When the Going Gets Tough (morg)

[Serena Laran]

Things on Cloud City were getting interesting for the Jedi-in-exile. Serena considered them in exile, because they had no permanent home at the moment. Morgan Evanar, her oldest and tallest padawan, had returned from Ord Mantell with a hyperdrive for her yacht, Serenity. There was one small problem, however.

It had been impounded due to a clerical mix-up at the storage facility. To retrieve it in order to do the repairs needed, they would have to go into the Empire's garrison, the seat of law and order on Cloud City, in order to sign for its release.

Serena had been putting it off. But now there was nothing more to it, but to bite the proverbial projectile and go for it.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan, by his many natures, did not like Imperial garrisons with any of them. Morgan and Serena stood in line, waiting to sign the forms needed by the Empire to release the yacht from impound. He shoved his hands in his pockets to keep from visibly fidgeting. His thumbs had other ideas, and still kept moving.

Over the last three weeks, they'd been very slowly chewing through the credits alloted to them by the Alliance, and he hoped this wasn't going to be expensive. He'd been lucky in finding a hyperdrive on Ord Mantel as it was. It figured that the ship would end up impounded on false charges. It also figured that she'd take him. He had the most experience in navigating the New Order's bureaucracy. He also spoke primarily basic, and was only prone to cuss in some other languages, and not default to them. Rhianna could have learned from this, but in the xenophobic Empire, it was best to leave her at the rented room. Wyl's charming curiosity entertained Morgan, but it would have irritated the clerks. Tak was with Zem, and Lianna and Daria were still off-world. Except for maybe Zem, Morgan was the best choice anyway.

He looked down at his thumbs, and decided to leave them be. Serena had that he could control it, and it was true. He could. But Morgan, when fed, had nearly boundless energy. He found that if he left his hands to their own devices when idle, he could concentrate more easily. Adia had suggested as much. Morgan knew it was a product of her legacy, and Serena was very understanding that there were some things that were simply different about her Padawan.

Serena, on the other hand, stood with perfect calm. Morgan wondered what she was thinking about. Morgan's mind was mostly guessing at what form they'd give them. He didn't really know, since he'd never pulled anything from an impound before. Not legally, anyway.

[Serena Laran]

She wasn't wearing robes, but she was wearing a pale green flowing dress that was loosely belted over her hips. It was a cheap weave, but carefully constructed. Striking red hair mostly concealed under a beige head scarf, it was only her height that made Serena stand out in the crowd of muttering beings inside the garrison's main offices.

With Morgan beside her, they were easily two of the tallest people in the room, besides the Imperial stormtroopers that walked through in groups of four from time to time. It didn't help that a few squabbling Ugnaughts were directly in front of them. She looked at her padawan, with his fidgeting hands, and smiled. "I think this is going to take a while."

She looked around, "It has been a long time since bureaucracy was a part of my life..."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan grinned despite himself. This sort of thing usually did take it's time. It was ok. He'd stashed away five ration bars in his jacket. If he concentrated, he could slow his body down to a level approaching normal. He pulled one out, and popped a piece in his mouth. He offered it to Serena, who shook her head.

"That's how bureaucracy is. Everything is going great, and then you find it on your couch sleeping. It's eaten half the stuff in your fridge and has bad gas. It moved your furniture. It used your toothbrush to clean it's ears. Soon it's gonna wear your underwear on it's head." Morgan leaned in. "And worst? It's really, really stubborn." He whispered.

[Serena Laran]

Serena raised an eyebrow as Morgan whispered, and then her lips twitched. She put her hand over her mouth, and her shoulders started shaking. Morgan looked at her, a little worried, and then realized that she was trying to keep from laughing out loud.

After a few moments she composed herself, just in time to take a tiny shuffle forward with the rest of the line. "You have a gift, Morgan, with words." She grinned, possibly the first time he'd ever seen that expression on her face. "Its easy to see why Rhianna has fallen for you."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan smiled sheepishly. His cheeks and ears reddened a little.

"She's a really nice girl." He tried not to think of Rhianna, which usually led to thinking about Rhianna naked. Thankfully, this did not happen. Instead, he thought about food, and put another small piece of the ration bar in his mouth.

Part of his brain rebelled, and he began to think on why he liked Rhianna, aside from the fact that she was stunning. Rhianna was a puzzle, from an aspect of culture and language. She was usually patient, and had a heart of gold.

He wondered how his Mother, Navaria and Daria were. He knew they were alive, but that was it.

Morgan's hands reached into the breast pocket of his jacket, and pulled out a deck of Pazaak cards.

"Want to play something while we wait?" he offered.

[Serena Laran]

She almost said no, but it looked like they were going to be there for at least another half an hour. "Sure. Although I was never very good at Pazaak. Without cheating, anyway."

Serena raised her eyebrows, her eyes twinkling a little. She took the offered deck, dealing herself four random cards, and then handed it back to her padawan. They hadn't done much more than look at their cards when a scuffle broke out at the desk they were all waiting to sit at.

"But I can't pay," pleaded the near-human, pounding his hand on the desk with frustration. "And without my ship I can't get the money. What do you want me to do? Sell my children to the Hutts?!"

Serena bit her lower lip as she looked away from the scene and back to her cards. A pair of armored stormtroopers peeled away from where they had been decorating the walls, headed towards the hapless man.

[Morgan Evanar]

It wasn't an "official" deck, so it couldn't be used in tournaments. It was a practice deck, so it had pretty much every card someone might want.

Morgan watched. He held his breath, and let it out in a big sigh.

"Cripes." He muttered quietly. He likely had more than enough credits to help the man, but it would draw undue attention. That would probably get people killed. The Jedi would go from, at "worst" a quiet whisper and no-one-takes-it-seriously rumor to a full-blown active search from the Empire. It was something that this very fledgling group could not afford. Put lightly, their very existence was precarious.

Playing Pazaak in the air was a bit tricky. They held the played cards in one hand, between their fingers, and the hand of cards in the other. Right now Serena had nine (3+-and 6+) and Morgan had sixteen (9+- and 7+).

Morgan took a glance over his cards as the Stormtroopers approached. Desperation washed over the man. Morgan closed his eyes, and gave silent prayer that he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"C'mon." One pointed at the door with his E-11. "Let's move."

"All... alright." Defeated, the man slumped, and was led away.

After the man left, Morgan opened his eyes again, and watched the paper-pusher's lips "inhuman rabble".

It was Serena's turn.

[Serena Laran]

The man behind the desk looked bored. Serena wondered how he could be so indifferent about the being who had just been pleading for leniency. This was certainly not the Republic any longer.

Of course, there had always been people like this, even in the Republic. It was tough to admit it, but it was true. It just seemed that the corrupt were more likely to face promotion in the Galactic Empire than under the Republic. She presented the datacard with the information about Serenity that the 'port master had given her.

The clerk processed it with a blank stare, which slowly grew more alert. "Hmm, pre-Empire SoroSuub yacht..." He downloaded something into a datapad and looked it over. "Were you aware that your ship has what we call suspicious registration?"

[Morgan Evanar]

Serena's eyes narrowed a little. She looked confused.

"I'm not sure I follow, sir." She said. Morgan held his breath. Had is sleight of hand bit them after all this time? He was feeling incredibly guilty. He did a thorough job on the transponder. After all, he was taking a ride on the ship.

"For one, it's registered in Nar Shadda." The clerk said, as if that damned the ship's registration alone. Well, it did, pretty much. Serena's registration and transponder was actually paid. Morgan had run the whole thing through the garrison on the Smuggler's Moon as legally as possible. Except for the twenty credits to speed the whole thing up, no palms had been greased at all. They'd been scanned several times in their journeys.

"I bought the ship there." Serena explained. "My previous one had a hyperdrive failure."

"Just what do you do, Ms. Laran?" The clerk asked, like a nexu toying with it's prey.

"I deal in exotic herbs and antiquities." She said, sounding bewildered. It matched up with the cargo they found in the ship.

"And what does he do?" the clerk pointed a finger at Morgan.

[Serena Laran]

"He assists me," she said slowly. "It is an old ship, things break. And he pilots better than I do."

Serena bit her lower lip, and gently caressed the man's mind with the Force. "All our paperwork is in order..."

"All of your paperwork is in order," he replied briskly. "There's just the matter of the fee for releasing the ship from impound. Nine hundred credits."

The amount was obviously padded. Serena's eyebrows raised. "Just a moment."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan did have 900 credits, but he wasn't going to give it to this piece of hutt-slime.

"Perhaps the fee can be amended?" Serena asked. "Two hundred credits, by the book." her voice was firm.

"Sorry, I was looking under the wrong block. Two hundred credits, by the book." The clerk said. That was by the book. Morgan produced a pair of chits from his pocket, and placed them on the desk. Serena seemed intently focused as he processed the payment and released the impound flag.

"Good day." She said politely.

"How did you do that?" Morgan whispered, once clear of the door.

[Serena Laran]

She looked up at him, shaking her head slightly until they were further away from the garrison. A squad of troopers marched past them, blaster rifles held across their bodies.

Once they were in the open, she said, "It is often called the Jedi Mind Trick. I'm sure you've heard of it." Serena half-smiled. "When done properly it is very helpful."

[Morgan Evanar]

Of course he'd heard of the Mind Trick. Who hadn't? Sure, the Jedi were "gone" but the phrase had never stopped being popular in outlaw culture.

"I'll say." Morgan agreed. He would be happy to be off of Bespin soon. Or, at least, knowing he could leave it soon. It seemed like the sort of thing he might have trouble with. Serena and Rhianna could sense things that Morgan was oblivious to.

[Serena Laran]

Serena smiled, feeling at peace as the pair walked the distance to a 'lift that would take them to where Serenity was berthed. So far everything had gone smoothly.

"Not all of us could do it, of course," she said, choosing her words carefully. "With your particular talents I do not think that it will be in your bag of tricks." Serena raised an eyebrow as they exited the turbolift. "But time will tell."

Companionable silence reigned as Serena showed the newly stamped paperwork to the tech governing the impound. They were let in, and in a few more minutes she was keying open the yacht.

Once inside she stood in silence as she surveyed Serenity. "It looks like our Imperial friends took some time to look through... everything."

There wasn't a square centimeter that hadn't been turned upside down. Serena bent down to pick up some clothes that had made their way into the main passage.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan sighed. The Imperials had gone through everything. Morgan headed for the cockpit.

"They even moved some of the control panels." Morgan called back to Serena. The nav console had been loosened, exposing the wires to the control surface. All of the access panels littered the floor and seats. He picked one leaned against it's hatch, and slid it out of the way. He stuck his head inside. At least it didn't look like they'd unplugged anything. It seemed unnecessary. Morgan's guess was that the people doing the work didn't care so long as the commander was off their backs. Maybe they were hourly and were milking the system. Morgan wished they hadn't picked Serenity to pull apart.

He got back up, and poked his head in the quarters, where mattresses and bedding littered the floors.

Serena shook her head in the small room she had set up as a medical bay. They'd taken all of her carefully organized herbs and medicines out of their cabinets and all the tools out of the drawers. Gauze was spread through the room like streamers.

Morgan's heart sank when he powered the lights on in engineering. Every access panel had been removed. It would take the better part of a day to put it all together. Fasteners littered the floor, and the tool kit had been unceremoniously emptied across the deck.

"Well, bugger."

[Serena Laran]

Everything had been torn apart.

Serena picked up a few items, and then walked to the cockpit. She wasn't an engineer but... "Morgan, can you come up here?"

When he entered the cockpit, she was unscrewing the only unloosened panel, the one that housed the backups for the nav computer.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan gingerly extracted his head from the access hatch. He'd been checking to see if anything had been unplugged. He found a scanner head, and removed it. Someone had been sloppy there. Morgan dropped it on the floor and ran a hand through his hair as he stood.

He had to watch his step. It was something Wyl might find entertaining, but not as much when you were a grown-up. Morgan frowned at that thought, and made it a challenge to place as much of his feet between the panels, quickly. His agility made short work of the yacht's main corridor. His head entered the cockpit, as if he might be intruding.

"What's up?"

[Serena Laran]

She looked up as Morgan looked inside. "I think we might have a problem. Can you tell if the navcomp has been tampered with..?"

The panel finally came free, and she picked it up, moving out of the way in the small space. She felt troubled, more than a simple mess justified.

[Morgan Evanar]

"Well, let's have a look." Morgan said, and Serena stood aside. He pulled a multi-tool free from his pocket, and turned on the small light. Morgan whistled.

"You could say that. The whole memory core is gone." He said with a shrug. He'd never really heard of anyone taking a whole core, but since they over-wrote it two jumps from Vortex, there wouldn't be much to get.

[Serena Laran]

"The entire core?" Serena frowned. She tossed the panel to the side. "That doesn't sound like standard operating procedure.

"But then, I doubt any of this is standard." Sub-standard, was more like it. "I don't get the feeling that all ships impounded on a technicality are treated like this."

[Morgan Evanar]

"We're pretty special, I'd say." Morgan said, and flipped off the light. He crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged.

"They didn't really unplug anything, but they stuck scanners in everything. I'm not really sure what they were looking for. Was anything in particular missing?" Morgan asked. This was the most aggressive he'd seen a ship searched without it being systematically taken apart (which he'd heard of happening to some smugglers on a Star Destroyer deck).

"Maybe they think we're with the Alliance. If they were going to plant some kind of tracker, this is a bad way to do it. I'm going to go over the ship several times, just because I'm not sure if they damaged anything."

[Serena Laran]

Was anything missing? Serena looked around, down the passage that was littered with the contents of the living space and the panels that were usually fastened to the bulkheads.

"It is hard to tell if anything has been taken at this point." Serena sighed, thinking about the clean up, and then sat up. "Wait..."

She got to her feet and strode quickly down the passage, going to the makeshift medbay and ducking under the gauze that was strung around the room. Opening a cabinet that was usually full of carefully arranged vials of herbs and other medicines, she pushed containers to the side, looking for one in particular. One that contained an old datacard.

It wasn't there.

Her heart leapt into her throat, and she hurriedly scanned the room, looking for the rogue jar. Kneeling on the ground, she started going through everything that was scattered there.

[Morgan Evanar]

He had immediately busied himself with seeing what else might be missing from the cockpit, but so far, so good.

Morgan could hear the chaos from the med bay. He could feel Serena's near panic. She was an organized whirlwind, muttering to herself in a mix of Basic and Rhianna's tongue.

"Whoa. Slow down. What's missing?" He asked Serena. The look on her face was jarring. He'd never seen Serena scared before.

[Serena Laran]

She took a deep breath, trying to find that calm center where she spent most of her time. It evaded her. Had she put everyone in danger?

"Call Daria. Make sure everything is normal where they are." She continued to sift through the contents of the room, making a neat pile of everything she'd searched through already. "Morgan! Do it!"

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan only had a moment's hesitation before his brain instructed his body to move. He headed for the cockpit, and selected the common frequency range that they'd been using for communication on Cloud City.

"Daria?" Morgan asked over the comm. He hoped she was there.

[Serena Laran]

"Morgan? Did everything go okay at the garrison?"

"Yeah. Is everything okay there?" He looked at Serena who looked back at him, and she sighed in relief when the other Jedi affirmed that yes everything was fine.

"Tell her to keep an eye out," Serena added, and when Morgan disconnected the connection she was again sifting through the vials and bandages and bacta packs and synflesh that was littering the decking. After a few more tense minutes she sat back on her heels. "I had a datacard hidden in that cupboard.

"A recording of my knighting ceremony. From the Order."

[Morgan Evanar]

"Ah." Morgan's mouth said as his mind filled in the consequences. "We should probably put this thing together as fast as possible and get off Cloud City before someone watches it."

"I think I'm going to have a headache." He added. Truthfully, he was scared. They probably had footage of him from the garrison, and they'd eventually find him. He did have citizenship, and a legitimate profile. Ugh.

[Serena Laran]

"My thoughts precisely," she agreed. "We will have to tow the ship to where it can be worked on..." She ran a hand through her hair, the scarf falling down around her neck. "I had a company in mind to contact."

She smiled, a little flustered. "Can't seem to remember it now." Serena took a deep breath.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan stopped himself from grimacing. They could tow it short distances with the Triple Six. He hoped wherever this company was, it was close.

"Well, if I can put the new hyperdrive in Serenity, we can slave the navicomp to the Triple Six's. Everything else can wait."

[Serena Laran]

ooc: I was thinking a tow company to tow the ship out of impound but then I guess its the hyperdrive down not the repulsors or sublights... >_< Dum me./ic:

"How much time do you need for the hyperdrive?" She stood up slowly. "I would like to get away from the impound as quickly as possible. But... its hard to tell what might be unplugged or missing, as far as the engine is concerned."

[Morgan Evanar]

"No kidding. We should put Serenity on it's empty pad." Morgan took a look at the pile of panels on the deck. He rubbed his head absentmindedly.

"It really depends on if they unplugged things. I could give you a better answer after an hour. I could do it in six hours if they just pulled panels." Morgan shrugged. He felt rather uncertain about the ship now, as if it couldn't be trusted entirely.

[Serena Laran]

"Well, whatever it takes," Serena said. She clasped her hands in front of her. "The sooner we leave this lot the better."

If the Imperials knew about her, then they could be biding their time, hoping that she would lead them to others. Or if they did not know and would shortly, then the sooner they could get away... "While you are checking, I am going to do some meditation. Perhaps the Force will show me what the Imperials have done to Serenity."

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan headed back for the cockpit while Serena headed for the door. Morgan made sure the controls were still wired, and started pre-flight. Auxiliary power came on with a medium pitched hum, and the lights grew brighter. Consoles blinked as the multiple computer systems came back online. It didn't seem that anything had been unplugged. After ten minutes of detailed diagnostics, Morgan felt safe enough to turn on the main power. He flipped the big, green switch on the ceiling of the cockpit. Nothing. The main generator wasn't responding at all. After a minute of checking read-outs, he headed to the engine room. The main feed had been shut off. Morgan threw the massive, green switch that clicked and then stopped with a thunk. There was a satisfying low pitched whirrr. The lights briefly dimmed and the returned to normal levels as the power regulators load balanced.

He picked his way back to the cockpit, mindful of the sea of panels scattering the floor. He systematically went over the displays. After five minutes of thoroughly checking it twice, everything was green. Morgan punched in the coordinates for his present location, and for the landing pad that Serenity should have been sitting on. He added altitude and speed (both were low). He flicked on the comm.

"Serenity to Cloud City Control." Morgan said.

"Cloud City Control. Go ahead." Morgan relayed the flight plan.

"I'm taxiing from Impound to pad R51." He explained

"Flight approved. Safe flying, Serenity. Cloud City Control out." Morgan turned the comm off. He carefully eased on the repulsors. Serenity's landing struts groaned as the strain was released.

[Serena Laran]

Serena walked out of her ship, out of what had been a safe place, and away from the impound lot. Morgan would be able to put things right, if anyone could, and she had the utmost faith in her padawan's abilities.

Her emotions, however, were worrying her.

The Jedi Knight walked from impound, but did not return to her quarters. She found a quiet spot where she could see the sky, and slipped into deep meditation.

[Morgan Evanar]

Breathe. Breathe, he told himself. Serenity will be fine. Morgan took a deep breath as the ship slowly inched forward. The nose dipped slightly as he fed power to the thrusters, and the ship moved with a gentle kick.

"There we go. Ok." He said to the ship. Morgan's eyes flitted across the status gauges. Everything remained in the green. The atmospheric thrusters increased in pitch as Morgan kept the nose of the ship up a touch to fight the drag from the landing struts. A few minutes later, he hovered next to the triple six. Morgan eased off the repulsor-power, and Serenity descended very, very slowly. He heard the scrape of metal against permacrete, and pulled power from the repulsors. The ship knelt, and he could hear the struts creak as they accepted the ship's full weight.

"So far, so good." He said, and took a deep breath. He gave the instruments a thorough look-over before he got up. Morgan looked around him. Maybe he could enlist Wyl's aide to help clean up, but since Daria was around, probably not. He would be training. He'd probably need to do it himself.

Morgan headed out, careful to not step on any panels, and opened the boarding door. He half expected to see Serena there. She'd had enough time to get back.

[Serena Laran]

After half an hour of meditation, sitting in the sunlight that flooded the niche she'd settled in, Serena was no closer to an answer than she had been before. She called Daria on the comm and told her to move everyone out of the hotel that Serena was staying at. The Jedi were not all clustered in the same hotel, but Rhianna and Wyl and Daria were staying at the same one as her, and she didn't want them to be discovered should the Empire stop by.

Serena explained the why to Daria in as few words as possible. "We will need to leave Bespin, sooner rather than later it appears."

The other knight agreed, and the conversation ended. Serena got up and walked towards where Serenity was waiting, Morgan inside and looking the ship over. Pad R51 was a short walk away, and soon enough she was peering up the boarding door, her hand on the smooth hull of the yacht.

[Morgan Evanar]

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Morgan called back to the boarding ramp. He'd already reassembled a quarter of the access panels, and the hyperdrive was in the bay. Morgan could sense Serena moving through the boarding ramp. He could feel the displacement in space as much as he could sense it was Serena. It was easy to do on Serenity. He knew almost every milimeter of the ship, and yet the nagging feeling of something wrong would not leave.

"We were really fortunate with the hyperdrive, it's even the same revision." He continued while the power spanner drove the bolts flush with the panel. They needed to move as soon as possible.

[Serena Laran]

She walked through the main passage, trailing a hand along the bulkheads. "That is good to hear." Serena looked down at Morgan where he was working deep inside an access point.

"I apologize if I took too long. Is there something I can help with?" She felt a little helpless when it came to the mechanics of her ship. Sitting down on the deck beside where he was working, she placed a hand with fingers spread against the bulkhead.

Serena frowned. "I feel that there is something ...foreign. Have you found any tracers or beacons?"

[Morgan Evanar]

Whirrrr-clickclickclick. The next bolt sunk flush.

"Sure, there is another spanner in the engineering room. Just make sure the panel number matches the place you're trying to cover. It will be on a small tab near the top left bolt."

"And I haven't found anything, but that feeling something is wrong won't go away. The newer hyperspace tracers are small, and it would take a full strip to find it. Honestly, we should probably try and sell the ship."

[Baralai Lotus]

OOC: Reposted in correct thread.