where I'm being put down."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Straight to the nearest planet, where we're going to drop you off." Arya leaned in the doorway, looking down at Solomon and the newcomer. He looked surprisingly well, considering how strong the smell of blood was in the room. She gave him a wolfish smile. "Hoth is nice this time of year I hear."

Arya turned her gaze to Solomon and said, "We don't have food for him," trying to forstall any objections the preacher might have.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Coming up behind Arya, s'Il filled the other half of the door, next to the other Lupine, and her eye came to rest on the man. The stench of blood made her sniff just a tad. It was almost unbearable to her, and she sneezed in response.

She ould see her handiwork in the form of a growing bruise on the stranger's face, and couldn't help the frown that creased her features. She'd known what her action would cause, but it still bothered her. For whatever reason she couldn't guess, but the fact remained, and she pursed her lips before ticking a fingernail on the doorframe to get his attention.

"Headache?"

[Bay Nova]

Bay sat and listened for a few moments. Hoth? That was almost as bad as being left on Sump. Seems like he was coming out of the frying pan into, well, the freezer.

"Headache?"

He looked up to the blonde woman, his face swifting into a serious glare.

"You get a kick out of beating on wounded men, huh?"

There was and akward silence for a moment, before Bay's lips opened to release a light laugh, and he waved his arm dismissively.

"I'm joking. I'm fine. You've got a hefty swing on you though. I'm sure you had your reasons. I can't actaully remember a hell of the lot leading up to that. As for Hoth though..." he said, turning his attention to Arya, who was presumably the captain. Bay made a move to stand, wincing as a pain shot up his leg, forcing him to sit again.

"...look, I know things must be tight, but Hoth? Doesn't give me much of a chance now does it? I can pay up, I swear. Just, let me off somewhere civilised, and I'll get you some money. I'll even stock up your food supplies. Can't say fairere than that, can you?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya snorted, and turned around. "I'll think about it."

Her hand shot out and she grabbed Loklorien's shoulder. "You with me. Now." Surprisingly the other woman didn't resist too much as Arya stomped down the hall and into the adjacent cabin. Hers.

When the door closed behind them, Arya sat on her bed and left Loklorien the chair that was bolted to the deck by a messy desk. Not messy with so-called 'paperwork', but with clothes. "We need to talk, before we get to Hoth and are blasted to pieces by bounty hunters, and/or the Imperial Navy."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Eyeing the chair and then the less than tidy desk, s'Il slowly lowered herself into the seat. Her body moved smoothly, as if every move she made was calculated beforehand. Which was a partial truth. While Arya seemed to begrudgingly have her better interests at heart, it was obvious that the Loveloxx Lupine was doing so only due to the fact that her counterpart had information that she wanted.

And from the look in Arya's eye, s'Il wagered that that information was sorely desired. Of course, it was hard to miss the pent up anger that sat alongside it.

The Lupine tilted her head downward, looking at Arya from over the top of her eye.

"About what."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya reached for her medallion, before she realized what she was doing, and then she frowned as she remembered that that woman, Esalis, still had it. It was a sign of nerves that her hand was unconsciously looking for her family heirloom.

"Well, I saved you from Bespin, that's gotta count for something, right? I'm not saying we're best friends suddenly, but I think we both have something to gain from the other."

Arya paused, mind racing as she tried to word her sentances carefully. "That pale guy, he was from the Empire. He's been following me. His name is... Van-Derveld something. I... I've been in Imperial custody because of you. They want you, badly, and they thought I knew something about you. But, hell, I don't even know anything about myself.

"I'm supposed to give you up to Imperial Intelligence... They're holding something of mine as leverage." Her voice got a little pained as she thought about her father's medallion being atomized by that bitch. "But, I can't. If what you say is true, that we're the last Lupines..."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The silence after Arya had spoken was a long one, and s'Il remained unmoving for the most part. Her body was not tense, but it wasn't exactly relaxed either. Her eye was locked with the other Lupine's, and when she blinked it was a slow affair.

Van-Derveld...

She held Arya's gaze, but in her own mind she was reeling.

A Van-Derveld? Alive? The thought was enough to startle her almost as much as the Loveloxx sitting across from her. But... perhaps it was simply a coincidence? After all, she'd not smelled any sort of Lupine scents other than Arya's when he'd come aboard; even with him out of sight she'd have been able to recognize such a thing. But then again she'd only been able to feel the roiling, angry darkness that came with him. Could the man she'd only heard truly be a descendant of Marco Van-Derveld, one of the Drei Mörder? Surely not... Marco had been a Lupine that was placed upon a pillar of cultural righteousness. And yet, after his death his family had plunged into such disarray that their founder's legacy and memory could not even begin to atone for the actions they committed.

A grimace pulled at her features then, and s'Il brought in a long breath through clenched teeth.

The ghost of a shiver went down her spine at the mention of the Empire; it was a remnant of her fight with the Caridan and the electricity she'd endured in their battle. The faces of the woman and the shorter, bespectacled man also flashed briefly. Sanis had told her much later that he'd shot them.

Her voice broke the silence then, after what seemed far too long.

"I... was on Dantooine some time ago... "

And then the thought of the Imperial Executor, Sevon, invaded her thoughts. Had he lived after their battle? Her new wanted status would certainly seem to point to such a conclusion.

Doubt slowly began to fade from her eye. "On Cathar. I fought an Imperial. I did not think that he'd lived."

She blinked again, pushing the thought to the wayside. If the Empire had forced Arya into this task, holding something of hers until she'd completed their bidding, s'Il had to wonder how strong of a hold over the other Lupine this object had. And, not to mention, just what exactly it was.

"What have they taken from you?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya hesitated, but the woman hadn't tried to kill her yet, or take over the ship, so it seemed she was taking the news fairly well. "A medallion that belonged to my father. My mother passed it down to me... She was the only survivor of a massacre that destroyed my father and the rest of their family. After she went into hiding, I was born. And she gave me his medallion. A family crest of some kind."

Arya made a circle with her thumb and middle finger, indicating its size. "I never got any sort of straight answer out of my mother regarding what happened to our family. She... she was pretty crazy by the time she died."

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon watched as the women retreated from the cabin and then turned a stretched expression toward his passenger.

"You'll have to excuse their manners. I didn't exactly get their permission before taking you aboard. And we're already stretching our reserves thin. By the time we make it to Hoth, we might be ready to hunt us a tauntaun."

Though, on reflection, with Arya and Lok around, they probably couldn't have been better equipped to hunt if they had a party of Shistavanen and a couple longrifles.

[Bay Nova]

Bay chuckled lightly, leaning back a little.

"It's fine, my man."

His thoughts flickered over his bank account. Did he really have enough to do what he'd said he would. It'd be tight. Well, at least, he hoped, he wasn't being thrown off at Hoth.

"So you're a preacher or something then? Been a long time since I've seen someone with faith in greater power."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A medallion. The Ravenwing crest. That Arya had her House's crest was something s'Il envied. Not even she had the Losstarot crest; where it had disappeared to she had never been able to find. She had spent years pouring through the library at the citadel, combing through the entire stronghold, but she was still unable to find it.

And so she could empathize with the other Lupine. Truth be told, she would do the same as Arya had done, though she had to wonder if the medallion was Ayra's sole link to her father, thereby becoming something more sentimental. For s'Il herself, it was more an issue of House pride.

She bit her lip, leaning back a small bit as she thought.

"Unfortunate," she murmured.

Her single eye stared past the other Lupine, and she was silent for a few more minutes before continuing on. "They hold your House crest in return for my capture, but now that you have me, you seem hesitant to go through with this agreement.

"So I am curious...

"What will you do?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya shrugged. "I... I don't know. P'raps the Preacher's rubbing off on me. He doesn't know the situation, but if he did I can imagine what he'd say to turning you over to the Empire." She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.

"By shooting Whitey, I've probably already passed the point of no return, so this conversation is moot. Even if I turned you over now, my reward would probably be having the medallion atomized before my eyes." Arya dropped her hand and opened her eyes. "So, we go to Hoth, and you go on your way. But first, I think we all need a drink."

[Rev Solomon]

"So you're a preacher or something then? Been a long time since I've seen someone with faith in greater power."

"It's not as uncommon as you might think," Solomon replied. "Some people find it easier to see the face of God through troubled times. Of course, in my case, it was more a vision on the road to Damascus."

A wave of memory passed over the preacher's face, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"If I may be so bold, where do you put your faith, Bay?"

[Bay Nova]

"Hmm, I'm not exactly a man of faith. I suppose if I'd place it anywhere, it'd be in myself."

Bay's eyebrows knotted in thought for a few moment.

"I suppose I've been by myself for so long, I've no-one else to have faith in" he continued, his features relaxing again. "I know what I can do, what I'm capable of. Quite how it happens, I'm not so sure..."

He shook his head briefly, as if shaking such thoughts from his skull.

"But yeah, I'm not religious or anything. Too many bad things going on for me to believe otherwise."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Whatever hard edge that had been present in her gaze softened to an almost smooth glaze, and s'Il sat forward and rested her elbows on her knees. She stared at the deck for a few moments before speaking.

"Hoth, yes."

Another moment's pause.

"But, we do not have to part ways after that, you know. There are only three of us left, and it may be beneficial to stay together."

She lifted her gaze up to meet Arya's. "We need eachother."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"I need a drink," Arya repeated, but she smiled a little as she said it. "You need one too. Hells, Solomon probably needs one by now."

She opened the door and stalked into the passage, past the other cabin and its two occupants, and into the living area. After a few moments she had her fingers in several tumblers, and a bottle under her arm and another in her hand.

[Rev Solomon]

The preacher vented a sigh. As long as Bay kept closing up, they wouldn't get anywhere.

"You know what you're capable of," he echoed. "Let me guess - you can see things before they happen. You get a tingle in the back of your neck that warns you of impending danger. And when you go into battle, time just seems to slow down."

Solomon smiled warmly. "And you really have no idea where all this comes from?"

[Bay Nova]

Bay's face was a questioning one as the Reverend spilled out some of the qualities that the mercenary had been aided by over the years.

"No, I don't" he replied, his voice becoming cagey as his suspicion of Solomon grew. "Why? What do you know that I don't?" he continued, shifting uncomfortably on the bed.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il was quick to follow after Arya. She'd not had a drop of liquor in years; long enough that she'd lost count, at any rate. The last time she could easily recall any sort of alcohol touching her tongue had been...

With Zem... on Schwartzweld.

She could hear Klavius beginning to rumble his disapproval once more in the back of her mind.

You have lost your mind, Apex. Lost your mind completely.

Hush.

And now you intend to share a drink with her?!

It is little concern of yours.

It is EVERY concern of mine! You mean to bring her back to Hoth! To my home! I will not allow it!

You've no say in it.

She is unclean, dirty, unfit to step one foot into -

Tired of his prattling, the Lupine balled her hand into a fist before pounding on the closest bulkhead as she made her way toward the living area, her tone of voice annoyed and terse.

"That is enough."

[Rev Solomon]

"I know what it is to feel the power of the living Force. Call it the hand of God or a bio-kinetic energy field. I'll put it to you plainly, Bay. You're Force-sensitive. Just like me."

The reverend heard Lok snap something irritably from the common room, and he looked over his shoulder, curious.

[Bay Nova]

Bay was too lost in his own thoughts to hear the noise from out. His eyes wandered around aimlessly, as if some corner of the room would trigger everything to fall into place in his mind.

"A For...Hang on! That's ridiculous, surely?" he replied, returning his gaze to Solomon. He would have stood, if it wasn't for the wound on his leg. It was at exactly these kinds of times people tended to pace up and down.

"Force sensitive?" he continued. "I suppose that would explain...and you? You mean to tell me you're some kind of Jedi?"

[Rev Solomon]

"Used to be," the preacher replied. Not much point in hiding it now. "Until I found my second calling. Of course, it's come in handy in some unexpected ways since then."

Solomon leaned forward and spoke quietly. "It's not common these days for two of us to come together. Even less common for three. But, this is important, while you're on this ship, you're going to need to keep yourself from touching the Force. I'm afraid I can't explain right now. But if you want to develop your abilities, to use them wisely and safely, you're going to need guidance. And if that interests you, I will find a way to help you. There is a greater Remnant of the Force left in this galaxy than I ever thought possible. I believe that powers larger than both of us are at work here."

[Bay Nova]

Bay was motionless, in a shocked silence for a few moments, letting what he'd just been told to sink in before. He'd seen drunkards and madmen stumbling around claiming they were Jedi before, but he was pretty certain that Solomon wasn't mad...or drunk, for that matter.

"Keep myself touching it? I...have no idea how to use it at will. It just kind of, happens. But I'll try, I trust you."

Then something else struck him, something the Reverend had just said.

"Three? There's three of us?" Bay inquired, leaning forward a little.

[Arya Ravenwing]

"What's enough?" Arya frowned as Loklorien entered the living area. "I haven't even poured yet."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"I... " s'Il made a face and gave a rather disapproving look to the bulkhead. She was quiet for a few moments, as if listening to something that only she could hear.

Catching the look Arya was giving her though, she cleared her throat and finished speaking. "... was talking to myself."

[Rev Solomon]

"There are three of us," Solomon repeated. "Lok is someone I knew from a long time ago, and we've been reunited just today. Arya, our pilot... now, she's probably more the sort of person you're used to dealing with. I've been paying my passage so far, but we've been forced to take a few unexpected detours. I'm not entirely sure how long her charity's going to hold out."

He could hear Lok and Arya moving around in the living area. "I'd like to find out what our plans are from here. Just sit tight, let that flesh sealant do its work."

The preacher rose from his seat and ducked through the cabin hatch to find Arya pouring drinks and Loklorien looking distracted.

"Our passenger is awake. He's stitched up on the inside, but looks to be doing just fine. Should be on his feet in a couple of hours."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Great," Arya groused, dumping more whiskey into the tumbler until it was half full. "Terrific. Grand!"

She pushed the bottle and other tumblers towards Lok, then took a giant swig of her drink. "I won't leave him on Hoth, but I'm not sure where I'm headed after that. I don't intend to let him live here indefinetely."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Equally as disturbed as Arya- though for vastly different reasons - s'Il snatched the bottle up. One of the glasses soon followed, and before long she'd poured herself a healthy amount of the liquid.

"We could drop him off with the Rebels," she offered, taking a drink.

[Rev Solomon]

"Well, for that matter, maybe it's time we got a few other things settled," Solomon said. "Where are we headed after Hoth? Of course we've left Junction far behind, and I sorely hope you're not still running the meter with all this running around, or I'm really scraping the bottom of my bank account. And I wouldn't mind knowing where L... Miss s'Ilancy fits into our flight plans as well."

He aimed questioning glances at each woman - same glance, slightly different questions.

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya finished off the tumbler, set it down carefully, and looked at the Reverend. "I can take you straight to Junction after Hoth, for the price we agreed on before. I will even allow your new friend to remain on board until we reach that destination.

"I have no wish to meet up with the Rebellion." They paid poorly. "If you have another destination you'd rather go to, since, as you put it, we've left Junction far behind, I can take you there, providing its within the reach of Raven's fuel cells."

Arya smiled, teeth showing. "This is assuming that s'Ilancy's bounty hunter friends don't shoot us down over Hoth."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Staring at the dark liquor, s'Il hesitated to take a drink. It'd been so long, and she had no desire to lose any sort of sobriety. She wondered why she'd even poured herself a glass in the first place.

The Lupine frowned in response to Arya's smile. "If it is that dangerous, I can have the shuttle retrieved and we can bypass Hoth altogether. You can change course for Junction any time you wish."

She looked to Sol then, curious as to his thoughts. And the newcomer; part of her was disturbed that the man was able to use the Force. Although, as it seemed that the time Sol had spent with him had been a bit less violent...

Her curiosity got the better of her.

"Will you be taking the man with you?"

[Rev Solomon]

Solomon met s'Il's pale blue eye with a look of thoughtful determination.

"If he wants to come. He strikes me as a man who's still trying to find who he is on the inside. I've offered him my help if he wants it. As for Junction, well... that was only ever a waypoint on my journey. My only plan is to go wherever the Lord leads. I've no wish to impose on Arya here - I'm sure we can find a suitable port around these parts of the galaxy."

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya grumbled something about star charts into her drink. To be honest, she wasn't looking forward to the soft spoken preacher leaving the ship for good. It wasn't that she enjoyed his company, but... well anyway. Arya topped off her drink and clinked it against s'Ilancy's untouched tumbler.

"We're only a few minutes away from Hoth anyway. Stopping when we're almost there and trying to recalibrate for another jump would be harder than evading a bounty hunter."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"I'll defer to your judgment then," s'Il conceded.

If the bounty hunter she'd crossed with at the beginning of this was indeed at Hoth, or was going to be there, than it seemed there was little else to do. Getting to her shuttle was an easy enough task; she remembered where she'd landed it.

The more curious thing was going to be figuring out how to get Klavius out of her head and back to haunting the hauls of his precious subterranean stronghold.

That will be easy enough, Apex. I've no wish to be around one who consorts with a Loveloxx.

With an odd look passing over her features, the Lupine blinked. The sound of Arya clinking her glass against her own was enough to bring her back to the present however, and s'Il raised it to her lips, taking a tentative sip.

[Rev Solomon]

"Well, if we're all sticking together for the time being, I'll make sure Mr. Nova is still comfortable," Solomon said. "Let me know if you need a hand when we're planetside."

The preacher could only hope they didn't find any more castaways, or the Wing of the Raven would be getting very crowded.

He ducked through the hatchway back into his cabin and was surprised to find Bay still awake and alert. Force-accelerated healing usually took a lot out of a person. "Looks like you've got your color back. If you're not careful, Arya's likely to put you to work. How're you feeling?"

[Bay Nova]

"As good as can be expected" Bay replied, looking up to the Reverend. "It's just, well, a lot to take in, isn't it? Explains a lot though. I can't believe there's still people like you around though."

He shifted forward, perching on the side of the bed.

"So where we headed for after Hoth?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Tumbler drained for the second time, Arya pushed herself up from the booth as Lok sipped at her drink. "I'll be in the cockpit." She felt a little more relaxed than she had minutes earlier, and sauntered easily from the living area down the passage and into the cockpit.

The countdown to realspace ticked on as she sat in her seat behind the console, hands resting on two different banks of controls. Her blue eyes sharpened as the time neared, a finger twitching on the weapons controls as her other hand tightened on the steering yoke.

Then it was done, and Wing of the Raven eased from hyperspace smoothly, entering realspace just inside the Hoth system.

[Ecks]

"We've got a contact," Ecks growled, pleased that his intuition was paying off. The pale man with the severe leg injury had been nearly frothing at the mouth as he had been pulled off the duracrete of the landing platform on Cloud City, furious at this Ravenwing woman. The Ravenwing female owned the ship that they were currently looking for - a quick search of Cloud City's databank had proven that much.

And now proof that the mark was on board as well. Wing of the Raven had appeared in the Hoth system. Ecks edged his ship into the shadow of a large piece of space debris, most likely left over from when the Alliance had had a base of operations on Hoth. There had been some sort of battle here a few Standard years previously.

After a few minutes the target freighter eased by, just inside sensor range as it lowered itself into the atmosphere of the ice planet.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Left alone, s'Il stared at the drink she held for a few more minutes. Lost in thought, the Lupine eventually took another sip. It seemed to bite at the back of her throat, and she couldn't help the slight disapproving expression that passed over her features. Setting the glass on the countertop, she followed in the direction that Solomon had gone. She stopped in the doorway though, looking first to the man, then up to Sol.

"We're in a delicate situation, you and I," she started slowly, "... one that I certainly did not expect to ever find myself in.

"Wherever you choose to go after all of this is your choice. The Jedi that I have come across are rebuilding on Vortex though, so please keep that in your thoughts as you travel."

She felt the ship shudder slightly as it reverted to realspace, and her blue eye went to the man. Blinking, she spoke once again.

And yourself; where will you go."

[Rev Solomon]

Vortex.

Solomon fixed the place in his mind and burned it into his memory. So there was a movement in the Light Side of the Force. Now he had a name for the restlessness that had stirred him out of his ministry on Dantooine. That name was revival.

The preacher turned his eyes to Bay, waiting, listening.

[Bay Nova]

"Well, I..."

Bay paused for a moment, his eyebrows knitting as he concentrated, before resigning.

"Blimey, I, err, I really don't know. I'd...like to learn some more about the Force, definately. Too good a cause to give up on, don't ya think?" he grinned. "But I really wouldn't know how to go about it. I mean, I'm really not that well read on the whole thing. Just the odd story, you know?"

His wide eyes darted between the two.

"What would be your suggestion?"

[Arya Ravenwing]

Arya directed Wing of the Raven into atmo, arctic winds buffering the hull and sound returning to the area around the ship.

"s'Ilancy, I need you up here. Your shuttle isn't appearing on sensors."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il took in his question without any sort of immediate answer. As it what the man had said, it was evident that he wished to know more, but there was - for herself at least - a perplexed hesitancy to offer herself as any sort of teacher. Her last attempt had been a exercise in disaster; not something that she wished to repeat. Of course with Sol present, there was the possibility that he would take the man himself.

Any firther consideration on the matter was interrupted however, by the sound of Arya's voice, and s'Il turned to step through the hatchway and into the corridor. A bit of an escapist tactic she knew it to be, but for the moments she didn't dwell on the matter.

Navigating her way to the bridge, the Lupine stopped just behind Arya's chair, placing both hands atop the headrest.

"I landed in the northern hemisphere, towards the southeastern base of the largest mountain chain."

[Arya Ravenwing]

"Hmph," Arya muttered, hands deftly redirecting the freighter to fly over the section of the planet s'Ilancy had indicated. "Musta been a snowstorm since you left it. Gonna be a bitch to find."

Upping the sensors to their most sensitive, the smuggler pointed their range towards the planet's surface. "Got a hot spot, but its small and moving." She pulled up a grainy holodisplay of a close-up, revealing a small band of white creatures making their way across the snows. "Wampas. Headed away, thank the gods."

[Ecks]

Ecks tracked the freighter with light sensors, until it faded into the atmosphere. He was confident that he would be able to pick them up again once they left the planet, and anything more than passive sensors would most likely set of an alarm of some sort on the Ravenwing woman's ship.

An hour later his patience was rewarded, and two ships exited the atmosphere. s'Ilancy's ship was one of them, and he narrowed his reptillian eyes.

As the two ships made for hyperspace the bounty hunter made a note of their trajectories, and set his own navicomp crunching numbers to follow s'Ilancy. He'd stop at the first system along the way and try to pick up her scent.

The chase was on again.