Errand Boys

[Sanis Prent]

The comm pierced the calm of a few hours of decent sleep I was finding in my own damn quarters.

"Command to Rogue 13. Command to Rogue 13. You're summoned to central briefing in one hour."

"Oh what the shit is it now?"

I blinked sleep out of my eyes and fumbled for the talk button on the squawk box, adjacent to my bed.

"Briefing? What for?"

The voice on the other side sounded like the sort that didn't have any answers anyway.

"Unsure sir. Jedi business. You were requested."

I sighed long and hard, fumbled for my pack of stims on the floor, yanked one out, and lit it as I sat up. Jedi business, I'd learned from my years with s'Il and the rest, was essentially whatever random idea crawled up their ass. Something deep and mystical and beyond my plebeian understanding, and sure to cause me to risk life and limb. I didn't even bitch about it anymore, it was sort of, pedestrian.

"Does anybody actually get to have a decent night's sleep in this rust convoy?"

I didn't hit the squawk box, it was no point bitching down the chain of command. I didn't even shudder at being called sir this time. I think the nerve endings that hit my sense of revulsion were being dulled.

Finishing my stim, I ran a comb a few times in my hair and slid on a clean set of officer blues. The whole fact that I now had multiple pairs of the same outfit and that most of them were clean was still having a bit of time to register.

"MARCUS, status of hyperdrive diagnostic?"

The Layla's modular computer network came alive, a cyllindrical avatar of itself beeping to life on the bedside.

"Diagnostic completed. Output calculated to 97.3 percent. We have not tested at an efficiency level this high in almost a year. If I may speak freely, I am most interested to see the overall effectiveness of L-"

"Switch off you pseudo-sentient beer can!"

The computer module beeped and then was silent. I finished lashing my boots, gave myself a quick once-over, and was out the door.

Through the ladder well, I could hear the distant din of an arc welder. Cirr was up early, and already on top of a new batch of upgrades. The entire time we'd been here, he'd essentially been like a kid in a candy store, tearing through whatever inventory he could get his mitts on to repair or outright improve the ship. I'd helped him along in this task, but he had essentially put me at arms-length for the serious work below deck. I trusted him implicitly, because he was the most street-smart mechanic I'd ever known. That, and he talked to the fucking ship more than I did. I think Layla was the only pussy he'd had in six months, I wasn't going to deprive him of that for now.

I punched the comm that tied me to the engine room.

"Cirr, I got officer shit to do. Hold it down, I'll be back whenever."

"Wjill do. Also, jif you can, Masterr Chjief Kochanskji has a parrcel forr me. Be a lad and pjick jit up on the way back overr."

"Whatever, just don't blow up the ship while I'm gone. Also whatever shit you left out in the galley better be gone, it smells."

I didn't bother for the affirmative. I headed down the corridor to the shuttle bay, piling into the Black Cat. With a brief warm-up, I had the shuttle purring as the back-hatch sealed. Atmosphere was released, then the bay door opened, and I eased the small shuttle out, and toward the Mon Calamari escort cruiser.

The trip was completely routine, and a minute or two later, I'd touched down on a landing cordon in the main hangar bay. A cordon of flight deck underlings crowded around my shuttle like ants as I stepped out, heading without delay to the briefing area.

Might as well get this shit done with. Sooner I did that, maybe I'd get eight hours of sleep.

[Abarai Loki]

Central Briefing was but a flight of stairs and a corridor away from the main hangar, in fact, to its inhabitants it offered a panoramic view of the daily comings and goings of starships and personnel below. Loki stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring through the long sheet of reinforced plexiglass as the Black Cat docked, and caught a brief glimpse of its pilot before retiring to the briefing circle. The room was spartan and white, arcing rows of seats climbed away from a lectern and display panel giving it the look of an ampitheatre. Not a single soul filled the seats, indeed there was no-one to be found anywhere in the room other than the boy in the Jedi robes.

He wore a simple black tunic over a white undertunic. A long sleeveless white haori set him apart in appearance from the others but he'd recently noticed it was beginning to feel tight upon the shoulders. Absently, he brushed a crease from it as he took a last look at the large starchart on the display panel. The doors opened behind him and he heard footsteps.

"Mister Prent," he said, turning to greet him, "I'm glad you can join me. Please take a seat."

[Sanis Prent]

I arched my eyebrow at the kid, who spoke to me in the sort of fashion I'd expect from somebody graying at the temples. Probably some homebody homeschooled son of whatever Jedi I was supposed to be working with.

"Sure thing."

Catching a sleep-deprived yawn, I eased into the seat nearest the door and crossed my right ankle perpendicular over my left knee as I waited.

"Who are we waiting for?"

Something wasn't right about this.

[Abarai Loki]

"No-one," he said, bemused, "I was merely waiting for you."

The fact that he'd chosen to take a seat at the back of the room made an immediate impression upon Loki, whose scrutinizing gaze finally fell to a pair of datapads which he collected and carried to the top tier of seats. He would not shout in an empty room to accomodate the ears of a lazy man.

Sanis Prent, he thought as he climbed the stairs, it had been the name on everyone's lips when he'd spoken of this mission, so much so that almost an entire squadron of starfighter pilots came forth to vouch for his experience, capability, and professionalism. Clearly he was held in high regard amongst his peers since the task at hand wasn't of any extraordinary importance and yet they came forward to sing his praise. He handed him a datapad onto which he'd loaded and organised all neccessary planetary information, astronavigational charts, ship specifications, and a catalogue of alien flora and fauna. Choosing to remain standing, he commenced his briefing.

"Sanis Prent, at approximately twenty-two hundred hours a small cargoship called The Waywarder was scheduled to rendezvous with the convoy and, true to its name, it didn't. Then at twenty-three hundred hours Valiant command detected a weak distress signal coming from a moon in the neighbouring system and has concluded the origin of which to be none other than our wayward cargoship. Our mission is to scout the crash sight, rescue any survivors and retrieve their cargo. We leave in an hour. Do you have any questions?"

[Sanis Prent]

I wasn't at all ready for a briefing to actually begin, so the kid barreling into the meat of it caught me off guard. Taking the datapad, I only gave it a cursory glance as the sudden dawning overcame me.

"Wait, you're the Jedi I'm running escort for?"

Maybe I just needed some caf or another stim, but I was having a time of wrapping my head around it.

[Abarai Loki]

"I think it would be more accurate to say you would be doing it for the people stranded on that moon, Mister Prent, as I have nothing to to gain from the mission."

It wasn't the line of questioning he'd had in mind and while under normal circumstances he was loath to state the obvious this time he was willing to humour it because within the hour he'd be gone. Within the hour, he'd be rid of Acacius Blade for at least a day. A whole day.

"But yes, I am the Jedi with whom you'll be working. My name is Abarai Loki."

[Sanis Prent]

I wracked my brain on this. What were these little guys called? Damn, I used to know from the days Lok tag-along'ed on my ship. Padawans, yeah.

"Oh, that's right, a Padawan."

I exhaled a little, realizing I wasn't going insane this morning. I sprung up to my feet, tapping the datapad in hand.

"You put this together all by yourself?"

I gave it another look, slowly at first. Both eyebrows raised. This was pretty professionally done.

"Hmm...damn."

[Abarai Loki]

"Sanis Prent, I can assure you I am no padawan."

A hot prickling sensation crawled up the back of his neck and yet his cool composure betrayed no sign of the battle fought beneath the surface. He gestured to the datapad.

"Also, I believe it is standard operating procedure to include a detailed account of destination and inventory with every mission briefing in order to ensure the task force is well prepared. I have done nothing differently here."

He cast him a quizzical look, "You are familiar with military protocol, are you not?"

[Sanis Prent]

What the hell was this? Some kind of joke. I couldn't tell. If it was a joke, the kid was about as convincing as I'd ever seen. I resumed thumbing through the pad briefly, tucking it away at my side.

"Familiar enough, yeah. It's just that..."

I looked at the kid, looking for a visual cue that he was betraying some sort of hint of this bizarre course of events. He seemed, at all times, serious as ever.

"...eh, forget it. Either way, shuttle's prepped and ready to head back to Layla."

I'd never understand Jedi, ever. If this kid was legitimately a Jedi Knight, the whole lot of them were nutters.

[Abarai Loki]

"Excellent," he said, pocketing his datapad, "I presume your ship is fully fueled? Needless to say it would be quite an embarassment if we found ourselves stranded in the middle of dead space with an empty tank."

From behind one of the rows of seats, he pulled out a large backpack which was swollen and looked ready to burst at the seams. He slung it over his shoulder with relative ease, slipped the second strap over his arm and secured it firmly in place with a buckle across the chest. A quick shrug of the shoulders to ensure all contents were secure, there was an ominous rattle but the boy seemed satisfied and rejoined the pilot. There was a pause in his stride and he gave Sanis a curious sideways glance.

"Shouldn't it be The Layla?" he asked, then was out the door, shaking his head.

[Sanis Prent]

Who was this kid and why was he riding my case like Cirr's mama?

"I spent years scraping by with barely enough credits to put fuel in my ship. With my fuel bill on the Alliance dole, I'm always topped off."

We headed back down to the landing bay, over to where the Black Cat was waiting for us. The hatch was open, waiting for us to step in and secure our things. The kid's question, again, hit below the belt and I grimaced.

"Maybe when you're older and you understand women you'll figure that one out."

[Abarai Loki]

"If you're referring to a pilot's predisposition to give his ship an identity, and in fact talk to and treat it like a real person in the hope that the ship in turn will treat its passengers well then you are mistaken, sadly I am familiar with such nonsensical superstition," he said as he settled into his seat, he glanced across at Sanis with what looked like pity, "And it has nothing to do with age or women."

After the hatch was sealed, Sanis brought the shuttle's engines to life and Loki watched him with fierce curiosity. He nodded in agreement with the flicking of switches and instrument alterations as he ticked off a mental checklist of pre-flight protocol. When they finally departed the hangar, he eased into his seat, satisfied with the quality of his own knowledge. Piloting was something of mystery to him and the sensation of flying still made him uncomfortable, so much so that his vice-like grip left finger marks in the armrests. The shuttle banked and they approached the Layla. Loki leaned forward.

"Such an odd-looking ship," he said, fascinated, "From the side it looks unfinished, like its missing half of its rear. Curious! Does it handle well in atmospheres?"

[Sanis Prent]

I was finally relieved to get off the touchy subject of my ship's name, and onto more, uh, practical issues.

"Not as well as in deep space, but decent enough. It's a bit different from other Corellian ships. Variable nozzled thrust lets us push maneverability similar to a ship half our size."

The bay doors opened, and a pair of guide lights beckoned us in. I eased the shuttle onto its moorings, which clamped down as the doors shut behind us. A few seconds later for atmosphere and gravity to kick in, and the green light blinked.

"You much of a starship buff, young Jedi?"

[Abarai Loki]

"No. My knowledge of starships is somewhat... limited," he confessed in dissappointment, "It is my intention to compensate for my inexperience with the information I've downloaded onto these datapads."

There was a tone of reassurance in his voice and his aversion to making eye contact betrayed no small degree of discomfort at this admission. He knew there was no point in avoiding the truth for it would surface sooner or later now they were in Prent's domain. Behind them, the egress hatch unfurled spilling grey light into the gloomy shuttle and Loki rose, pulling on his backpack. He followed Sanis out.

"Captain Prent," he said, "Shortcomings in my familiarity with this vessel aside, I wish to contribute as a member of your crew for the duration of this journey. How may I be of use?"

[Sanis Prent]

"This isn't my first dance with a Jedi in the ring. Ride shotgun up top, and don't hesitate to let me know if something feels off."

The airlock door leading into the habitat deck hissed open, and Cirr stepped in, ducking gingerly to avoid the low clearance.

"You ourr Jedji?" His ears betrayed his confusion, cocking at uneven angles as he looked to me for confirmation. I smiled and clapped Loki on the shoulder.

"That's him. Abarai Loki, meet uh, Lieutenant Raurrssatta. First mate, chief mechanic, ordnance jockey, chief cook and bottle washer."

[Abarai Loki]

Shotgun, Loki repeated inwardly, as he recalled details of the Layla's weapon systems. It was an odd role to be assigned for someone in his position but it wasn't his place to question Prent on his ship. Then his first mate appeared.

"Greetings."

He gave him a curt nod and maintained eye contact, which was difficult to do considering he'd never before seen such a species, curiosity begged his eyes to wander. The alien towered an impressive foot and a half over the boy and looked at least twice his width in the shoulders. And despite the imposing appearance, his posture and expression were entirely unassuming. There was a beat of silence in which, impossibly, he felt compelled to speak and being contemptuous of small talk, he kept it formal.

"I am pleased to be working with you, Lieutenant, and as your gunner I will not disappoint."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr's ear-tips bounced forward a bit at the humorous misunderstanding. Sanis spoke in slang, and the language barrier was a tough nut for Cirr to crack at first, too.

"Don't worrry about the weapons, jI'll handle that."

He reached over with a big hand, an unspoken offering to relieve the human boy of his luggage.

"Sanjis means he wants you jin the cockpjit next to hjim. jIt's an old sayjing."

Venturing that he might be able to break protocol with somebody who wasn't rank and file Alliance, Cirr's ears lowered a bit.

"And call me Cjirr. Nobody calls me LT. Sounds wrrong."

[Abarai Loki]

"No," he snapped as the lieutenant offered to carry his rucksack, quickly adding a "Thank you."

After hearing his explanation, Loki was at once dispirited and relieved that he wouldn't be on laser turret duty - a datapad could only teach so much. The implication that he was to serve as a glorified proximity alarm, however, did not sit well with him at all. He mulled over this as they passed through the airlock and into the main arteries of the ship. The lieutenant was a peculiar indivdual, Loki thought, and his eyebrow arched.

"It's curious you have an aversion to being addressed by your rank and yet you wish to be called 'sir'. Since I am not directly affiliated with the alliance military I'm afraid I cannot oblige your request."

He paused in his step and looked up at the lieutenant with utmost sincerity, "Will 'Mister Raurrssatta' suffice?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr huffed a soft laugh, correcting the common misunderstanding.

"Shorrt forr Cirrsseeto. jIt's mjy name. Cizeri names arre long ljike that. Shorrtened to make jit easy forrda, err...uhh...non Cizerack."

He respected the kid's choice to pull his own weight, and understood an unspoken need for him to be his own man. Pausing, Cirr looked down at his feet, then to Sanis.

"Actually, jif you don't need any help rrjight now, jI could use an extrra hand below deck."

Sanis gave him a brief, funny look, and nodded.

"Any aversions to a grease stain or two, Mr. Loki?"

The Nar Shadaan figured that the uptight Jedi would brow-beat Cirr into a crater for suggesting it, but he'd have to learn the ropes like he did too.

[Abarai Loki]

"As I said before, Mister Prent," he began stiffly, "While on this vessel I will perform any task that is required of me."

It was a rather open invitation and one which Loki, who was suddenly more aware of his crisp clean robes, feared he may regret in the near future. But he wouldn't shy away from even the most banal manual labour, especially after making himself look foolish in front of these men. Besides, he reminded himself, he'd worked in worse conditions...

Before departing for the Layla's underbelly, Loki was lead to his quarters where he deposited his baggage and took a moment to give the room a full assessment:

"Small, but satisfactory. Cirr-" he hesitated, tripping over the uncomfortable friendliness in the nickname, "I'm ready to begin. Will I require any apparatus or safety equipment?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Surre, hang on."

Cirr led Loki onward to his own quarters, rifling through a footlocker by the bed.

"Let's see, goggles, gloves, and herre."

He turned with a big leather equipment belt.

"jIt's morre my sjize, but jI can cjinch jit down forr you, no prroblem."

Cirr thought about easing the belt around the Jedi, but deferred to let the youngster do it himself, since that seemed important to him.

"Let's see, hydrrospannerr, you get one of those, jI'll gjive you a pack of stem bolts, and oh yeah..."

Cirr reached to a counter and plucked a cyllindrical module from it, pressing it into Loki's hand.

"Thjis jis jimporrtant. Hjis name jis MARCUS, and he's parrt of ourr shjip's computerr. Always good to carrry one along forr djiagnostjic rreasons."

[Abarai Loki]

"This droid model is unfamiliar to me," he said with fleeting interest, replacing the module on the counter, "Excuse me."

First he removed the white haori and folded it neatly on his bed with the embroidered family emblem on display. The leather tool belt was fitted next, all the way to the last notch and he noticed to his displeasure that it still hung lopsided on his hip. He tucked the gloves into the belt then snapped the goggles onto his forehead so long spikes of hair sprouted over the top. Then reclaiming MARCUS, he noticed his reflection and was haunted by memories of the Seasick Kid. He rolled up his sleeves and followed Cirrsseeto out the door.

They turned down a series of passageways, all of which Loki committed to memory, until they arrived at a secured hatch in the floor. Cirrsseeto punched a sequence of keys into an adjacent panel and the hatch opened to reveal a narrow duct with a ladder. They descended two levels into darkness, and the boy was instructed where to find his footing at the bottom. Then pale lights came to life with a deep clunk and Loki founded himself greeted by a series of hostile hisses and the sight of the ship's mechanical innards.

"Such a convoluted ramshackle design. Impressive. This is where you work?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"He's a modularr networrk. jIt's a Verrpjine desjign, we sorrt of stole jit pjiecemeal and tweaked jit forr use on a Corrrelljian system."

Cirr stiffened a little at this, a bit of pride in his voice.

"Not my shabbjiest bjit of fjine-wjirrrjing jif jI may say so. You wouldn't fjigurre the two to be compatjible, but they arre."

He noted the boy's unease with the Corellian aesthetics of the ship as they descended into the engine deck.

"Rramshackle? Haha. Let me tell you about a Corrrelljian shjip. jIt won't wjin a beauty contest but everrythjing on thjis boat jis bujilt to take a beatjing."

For emphasis, Cirr gave a nearby power conduit sheath a healthy clubbing with a wrench. The clank of thick durasteel echoed all around them. His ears bobbed up high with satisfaction.

Reaching his station again, Cirr plucked his usual water canteen, gulping down a hefty few mouthfuls before pressing it into the boy's hand.

"Yeah, thjis jis my offjice of a sorrt. Drrjink up. We put out a ljittle heat down herre so jit's easy to get parrched."

[Abarai Loki]

"I very much doubt I will need it," he paused to take a brief swig from the canteen, "But thank you."

Handing the canteen back to Cirrsseeto, Loki couldn't help but notice his body language; his mood was in his posture and written on his face, his voice strummed with every fibre of emotion and it wasn't on his sleeve he wore his heart, but on those large expressive ears. He was a fascinating, albeit simple, creature. Here below deck, surrounded by piping, conduits, circuit boards, and wiring he was satisfied. Here, this hulking felinoid was at home. And while he shared the tendancy of others to ramble at length with needless use of colourful metaphors, Loki understood the pride in his work and couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.

"Forgive me... Cirr, but your species is unknown to me. What are you?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr respected the boy's innate curiosity, as it mirrored his own. Wanting to know what made the universe tick was always a worthwhile pursuit.

"jI'm a Cizerack. We come frrom the Carrrshouljis Clusterr, do you know jit?"

Knowing that perhaps he could only explain so much, he hoisted a MARCUS module from his pocket, setting it on a utility bench nearby.

"MARRCUS, prrovjide my young Jedji frjiend wjith a summarry of the Cizerack rrace."

The droid module sprung to life, opening in the middle as two visual receptors zoomed in and out. A small holoprojector came to life, showing a series of changing images.

"The Cizerack are a sentient felinoid race originating in the Carshoulis Star Cluster, a planetary super-system of 14 close-proximity inhabited planets. The star cluster is located along the Hydian Way interstellar trading route, linking the outer rim to the mid rim.

The Cizerack are felinoid, sharing a demi-humanoid morphology and similar traits. Mean height for males is 6.1 meters, and for females the mean is 5.7. The species is identifiable primarily by elongated pivoting ears, a prehensile tail, and widely ranging skin tones, often displaying a dominant genetic trait of stripe patterning. The species is naturally blue-eyed, capable of improved night vision. Strength is considered on average to be higher than the Vilks-Moersen standard humanoid coefficient, measuring a 1.42 to the human benchmark of 1.0. Agility, speed, and other areas of dexterity are generally considered to be average against the benchmark."

Cirr half paid attention to the lesson, and half began to calibrate a power feedback instrument he was going to need to tighten the particle intensity of the Ion drive.

MARCUS continued, unabated.

"The culture is a matriarchy, and females are held in considerably higher esteem. Females are educated, land-owning, and in positions of power in every facet of the Cizerack state. Culturally, this is linked to a collective disaster the species suffered over one millennia ago, when a famine killed billions of people. Cizerack society shaped itself into a caste in which larger and stronger males were put into a position to serve females in menial labor, while the females were called upon to pursue intellectual affairs. Cizerack culture stresses a heightened ethnocentricity and Cizerack males and females are taught to believe in their race's general superiority to aliens.

The Cizerack state is a monarchy, headed by a female appointed by birth to be Pride Mother. The primary functions of the state have traditionally been to preserve the interests of it's massive stake in interstellar trading along the Hydian Way, and to rebuff foreign interest in their local hegemony. The state has traditionally held itself separate from galactic interests, and did not participate in representation inside the Galactic Republic. During the Clone Wars, the unusual decision was made to back the Confederacy of Independent Systems, leading to defeat and losses of millions. The Galactic Empire initially attempted to subjugate the Carshoulis cluster entirely, but instead allowed them to retain sovereignity in exchange for favorable trading status. It was deemed too expensive to try and conquer them outright, when the primary objective was to keep trade flowing."

At last, MARCUS's holoprojector shut down, and the droid module beeped expectantly.

Cirr nodded.

"That'll do MARRCUS."

He looked to Loki, certain the boy had a few questions about it all.

[Abarai Loki]

"Your droid is quite eloquent," Loki noted immediately.

Throughout the presentation he'd settled to his knees and placed his hands on his lap, listening attentively, and looking like a cross between a monk and a schoolboy. He thought for a moment, mulling over all the new information before he asked his first question. His eyebrows lifted in unison as he turned his gaze on Cirrsseeto.

"Interesting. So, you think I am inferior?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr knew that was coming and he laughed.

"Depends on what we'rre talkjing about. jI'm surre you've got me ljicked wjith a ljightsaberr, but then agajin how fast can you polarrjize a rrepulsorrgrrjid?"

He shook his head.

"jI thjink you'll fjind me to be an exceptjion to most of that rrot. Most men of my kjind arren't even allowed to rread, much less do any of thjis."

[Abarai Loki]

"It's strange a society finds worth in having fewer citizens of intellect. Shall we begin?"

The fact that he didn't know how to polarize a repulsorgrid was frustrating. He gestured to an exposed panel of power conduits and Cirr stooped low, handing him a device he explained was designed to reroute power, and instructed him in attaching it to a pair of live cables. Loki paused, casting the lieutenant a disapproving glance. On went the gloves and goggles. The rerouter affixed, he twisted its dial and heard the swelling buzz as the flow of power was diverted from one conduit into the other. Loki nodded with satisfaction but while his attention was fixed upon the task at hand his mind was elsewhere.

"How did you become an... exception? Captain Prent?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr nodded.

"That's how jit ended up, at least."

Heading over to the large cyllindrical superstructure that was the ion drive, Cirr affixed a large wrench over some heavy bolts and began to torque them out. Even for him, it was a grunting effort.

"Mama T...uh, my motherr, and Sanjis knew each otherr. He sorrt of drrjifted jinto Carrshouljis Prrjime forr worrk and to make money. My motherr took a ljikjing to hjim and thought about makjing a husband out of hjim."

Cirr paused and laughed as he finally got the bolts loose enough with the wrench to back them out by hand. Carefully, he threaded each one out, for a total of eight. Each one he got out, he handed to Loki to put on the nearby table. They were fairly heavy, at about three pounds each.

"Of courrse, that neverr happened. Sanjis beat herr at a game of Sabacc and even won thjis shjip out of the deal. That of courrse endearred hjim to my motherr even morre, and she asked hjim to help herr on a job."

With a hefty grunt, Cirr jerked free a heavy durasteel plate that opened up the interior of the ion drive's superstructure. Easing it down, he propped it against the wall.

"Grrab that hydrrospannerr, jI'll show you how to caljibrrate thjis."

Cirr was happy to help Loki learn the ropes. He seemed like an eager learner, and a real hands-on kid.

[Abarai Loki]

"Lieutenant, I must confess I am dubious about your algorithms."

His muffled voice echoed from within the blazing superstructure and behind him Cirrsseeto quoted from the protocol handbook, while holding onto his ankles. And as Loki wriggled beneath the bulk of the ion drive he was beginning to understand why he'd been brought down here. From his toolbelt he retrieved a hydrospanner and went about applying it to a series of pins on the underside of the drive. The hydrospanner whizzed furiously, above each pin was a digital display and as the numerical values on each changed, he called out.

"Forty-five point five. Seventy-eight point two. Ninety-two point two. And Thirty-six point eight. It's as you expected: the frequencies of your containment field were out of alignment. If your values are correct then the particle flux will restabilize and the matter conversion rates will return to maximum efficiency."

Cirrsseeto felt a pull in the boys legs as he shifted his weight suddenly then over the hum of the ion drive, he said quite dispassionately:

"There is a dead mynock in here."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr made a mental note on the readings, and as Loki was pulled free, he jotted them down on an adjacent datapad. That wasn't the surprise. He knew they were off. You fly in a ship long enough and you can feel it through the bottoms of your feet. Now he had the differences, so the correction was no real work.

It was the second comment that drew a frown.

"Wherre?"

Cirr stooped down to his haunches, snatching a pen light from his coveralls to shine into the interior. Sure enough, sort of barbecued onto the floor grating where the lateral controls were laced up.

"Shjit."

Cirr thought a moment, and pointed behind Loki.

"Gjimme that stjick. Thjis happens herre and therre, jI just don't know the last place we werre that we coulda pjicked one up."

[Abarai Loki]

Loki presented the stick to Cirrsseeto regarding it with distant revulsion; he wondered just how instrumental it had been in the removal of other previously deceased vermin. He side-stepped suddenly to avoid his co-worker's tail, which had curled stiffly upwards as he fished for the mynock, much like the protuding tongue of a human deep in concentration. It reminded him of his brother and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Cirr, has it occured to you that the mynock could be responsible for the discrepancy in the energy input-output correlation? Before I cam here, I lived in a bunker with systems which relied upon a constant power supply. Needless to say, mynocks were a frequent problem and on numerous occassions their appetite resulted in disasterous power outages."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Well, that could defjinjitely contrrjibute. The fjield aljignment stjill needs a tweak, but just to be safe, jI'll rrun a djiagnosjis on the majin feed as well as laterral ljines."

With one final jab of effort, Cirr yipped a triumphant note of Cizeri and proceeded to drag the un-stuck mynock corpse closer to where it could be grabbed from the reach-in.

Standing, Cirr hoisted the dead creature with a sense of accomplishment, glancing over to MARCUS.

"MARRCUS, orrderr the djiagnostjics forr the powerr trransmjissjion ljines."

The droid module on the table beeped in the affirmative.

"I took the liberty of doing so the moment Mr. Loki mentioned it. Estimated completion, 30 minutes."

The smell of burnt mynock was strong, and Cirr stuffed the thing in the refuse recepticle, pressing a button to flush it out into deep space.

"Well, we've got down tjime forr now. We can at least gjive the all clearr forr hyperr and go up forr some chow."

[Abarai Loki]

"Captain Prent, the ion drive has been successfully recalibrated and the ship is ready for hyperspace. Over."

There was a sharp click as he lifted his finger off the transmission key, and for a moment Loki stared at the silent comm unit on the wall, waiting for a reply. There was nothing so he rejoined Cirrsseeto, who had disengaged the power rerouter and hefted the large panel of durasteel back into place, he passed him the eight heavy bolts and assisted in manually twisting them into place. It was menial labour but he reminded himself that he could be sat in the cockpit doing nothing. And there was little else he despised more than being idle.

After the job was done they gathered their things, he scooped up his own droid module which had been conspicuously quiet, and removed his safety gloves. Once they were out of the engine room and the hatch behind them sealed, Loki turned to Cirrsseeto and gave him a slight bow of the head.

"I am grateful for your instruction, Cirr, and eagerly anticipate the next opportunity to assist you in your work. Now if you'll excuse me, I must wash."

[Sanis Prent]

I punched the coordinates given to me into the nav, and MARCUS spit out the solution. The ship thrummed as the hyperdrive lit up, accelerating us to FTL velocity. With nothing to do but wait, I let MARCUS take over auto. We were about an hour's push from the system specified, and besides, it was chow time.

Punching my hands briefly under the galley's sonic scrubber, I looked around the small kitchen. Cirr had something going slow in the braise can, and I lifted it up. It smelled rich and pungent, and if I remembered right from my mechanic's repertoire, that should be dewback tripe. I plucked a still-hot square of the stuff out with my fingers, gingerly tossing it about before popping it in my mouth. I chewed, mouth open a little to offset the heat. Stuff was chewy, and smelled a little barn-ish? But it tasted alright, especially after hot sauce. This one I'd had before, and it was the slayer of hangovers for sure.

[Abarai Loki]

It was nice to be able to wash without the rush hour mayhem of The Whaladon's communal showers. There are things one can survive without but privacy and solitude had always been a large part of Loki's life, and how little of it he managed to scavenge these days, especially with the likes of Acacius Blade around. Content, he changed into a clean set of robes and pulled on his haori again. In the mirror, he plucked irritably at his hair and noticed the droid module blinking up at him.

"MARCUS, have anymore distress calls been intercepted by the Valiant or any other ship within the fleet?"

"There have been no such transmissions since the first was recieved eight hours ago, Mister Loki."

"None at all," he muttered darkly to himself, adjusting his sleeves, tugging at his belt, "That will be all."

The little light diminished and giving his reflection one last inspection, Loki left for the mess hall. It hadn't occured to him to ask for directions so he relied on his instincts instead, which were seldom anything but impeccable. Shortly, he arrived at the galley and was surprised to find Sanis stooped over a steaming pot, sampling whatever was producing that foul smell.

"Captain Prent, I trust everything is in order? The ship lurched only moments ago."

[Sanis Prent]

"We hit FTL and we're on our way. Everything's good, far as I can tell. Negative enemy contact on scope and we should be hitting realspace in maybe fifty minutes."

I kicked a chair back from the table in the galley.

"Enough time to grab a bite, at least. Hungry?"

Cirr, having taken enough time to sonic scrub his hands and face, climbed up the ladder to the top deck, joining the other two. He never had to be asked that question.

[Abarai Loki]

"Yes," he answered frankly, approaching the stove with brisk apprehension.

Cirrsseeto beat him to it before he managed to catch a glimpse of the mystery meat and promptly dismissed him to the table, he followed though, hot on his heels with the simmering pot. Loki waited and watched the ravenous pair go about piling generous helpings of food onto their plates, Cirrsseeto had a small mountain. Then he spooned himself a portion and took a moment to assess the damage: the meat was clean, almost snow white, and swam in a light brown juice. He speared it with his fork and found it springy, almost insubstantial. Wasting no time, he stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed thickly, in part to prevent the innitial gag reflex, but also because it had a consistency like rubber. There was flavour though and it wasn't too unpleasant. Loki swallowed hard, making a mental note to cut the meat next time. He glanced up, looking conflicted.

"What exactly is this?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr, finding time between big bites, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he grabbed the nearby carafe of water.

"Rrecjipe frrom home, called reeija. Trrjipe jin spjice grravy."

The felinoid split into a sleeve pale-colored, pre-formed scones that were no-doubt the infamous bread dole that everyone picked up at the comissary. Normally dense, square, and dry, they sucked the moisture out of your mouth. Cirr spooned a bit of gravy over a pair until they softened enough to cut with the flat of a fork.

"Mmm." he paused, in the midst of another bite, remembering to help Loki out with the rest of the spread.

"Therre's pjickled fjish prreserrves, hot ljiverr chutney, and nut butterr on the counterr behjind."

[Abarai Loki]

"Nut butter..."

Loki swept out of his seat and inspected the counter. It wasn't difficult to identify it from the pickled fish and the liver chutney and upon returning to his seat, he loaded his bread rations with the stuff. He tore a chunk off with his teeth and chewed eagerly. His appetite suddenly revitalised, he tackled the tripe with renewed vigor and alternated mouthfuls with the bread and nut butter, his mouth never completely empty. He paused only to wash it down with water.

"I'm curious about your hyperdrive, Captain. It has been modified, has it not? The other vessels on which I've travelled, including smaller ones like Imperial shuttles, didn't lurch like the Layla when it reached light speed. I'm having difficulty deciding whether this is something positive or negative."

He resumed his meal without waiting for an answer, serving himself another helping of reeija.

[Sanis Prent]

I took the question mid-chew, a knowing smile on my face. Pausing to swallow, I dipped my scone in some of the reeija sauce.

"Dampeners. Inertial compensation to give you that, uh, feather-soft acceleration, would use almost 3% of the power grid on the first ten seconds of FTL. Maybe it's what they want on that Mon Calamari pleasure yacht we're clustered around, but on a Corellian bird like this, we can shave the output and dump that into whatever we want, whether it's shields or weapons or anything, during the jump routine."

I turned toward the fridge to grab a beer, but remembered that I was technically on duty, and didn't care to explain myself to poindexter about how things were done before the era of uniforms and salutes. Instead, I fished out a carafe of reconstituted-from-powder blue milk. Travesty.

"If we have to tighten a few extra bolts every few hundred light years, that's worth it in the long run to me. Probably not what you wanted to hear. They don't exactly teach that in an academy."

[Abarai Loki]

"Having never attended the academy I have no opinion on the matter," he said dismissively, and returned to his food.

But that wasn't true. There was wisdom in following procedure, especially when it came to matters of science and physics, Loki understood this and lived his life by a strict personal code of order and propriety. The same sense of propriety which prevented him from criticising Sanis Prent about the running of his own ship. A troubling thought occured to him and he mulled over it until he was finished with his meal.

"There have been no further transmissions from the Waywarder. There are innumerable possible causes for this, however, we must prepare for any outcome. I trust you are capable of handling hostile engagements in space but how are your combat skills on the ground?"

His hands clasped on the table and he cast his steely gaze to each of the men, waiting.

[Sanis Prent]

"Well, the big guy's more a lover than a fighter, but we've got a heavy blaster in the armory and he's got the arms for it."

I set aside my now-cleaned plate in the scrubber receptacle, leaving a space on the table for me to unholster and rest my faithful heirloom Mandalorian sidearm.

"I've been in a few fights before."

The shell gun, with real wood and the sort of detail that you only got from hand-crafted work, was lovingly maintained.

[Abarai Loki]

"Such an archaic weapon."

There was surprise in his voice and his narrowed eyes stared at the pistol in rapt facination. He could see it was well-kept, considering its age, and the design was completely alien to him. He frowned. It belonged in a museum.

"Then let us hope," he began, quite humourless, "Our mission will be more search and less rescue if we are to take lovers and relics into battle."

Promptly, he stood and carried his glass, plate, and cutlery across the room, depositing them in the scrubber as Sanis had done.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr made a face at Sanis's comment, which he knew was a veiled jab at the notion that he didn't like to fight. The felinoid never understood why that was ever a bad thing, but he didn't take the bait. Instead, he looked to Loki and smiled.

"Good thjing we've got ourr own herrojic Jedji just jin case, eh?"

He gave Loki's shoulder a healthy pat as he too cleaned his dishes. According to chrono, they were 15 minutes out at this point.

[Abarai Loki]

Under the weight of Cirrsseeto's hefty paw, Loki was sent askew, forcing him to compensate by taking a sudden step. His jaw clenched and he froze, burning a hole in the wall to prevent his scathing glance from falling on the jovial felinoid, who was blissfully oblivious to his criminal faux pas.

"Need I remind you, Cirr, that heroics are not part of our mandate? And if you expect them from me you will be sorely dissappointed."

Then he turned to them in earnest, and said:

"Now, have you both remembered to make a log entry?"

[Sanis Prent]

I paused, mid sip of my terrible reconstituted blue milk swill, and looked at Cirr with a 'Hey, did you do that?' expression. The look I got from him was one of 'What do you mean did I do that, did YOU do that?'

I bit my lower lip.

"Damn..."

Looking up, I snapped my finger.

"MARCUS, record log entry six seven four three."

I hated doing this. The Alliance was more or less highly anal about keeping logs of mission status, and had a particular way of doing things. No matter how I did it, I always sounded like a bit of a douche when I had to sort things out on record.

"Fifteen minutes to realspace, en route to Valkyr system to respond to general distress of freighter Waywander. Last commscan reports no further distress signal from the ship. Last location was traced to a moon of the fifth planet. We intend to discover the fate of the Waywander, and if necessary, effect rescue of surviving personnel and salvage equipment."

MARCUS switched off, blissfully.

"Well, I guess that's all until we pull the switch. Loki, care to join me up front?"

I smirked.

"I'll show you how to remote op the quad cannon. Shouldn't need it, but if you're worried enough to drag Cirr's wide ass into battle, may be a good contingency."

[Abarai Loki]

"Very well. Please lead the way," he followed Sanis to the doorway, then paused, turning to Cirrsseeto, "And lieutenant, as second in command of this vessel you should keep your own log, after all, it would be prudent our reports corroborate in the event of the captain's death."

And turning on his heel, Loki left. He was lead out through a short narrow passage, illuminated only by the blue glow of a few blinking lights, then into a broader corridor where he fell into step alongside the captain.

"And for future reference, the ship in question is called the Waywarder, not the Waywander, which I happen to know is a female-exclusive pleasure yacht owned by the Zeltron Companion Agency."

Sanis stopped at a flight of stairs and cast him a dubious glance before ascending into the bridge. Loki continued candidly:

"Renamed by the Imperial Board of Censorship against the agency's wishes. It used to be called the Legs Akimbo, actually. Suffice it to say, when Alliance Command reviews our logs, the last thing we want is for them to mistakenly assume we spent precious resources rescuing a harem of pink-skinned lesbian prostitutes. Wouldn't you agree, Captain?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Yes, a stranded ship full of Zeltron lesbians, how terrible a fate that would be."

I finished up the bit of heavy sarcasm by pointing to the co-pilot's console.

"Alright, master control's frozen out till we break realspace, but to your right are the quad controls. Your stick controls an inverted axis, and you've got 180 degrees dorsal traversion, and 360 degrees of lateral. We've got a second ventral cannon that can be slaved from here or controlled manually on the bottom deck."

I pointed to a lever to the left of the joystick.

"That's to extend and arm the quads. Normally they're recessed in the hull. Above is your power reading and your crystal temperature. Stick to five second bursts or less to prevent burnout. There's a governor built in that'll adjust the rate of fire if you get too trigger happy."

I pointed to another control.

"You can opt to have MARCUS remote op one or both quads, but his reactions aren't as good as a human operator, I've found. Still, it's better than nothing."

[Abarai Loki]

"My reactions far exceed the human standard. I will do it," he said assertively, offended by the very idea of a droid doing his job.

Taking a seat, he tested the controls, feeling the give in the joystick as he applied pressure in one direction then the other. It was a little loose and made a squeak under sudden force, suggesting it had seen plenty of use in the past. A thick musty smell clung to the air in the cockpit, a cocktail of tobacco and lubricant, it felt homely. He stood and traced a finger over the power and temperature readings.

"As I understand it, quad-laser cannons are strong but they're also big. How deft are they in keeping up with the manouvers of a starfighter like an X-Wing? Then there's the matter of larger ships. Do you have an ion cannon?"

[Sanis Prent]

"I've got plenty enough kills on TIE's using the quads, so they'll keep up with the snubs, sure."

I tapped my own console when asked about other weapons.

"We've got a pair of fixed ions, flush with the main hull. Together with the two warhead tubes, I keep a hand on those from my station. Biggest kill we've got was on a medium freighter during, uh, other times."

I didn't particularly care to discuss the sort of sordid ways I managed to get paid during my stints prior to officially casting my lot with the rebels.

"We're not going to be duking out capital ships if that's what you're asking."

[Abarai Loki]

"No, of course not. The very idea..."

His words tapered off but his thoughts remained. He didn't like the idea of being defenseless in any situation and if they encountered a hostile capital ship then a tactical retreat would be in order, jeopardising the entire mission. His jaw clenched at the thought but he reminded himself that the Layla was just a light freighter, not even designed for combat. His seat suddenly spun until he faced the captain.

"Two launchers? A pair of ion cannons and a secondary laser turret? Sanis Prent, this is a freighter not a Star Destroyer! What kind of trade required such fire power?"

[Sanis Prent]

"The kind of trade that isn't usually legal."

So the kid pried. I wasn't ashamed of what I did. If the Jedi or the Rebels had problems with the bedfellows they kept, that was their problem.

"Smuggling, bounty hunting, hijacking, whatever was paying at the time."

[Abarai Loki]

"A criminal?"

He spat the word out like it tasted bad in his mouth and stood abruptly. His eyes were wide with contempt and his small chest swelled with each hot breath.

"I hadn't realised the Rebel Alliance had fallen on such hard times that low-lives were now a part of its recruiting pool. This is an outrage! I asked for a professional pilot and they give me an intergalactic sneak-thief!"

[Sanis Prent]

"I am a professional!"

I snapped back, an edge to my voice that shouldn't have been there. He was just a kid, but he talked with the sort of swagger and derision of somebody who just assumed in every way they were above my station, and I detested that.

"Look kid," I continued with a more even voice, "I'm pretty sure lots of folks are in the Alliance because of desperate times. Maybe you ought to think about that before you let beggars be choosers."

I looked at him fully.

"You think I don't know you and others like you won't turn me out the moment we win this war?"

[Abarai Loki]

There was something about the way he was so shameless that made Loki's insides feel like they were boiling. And he had the gall to turn his ill judgement on the Jedi? His knuckles turned white and he looked him straight in the eye.

"If it were up to me, we wouldn't wait," he said, almost breathless, then after a pause, added, "But we've already soiled our hands."

Stiffly, he turned away, his mind swimming with memories of his grandfather. The years he'd spent teaching him about the importance of justice and upholding the law. It didn't make sense.

"They said you were the best they had," he hissed through clenched teeth, "A criminal...

How long until realspace?"

[Sanis Prent]

"I am the best. I've been keeping Jedi safe longer than anybody else in that damn convoy. And I'm going to do the same for you too, so sit down, and shut up."

I spoke, looking ahead. The hyperspace terminus klaxon bleeped repeatedly, breaking the awkward silence.

"Terminus coming up. Look alive."

The kaleidoscope of the hyperspeed starscape slammed into pinpricks of starlight in an instant, snapping Layla into realspace in a thunderclap of deceleration.

[Abarai Loki]

The cockpit was filled with a warm glow. It cast a thick haze of shadow at the back of the room where Loki was sat, nursing away his sudden space sickness. He occupied himself with monitoring a computer screen which had just come to life, displaying readings from preliminary sensor sweeps.

"There appear to be no ships in our immediate vicinity... Captain," he managed at last, it was going to be difficult working with Sanis Prent, "Nor is there any evidence of debris or a recent-"

His voice trailed off as he caught a glimpse of the view from the cockpit window. He rose to his feet and took a few steps closer before feeling compelled to stop. A star, an all-consuming red giant sat swollen across the gulf of space, the entire system awash in its aura of creamy amber light. And inlaid into the vast crimson panorama was an azure planet of frozen topaz. The fifth planet, Calipus. It smoked blue mist in the wake of the sun. An echoing bleep broke the silence and the droid module on the co-pilot's station lit up.

"Distress beacon detected on the dark side of Calipus's farthest moon. The signal is weak."

Loki looked immediately at Prent.

[Sanis Prent]

I was already on it, toggling through sensors to bring up a quick detail scan of the planetoid in question.

"Conditions are liveable, barely. If they're down there, hope they've got a coat."

I banked toward the planet, keeping active pings outward for signs of any inbound hostiles. If the ship was brought to ground by enemy contact, I needed to be ready for it.

[Abarai Loki]

The Layla dipped as it broke the atmosphere, it accelerated and faint wisps of orange flame licked at the cockpit window, and on every computer screen sensor readings turned static. They plummeted until red sunlight and the blue atmosphere blended into each other, a deep purple. Reaching terminal velocity, the free-falling freighter pitched forward suddenly and sailed the mesosphere toward the horizon. Strapped into his seat, Loki clung desperately to the armrests and fought the urge to vomit on the deck.

Then after prodding a sequence of buttons and pulling on the flightstick, Sanis readjusted the ship's course, rattling it to its durasteel heart. The bulkheads groaned and the Layla was sling-shotted away from the planet into the shadowy maw between it and its farthest moon, Strombard IV. It hung in the void an ebon ball wreathed in flame and grew rapidly on the other side of the viewport as they raced towards it. The droid module piped up again.

"Strombard IV. A barren world of perilous terrain and trecherous climates. Its wild spiralling rock formations are matched in size only by its vast networks of plunging canyons formed through millenia of violent tectonic activity. Despite these inhospitable conditions, Strombard IV is home to hundreds of species of large territorial carnivores, most notably-"

"Oh, shut up, MARCUS!" Loki snapped, and promptly returned to checking his seatbelt before the ship began its descent. Up ahead the atmosphere buzzed with ferocious elecrtical storms, flashes of light pierced billowing vortices of cloud and dust, and as the Layla plunged itself into the maelstrom, he had to confess: he had a bad feeling about this.

[Sanis Prent]

"My sentiments exactly."

At least the kid shared my disdain for the mouthy computer. That much was appreciated.

Layla floated downward in the atmosphere slowly and carefully. I kept the descent slow while I pinged the sensors across the moon's surface.

"I've got the transponder. It's weak, but we can pick it up at this range. Trouble is, I'm not seeing any good place to land for a few kilometers at least."

[Abarai Loki]

"Then we'll travel by foot."

Loki fumbled for stability as the ship jostled against a pocket of turbulent air and sunk through the cloudline. Thick grey stormclouds peeled back to reveal the alien world below and the boy's eyes bulged.


http://www.andrew-milligan.myby.co.uk/misc/opera4.jpg


It was a landscape of gnarled mountains and weaving stone, with weathered peaks and razor-edged crags, groping for the turbulant sky or scratching deep gorges into its scorched soil. An ancient battlefield where earth and nature clash, rending the ground asunder and poluting the air with blizzards of heavy ashen fallout. A bolt of lightning speared the ground and scattered shadows, unveiling a stretch of flat land wedged between ranks of steepling rock, a lone santuary for the Layla and its crew. The ship landed softly, grinding pebbles to sand beneath its mighty struts but it wasn't until after the engines whined to a stop when Loki dared to unfasten his seatbelt. He took one look at the captain then swept out of the room.

"Have your lieutenant ready to disembark immediately."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Cirr, better get your gear. We'll be down in a bit."

Cirr looked at the outside view from the monitor in the engine room and his ears sagged at the thought. The weather, well, sucked. And Cirr was afraid of lightning.

Grumbling, the felinoid slipped on a heavy duty jacket over his coveralls, finding an insulated toque and sliding that on top of his head, pushing his ears down a bit. The temperature read a nicely frigid negative five C, much colder than the Cizerack cared to be out in for long.

Pausing by the gangplank, Cirr punched the armory footlocker controls, opening the door and allowing him to pick up the modified E-web repeater he preferred to carry, slinging it over his shoulder with a heavy strap.

[Abarai Loki]

In his room, Loki changed into a pair of standard issue cargo pants and a fur-lined parka, he also equipped a utility belt from which hung his lightsaber, a couple of ice axes and a coil of climbing rope. His backpack, which had been emptied of anything unneccessary, was then slung over his shoulders and he marched out into the passage wrapping a black and white shemagh around his head. By the time he'd reached the gangplank he'd also snapped a pair of cold weather goggles onto his forehead and slipped into some fingerless gloves.

"No sign of your captain?" he said as he passed Cirrsseeto, his voice muffled by the head scarf, "If this is his idea of haste the Waywarder crew is doomed."

[Sanis Prent]

I slid down the rails of the ladder that led to the bottom deck, finally geared up to brave the cold. Cirr's toque on top of my head, goggles, and my old Ionian spacer's jacket, which had a thermal liner that I stuck in so it could actually stand up to the temp.

"You know some of us have to actually power down this bolt heap."

I checked my weapons, a pair of snubby Westar blasters, and my trusty Mandalorian shell gun. Everything being in tip-top, I punched the gangplank control...to be greeted by a chilling gust of air.

"Alright, let's not be tourists. Sooner we get there, sooner we can get whoever's left off this icy rock."

[Abarai Loki]

First to descend the ramp, Loki scouted their immediate surroundings, the densely packed pillars of stone formed an almost impenetrable wall around the ship and where there were breaks in the formation, the terrain beyond was nothing but a maze of non-negotiable jagged rocks. Their only option was a narrow pass which cut through the cliff face to the south. He returned to Sanis and Cirrsseeto just as the gangplank sealed shut behind them, and explained the situation.

"Unfortunately, our quarry is to the north-east meaning some light climbing may be in order. Follow me."

They headed off to the south and arrived at the cliff face. The rock shimmered a slick midnight blue and the howling wind sang into every nook and cranny as it wound through the tall passage. Their way was illuminated by frequent lightning bursts but to the intrepid trio, tucked deep into the shadowy crevice, the sound of the bellowing storm seemed quite distant and harmless. Loki called over his shoulder.

"Captain Prent, I presume you have the exact co-ordinates of the distress beacon downloaded from your ship's computer. Is it too much to hope you also had the foresight to map the local area so we can calculate our ETA?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Doing you one better on that."

I pulled a MARCUS module from my coat, which instantly sprang to life, projecting a holographic layout of our position, the beacon's position, and the topography between us.

"Looks like we're just shy of three clicks from the spot. The way this terrain is, we'd be best to go the extra three clicks roundabout this way."

My finger traced down what looked like an old glacier bed, with a generally flat-sloping grade.

"That'll put us in around six kilometers, twelve for the round trip, and we've only got a few spots we'll need to do major harness climbing."

I looked up from the map at Loki, to see if he had any input on it. The lightning flashed again, and Cirr flinched. I knew he was having a tough go of it.

[Abarai Loki]

"The route is optimal," Loki agreed bitterly, and turned away.

"I suggest we plan an alternate course for our return journey in the event there are survivors unfit to climb. Also-"

A series of clattering cracks forced him to look up. The sheer black cliff walls rising up on either side allowed him to see a slither of sky, and through a crawling blanket of mist fell a number of small stones, they rolled to a halt at his feet. He caught Cirrsseeto looking timidly skyward.

"It's nothing to worry about, Cirr, the wind shook a couple of rocks loose. It's called weathering. As I was saying, Captain, keep watch for any potential campsites; caves, alcoves, a dell..."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr closed his eyes, breathing deeply to steel his nerves.

"jI'll be fjine."

Which he would be. He had to. It was just one of those things you had to rise above. Still, he hated lightning. It was silly and he knew it. Statistically, the chances of a strike were nil, much less a fatal one. Still, the whole idea that mother nature could just throw down essentially turbolaser blasts all around your head at random really put him on edge. His tail still betrayed his mood, twitching sharply, doubly so whenever the thunder peeled.

"Let me take pojint. jI'm betterr jin the darrk than ejitherr of you."

[Abarai Loki]

Loki nodded and fell back, giving Cirrsseeto and his tail some distance. The terrain underfoot was agreeable but the deeper they ventured into the fissure the less confident he felt in his steps. A boulder rolled under his foot and he slipped, grasping in the dark for support and after he righted himself, he set off at a slower pace. His eyes became slits in the gloom and he cast his gaze into every black crevice.

"Something isn't right," he finally confessed, "My instincts are dull. I can hardly sense anything in here. Be on your guard."

It wasn't paranoia, something was definately affecting the natural ebb and flow of the Force, he could feel it: instead of rolling like a river it oozed like thick treacle. The biting cold stung his face and he hugged himself against the rushing wind. Tumbling stones echoed in the dark.

[Sanis Prent]

That was the last thing I wanted to hear. Bad prognostications from Jedi almost always led to trouble. I snapped the catch flap open on my hip holster, pulling the weapon free enough to open the breech and inspect the shells inside. Shit, when was the last time I'd even used one of these antiques?

"Just do what you can, Loki. I've got your back."

[Abarai Loki]

While he walked, Loki was increasingly aware of the lightsaber hanging at his hip and found reassurance in it brushing against his thigh. The thought of Prent, on the other hand, following him in the dark with his antiquated pistol had quite the opposite effect on his mood. The wind picked up, pushing torrents of fine dust through the narrow pass, battering its occupants. Up ahead the darkness started to lift and they pressed onwards.

Then a sudden burst of light flooded the passage and the stone walls shook to their foundations, Cirrsseeto yipped, but it wasn't the crack of thunder they heard. A deep rumbling sounded above them and survival instincts spurred them on with frantic speed. Through the haze plummeted an avalanche of stone, it fell like a great cloud blocking out the sky, and landed with a tumultuous crash, showering them in dust and grit. After the last of the boulder fragments scrabbled to a halt, there was silence, then a chorus of spluttering.

"It appears... our return journey... is now at fault."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"What was that??!!"

Cirr was on edge, spinning about fast enough to nearly trip over his feet. He barely had the wherewithal to snatch Sanis out of the way of one falling stone as it seemed like the entire ediface above had nearly come down on them.

He squinted skyward, barely-luminous blue eyes casting back some of the wan light they took in. It was no use, the air was so thick with dust. He coughed, snatching off his toque to place over his mouth.

[Abarai Loki]

"Clearly, the cliff was struck by lightning, causing it to collapse."

In the dark, he turned in the direction of Sanis's ragged breaths, but was unable to read the expression on his face. Loki gathered himself up, and found the blue of Cirrsseeto's eyes.

"Carry on, lieutenant. We cannot afford to loiter in this crevice any longer."

After that, it didn't take them long to reach the other side of the pass, all that stood between them and the open horizon was a brief rocky incline. Cirrsseeto reached the summit first.

"What do you see, Cirr?"

[Akrabbim]

Several hours before, at the time of the crash...

He felt the crash before he heard it... the deep thrumming of shattered rock and crushed durasteel. He was on his feet, swords in hand before he realized what had happened. At first, he thought it was just another of the precipitously balanced rock spires tumbling over in the weather. But he quickly realized that this was no ordinary crash. Only a ship would be able to make that level of impact. His thoughts raced, images of pursuing Stormtroopers flashing through his mind. He quickly calmed himself, regaining control, and began planning.

Akrabbim rummaged through his meager supplies, throwing on his belt, from which hung his dagger and shuriken. Finding his light-blocking goggles, however, took a bit more searching. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen light... even the faint light of the moon's surface. Ever since he went into hiding, he had gone deep, burying himself in shadow. He had used the caves on this moon to his advantage, never surfacing, surviving on the beasts and tough scrub that grew underground. His powers of illusion had covered even the small campfires on which he cooked his food and warmed himself, never allowing the tiniest spark to give away his position. Perhaps he was paranoid, but that paranoia had served him well, allowing him to survive where most of his brothers had not.

Fully armed and geared up, he surfaces for the first time in years. He slips the goggles over his eyes, the weak light too strong for his night-dwelling race, especially with so long a time in the dark. His black clothing a slightly darker stain against the gray stone, he slips toward the sound of the wreck, dodging from shadow to alcove. He wasn't even sure why he was heading toward the wreckage. Prudence would dictate caution. Though the ship crashed quite some distance away, his natural instincts were telling him to run the other way, go deeper, hide in darker shadows. But some part of him urged him onward. Perhaps it was the old Jedi longing to help those who could not help themselves, or the desire to fight something other than the vicious beasts in the caverns. Maybe it was simply the desire to break his solitude. But whatever the reason, onward he went, trekking toward the downed vessel.

If there were no survivors, at least he may be able to scavenge supplies. If there were survivors, he would help them. That is, if they were allies. If they were Imperials, come to finish off the Purge, then they would find Akrabbim Melchizan. And they would learn that there were more things to fear on this planetoid than beasts.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr perched at the summit, again covering his head and ears with his toque to shield against the gusts. He squinted, and frowned.

"Thjis jisn't good."

In the distance, corresponding with MARCUS's sensors, there should have been a very large wreckage of a freighter strewn about where any idiot with eyes could see. Instead, all he could see was a small mechanical pod, just about the size of a transponder beacon.

[Abarai Loki]

When he saw the beacon, blinking orange on the border of his vision, their sentiments matched. It wasn't good. The wind wailed through the meandering valleys below and surged upwards, blasting them with freezing air. Loki pulled on his goggles, covering the last exposed portion of his face, and surveyed the landscape.

"We will absail from the lowest point on the valley wall. Over there. After crossing the glacial bed, wel have to find a suitable rock face for climbing. The terrain beyond is convoluted but fortunately, we won't have to navigate those trenches for long."

There was more confidence in his tone now and he sucked deeply at the crisp night air through the folds in his shemagh. His senses were returning to him and turning back, he looked askance at the eerie black maw cleft into the mountain. Shrugging off a chill, he took one last glance toward the horizon, and said:

"Captain Prent, is it possible the survivors have left the Waywarder and taken the beacon with them? That may be a camp site."

[Sanis Prent]

I held up a pair of macros toward the beacon, frowning as I shook my head. I passed the binoculars to Cirr, who despite his night vision, still had trouble amid the obfuscation of the dust storm. He shook his head.

"Well either way, I figure there's only one way to find out."

I set out for the valley, pausing momentarily.

"The ship's black box should be on the same module as the beacon too. May help us to figure out what we're looking for."

[Abarai Loki]

This time Sanis took point, leading them across the grey mesa to the selected spot where the precipice was smooth and the drop vertical. Loki unravelled the rope and removed his backpack, propping it against a large boulder. From the bag he retrieved a pair of climbing harnesses, which he distributed to the others, and then together they anchored the rope to the boulder using a nut to hold it in place. Finally, he walked to the cliff edge with the two lengths of rope and pulled them taught, testing the anchor's stability.

First his gaze was drawn to the low crest of the mountain behind them where blue rock and black sky met. The storm had subsided but the clouds still tumbled thick and fast, casting long shadows which crept down the crumbling slopes. Sanis called out and gave the rope a tug, but the sound of his voice was as distant and warped as a cry lost in the ocean. Then he saw them. The shadows rose, taking shape on the mountainside; two great ebon beasts skulking towards Cirrsseeto and the captain. Their fine fur shimmered in contours and green eyes pierced the dark. They froze, ready to pounce.

"Look out!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr heard it nearly too late. Sanis was already halfway down the rope, following Loki, when the beasts pounced. One miscalculated it's leap, skidding past Cirr as it nearly toppled over the edge. It's claws screeched into the rock, somehow finding purchase as its hind legs pumped against the cliff trying to scrabble back up.

The second beast was more accurate, hitting Cirr full-bore with it's pounce, tackling the big felinoid hard to the ground.

"Aagh!"

It's claws raked through Cirr's coat, gashing along his sides as it held on. Growling jaws dove down for the kill, but were stopped short by Cirr's own claws, which came up to dig hard into the creature's snout. Yelping from the pain, the beast withdrew slightly, before lunging again for another strike. Cirr reached upwards, wrapping the animal up at the neck and denying it the shot for another bite. He wrestled from side to side, not letting the beast get a chance to rear up with its legs and claw at his belly, though the claws were certainly anchored in at each side. Cirr could feel the dull pain and the sensation of his sticky warm blood pooling a bit under his shirt. A growl came from deep inside him, nearly the blood-chilling equal of the beast that meant to do him in.

[Sanis Prent]

"Cirr!"

I reversed my momentum on the static line, digging my toes into the cliffside as I pulled hard to reach the top again. I suddenly wished I'd put a little more time when I was younger to running, jumping, climbing trees, and that shit. This wasn't a cupcake event for me.

I looked over about three meters away to see one of the...things...scrabbling to try and make it up top. I figured that would be bad news all around if it did.

"Loki!"

I called down below, pulling one of my Westar blasters from the double shoulder rig while the rest of me clung tight.

"Swing left!"

[Akrabbim]

After several hours of furtive travel, Akrabbim detects a glint of movement. Cloaking himself in illusion, he scales a nearby spire, scanning ahead. He sees a small party of humanoids struggling over the rough terrain. He watches as the first of them reaches the top of one of the numerous plateaus dotting the moon's surface. He stares hard at the large humanoid. He can't quite figure out why, but he looks... familiar somehow. From this distance, he can't be sure, but a hint of familiarity keeps scratching at the back of his mind. He is about to slip back down into the valleys in order to circle behind them when a dark blur flashes toward the humanoid. In moments, he is down, the beast clawing at him. A second beast leaps as well, but misses, slipping over the side. Normally, Akrabbim would simply let the beasts take care of the intruders in order to protect himself, but yet again, something compels him onward.

Still invisible due to his illusions, he rapidly hops from spire to spire, feet barely brushing the stone before he leaps once more, covering the distance quickly. He allows the natural windiness of the planet to mask his sounds as he rushes forward, landing on the plateau moments later.

In his years on this planet, he has learned how to deal with the beasts. Shockingly, bright light has little effect on them. However, he found that masking his scent made him virtually undetectable to them. He does so now, rushing forward to aid the fallen humanoid. His katana flashes out, ebon blade hidden by the same illusion, slicing cleanly through the side of the beast's neck. He has learned that there is no reason to waste time trying to decapitate the things. Slicing one half of their neck kills them just as cleanly.

He lets the thing slump down limply on top of its prey, dead before it even realizes it is wounded. He sees the second attempting to climb back up on the plateau and moves toward it. Peering over the edge, he sees the other two members of the party scrambling to the side. One more slice from his katana leaves the beast with two stumps where his front paws once were. With a yelp, it tumbles over the edge, falling to its death below.

Akrabbim moves back from the edge, standing to the side. He covers himself as fully as he is able in illusion, going so far as to mask even his force presence. Until he's sure who these intruders are, he has no desire to reveal himself. One can never be too careful.

[Abarai Loki]

The creature's fur gently brushed his cheek as it rushed past, howling mournfully to meet its end on the rocks below. He'd avoided it just in time thanks to Prent's warning. They were safe. But there was death up there, he could feel it.

"Sanis, take my rope!" he cried out, swinging right.

Through his hands the rope snaked widly and he let go, casting himself across the cliff face to a small out-cropping of rock. It was large enough to support one foot and that was all he needed, in an instant he swept past Sanis and almost cleared the ledge before his momentum decreased. A deep crack and he buried the pair of ice axes into the cliff's frozen crown; one swing, another, and another, and he was over the top. Casting his gaze around, the axes clattered to the floor and he took his lightsaber in hand.

"Cirr, are you alright?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirrsseeto was still himself caught up in the fight, his own claws and teeth in full force against the animal that had bushwhacked him. His powerful arms wrapped across its neck as he kicked upwards, propelling the animal over him in such a violent arc that it broke the creature's neck. Of course, that it had been mortally wounded just seconds prior wasn't quite registering yet.

Cirr sprung up, his ears switched back, face smeared with the animal's blood, and his blue eyes gleaming as he growled a bass-filled terrible sound, panting to bring himself back to good. His adrenaline was up so high he hadn't even registered that he'd gotten a good gashing.

[Sanis Prent]

"Man...I gotta...stop smoking..."

I climbed up, sucking a bit of the dry and cold air as I finally made it to the top. That shit sucked. Going down was a lot easier than coming up, and coming up fast at that. I had my westar out but by then, the damage was done. As soon as the things had pounced, they were dead.

"Loki...what did you do to that one on the cliff?"

I didn't even see the kid move, but who knew with the Force."

[Akrabbim]

As soon as Sanis stands up straight, a part of a blade appears, hazy and indistinct, in front of his throat. The razor sharp metal brushes against his neck, leaving the smallest of nicks. A voice comes from his left.

"I'd stand real still if I were you, stranger. And I suggest your friends do likewise. If they even twitch, you're gonna find yourself a head shorter."

Akrabbim lets his words sink in, scanning the two others on the plateau. His gaze lingers on Cirrsseeto for a bit, still unable to place him, but <i>sure</i> that he's seen him before. After a moment, he speaks again.

"Now... mind telling me who you are and what you're doing here?"

[Abarai Loki]

"We are here to investigate a distress call," Loki promptly answered, turning on his heel to face the new threat. The sight of the phantom blade drew from him no reaction but for a fleeting instant, his eyes fell upon the severed paws still clinging to the cliff edge nearby. When he spoke again, his voice was soft and low.

"And I will not submit my name to a coward who hides in the shadows. It is time to reveal your intentions: if in three seconds your weapon is still drawn, I will find the hand that wields it, and claim it as my own."

His lightsaber burst forth, piercing the dark with its deathly blue glare.

[Sanis Prent]

"What my little friend means is that he'd like to sit down and talk our differences out!"

My eyes widened at the blade at my neck and at Loki essentially pissing petrol on a fire.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim grins invisibly as the boy ignites his saber. Well, at least he's not a coward. And the fact that his saber is blue instead of red bodes well for him. But a pretty blue saber isn't enough to convince Akrabbim to drop his illusions. The voice from Sanis' left continues to speak.

"And what are you supposed to be, kid? A Jedi? In my day, we generally tried not to get our compatriots killed. Now, if you want your buddy here to avoid a really close shave, you'll put that glow stick of yours down. And if you think I'm gonna drop my illusions to make you feel better, you're an idiot."

Akrabbim looks at Sanis once more, finally able to see his face clearly. While Cirrsseeto's face gave him an inkling, Sanis' causes mental fireworks. He'd seen the man before. The voice sounds closer to Sanis, sounding as if it's coming from just in front of Sanis' face...

"Hmmm... you look... familiar..."

[Abarai Loki]

Loki disappeared. A rush of air, and a small hand clamped onto Sanis's arm, pulling him backwards. And as his throat peeled away from the ghostly weapon, the boy surfaced behind him, lightsaber arcing with an angry buzz. If the illusionist was to murder Sanis Prent in cold blood, now was his moment.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"rrrGet awrrrajy frrrrom hjiim!!"

Cirr warned the apparition through the growl in his chest, slurring his Cizeri accent. His breath steamed in the cold air as some of the animal's blood dripped from his chin. They might joke and badger each other, but Sanis was practically family to him, and there wasn't any way some shadow-hiding coward was going to do him in.

Claws still out, Cirr had intended to leave the ball in the attacker's court when Loki struck. Now or never, Cirr lunged at where the man should be, if they were dealing with a man at all.

[Akrabbim]

Yet again, Akrabbim's paranoia pays off. Though he had made his voice sound as though it was to Sanis' left, he was actually behind the man the entire time. So, while Loki's actions did indeed pull Sanis clear of the blade, Loki ended up directly next to Akrabbim. As soon as the boy comes to a halt, the hilt of Akrabbim's other katana flashes up, striking the boy in the temple. Before he can do anything else, the roar from Cirr occupies his attention. He leaps back rapidly, trying to put distance between himself and the three.

In a flash, Akrabbim finally connects where he has seen Cirr and Sanis. Years ago, when he went into hiding, the two had delivered him to this remote moon. He had clouded their minds during the trip, keeping them from knowing where they were truly taking him. The chances that they were here to capture him were... slim, to put it mildly. Not to mention, the young Jedi attempted to save Sanis instead of killing them both. Akrabbim makes his decision. He drops his illusions, appearing a few feet away.

"Sanis... wait!"

[Abarai Loki]

The blow knocked Loki off balance and he rolled away from his attacker. On one knee, his guard raised, and within an instant the blur in his vision cleared. Sanis stood to his left, Cirrsseeto on his right, and before them appeared the stranger; he looked bedraggled, wearing clothing which had long since seen better days, long unkempt hair clung to his pale face when the wind howled, and his strange silvery eyes shimmered through the gloom. He would have been an unimposing sight were it not for the pair of unusual katanas in his hands. He spoke Captain Prent's name.

"Do you recognise this man?" he snapped, his burning gaze locked on the stranger.

[Sanis Prent]

In an instant, the veil was removed. It still didn't help to solve the problem or answer any questions. If anything, they lingered. When you get a sword placed against your throat, you don't generally expect the best though. Still, I figured the guy had me dead to rights before and didn't do me in, so maybe that was something. Still, who was he?

Recovering from near-death, I kept a cautious hand over the grip of my mandalorian shell gun, eyes fixated on the stranger's own.

"Never seen him in my life." I answered Loki, not bothering to even look. Instead, I addressed our assailant.

"You've got me at a disadvantage, friend. That's a nasty habit."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim smirks at Sanis' comment, still keeping his swords at the ready, but being slightly less... threatening... with them.

"I'm not surprised. You'd probably remember this face a bit better..."

His image shimmers, then coalesces into a new form. The new body is about half a foot taller than Akrabbim, tanned skin instead of pale, neatly cut blond hair above blue eyes, with pristine white robes. The voice that comes from this image is a bit different, a bit higher pitched, a bit more upbeat.

"Do I look a bit more familiar? When I went into hiding, you and your furry friend here dropped me off on this moon."

[Sanis Prent]

My first instinct was to blurt out an 'Impossible!', but considering what I'd seen today, much less in other run-ins with Jedi, that would seem rather daft.

"I remember you now."

My hand strayed from the gun's grip, but not too far.

"Your benefactors only put up half your fare to get you this far."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim lets the illusion fade, his true form shimmering into place. His eyebrow arches above the light-blocking goggles at Sanis' comment. But a smirk soon curls from his lips, followed by a hearty laugh.

"Wow... still angling for an extra buck, huh? You know full well I paid you to get me here. Anyway, look at me. Do I seem like the kinda guy with thousands of credits on me?"

He gestures at his ragged appearance for emphasis.

"And what would you do if I really did owe you the money? Leave me here? That's what I wanted in the first place! So, stop trying to hustle me, and tell me why you're on this wretched ball o' rock in the first place."

[Abarai Loki]

"Contrary to popular belief, it is not to indulge the inane prattle of crooked vagabonds like you," he said, and while his face was hidden behind the head scarf, his tone disguised no hint of his contempt. The humming tip of his lightsaber pointed at the illusionist in emphasis.

"And I will not repeat myself, you have already been told why we're here and it doesn't concern you. So return to your hole and leave us to our work."

[Sanis Prent]

"Relax, I'm not here to collect on anything."

I broke my attention from him, eyeing down the landscape toward the beacon. Best to be diplomatic here and try to diffuse the effect Loki was having on the whole scene.

"A ship ditched somewhere around here pretty recently. You seen anything?"

Best I could remember, the guy was a Jedi from the old school. Didn't know much more than it was somebody that Lok had referred me to. Couldn't trust him, but was probably less of an asshole than I was used to dealing with.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim glares at the young Jedi. He had been putting up with the brash punk, but this was getting to be enough. With a gesture, Akrabbim blinds him, filling his head with illusion and sound to disorient him. Once he is thoroughly off balance, the Force Confusion is removed... but the blindness remains. Akrabbim's voice speaks in the young man's ear.

"Quiet, kid. The adults are talking. Anyway, since when were Jedi supposed to be loud-mouthed, hot-headed idiots? <i>Pretend</i> to be a good, peaceful Jedi and relax!"

Akrabbim keeps an eye on the kid just in case he doesn't take too kindly to being blinded, but addresses Sanis.

"Didn't see it, but I felt it. Can't be too far away."

He points off in the distance, the direction that they were previously heading.

"But I'd highly recommend that you stop climbing on top of these things. Silhouette's you against the horizon. That's how I found you, and likely how those Crawlers there did. If you want, I can take you there in a bit more subterranean way."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Can we all just djispense wjith all thjis macho bullshjit okay?"

Cirr was dismayed he had to be the voice of reason in this mess, as it seemed like a big guy with a lot of blood smeared over his face would be the least to have to state the obvious.

Coming down from the adrenaline high, his left ear kinked in a tell of pain. He was starting to feel those claw marks, and the holes in his coat, combined with the wet of his and the beast's blood, was starting to exascerbate the weather.

"jI'm cold, and jI'd rratherr not stay out herre all day pjissjing jin the wjind jif that's okay wjith everryone."

He scowled a bit, chattering teeth serving to take the edge off his serious expression somewhat.

[Abarai Loki]

Disoriented, Loki dropped again to one knee and supported his weight with a free hand while the other kept his weapon aloft. The terrain underfoot seemed to warp and tilt, shifting his centre of gravity, his fingers grasped at the ground. Once the feeling dissipated, he found himself surrounded by an oppressive darkness as the stranger poured slippery words into his ear. He squeezed his lightsaber tight and made a decision.

"Cirrsseeto, are you wounded?" he asked, standing.

The tone of his voice was suddenly calm, his posture no longer tense, and as quickly as the illusionist had applied his mental trickery, Loki peeled it away with renewed resolve. He pulled back his goggles and approached the looming Cizerack, whose torn and bloodied coat spoke volumes.

"Show me... please."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr bit at his lower lip a bit, not wanting to peel out of his clothing in this blustery weather. In the end, he figured it was best to go along with the Jedi, and he peeled up his garments about midway, exposing his midsection and the parallel lacerations from the claws. His tan and cocoa skin tones were stained red along his middle where his blood had matted to his clothes.

"jI'm fjine enough to wajit forr a stjitch job and some bacta."

He said, his teeth chattering again.

[Abarai Loki]

"And when exactly do you divine that will be?" he asked, with an arching eyebrow.

Immediately shedding his backpack, Loki rummaged in a stuffed side pocket then pulled out a slim silver cannister. He turned to Cirrsseeto, and gave the can a shake, eyeing the glistening wound.

"This will clean the wound and prevent infection. Hold still."

The cool medispray was applied generously to the lacerations and the Cizerack's teeth chattering amplified, prompting a scowling reprimand from the boy. He pocketed the medispray and unwarapped his shemagh, which he then offered to Cirrsseeto.

"It will keep pressure on the wound. Once we find shelter I can properly apply gauze to it. Do you need any help?"

[Akrabbim]

He watches the kid patching up Cirrsseeto, leaving him to his work. Akrabbim had never been much of a healer, even with traditional methods. While they are occupied, he takes hold of the carcass of the dead Crawler. With deft motions learned from years of surviving off these... things... Akrabbim skins the beast, coming away with a heavy pelt. He walks over to the downed felinoid, holding out the skin, still steaming.

"Here... drape this over your shoulders. It doesn't smell so great, but these things are warm, at least. Works for me..."

Akrabbim gestures at his clothing. What looked at a distance to be simple black fabric is revealed to be the tanned skins of the Crawlers.

"Not that I had much of choice. Anyway, you look cold, big fella. This'll help."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"jI'll be fjine. You don't have to worrry about me."

Cirr hated to be someone who seemed to slow the group down. He grit his teeth and took it, putting his slashed coat back on and tying the animal skins over it. It was very slapdash, but true to the man's words, it worked. He was still cold, but it was all by degrees.

"We'rre stjill back to squarre one. Beacon's herre, but no shjip."

Cirr adjusted his toque, gently tugging it down on his head.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim studies the edges of the plateau as Cirr straps on the skin. After making a decision, he returns to the group. He pats Cirr on the back, feeling the course pelt.

"Don't feel bad about that Crawler tagging you... Cirrsseeto, right?... anyway, don't feel bad. Those things caught me a couple times too, before I figured out how to take 'em out. Most people woulda gone down from that first lunge."

Akrabbim turns to regard the rest of the group, gesturing for them to follow.

"Come this way. I can get us to the actual wreck through the various tunnels. It's not warmer, per se, but at least we'll be outta the wind."

He does not wait on a reply, but moves toward one edge with a relatively soft slope down the side into the darkness. He feels a grin curling the edges of his mouth as he walks away, glad for companionship once more. He had not realized how lonely this rocky, frozen wasteland had become. When he spoke earlier, he had almost forgotten the sound of his own voice. Maybe his time of hiding was finally over...

[Abarai Loki]

While the stranger spoke, Loki reeled in his rope from the cliff edge and retrieved the discarded pair of ice axes, not once did he acknowledge his words or even lay eyes upon him. He returned to his backpack and pulled it over his shoulders. The illusionist started off down a gentle incline which disappeared into a dark gash in the mountainside. Loki watched him from a distance and spoke in an undertone to Sanis and Cirrsseeto:

"Be on your guard, we may be leaving crawler territory but a serpent's lair is no less treacherous."

And with one final scrutinizing glance at the lone beacon on the horizon, he turned away and commenced his descent.

[Sanis Prent]

I smiled thinly at Loki's comment, a byproduct of my souring demeanor at this trip to the surface. My shell gun drawn, I shuffled a pack of stims with my free hand, bringing one to the top so I could pluck it with barely moist lips.

"Couldn't have said it better."

I looked to Cirr, walking parallel alongside, extending him the pack.

"Come on, buddy. We need your baby blues and good looks still."

The big felinoid cracked what were becoming rare smiles, taking a stim for himself. It wasn't normally his thing, but it was nearly as cold as Hoth and he'd seen better days. He didn't say no.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr lit his stim after Sanis, feeling somewhat emboldened by the human's words. Something in the cold was just sapping him, but he was made of tougher stuff than this.

He quickened his pace to the front of the group, hoisting his heavy repeater just in case something did try to rush them on point.

"Walk wjith me."

He said to Loki in particular, urging him to proceed ahead at a slightly faster clip - mainly so he could talk to the Jedi out of earshot.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim leads the three into a cave, the light fading quickly, then blinking out utterly. He should have realized that the others would need an external source of light, but years on the planet alone had gotten him in the habit of simply pulling up his goggles, and old habits die hard.

He slips his goggles up to his forehead, silvery eyes able to see in the pitch blackness as though it were an overcast day, the rough contours of the stone appearing even more monochrome to his night vision. He turns back to check on the others, only to see Cirr light his stim. With a yelp, he grabs his goggles, sliding them back in place over his eyes.

"I assume you have lights of your own?"

[Abarai Loki]

A familiar snap-hiss and Loki's lightsaber sprung to life in his hands, chasing away the shadows. A torch was something he'd, inexplicably, neglected to bring along. While he refused to acknowledge the stranger's presence, he certainly didn't fail to notice his outburst, and the sudden reapplication of tinted goggles. He said nothing but nodded at Cirrsseeto and joined him up front, together they weaved between a cluster of gnarled stalactites then proceeded down a broad natural staircase of worn stone.

"Something on your mind, lieutenant?" he said softly, weapon aloft, aiming into the rereating dark.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr stayed about two steps forward of Loki to preserve his night vision.

"That man, we brrought hjim herre yearrs ago, at Masterr s'jIlancy's rrequest."

Cirr kept his voice low and discrete.

"Back then, we often helped do what we could to keep Jedji hjidden when asked. jI don't know jif you need a charracterr rreferrence, but jif she was lookjing out forr hjim, maybe we ought to thjink about brrjingjing hjim back."

[Sanis Prent]

I nodded to the stranger, pulling a familiar cyllinder from my jacket pocket.

"MARCUS, spot lamp."

The droid module's ocular receptors switched to output, throwing out a cone of soft red light to light our way.

We walked in a bit more silence.

"So why the trickery back then?"

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim's eyes adjust quickly to the crimson light, scanning the area continually as they walk. Usually, Crawlers would have smelled Cirrsseetto's wound, and come from miles around. The crash earlier must have disturbed them, sent them to their various hiding spots. He looks up at Sanis' question.

"Protection, for all of us involved. First, I was protecting myself. If no one remembered dropping me here, it'd be a lot harder to find me again later. My relative peace over these last couple years proves its effectiveness. Second, I was protecting you. I made sure you wouldn't remember my face, and would think you dropped me somewhere else. I copied the face of some low-level Imp paper-pusher, and had you believe that you'd dropped him on his home planet. Were anyone to ever force the info outta you, they'd have been on a wild goose chase. Why do you ask?"

He opens up to Sanis, explaining himself when he would usually be a bit more cryptic, glad to talk to ANYONE other than himself.

[Abarai Loki]

"Back then, we often helped do what we could to keep Jedji hjidden when asked. jI don't know jif you need a charracterr rreferrence, but jif she was lookjing out forr hjim, maybe we ought to thjink about brrjingjing hjim back."

"I think not. His are ways of deception and hypocracy. To have him around the padawans would be dangerous."

His answer came immediately and he delivered each point like it were a solid fact. Mindful to stay a few paces behind Cirrsseeto, Loki followed him into a large cavern. The light from his blade touched only the cave wall they flanked, and the narrow path twisted in a steady ascent around the edge of a gaping chasm, a single drop of water echoed like a soft chime and somewhere above them was the rustling and squeaking of unseen creatures.

"The isolation has clearly affected his mind. He is but a shadow of a Jedi now. You may pity him, Cirrsseeto, but for the right reasons."

[Akrabbim]

The tunnels carry sounds and echoes further than they would normally... though he cannot hear the young Jedi clearly, the words "Padawan" and "Jedi" catch his ear during a lull in the conversation with Sanis. It didn't take a mind reader to know that the kid didn't trust him. And seeing how fast he moved during the little stand-off earlier, he didn't need the kid getting any wrong ideas. If he waited until the young man acted on something, it may be too late to stop him. He pauses, looking back at the young man and Cirrsseetto.

"Hey kid... somethin' on your mind? How about you share it with the rest of the group?"

[Sanis Prent]

I grimaced as the older Jedi again jumped back to the fray. These two were like angry cats shoved into a burlap bag.

"Don't take it personal, he's like that with everybody."

I swung MARCUS up a bit to check the view from above. Craggy rock surrounded us in a high vault as we passed below.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"You'd rreally leave hjim herre?"

Cirr looked back at Loki, despite the hazing effect that the light from his saber would have on his night vision. He was perplexed.

Then, it happened.

Cirr glowered as he sucked down the stim, listening to the two supposedly-enlightened Jedi bicker at each other like petulant children.

"Che'issa tha haiiffe e waayai ra'i. Chjildrren, chjildrren...now jI want a drrjink."

[Abarai Loki]

"Paranoia for example, lieutenant, is a rather unenviable quality in a man," he addressed Cirrsseeto, this time speaking loudly enough for his words to reach the ears of the illusionist, "Then again, what else can one expect from these troglodytes?"

They pressed on, winding around the outskirts of the cavern. The air was chilly and damp, and without his head scarf Loki was starting to feel the effects of the cold. He pushed through the discomfort, using the Force to negate the biting chill against his neck. Then he spoke again to Cirrsseeto, this time quietly, resuming their discussion.

"And need I remind you, Cirr, that bringing him back with us excedes our mandate? Our mission is clear, don't complicate it with misplaced compassion."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim stares at the young zealot for a few moments more before turning back, talking to Sanis.

"I swear, that kid sounds more like a Sith than any Jedi I ever knew. How sure are you of this kid's loyalties?"

[Sanis Prent]

"I don't know!"

I narrowed my eyes at the hermit, shaking my head incredulously.

"I'm not the loyalty department, man. I fly ships, I carry a gun. Those things, I know. Guys in a robe, who I work for, tell me to follow the kid's lead, and I do that too. If I went with my gut feeling when I met Jedi, it'd be one hell of a short honeymoon for all of you mystic weirdos."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr stopped in his tracks, the size of his frame making it difficult for the rest to pass around him in the narrow rock pass. He glowered straight ahead, claws extending and tapping against the heavy repeater he carried.

"Alrrjight, we'rre playjing the qujiet game. Sjince none of us can say anythjing njice, we won't say anythjing at all that jisn't mjissjion-specjifjic, jaaffei?"

He still didn't move, waiting for the party to agree to his draconian proposal.

[Akrabbim]

As soon as the various paths widen a bit, the labyrinth spreading in all directions, Akrabbim turns, suddenly going invisible, voice appearing to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. He draws his swords while cloaked, holding them before him.

"Not a chance. Sanis, Cirr... I trust you two. s'Ilancy vouched for you, and that's good enough for me. But I don't know this kid. And if his attitude is any indication at all, he's a Sith. So, kid, I suggest you explain why I outta trust you, or you'll be feed for the Crawlers. Are you here to finish the Purge, or not?"

[Abarai Loki]

"The man's insane," Loki said in confirmation to himself.

Under normal circumstances, the boy Jedi would've taken grave offense to such insinuations, but the circumstances were far from normal. The stranger's mind was clearly damaged. He responded coolly, watching for movement in the creeping dark.

"If I came here to kill you I would've done so when we met. Not least of all to spare me your tiresome theatrics. Instead, I chose to protect my comrades. I chose to lower my weapon. The mission is my priority and repeatedly, you have hindered its progress.

There is nothing I can say that will make you trust me. Your trust I do not require. Your co-operation, however, is essential."

[Akrabbim]

"And if I wanted you dead, I would have left you to the Crawlers. You can think I'm crazy all you want, boy, but you didn't live through the Purge. I did. And there's a reason I lived. I've seen Jedi, boy. I know the teachings. You're about as far from a Jedi as I've ever seen. So, last chance. Prove yourself, or rot here. Your call."

[Sanis Prent]

"Anakin Tapdancing Skywalker, if it'll make you dry your eyes, the kid's vouched for too."

I was getting exasperated, and ashed my stim as I watched this minor brouhaha get out of hand.

"Look, I know shit's been tough for the Jedi lately. I made a good chunk of living keeping people like you away from an Imperial firing line."

I dropped my stim to the ground, extinguishing it.

"Don't believe me, fine. Let us get our job done here, and I'll take you to Lok s'Ilancy and you can ask her yourself."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr propped his heavy weapon against the side of the tunnel, crossing his arms over his chest with a grimace. Whatever it took to get the illusionist back on workable terms. His patience was being spread thin, and even though he was sure Sanis's words would go over poorly with Loki, at this point he backed him on it.

They needed to get to work. This was wasting time and helping nobody.

[Abarai Loki]

"I will not jump through hoops while you wrestle with mental illness."

Loki took his lightsaber in both hands and became deathly still. He was immediately aware of his surroundings, particularly the close proximity of Cirrsseeto. When Sanis mentioned bringing this stranger back with them, not for a moment did he believe it to be anything but an empty offer to defuse the situation; criminal or not, Sanis Prent surely wasn't so degenerate as to inflict this lunatic upon the rest of the Jedi.

"And if it will abate your paranoia, you can rest assured that if I were to attack you, I would come from the front. So you can end this magician's charade."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim pauses at Sanis' comment about s'Ilancy. If she vouches for the boy, that should be good enough. His voice, however, continues to come from everywhere.

"There's no mental illness in being cautious, boy. Its kept me alive. And if I seem paranoid, that should be understandable. I don't even know how long I've been on this moon... and I've been in survival mode the entire time. But you're gonna have to drop this moral high ground about not using illusions. I'm sick of hearing it."

After a pause, he slowly drops his illusions, keeping his eye on everyone as he does so.

"Sorry... it's just... not easy to trust people any more..."

[Sanis Prent]

I looked from Akrabbim to Loki, and back, a taut expression of annoyance on my face.

"We cool, then?"

I glanced past them both to Cirr, who seemed to reflect my own sentiments rather succinctly.

"Cold planet, full of danger, I'd rather not stay on holiday. I say we get a move on."

[Abarai Loki]

"I am floored by your wisdom."

His gaze left the rematerialised stranger to give Sanis a cold glance as he brushed past, allowing instinct and his lightsaber to lead the way. Emotion and illogic complicated matters effortlessly and his judgement would not become clouded by it; they had a mission to do and it was the facts of that mission his thoughts dwelled upon.

A ship fails to rendezvous with The Wheel. No transmissions recieved prior to discovering the distress call. No evidence of a recent skirmish within the system. A transponder beacon abandonned in a clearing. No debris and, as yet, no crash site...

"MARCUS," he said finally, addressing the droid in Sanis's hand, "Run a full diagnostic of the distress call. Look for any interference or anomalous coding."

He pressed on silently as the the rocky terrain started to climb towards a distant sliver of silvery light.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The droid module began to shine with a holographic representation of the message, presented in both a code transmission breakdown as well as vox pattern. It was all very jargon-heavy, but the droid was careful to speak on layman's terms.

"How odd. The encoding pattern for this message is not standard. Normally, the cycles would follow a full band. Distress beacons are set to this redundancy in order to be available to all comm systems. The band of this distress message is confined to only a few hundred cycles of HoloNet. While HoloNet is the benchmark for galactic communication, it is certainly not a given for civilian, small-capacity, and certain alien systems."

Cirr's look of annoyance turned to one of curious concern, he looked to the droid.

"You'rre sayjing that they rrestrrjicted the djistrress to HoloNet? Why would they do that?"

MARCUS's visual receptors "blinked".

"Perhaps they wished only to be found by the right people. If I may suggest, the bands suggest HoloNet lines that were possibly military key crypts used by the Rebel Alliance. But, as I have no clearance of my own, my own knowledge of this is due to past disclosure. These crypts are no longer held in confidence. If I know of the band range, it can be assumed my knowledge is not unique."

Cirr, forgetting his discomfort, stood up from the wall.

"Old code frrom the Alljiance. We'd pjick jit up on a generral djistrress, nobody else would, and jit would mean ejitherr the shjip was rrunnjing verry behjind the tjimes orr..."

MARCUS was intuitive, and finished the felinoid's thought.

"...the distress is quite possibly a ruse."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim nods along with Marcus' and Cirr's reasoning.

"You're both right... something smells bad about this. I say we go into this expecting a trap. The worst that would happen is that we sneak up on survivors. We might scare them outta their boots, but I'd rather that than walk into an ambush."

He slips back into the front, looking down the tunnels, accessing his mental map of the winding corridors. There are three major paths to where the wreckage ought to be. He chooses the one that winds higher than the others, hoping to end up in a better position wherever they come out. He looks back at Loki.

"Hey, kid... douse that saber, wouldja? I can mask it, but it'd be easier to make us invisible without it. The path we're taking should have enough ambient light to make sure we don't trip. Cirrsseeto... you stay in back, make sure we don't lose anyone. I'll lead. And stay quiet. I'll make us invisible, but it'll take too much effort to make us artificially quiet as well. We should be pretty close anyway. And... that was good thinking, analyzing that signal. Sorry for being... well... spiky."

He looks at the younger Jedi uncomfortably, not enjoying having to admit his own paranoia. He clears his throat, turning away.

"Let's go."

[Abarai Loki]

He accepted the apology with a curt nod and deactivated his lightsaber as asked. In the renewed dark, his senses were heightened by the Force and he fell in line behind the stranger, carefully navigating the invisible contours underfoot.

"Loki," he said after a moment, "My name is Abarai Loki."

While the concession served to acknowledge the end of their hostility towards each other, its chief purpose was to prevent the stranger from referring to him as kid in the future; a designation which never failed to damage his Jedi sensibilties. A thought occured to him.

"It is curious: if the distress signal is indeed a deception, why position the beacon so far from the ship?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Probably to put us into a kill zone, or at least make it harder for us to get to cover."

I kept MARCUS close, still needing his red light for guidance in the dark.

"After all, they know we'll have to recover the beacon. Makes sense to me. Don't know why I didn't consider it before."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim nods back to Loki...

"Loki it is, then. I'm Akrabbim."

He waves his hand, summoning them onward toward the crash site.

"You've convinced me this is a trap. Let's turn this little ambush around on them, shall we?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr's ears ticked up at that.

"What djid you have jin mjind?"

He wore his unease on his face. This wasn't really his mode of thinking, so he was along for the ride. If they knew it was a trap, why prod at it, after all?

[Akrabbim]

A smile curls up the corners of Akrabbim's mouth as he explains his idea.

"Simple, really... we'll get within eye-shot of the wreckage, hidden in illusion back a ways. I'll make it look like we're walking into the area. Spring the trap early. That way, they'll reveal their position, giving us a chance to take 'em out while they're caught fighting phantoms. How's that sound?"

[Abarai Loki]

"An adequate deception. Our enemies will reveal their positions, granting us the element of surprise."

Loki had fallen back and the natural acoustics of the cavern carried his voice back to Akrabbim at the front. Secretly, he wondered if the illusionist was truly capable of such a complex feat; the power of illusion was alien to him and his knowledge of it was strictly limited. He could sense Akrabbim weaving his magic to shrould them from sight, it was an unusual gift and while Loki had his doubts, a sense of decency kept him from voicing them.

A break in the endless dark appeared. The roof of the cave peeled back to reveal a turbulent sky of heavy purple and thick brown which swirled and throbbed to the sound of rushing wind. Loki hugged his jacket close as they climbed towards the surface and were greeting by an icy blast of air. Unfamiliar terrain. Merciless wildlife. Unrelenting storms. Grimly, Loki thought of the hidden enemy and their enormous tactical advantage.

"Prepare yourselves."

[Sanis Prent]

"You think you can make doppelgangers of all of us? And then make us invisible all at one go?"

I crossed my arms, waiting to see the miracle worker pull this one off. A single illusion, maybe. This would be interesting.

[Akrabbim]

Sanis' doubts mirrored the disbelief in the faces of Cirr and Loki. But Akrabbim is a master of illusion... virtually all his skill is centered in the art of trickery. Not to mention, his last several years of life have depended on his ability to create illusions. This should be no difficult feat. He grins, holding one finger to his lips to signal silence. He then points toward the visible wreckage, directing their attention.

Four shrouded figures walk from the darkness, heads bent against cold they cannot feel, cloth whipping in wind that does not touch them. They make no noise, but the howling wind would block any such sounds, none the less. They walk apparently blindly toward the wreckage, taking no notice of what is around them.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr found himself a bit mouth-agape. That was, he had to admit, a near spitting image.

"Do jI wag my tajil that much?"

He asked to nobody in particular, as the phantom four slowly crept toward the beacon. Remembering at the last moment his macros, Cirr zoomed in, watching the four apparitions approach what they were sure was an ambush in waiting.

[Abarai Loki]

The boy was drawn in by the spectacle and scrambled to a vantage point atop a mound of rock, cautiously he peered out and caught sight of their duplicates crossing a broad gulch. His posture was poor, he noted. While it was displeasing to be misrepresented like that, the illusionist's skill could not be denied; it was masterful. Sadly, Akrabbim had not exaggerated his stature at all, and the boy frowned to see himself hurry to keep up with the long gait of his adult companions. They pressed on and were swallowed by the shadow of the elusive Waywarder.

The battered old YG-4210 freighter was perched gingerly on the edge of the gulch; its bulky landing struts teetering on a bed of crushed stone, its wide nose kissing the valley wall. The tale of a long hard life was written into its weathered hull with scars and craters. It was superficial damage to be expected of such an old model and, judging by its condition, it was quite clear that what they were looking at was not the wreckage of a vessel forced from the sky. The Waywarder had landed safely. And now the doppelgangers arrived at the boarding ramp which climbed into the ghost ship's belly. The trap had not been sprung. Loki closed his eyes and after a moment, turned back to the others, shaking his head.

"Something is gravely amiss. We must investigate the ship."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim's eyebrow arches at Loki's comment. He has a point. One would expect, if there were an ambush to be triggered, it would have occurred already. Time to up the ante.

"Let's see if this wakes them up."

Suddenly, the images of the four come running from the ramp. They appear to toss several thermal detonators behind them, as if their mission had been one of destroying information rather than rescue.

"If anyone's in there, they should be coming shortly. If not... well, I can't do much with the inside of the ship from this angle. We may have to check this thing out personally."

[Sanis Prent]

"Not a damn thing."

True to form, the illusion wasn't drawing anything out. I frowned, and looked around. Didn't see a spotter, or anybody nearby that might be ready to spring something on us.

I palmed my shell gun and gave a shrug.

"Probably warmer inside the ship anyway. Let's go check it out."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Wajit."

Cirr put a paw across Sanis's chest, keeping him from advancing.

In the distance, they could see somebody coming from the ramp. Looked to be a young girl, even younger than Loki. She looked disheveled and disoriented, and tentatively ducked out to look in the open before quickly rushing inside again.

Cirr looked at the two Jedi, a perplexed look on his face.

"Djidn't expect that."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim arches an eyebrow at the unexpected occupant of the ship. He nods in agreement with Cirr.

"Me neither. Either they've got an illusionist, too... or actually have a little girl in their group... or that's really a little girl. In any case, I don't see much other choice than to go check it out. At least I can cover us on the way in. We may have to physically go there, but we should still be able to slip in without anyone seeing us. Anyone got any other ideas?"

[Abarai Loki]

"She's afraid."

His eyes were fixed upon the spot where the little girl had appeared. He didn't move. The wind howled and below them the dust tumbled and danced before settling like a veil across the valley. Loki turned to the party.

"And she is alone."

He dismounted the outcropping rock in a single bound and rejoined the trio as Sanis armed himself. Something told him weapons were unnecessary but experience and training reminded him to err on the side of caution. He took his lightsaber in hand and pressed on down the natural slope winding towards the ship.

"It's unlikely she is an enemy agent but, in any case, she will have answers."

[Sanis Prent]

"I agree, let's head out."

I looked to the illusionist and made a face.

"Suppose you're gonna make us invisible then. Don't figure you got it in your Jedi powers to make us feel warm on the way over, huh?"

Keeping my shell gun drawn, I headed for the opening, ready to make the descent to the Waywarder.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim grins at Sanis' comment.

"Hey, don't pester me. I could paint a target on your chest and leave you visible."

He covers them all, moving forward slowly.

[Abarai Loki]

"Spare us your banter."

Loki cast a scathing glance over his shoulder at them before leading the way towards the ship. Again, they made mininal sound as they travelled, the only tell being the soft crunch of stone beneath their feet. Slowly, they approached the vessel, its egress hatch yawned open like the mouth of a sleeping giant, and within there was nothing but darkness. The boy placed a foot on the boarding ramp, and hesitated, turning back to his comrades.

"I must question the wisdom behind a plan which sees four strangers materialise out of thin air before a scared child."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Loki was right. It was a conundrum. Either keep the illusion, go inside, and give the girl a fright, or drop the illusion & gain her trust, but risk being seen.

Cirr shook his head as he waited behind Loki to enter.

"All thjis sneakjing arround ajin't good forr the nerrves. Just drrop the jillusjion."

Finally near their objective, his adrenaline was back, keeping the ache of his wounds at bay. He was ready to go in.

[Sanis Prent]

I kept furtively glancing over my shoulder, expecting a sprung trap. The grip on my gun tightened, and for once, I was glad to not be the guy on point. Probably best to have a Jedi, no matter how petulant and snobby, lead the way.

Still, I felt a bit useless. I tapped on my MARCUS module, whispering to it.

"MARCUS, put up passive sensor pulses. Thirty second increments. Whatever we can get to take a peek, but not make it obvious."

I half expected to catch a whiff of an Imperial Strike Cruiser punching into realspace. At least then it would be a simple matter.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim shakes his head stubbornly, leaving the men invisible.

"Nope. Not 'till we're sure. If we find her alone, we call out to her, and become visible where she can't see us. If you idiots insist on walking in 'honorably', be my guest. I'm staying hidden."

[Abarai Loki]

"Use your senses!" Loki hissed, wheeling on the illusionist, "She is alone. We are alone. There is no trap here!"

He gave Akrabbim a quick, scathing glance from head to toe, and continued: "You can at least act like a Jedi or have you not yet tired of hiding in the shadows?"

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim smirks at the arrogant kid.

"Fine, if you're so sure, here you go."

With the barest of gestures, the covering illusion vanishes... except for that which covers Akrabbim. A disembodied voice addresses the men, moving into the ship.

"There's nothing 'un-Jedi-like' about being cautious. Someday, you'll learn that. Or you won't, and I'll be sure to give you a real pretty eulogy. Yell if you need me."

With those last words, the voice slips away deeper into the ship.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"About tjime."

Cirr tightened the grip on his weapon, letting Sanis pass first alongside Loki, and he filed in behind them. He paused two steps in, giving a few quick sniffs.

"Human, orr, humanojid at least."

He whispered, mainly to himself as his tail stiffened, twitching slightly as he eased ahead. His ears swiveled at the sound of tiny footfalls further down the corridor.

"jI'll hang back some. Prrobabljy not the fjirrst thjing she'd want to see comjing out of hjidjing jI guess."

[Sanis Prent]

I kept my shell gun in my hand, but with the barrel toward the ground. Best compromise I could think to both be ready for anything and not scare the girl into staying put.

"It's alright. We're here to rescue you."

I winced. It sounded a bit lame, and this honestly wasn't my scene. More sounds of movement, and I pointed to the left as we came to an intersection.

"I'm Sanis. What's your name?"

Silence answered me for what seemed to be thirty seconds, and then a faint, hesitant voice answered, muffled by distance and durasteel.

"You don't sound like one of them."

Well at least she was talking. I looked to Loki, an unspoken request for assistance. Maybe he could say something that wasn't horrible and coax her out of hiding.

[Abarai Loki]

"Show yourself," Loki began, and noticing Sanis's expression, added, "Please. We mean you no harm. We recieved your distress call and triangulated-"

There was movement in the dark and from behind a bulkhead appeared the little girl. She looked like a little boy; pale and thin, barely filling out a child's jumpsuit, there was dirt on her face and her brown straw hair was a mess. She froze in the light and squinted curiously at Loki.

"They rescued you, too?"

"No, I am with them. We're here to help you."

Tentatively, she took a few steps closer, and this time looked nervously beyond them, searching for movement in the corridor.

"Is it safe?"

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim breaths a quiet sigh as the little girl appears. With luck, this will be all there is to it. But that seems quite doubtful. He's never that lucky.

He slips up near Sanis, whispering in his ear...

"Ask her what happened... we might be able to find out if anyone else is still around."

[Sanis Prent]

"It's safe now."

At least, it seemed to be. I at least let my voice sound confident.

"My name's Niyen."

The girl took a tentative step forward as she looked at Loki and I.

"We got your ship's message and came to rescue you. What happened."

The girl looked to the floor and didn't say anything. I was, for the moment, at a loss.

"Were you attacked?"

She looked up at us again.

"They were looking for somebody."

[Abarai Loki]

"And the entire crew was abducted?"

Niyen gave Loki a feeble nod, then added: "They asked for identichips. We didn't- I- so they-"

"They hid you to protect you," Loki offered, understanding. The little girl's mouth fell open in surprise but just as quickly clamped shut. She retreated one small step.

"Niyen, this is important," he said, hungering for answers, "What did you hear? What did you see?"

"I heard voices. The men were angry. They were... asking questions, but nobody- they took them all!"

In fear, Niyen fell back into the cover of darkness, the pale light glimmering in tearful eyes. Tremulous and uncertain, her words revealed nothing, leaving the young Jedi frustrated.

"Who took them, Niyen?" he demanded, "Who?"

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim places an invisible hand on the boy's shoulder, leaning in to try to clam him down. He whispers, "Quiet. The child is scared, and doesn't know anything. Yelling at her won't help. Speak softly to her, and you might get something useful."

He leaves the young Jedi behind and begins scouting the ship, looking for signs of a struggle. There seems to be some, but not much... not enough to account for the entire crew going missing. The invading force may have been overwhelming, but even then there should have been more damage. It's possible that the crew was unconscious from the crash, but that seems unlikely, as they hid the girl and argued with the abductors. What happened here?

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"The men in white masks." Niyen replied timidly, almost afraid to say.

Farther away, Cirr's ears twitched as he picked up her words. Staring out of the doorway and watching their six, his hands tightened on his heavy blaster. That was it, then. It was an Imperial trap.

"Guys, thjis jis all sjideways. We oughtta get the gjirrl to safety and get out of herre whjile we can!"

[Sanis Prent]

It confirmed what we'd suspected. I didn't let what I was feeling betray my expression. We needed the girl's help.

"Niyen, who were the men in white masks looking for?"

The answer came, and it was more than I'd feared. The girl looked at the ground when she talked.

"They said somebody would come looking for us. They wanted people to come looking for us."

She looked to Loki and shook her head.

"They didn't say why."

[Abarai Loki]

"Niyen, you are scared and confused," Loki began, with renewed calm and authority, "But believe me when I tell you we are in great danger here. My name is Abarai Loki, I can protect you, and I ask only one thing in return: do exactly as I say."

The little girl nodded, chewing nervously on a thumb nail. A moment's pause, Loki stood frozen in thought, before suddenly wheeling on Sanis. He spoke in an undertone.

"Something isn't right. There is no trap here. I know it. We have been led to this ship deliberately but to what end if not to spring a trap?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr crept to the door that led back outside, scanning the horizon. His brow knit as he frowned.

"jI don't see a thjing. jIf they're comjing, why arren't they on us alrready?"

He looked back toward Sanis and Loki, frown deepeing again as he looked back outside.

"Hey, jinvjisjible guy, what the hell's gojing on?"

He had no idea if the Jedi had any better ideas, but at this point, he was asking.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim whispers to the large felinoid, still unwilling to drop his guard. The less this looks like an ambush, the more he worries. The Empire doesn't just wander around attacking and kidnapping people for fun. They've got a reason. They must.

"You've got me. Ship's clean, surprisingly small amount of resistance, etc. Every inch of this situation stinks, but I can't figure out the source of the stench for the life of me. I say we get the girl to safety. I've got a spot nearby where she should be fine. Then, we go hunting. Starting with your ship. Only thing that makes any sense is to lure you away from your own ship, then set up an ambush there. I say, once we have the girl secured, we check out your ship."

[Sanis Prent]

I looked to Loki, and opened my mouth to speak. That's when MARCUS woke up. The droid module's visual receptors brightened.

"Sanis, my passive sensors are detecting a realspace entry within immediate orbital access of this moon."

The droid fluttered a bit.

"Sentinel class shuttlecraft. Imperial."

That made no sense. They must have known they'd be picked up with enough time to hide, wouldn't they.

"Guess that's our welcoming party."

I gestured up, and looked to Loki.

"Let's wrap this up, we don't have lo-"

"Sanis, the shuttle is plotting an intercept for Layla."

I almost detected a frantic edge to the droid's voice, but that had to be my own emotion bleeding through.

"Shit."

I backed away slowly towards the exit, picking up momentum.

"MARCUS, defensive pattern Echo, keep them out of there!"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Sanis's dread was amplified in Cirr, who was already bounding down the ramp, running as fast as his injured condition would allow him.

"jIf they fjind a way jinsjide..."

He too knew exactly what that meant. This was far more than the Waywarder and far more than Layla. This Imperial ruse had terrible ambitions.

[Abarai Loki]

Loki closed his eyes and visibly deflated in silent reprimand. A barrage of thoughts came like revelations; it had been so obvious. Small cold fingers wrapped around his hand and beckoned him forward, he opened his eyes to find Niyen leading the way.

"Come on!" she pleaded, and they ran outside to join the others. Loki shrugged off his jacket and offered it to the girl, whose jumpsuit offered little protection against the elements. He looked to the droid module in Sanis's hands.

"Marcus, do you detect any lifeforms near the Layla?" he asked, and meeting Sanis's gaze, elaborated quickly:

"That shuttle isn't dropping off the troops, it's picking them up. There was one site suitable for landing within proximity of the distress beacon, only one. They knew where we'd land and waited. And then, once we were gone, they collapsed the narrow pass and sealed off our only return route."

There was a note of bitterness to his voice as he recalled the avalanche of rock which almost crushed them and which he had so casually dismissed as weathering. His cool eyes broke away, scanning the horizon, and they proceeded up the incline towards the cave. Then MARCUS spoke.

"Negative. There are no lifeforms within immediate proximity of Layla."

The answer troubled Loki, who scrutinized the dark peaks surrounding them as they climbed, voicing his thoughts aloud:

"Someone caused that cave-in. It was not a coincidence... but I couldn't sense anything. Marcus, scan for- Get down!"

From the black mouth of the cave rose a smooth shimmering shape. There was a flash of crimson and an angry snap-hiss. The blaster bolt returned to the burbling creature and sent it crashing to the ground in a smouldering metal heap.

"Droids."

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim's katanas are in his hands in a flash as Loki deflects the blast back at its source. He drops his illusion... the type he was using only affects living beings anyway. He rushes forward, clothing whipping in the wind as he rushes forward, slashing another of the droids out of the air.

As one crashes, he notes another hovering up behind Cirrsseeto and Sanis, with them blithely unaware of the danger behind them. He reaches inside his clothes, tugging free a pair of shuriken. He flings them, guiding them with the Force, to seek out the droid unerringly. The slam home just before it lets loose a blast.

As he recalls the weapons, he speeds back to Sanis' and Cirrseeto's side, to help guard against any other blasts.

"Follow me... I think I can get you back to your ship. The Imps don't know this rock nearly as well as I do. Move!"

[Sanis Prent]

"Lead the way!"

Didn't have to ask me twice. I leveled my shell gun at the last of the droids, but Cirr was on top of it before I could squeeze off a shot, hammering it in a hail of fire from his heavy repeater.

"Who's that man?"

Niyen looked at the recently-appeared Akrabbim with wide-eyed surprise and unease. I reached for her hand, freeing the Jedi up to do what they did best.

"Friend of ours, Niyen. You're gonna be alright, we're getting out of here."

I wondered how much of that I was telling myself, rather than the girl. Holstering my blaster momentarily, I reached for the MARCUS module again.

"MARCUS, give me an update!"

"The shuttlecraft is landing adjacent to Layla. It looks like a dozen stormtroopers are exiting the ship."

I was running the math in my head as we hoofed it double-time through the biting cold wind. With the very imminent threat of Imperial attack, my ears were hot and I didn't feel the bad weather in my bones anymore.

"Drop the ventral quad. Begin automatic perimeter defense!"

Far away at the ship, the quad laser cannon at the base of the hull eased down, swiveling around towards the advancing Imperials.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Pain was gone.

Cold was gone.

The pure unadulturated threat they were up against dispelled those things nearly instantly.

Cirr pushed ahead, eyes wide open and ears forward, looking for anything that didn't look right. Loki and Akrabbim seemed to take the trek in stride. Sanis was slowing up, and Cirr reached back to pull him along.

"Come on! Let's go!"

Niyen's eyes went wide at the bloody-faced felinoid, but apparently she'd had more than her share of 'down is up' moments and aside from staring, she went along with it.

They were making much better time returning than when they first came, but it felt like an eternity.

"Sanis, I have activated automatic perimeter defense. It seems to have pushed the Imperials back, but I think they are now attempting a remote slice to countermand my control over the defense system."

Cirr's ears twiched at the news from MARCUS.

"jImperrjial sljice rroutjine, means we've got maybe ten mjinutes beforre MARRCUS loses jit."

Panting heavily, he surged along, swinging his blaster around his back so he could run faster.

"jIf they get jin, they've got ourr jump coorrdjinates."

[Kidd Smix]

The first barrage of quad-cannon fire showered the shuttle with debris and dust. Inside the cockpit, a young pilot scrambled across the floor, gawking at the transparisteel window. Outside there was a cry followed swiftly by a chorus of raised voices; orders were barked and in no time at all a pair of lifeless stormtroopers were hauled up the landing ramp. Kidd Smix, the fresh-faced shuttle pilot assigned to the Venture not two weeks ago, stared at death and it looked like large smoking holes in the face and chest. In the doorway appeared a pair of large boots, Kidd looked up to find the long yellow face of Lieutenant Foy staring down at him.

"Ensign Smix, I highly doubt you are of much use to your comrades on the floor. Report to the Commander."

"Y-yes, sir, at once," he blurted, and found his feet, disappearing down the ramp into cold, hostile territory.

Commander Moross hugged a column of ebon rock and against which, in the trademark black armour of Imperial Intelligence, he blended in impressively. A single hand gesture summoned the ensign to his side and he spoke with an impatient undertone.

"Listen up, Smix. Got a job for you. D'you see this?" he asked, lifting the long-barelled pistol in his hand, "This is a Quarelle, Mark One. Fires an armor-piercing stunbolt designed to-"

"Temporarily neutralise any medium-sized machinery with an electronic circuit, why I'm familiar with this device, sir. Beggin' your padron."

"Yes, quite. Our men are pinned down on the other side of the ship. We need to disable its perimeter defense, namely that quad-cannon, and this is where you come in, Smix. Can you run?"

"Sir? Well, uh, yessir I can, back in school I was on the wegsphere team and-"

"That'll do. Now, I need a diversion. You are to draw the fire of that quad-cannon and I will disable it with the Quarelle, Mark One. Understood?"

The commander clamped a thick hand around Kidd's shoulder and guided him to the edge of the rock column, he peeked out nervously. Sat twenty yards away was a large round boulder, the commander pointed at it.

"There. That's your cover, Smix. Run as fast as you can. Ready?"

"B-but sir," he muttered feebly, wincing at the prodding fingers against his back, "W-what if- who will fly the shuttle, sir, if-"

"Damn it, Smix, any halfwit can pilot a shuttle. Now, run!"

[Abarai Loki]

The distant screech of lasers sounded into the night but was drowned out just as suddenly by a powerful rush of wind as they crested another cluster of rock. For the briefest moment they paused, exchanging silent glances, while Akrabbim surveyed the landscape unrolling before them, a twisting diving maze of ice and stone. Again he gave the order to follow him and led them deep into the belly of a narrow crag which cut the glacial bed in half. This time, Loki fell back to guard the rear and noted the ominous absence of laser fire.

[Akrabbim]

He pauses rarely during their headlong trek, knowing that time is of the essence. As he flits through the rocky corridors, dodging sharp outcroppings and looking over his shoulder to ensure the small crew is following, an idea occurs to him.

"Hey, Sanis? Why don't you have the codes sent to that little droid you're carrying, and wipe the main computer? If we make it, we can just transfer them back. It might buy us some more time."

[Sanis Prent]

"I have severed the modular link to my network. Any data transmission would only serve to hasten the slice."

MARCUS responded to the Jedi's question as they continued to hustle forward.

"For the moment, I have no link to the ship or the rest of the MARCUS network. It is, admittedly, a good plan. If only I could tell myself about it."

I bounded forward, trying to cover distance as safely as I could without taking a spill in the dark corridor.

"Well, we'll just have to hope you're able to hold them out of there. Can't waste time hand-wringing."

[Kidd Smix]

Hugging the ground for dear life, Kidd gasped and spluttered under a cloud fine dust, but the fear quickly left him as the voice of Commander Moross rang out, sounding the all clear to his men. Soon the clatter of armored boots closed in and, glancing over the shattered remains of a smoking boulder, the young pilot watched stormtroopers forming a perimeter around the ship. Lietenant Foy appeared and joined the commander in assessing the disabled turret on the freighter's belly, there was a shallow dent in the armor plating and the metal crackled with blue sparks, indicating the stunbolt had indeed done its job. Satisfied, they turned their attention to a small panel tucked away behind it, and a moment later the lieutenant called out.

"Ensign, front and centre!"

He rose quickly and took off at a brisk jog, drawing looks from the troopers he passed, and came to attention before the officers. Now the threat of immediate mortal peril had subsided, he found it quite refreshing to be needed so much by his superiors.

"Ensign, do you see the panel?" asked Commander Moross from behind a glowing cigarra, he was pointing at a square of durasteel about twelve inches wide, "Beneath it is the external interface for all major computer systems onboard, but right now that's not important. Securing this here panel are twelve Grade Five magbolts."

Here, he swelled to his full height and prized the cigarra from his lips. And after taking a moment's pause, as if to chew over his following words, he said: "Ensign, I need you to remove those bolts."

"Can do, sir!" Kidd replied brightly, "And, if you will, I happen to have just the thing right here, on my person and all!"

From inside his unzipped flight suit he retrieved a compact hydrospanner, the appearance of which caused the officers to exchange brief glances. The commander gave a nod and Lieutenant Foy returned his attention to Kidd, "Efficient, Smix. Proceed."

The officers stepped aside to allow him access to the panel and he immediately went to work, the hydrospanner whizzing furiously.

[Abarai Loki]

It was fear and frustration which spurred the Layla's odd couple onward, Loki sensed it, and now they had no way of knowing the fate of their beloved ship, their pace quickened. Niyen trailed behind Sanis, clinging to his free hand, and pushed herself to keep up. She, too, was afraid. But Loki was a Jedi. His head was clear. His instincts sharp.

The terrain rolled underfoot and he negotiated rock and gorge with unnatural ease. He watched the party before him but his eyes were also trained on the open space overhead, listening for droids or even stalkers. And while he searched for immediate threats, he cast his thoughts forward to the danger looming in the very near and inevitable future.

In his mind's eye he saw the clearing and the Layla sat at its centre; he thought of the natural features surrounding it, the positions remaining stormtroopers will take when making a perimeter, alternative points of access, strategic strongpoints for Cirrsseeto and his large repeating blaster, cover for Niyen during the firefight, points of entry for him and...

"Akrabbim," he called out suddenly, "It is imperative we keep any use of the Force to a bare minimum, and if you must then be subtle; the last thing we want to do is provide the Empire with a link between the Rebellion and the Jedi Knights."

And with that in mind, he tucked his lightsaber inside the waist of his trousers and pulled his shirt over it. His tone became extremely irritable as he asked:

"Does anyone have a spare blaster pistol?"

[Sanis Prent]

I pressed the butt end of one of my Westar blasters forward for Loki to take, a cautious look of unease on my features.

"You know how to use one of these?"

I knew Jedi, they had a pretty dim view of blasters. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna catch a bolt in the back.

"Come on, we're almost there. Should be just over that ridge."

I looked over to see Cirr easing Niyen's frayed nerves before separating himself from the girl to fan out as they headed for the crest. His ears tilted far forward and he squinted his eyes as he slung the heavy blaster about.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim is suddenly hit with inspiration. He reaches out, snagging Sanis' and Loki's shirts, dragging them back before they spread out too wide. He gestures over to a nearby boulder, using it for cover and to plan for a moment.

"I have an idea. If this works, we can get rid of these guys using the Force as much as we like, and they'll never be any the wiser.

"Loki... how's your telekinesis? If it's anywhere near decent, this may work. I'm betting the Imps don't really know what kinda beasties live on this rock. I wanna use that to our advantage. I can make them see a nice, big rancor-looking thing that outta make them soil that clean white armor of theirs. All I need you to do is apply a Force push every time the illusion appears to hit them. For all they know, it'll just be their bad luck that they ran into one. Sanis and Cirr can take pot-shots at them in all the confusion."

[Kidd Smix]

While Kidd worked, pocketing each bolt as it came loose, the officers spoke lowly of matters which did not concern him: network relays, security bypasses, system failsafes, and so on. Clearly, he figured, there was something stored on the ship's computer beneficial to the Empire and they intended to slice the system to access it. First however, they would have to board the vessel.

Clamping the hydrospanner over the twelfth and final magbolt, Kidd started twisting it loose, the compact tool in his hand issued a long piercing buzz and the metal panel opened. And with a deep hiss, so did the boarding ramp for the Layla. He stumbled backwards in a daze, mouth agape at the opening, and turned to his superiors, offering them a bewildered shrug. They shared his surprise but quickly regained their composure.

"Clearly, a short-circuit in the locking mechanism, or a loose wire somewhere..." said Commander Moross, with a clearing of the throat.

"Absolutely. Well... good work, Smix. After you, Commander."

The lieutenant gestured gracefully to the boarding ramp, allowing the commander to take the lead into the belly of the freighter, just before he disappeared into the darkness within, he turned to Kidd:

"Ensign, stand guard here, no-one is to board this ship without our express permission. Understood?"

"Aye-aye, sir," responded the young ensign, snapping his heels together, then a thought occured to him and the cheerfulness evaporated, "Sir, won't I be needin' a weapon or something?"

"Nonsense, Smix, you're a farmer's son. Give 'em the old one-two, lad!"

And with a nod, the commander tossed his cigarra to the ground and disappeared inside, closely followed by Lieutenant Foy.

"The old one-two..." Kidd repeated curiously, then raised his hydrospanner to his lips for a kiss, and pocketed it again.

[Abarai Loki]

Loki hesitated. First, he locked eyes with Akrabbim, searching for weakness, and then his gaze dropped to the pistol in his hand. It was elegant and lightweight, best suited to quick accurate bursts of fire, an asset on the move and also, he concluded with a frown, it had about it a hint of flamboyance. In the silence, a chill wind swept over the broken plateau carrying on it the thick stench of charred earth and tibanna gas.

"Your illusion cannot absorb blaster bolts," he said finally, turning back to Akrabbim, "What will the enemy make of such an ethereal rancor, I wonder."

Time was slipping away. He found Sanis looking agitated, eager to take a stand; the Layla was, after all, his ship.

"Captain Prent, your thoughts?"

[Sanis Prent]

I didn't like being put on the spot like that. What was I, some sort of leader here?

I watched Cirr stalk to the outer perimeter as we also closed on our side, and I looked to Akrabbim.

"Would it be easier to make it seem like we've got a lot more blasters going off on the ridge? That should keep heads down, right?"

I looked from one Jedi to the other, and my expression turned grim.

"Right, let's do that. Come on, then."

And with that, I split the distance between Loki and Cirr, and took my position. From there, I could see the assembled Imperials.

"Looks like we're too late. Better make it count then!"

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim shrugs at the new suggestion. Various blaster men would work... for now, at least.

"Well, I was hoping to get them to scatter. If they just put their heads down, all we've gotten is a stalemate. But so be it."

He holds up his left hand as he grins, snapping dramatically. At the sound, twenty soldiers pop up at intervals around the landing site, and start taking pot shots. The snap was not necessary, but it had been quite some time since Akrabbim had a sentient audience for his illusions. Why not show off a bit?

"There's your diversion. I've got them mostly shooting from the north, so thus giving us an approach from the south. So, now what?"

[Kidd Smix]

First, there was confusion, and the troops scattered to take cover behind the freighter and the nearby shuttle. The ambush had taken them completely by surprise, spreading a fever of panic amongst the men, but once defensive positions were occupied, the cool efficiency of the stormtrooper returned. Responding with a fierce volley, punching holes in rock and earth, the troops picked out their targets amongst the wild rock formations and fired.

Meanwhile, Kidd Smix had discovered the boarding ramp to be a feeble source of protection from the sudden onslaught. He crouched low, clinging to the thin sheet of metal like a lifeline, all wild-eyed and jittery. And when one particular blaster bolt sailed past, inches from his ear, he abandonned all courageous pretense and scampered inside. Leaving behind the din of battle, he was able to gather some semblance of sense about himself again and paused to take a look around.

He was on the main deck, that is to say the middle or second deck of three, and found himself looking down a long narrow corridor towards what appeared to be a general mess, in numerous definitions of the term. And to his right and left flank were what he assumed to be private quarters, since they were the only doors locked. But he turned on the spot, perplexed, running a shaky hand through heavy curtains of hair, and found himself drawn to the opposite end of the passage where a ladder disappeared into the top deck. He ran to it and scurried up, knowing where it would lead: straight into the business end of a gun.

"What in blazes are you doing here, Smix?"

Commander Moross holstered his weapon and retreated, allowing Kidd to climb out. He stood, dusted himself off and took in his surroundings. The cockpit twinkled with the flickering of lights and the glow of faltering console screens, from behind the co-pilot's seat Lieutenant Foy peeked, eyeing the ensign with irritation.

"Sir... sirs... we've been ambushed. The enemy has us surrounded from the north and-"

"We're not surrounded then, are we?" said the lieutenant, with a hint of disdain, and returned to his work. On his wrist was strapped an electronic device fitted with a screen and a number of buttons, and coming from it there were two cables; one fed into a datapad in his left hand and the other led to a bright yellow box which had been unearthed from the cockpit floor.

"The flight recorder?"

"That's enough now, Smix, you've heard the story about curiosity and the cat," the commander clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder and turned him back to the access hatch, and from his hip he drew his blaster pistol once more, prompting Kidd to flinch. Moross laughed and thrust the weapon into his hands, "Easy, Smix. I want you to take this: it is a custom-made KYD-21 pistol, a twenty-first birthday present from my father many moons ago, I call her Matilda, after my late-grandmother. She has brought me luck and I'm sure she will serve you well but, be warned..."

Here, the commander peeled back his smart officer's jacket to reveal a second holstered KYD-21, he beamed with pride: "She has a sister, and they are not to be kept apart, so I expect her back after this battle and I want you to return her personally. Do you understand, Smix?"

"Who did you name that one after, sir?" asked Kidd, who, from his place on the ladder, could read engraved into the handgrip the name Bouncin' Betty.

"Another time, son," the commander answered serenely, "Another time."

[Abarai Loki]

"Niyen, take cover, and stay out of sight. Akrabbim, your illusions need to draw the stormtroopers out as much as possible. Cirrsseeto, if you position yourself over there you will outflank the enemy forces and can mow them down with your repeater. Prent... do whatever you do."

Loki concluded, with a hint of resignation, and turned immediately for the cliff face and leapt. He landed on one of the numerous pillars of stone which populated the landscape below, and hopped from one to the other like stepping stones until he had positioned himself above the Imperial forces between the Layla and the shuttle. A quick glance over the edge then he dropped, landing soundlessly behind an unsuspecting stormtrooper. He raised Sanis's blaster pistol and pressed it firmly against the white helmet. The Westar barked and the trooper slumped to the ground with a clatter.

"To your six! To your six!"

A couple of nearby stormtroopers turned, alerted to the demise of their comrade. The boy squeezed off two rounds, hitting each one squarely in the chest and before their bucket-heads could clang together, he was gone.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr wasn't a violent man. At least, he told himself that. But the day he'd had, with getting lacerated by whatever the hell that thing was, to having Imperials in his ship, had touched off something in him. His ears swung back and with a blood-crusted sneer, he pressed his cheek against the weld of the heavy repeater, aligning his sight picture for the distance. Loki jumped, and Cirr cut loose with a rain of high-ROF plasma. The repeater put a curtain of fire between Loki and his nearest threat, giving the Jedi clearance enough to press for the ship.

"The hell if I'm letting him get my ship back alone!"

Cirr momentarily broke eye contact to see Sanis take the longer, but safer route for a non force-adept, down to the landing clearing. The Nar Shaddaan was no slouch himself, putting expert fire down on the fly as he ducked behind sparking rocks as Stormtroopers tracked his movement.

A deep growl came up as Cirr adjusted his trajectory to stay on Loki's path. Sanis would have to take care of his own. Akrabbim's illusions were already on top of that, walking a fusilade of fake covering fire ahead.

"Magjicjian, any chance you can keep up the ljight show and get jin close and jinvjisjible? jI can keep the rreal fjirre on them frrom herre."

A sparking blaster bolt chipped rocks next to Cirr, forcing him to shift his attention back to the fight rapidly, even as he felt two little hands clutching to the tuft of his tail from behind - no doubt a frightened little girl doing her best to find protection.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim nods at Cirrsseeto's request, changing his focus a bit.

"Yeah... shouldn't be too hard. The wind and snow are helping out... I don't have to get too fancy to make a believable body with a blaster. I should be able to cover myself on the way in. If you can keep their heads down, I should be able to ambush whoever's in there without too much trouble."

He peeks over the rocks to survey the scene below. The illusions have the troopers pinned down, and the few real blaster bolts that hit home keep them from seeing through the ruse. He sees Loki speeding toward the ship, chuckling at his enthusiasm.

"Well, gotta admit, the kid's got balls."

He turns his attention back to Cirr.

"Looks like our young friend may have the ship back before I get down there... what is it you need me to do, exactly?"

Akrabbim sits back against the rocks, a bit confused. With their superior position and covering illusions, they should be able to take out the Imps pretty easily. What's the rush?

[Kidd Smix]

It took a great effort to leave Commander Moross and Lieutenant Foy to their business with the flight recorder, but Kidd knew his place. Back on the main deck, he stared down the length of the corridor with unease, clutching the commander's blaster pistol close to his chest. Outside, the battle sounded more ferocious than before, with heavy repeater fire ripping through the air, screeching death notes. It sent a shudder through the young ensign and he marched briskly past the open boarding ramp and into the mess at the end of the passage. A touch of a button and the door closed behind him, shutting out the unwelcome hullabaloo.

He hesitated, surveying the empty room with fierce suspicion before daring to venture further, and at last he did. He wandered the perimeter of the mess, the blaster hanging limp in one hand while the other was tucked away inside a pocket. There was some food left on the table, he noted, poking a stiff chunk of bread with his finger. It rolled clumsily into the middle and knocked what looked like a rather large egg. It woke up, a pair of bright round eyes blinking to life.

"Why, hello there, little fella!" Kidd beamed with delight, and stooped low to get a better look at the droid module.

"You are trespassing on this vessel. Kindly disembark at once."

"Trespassing? That's a bit harsh, don't you think? Consider me as a visitor!" he replied pleasantly, resting his chin on his folded arms. Suddenly, the door to the mess made a heavy click-click. His gaze darted one way then returned to the little droid on the table.

"With respect, sir, you can consider yourself a prisoner instead."

[Abarai Loki]

From the roof of the Imperial shuttle, Loki saw the battlefield unfurl before him; a string of phantom soldiers interspersed amongst the rock exchanged fire with the foremost of the stormtroopers while their comrades scrambledto avoid the torrent of firepower hailing from their flank. There were three of them hunkered beside the Layla using a manouvering fin for cover. One pointed to the south and Loki turned to see Sanis negotiating a treacherously narrow pass into the clearing. Three carbines raised and fired, tall plumes of chipped rock erupted about the captain's feet and the ground came away from under him.

In a heartbeat, Loki took aim and loosed half a dozen wailing bolts in their direction. One of the troopers fell, clutching his thigh, while the other two turned their fire onto the boy. Pressing himself firmly against one of the shuttle's folded wings, Loki kept low, stiffening at the tremor of every shot against his back.

[Sanis Prent]

"Cover me, Cirr, you bastard!"

Splintering rock and sparks rained all around me in a shower as I practically dove down the hardscrabble path. A pair of stormtroopers decided to chance things outside of some cover and take directed shots at me. Fortunately, I was a better shot, winging one of them which caused his friend to think twice about shooting in the open.

"Shit shit shit shit!"

I slid on my back, missing a few better-placed shots, and shifted around to see if I could even afford a peek over the rocks. The illusion-crafted blaster fire changed intensity and direction, which seemed to keep the enemy fire hemmed in. I cautiously raised up, being presented with two options. I had a straight shot to Layla, but to the left, Loki looked like he was pinned at the Imperial shuttle.

"I can't believe I'm doing this..."

With a three count, I scrambled over the rock leading to the opening, and ran flat-out for the Imperial shuttle. I drew my shell gun, catching three troopers in a barrage of needle flechette as I rushed in to relieve the trapped Jedi.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim peers over the rock momentarily before slipping back down behind the rock which so effectively shields him, letting the few shots from the pinned Storm Troopers bounce harmlessly against the boulder. He starts to relax, content to let the guys with the guns finish off the few remaining baddies.

The unmistakable sound of Sanis' shell gun startles him back to attention. He quickly sneaks a look around his cover, seeing Sanis barreling head-long down into the basin, guns blazing. He sighs, slumping back against the rock for just a moment before hoping to his feet. He rushes down the hill, having the good sense to cover himself in invisibility as he does.

"Idiots... why does no one ever want to do this the easy way? No... everyone always wants to look like some holovid star. And they wonder why I'm still alive... at least I have some bloody sense..."

Still muttering to himself, Akrabbim snatches up a blaster from one of the fallen troopers. He may not be that impressive of a shot, but at this range, it's like shooting fish in a barrel. He starts with the ones shooting at Loki and Sanis, taking them out from behind. Once he's done, only two remain. And with Cirr's repeater shots getting closer and closer to them, it looks like they won't be remaining for long.

[Kidd Smix]

"It's not that I didn't want to be a starfighter pilot. After all, the things it could've done for my reputation... and the women! The truth is I just don't have that killer instinct - unbelieveable, I know! - and that's why I transferred. No more shooting. No more space sickness. No more... Flight Commander Bette Davis... Oh, you should of seen her, she had-"

Now occupying a seat at the table, Kidd's hands parted as if holding a large invisible watermelon, he eyed it greedily and with a shake of the head made a soft whoomph, his hands emulating the explosion. The droid module blinked. Then a clatter in the hallway outside caught the pilot's attention, he rose and darted for the door. Looking through its small viewport he saw the commander and lieutenant, now gathered on either side of the boarding ramp, hidden in the dark of the ship. Kidd pounded the door and called to his superiors but they were too preoccupied with the ongoing battle to notice him. Then after a long series of convoluted hand gestures, the two men drew their weapons, and with no small degree of shock Kidd saw something small and round in the lieutenant's hand - it flashed red, he peeled back, and released it.

[Abarai Loki]

Clear to show himself, Loki dropped from the shuttle and offered Sanis an appreciative nod. Akrabbim surprised the last of their attackers from behind while Cirrsseeto dispensed of the remaining stormtroopers, chasing them down with furious repeater fire. The screech of blasters was replaced by the moans of wounded men and in the brief interlude Loki checked his weapon: six shots left.

"Now for the Layla."

He took off at a sprint with Akrabbim and Sanis in tow but upon reaching the freighter's underbelly he saw a small metal sphere first bounce then roll the length of the ramp towards them. Instinct kicked in and using the Force he scooped the grenade from the ground and whirled it away from the group. It exploded in the air, sending out a concussive shockwave which picked him up and threw him like a ragdoll. Through the sudden onslaught of ringing stars the sound of blaster fire commenced anew.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The issue outside the ship seemed resolved for the most part. Cirr scanned the outside, confident that he had no more fire to lay down. He pulled back from the outcropping for a moment, placing a hand on the timid girl with both hands over her ears to blot out the sounds of battle. He gave her a reassuring look, and only then did she ease her hands down.

"Njiyen, stay low, and close by behjind me, okay?"

She gave a reluctant nod, and Cirr led the way tentatively, the barrel of his repeater spearheading his descent down to the landing zone. Nearly at the bottom, Cirr saw the small amount of motion, knowing from the metallic clang more or less what to expect.

"Down!"

He turned, stooping his body over Niyens as she crouched, in anticipation for the explosion, which shook the ground under their feet. Cirr grit his teeth, hearing his voice muffled through the din of his sensitive, ringing ears.

"You okay?!!"

He shouted to compensate for the ringing. Niyen grimaced, but nodded.

"Stay down!!"

Cirr braced his weapon again toward the sound of the blast. To his misfortune, he didn't have a shot at an enemy. Blaster fire was coming from Layla, which meant they were already compromised and there were Imperials aboard.

It wasn't good.

[Akrabbim]

Before Akrabbim can even register what the blinking sphere is, Loki is on the move. He tries to yell at the kid, make him stop, but he forgets how fast the boy is. Once his warning is out of his mouth, the grenade is already arcing away from them. He tries to turn away, but the device detonates before he has a chance. The muffled "whoomf" hits him like a punch to the chest, scrambling his brain momentarily.

The illusions simply wink out of existence as Akrabbim's concentration is broken. He staggers like a drunk momentarily, trying to regain his composure. He should be fine in a moment, but they may not have that moment to spare. He dives behind the landing ramp of the Layla for cover. He had been beneath the ship when the device went off, so he's relatively certain that he isn't seen as he hides. Now, as long as the guys inside don't start tossing more explosives, he may be OK...

[Sanis Prent]

I was slow to get up, blinking stars out of my eyes as everything around me sounded like ringing and white noise. Disoriented, I looked around wide-eyed, lackadaisically reaching up to my head to feel a warm spot and coming down with a red-stained hand. Little red dashes of what I barely registered to be blaster fire perforated the ground all around me, making sounds when they kicked up dirt and rocks that sounded muted and alien. Part of me focused on how odd that was, but a part of my brain was screaming "GET UP! GET UP! GET UP!"

[Abarai Loki]

Sound was first swallowed by a deep silence which then swelled rapidly into a distant piercing ring. Loki forced his eyes open and blinked. His vision lurched, a thick obfuscation of milky clouds and blurred nonsense. Mortal danger was upon them but locating its source was futile, instead he looked inwards. There was a place he found with all the immediacy of a muscle memory, it was dark and small and peaceful. It expanded exponentially, filling the edges of his mind until there was nothing left but calm and control. His eyes opened.

Torrents of blaster fire converged on Sanis from the boarding ramp but before they could reach their target Loki rolled upright and released a couple of rounds from his pistol. The Imperial agents scattered, showered in sparks, and took cover behind the gangplank. Now it was their turn to attack but their target was already on the move...

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

While the gangplank offered decent protection from Sanis and Loki, the angle at which Cirrsseeto approached gave them no shelter. Ears pinned back with a face of grim determination, he cut his repeater loose downrange, showering blaster fire all around Layla's undercarriage to end the hold-outs resistance.

"jIs everryone okay??"

Cirr dropped the repeater, heading to the others in a sprint. Loki and Akrabbim looked like they'd make it. Sanis was slow to his feet. Cirr jerked him upright.

"Come on, we've got to move!"

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim shakes his head rapidly, clearing away the cobwebs and taking note of his surroundings. His position, fortunately, allows him to regain his composure without being shot.

Once he takes note of the situation, he comes up with a plan. He walks into plain view of his allies, then summons up an illusion, making himself look like a Storm Trooper, just in case any Imps hung back. He rushes up the gangplank, making a quick search of the ship.

He finds no other Imperials... except for one guy apparently locked in a room, chatting with a small Marcus droid. He watches the scene for a moment before exiting the ship, dropping his illusions.

"I think we're good. But, Sanis, I think your tin can caught one of them, unless you guys have another person with you you didn't tell me about..."

[Abarai Loki]

"No we do not," Loki responded, raising his blaster pistol.

While the idea of one last Imperial intruder wasn't particularly worrying, considering he was after all trapped, Loki saw no reason to drop their guard. They had managed to get this far without fatalities, now it was time to end the mission with a clean slate. He instructed Niyen to stay behind him once they reached the ship, and after placing a boot on the boarding ramp, he glanced back at a rather groggy-looking Sanis Prent.

"Captain Prent, our mission has already landed us with extra cargo," he said in reference to Akrabbim and Niyen, "Can you manage a third? This prisoner may prove useful."

[Sanis Prent]

Working the cobwebs out of my head from the blast, I made it to my feet and nodded grimly.

"Hurry."

I looked back to the two Jedi, and Cirr.

"If the Empire's in Layla, they've probably already sliced our navs, and know where our home flotilla is."

I ran up the gangplank.

"We've got maybe minutes to avoid an attack."

Cirr brought up the rear, carrying Niyen aboard as we all boarded the ship. First thing was first. I climbed the ladder to the top deck. Stepping toward the galley, I keyed in my master access, opening the door with a hiss before leveling my shell gun at a baby-faced Imperial pilot.

"I'm not gonna fuck around. Did you break our navs? Yes or no."

[Kidd Smix]

"Holy mother of meteors!"

Kidd recoiled in his seat so suddenly it almost toppled backwards. His hands went up, and he started to stutter, staring cross-eyed into the blaster. Thinking fast, he barelled desperately through everything that came to mind in the hope it would save his life.

"Why, why, I don't know, sir. I- That wasn't my job, sir, I'm a pilot! The commander... he had your flight recorder. I don't know what he did, I swear! He gave me his gun, see, it's on the table... he wanted it back... please don't kill me! I'm just a pilot, ask Marcus! Oh, sweet Minora..."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cold, tired, bloodied, and above all angry, Cirr stepped into the galley. With him admitting his commander absconded with the navs, that was the end of it, wasn't it? The secret was out.

Cirr dropped a fist on top of the Imperial's head, like a sack of bricks. It felt therapeutic, and it would probably be easier to lock him in the toilet without him struggling and resisting.

[Akrabbim]

Akrabbim follows everyone back onto the ship, giving one last look around to make sure there were no more straggling Imps. He reaches out with the Force as well, checking for life signs. He'd never been the best at detection with the Force, but even his meager skills could determine that no one else was about.

He arrives in time to watch the big man drop a heavy paw on the captive. He can't help but chuckle a bit... not the most elegant solution, but effective none the less.

"I hope you gents don't mind giving me a lift. I think I'm done hiding on this stupid rock. I didn't hear everything, but from the looks on your faces I'd guess we're all in for a big fight in the coming days. I'd like to help."

[Abarai Loki]

"You can help by locking him in the restroom," he said, a scathing glance fell upon the unconcious pilot.

Loki was out the door and ran to the other end of the ship, climbed into the cockpit and assessed the damage. Floor panels were missing and a yellow box was exposed beneath the pilots seat, it was the flight recorder. Beside the controls for the quad-cannon lied an overturned Marcus module. He summoned the little droid into his hand and its pale optical receptors blinked.

"Marcus, did you detect a data transmission stream?"

"Affirmative. A transmission was sent exactly two hundred and eleven seconds ago."

"Sent where, Marcus?"

"An Imperial vessel presently in orbit but, if I'm not mistaken, it is altering course to leave the system."

[Sanis Prent]

"That's it, then."

It was a confirmation of everything I feared. My jawline tightened, and I looked to Cirr and Loki, with equally severe expressions.

"Cirr, get below deck. Tell that crazy wizard he can hitch a ride, but we're gonna be in the real shit in a few minutes."

I stepped ahead, climbing into the pilot's seat to begin warm-ups as fast as I could.

"Loki, looks like it's time for you to ride shotgun for real this time."

I flipped a comm into my quarters.

"Niyen"

A voice responded a few seconds later.

"Yes?"

"You stay put in there, okay? We're gonna get you to safety."

"...okay."

I cut the comm, chewing a bit on my words before I muttered.

"...I hope."

The power plant came alive, and a few seconds later, I retracted the gangplank and struts, easing from repulsors to thrusters, pushing us skyward as fast as I could muster.

"MARCUS, best possible FTL intercept to the Wheel. We've only got a few minutes."

"Navicom already laid in. I took the initiative."

With a grim nod, I acknowledged him. We'd need a lot of initiative to get through this.

"Stand by hyperspace."

My mouth felt dry, and I gently released my fingers from the stick, tightening them again slowly.

"Prepare for battle." (http://sw-fans.net/forum/showthread.php?p=344987#post344987)

I punched the hyperspeed acceleration, sending us to face the enemy.