Swiping the sweat from his brow, Jasyn Lancaster eyed his and Matt Stanza's dwindling water supply. Then he looked to his commrade. "To hell with this waiting around, pal. If we don't go back to the hidden Kaminoan lab and get water, we're gonna be dead men."

Stanza nodded. "There's also the possibility that there is water under the ground."

"But how far under? Could be quite a dig..."

"Well," Matt reasoned, "It's either that or risk heading off to that lab and going the wrong direction. It's worth a shot, at least."

Jasyn frowned. "I suppose it is worth a shot, all risks considered."

He paused a moment then, rubbing his stubbly chin. "I sure as kriffing hell hope Stargazer keeps her word and comes back for us, and that she lasts long enough in the Darker Realms to come back at all."

Stanza shrugged. "She gave her word," he then said.

"Yeah," Jasyn said, getting on his knees. "Guess we should take that shot at digging for water now, while the sun is down and we still have some water of our own. This will take a while. And speaking of shots...

...I she as hell wish I had one about now..."

[ 08-29-2004 10:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

--------------------

"Reversion is coming up soon, keep your robes on," Shayla said, turning to Panthar and at last breaking her silence. Although she had been fairly quiet throughout Panthar and Galen's most recent exchange, she HAD been listening intently. "And I'm less concerned about our possible...
..."space" issues than I am about the welfare of Jasyn and Matt. It's been quite some time since I left them waiting back there on Korriban, and even if they use underground sources for water or go back to the Kaminoan hideout we found to get more water and nourishment, conditions will still be bad for them. I do have my healing abilities, if they are required...

...but I certainly hope they are not."

Shayla paused, glancing to Galen then turning back to the navboard. About that time a sigil began to flicker red.

"We're ready to revert," Shayla said, looking over her shoulder momentarily. "You may want to sit down and strap in...

...and for at least your safety you may want to turn your Sith belt on, Galen."

With no further ado than that, Shayla turned her attentions completely to the navboard, hitting the glowing red sigil. The mysterious wonder which was the star-streaks of hyperspace almost immediately cleared, and as Shayla reached out her senses picked up on the two links she had created; one with Jasyn Lancaster and one with Matt Stanza.

"The links I made with the two men are still intact...

...which means they are at the very least still alive," Shayla stated aloud, some relief evident in her words. "What their condition is, I don't know however."

Shayla reached out to the navboard once more. "We'd better hit some atmosphere and get to them, now."

[ 08-29-2004 01:54 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Kriffing hell, he thought darkly to himself, his mind on the border of shut down, A damn ration bar would even look good about now. A bug would, for that matter...

At last though, he hit pay dirt, little as it was. A small pool of water formed over his sandy hands. He didn't bother to even look up to see if his companion had also found water; his basic survival instincts had taken over. So, partially leaning over and partially raising his cupped hands to his lips, Jasyn drank the water, sand and dirt combined. It just really didn't matter at this point.

But as he raised his head, Jasyn Lancaster swore he saw something strangely shaped and nearly unidentifiable against the harsh sky. He blinked, and it was still there. And something about it was damn familiar to him.

"Oh kriffing hell, Matt," he then rasped, "Now I'm hallucinating, cause there sure as hell looks like there's something up there in the sky..."

--------------------

But I followed her suggestion, finding yet more of my earlier distrust toward her fading through ambivalence toward acceptance.

She at least is concerned for my well-being, I thought as I sat down next to the hulking form of Big Red and buckled in.

Is that of her own doing, or Jharmeen's?

Myriad questions popped into my head at that thought as I recalled the connection this one had with my flighty sister.

I wonder if I'll ever see her again. I wonder if I'll ever see Terrin again.

I wonder if I'll ever be able to hold Darra in my arms again....

I sat in a gradually increasing cloud of silence, staring off into the innerspace mere meters in front of me, and waited for Shayla's announcement that we had hit dirt.

Or that she might need my help, I followed that with. I spoke aloud.

"There are roots on the planet which are edible and offer moisture, but there is damned little to nothing in the water department. I sure hope they've managed to find something...."

My hand then slipped down to touch the strange sigil on my belt. The light warping field promptly popped about me, stretching out in a sphere approxomately 100 feet or so from the point where I sat, and thus neatly snipping the fighter from the vision of anyone who might be looking at us from below.

Or behind.

What is Sorben up to? the non sequiteur whispered silkily in my mind. I reached out and touched the strange non-metal of the bulkhead next to me, suddenly reminded of the fact that I was piloting this very same kind of ship when I first met him, and my adventures began growing in leaps and bounds.

Which prompted me to speak aloud again.

"There's kind of a trick to landing these things, so let me know if you need any input from me."

I quieted again, and waited for us to land.

[ 08-29-2004 10:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"Actually--" she started, "I"m not well-versed in landing this baby, so I think now's a good time for you to take the controls. And after all, you'll be safer hanging in this ship while Panthar and Erik and I go assist Matt and Jasyn. So," Shayla said, standing as she did so and moving out of the way as she motioned to the seat, her greeny-blue eyes on Galen, "She's all yours."

--------------------

Jasyn closed his eyes in utter exhaustion, trying to block out the blinding sun even as Matt tried for a light-hearted rebuttal. "You are hallucinating pal, and with not even a lick of Sith brandy in your system," he quipped, his words still somehow heavy.

Jasyn groaned. "Did you have to bring brandy up at a time like this...?"

Then he leaned over, trying his best to gain more water from the hole which he had dug, but to no avail.

[ 08-29-2004 10:35 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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And she hung with Jharmeen... er, perhaps, had, I thought as I went to where she had politely stepped aside, amending the thought even as I sat down in the cramped area forward of the ship. I reached out hands that trembled once, then steadied.

Galen ol girl, it's been a long time now, hasn't it? Far, far too long.

But just like in the case of riding a speederbike, it all came rushing back to me the moment my fingers hit the navigation board. Strange sigils lit and winked, glowing in a mute dance of power. Some in perfect synchronization with others, others in a definite pattern, and yet others seemingly at random.

I smiled, and played a little tune of my own devising upon them.

"If you're not careful about how you direct this baby, she'll land when you tell her to... literally. I mean, there's no gentle coasting; this ship will smack the surface like a rock dropped from orbit. I think it's some kind of emergency landing sequence; heck if I've ever figured out why the Sith would have their ships doing that, but there you have it.

"Step by step you have to convince the ship to be gentle -- it's kind of alive, you know -- and to remember to engage its inertial dampener, and to modify that to the specifications of a human being...."

Strange. That the modifications included specs for humans. On a Sith ship.

Why hadn't I ever noticed that before?

I mentally shrugged, and continued to pilot the little fighter through the thickening atmosphere of the sere and forbidding world beneath us. Finally satisfied that the majority of intricacies was at last taken care of, a portion of my mind was free to go back to something Panthar had stated not too long ago, something I had ignored in the growing heat of our discourse.

I turned my head a bit to one side, calling over my shoulder.

"Hey Big Red, you said you can read Sith. Great--"

Why?? How--??

I shrugged off rising question. Maybe it came with the territory... Turning a direct look to him over my shoulder, I continued.

"Can you find out anything about this place? I mean, it might be helpful to be able to anticipate what condition the guys might be in, so we can bring what supplies that are necessary along with us.

"Just to augment Jedi healing capabilities, of course."

The latter was directed toward Shayla, who I quite suddenly found I did not want to estrange from me.

I then turned my concentration to a particular golden sigil, now strobing like a visual metronome.

"I'm picking up lifeforms-- hmmm. I think we shot over them once; lemme see if I can coax this baby into landing somewhere in their vicinity."

I did just that, letting the ship then inform us of when we had finally come to rest. One certainly could not tell by any appreciable impact; it was like a feather landing on water.

I powered down a bit, letting the fighter mull to itself, and turned to the others.

"We don't know who those lifeforms are, actually. I just picked up life. Stands to reason it's the guys, though; Panthar, is there anything you found about the possibility of indigenous life forms?"

I turned back to the panel in front of me.

"I'm not popping the hatch until we're certain it's not some weird critter out to eat us..."

[ 08-31-2004 06:38 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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“Well,” he called up, “it mostly talks about the Valley of the Dark Lords, and how it used to be here in some lush valley. But I guess now it’s all just desert and rocks and secret Kaminoan labs. Oh, there was a brief mention of native tuk’ata, but it was vague as to whether they were native to the planet as a whole or just lived in the valley. So I guess unless it's a whole bunch of life signs, it's probably our boys.”

He closed the log an placed it back into its nook.

“Hey, aren’t those the big beastie things that we found back at the Temple of the Armorers? I have a buddy back there, I wonder if I can make one here?”

--------------------

They aren't all that easy to deal with, pal, she couldn't help but think, Especially not the wild ones...

Shifting from that line of thought then, Shayla closed her eyes, stretching out to sense the lifeforms in the area.

"Our boys are nearby," she observed then, eyes still closed, "Other than that...

...I do pick up an occassional lifeform, though I couldn't tell you what they are. If we get out there and get to them quick...

...I'm thinking we can get out of here in one piece."

Saying this she opened her eyes, and waited to see what anyone else might add, her demeanor reading that she was ready to spring into action.

--------------------

“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s go get them. I can carry both of them if I need to.”

He looked up to Galen.

“If there’s nothing immediately outside, then I say pop the hatch and let’s go. This planet sounds like a really bad place, and if there are beasties around then the sooner we get to the guys the better.”

--------------------

So, it was Korriban, I thought, shaking a little at the term "Kaminoan labs" he had stated so blithely. The mere thought of what might have happened to me there, not to mention what actually had, and what Rhua and I had to do to get out of there, was a vivid scar that burned like hell; I could only hope that one day it too would be put aside as had the other horrid things I had lived through in the past four years.

I jerked back to what they were saying.

"Tuk'ata? You have a tuk'ata buddy?"

I gaped, remembering the fearsome thing that hung with Jharmeen, winding about her constantly like some sort of cat while easily shredding apart anyone else at her merest command.

I shuddered.

"Send him a postcard, pal; we don't need him here!"

My mouth snapped closed around that ridiculous comment, and I fidgeted a little. Ok, so I'm nervous as hell about being back on the same planet where I spent far too great a period of time slogging across endless dunes and rock and hardpan, dying for anything remotely resembling liquid...

...and that after managing to wriggle out of what at first seemed certain doom...

...only to face it again when we stumbled upon that horrid non-ness which led to where He lurked.

I don't care what Panthar said; the creep was still on the same planet we were about to step foot on... sort of.

But then, so were Matt and Jasyn. Now my head snapped up as another thought struck.

"Oh hell, I hope the guys didn't stumble on that Valley... thing," I said, giving all a wide-eyed look.

"It leads straight to hell, you know."

Then I shook my head, and got a grip on myself. Then I frowned, harkening back to something else he had said.

"You guys do realize that this ship is small."

I waved a hand about in support of the obvious.

"I don't know if we can really get two more people aboard her. We might have to make two trips or something; at least we can leave supplies for the one we have to momentarily leave behind."

I turned a look straight at Panthar.

"They wouldn't fit even if I did sit on your lap all the way back."

One hand still hovering on the sigil that would pop the hatch, the other ready to drop the shield, I waited. Even though I knew every second counted, the last thing I wanted to do was to rush out in hero mode without having a firm plan outlined spec by spec in my head.

Not the hell on this world.

[ 09-01-2004 07:41 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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“I’ll stay behind,” he stated flatly. “I’m big enough that we might be able to get both men aboard in my absence. Shayla can show me the lab she found and I’ll stay in there. You need to get back to K’eel Doba and find the young lady who could somehow be your daughter, then someone can come back and pick me up. I’ll give you the access codes to my account in case you need to access funds.”

Giving a wink to Galen, he smiled and half-rose out of his seat.

“Now blow this thing so we can go get our boys.”

--------------------

I paused, my hand centimeters from engaging the hatch.

"Ummm... don't you think we might need you, as a Sith, in our corner when we go back to K'eel Doba?"

--------------------

He wrinkled his nose in thought.

“Believe me, I’d much rather be with you. But what other ideas do you have? Hey, unless there is a ship in the Kaminoan lab!”

--------------------

"Yeah, don't I wish there had been..."

I sat quiet a moment longer, thinking. Shayla and Erik seemed to be pondering the quandary as well.

At last I spoke.

"Ok, I suppose we can draw straws or something, but the point is that someone is going to have to stay here and be retrieved later. End of the story.

"Now that that is resolved, I'm with you guys. Let's blow this popstand and go find the guys."

With that I hit the sigil and my belt, and in a wink of an eye the invisibility shield dropped, revealing to anyone who might be looking a strange ship, particularly difficult to look upon, in which a black orifice was now beginning to disgorge its passengers.

I jogged down the ramp and onto the hard stone of the desert floor, where I stood, hand raised to shield my eyes from the sun, and gave a quick three-sixty look about.

I sighed as the others came down to join me.

"I don't see anyone; I think we're in for a bit of a walk. Does anyone have a sensor, or do I have to go back aboard and use those of the ship, or--"

I turned to Shayla and Erik.

"Can you guys get a bead on them with the jedi powers you have?"

Waiting for someone to suggest something, I closed the hatch and stood silent, still glancing about at the all too familiar dreariness of our surroundings.

--------------------

On the otherside of the planet....

I watched as the ship that had brought me here took off.Well, now i'm just stuck here. This really helps. I thought.

I thought about which way to go and it didn't really matter so i headed north, or atleast i thought it was north. I didn't know which way was which. I began walking slowly.Maybe i'll be lucky and something will kill me before I die from dehadryation. I thought as i continued onward for no reason.

[ 09-01-2004 08:40 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dash Kelderon ]

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Quieting at this then, Shayla continued to scan the area as she waited for a reply, noting to herself that her innate Force abilities were picking up on next to nothing in the way of life on this planet. There was just the something ahead of them, which she knew were the two EE employees...

...and then there was that speck of something other which touched her Force senses sporadically. And it was that something other, which was probably none other than the aforementioned tuk'ata, which disturbed her...

[ 09-02-2004 02:56 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Frowing in curiosity, I played a little tune on the controls, and was promptly rewarded with the information that there was another lifeform, moving steadily north, situated about 165 degrees of longitude away from us.

My frown turned to a genuine one as I wondered to myself how in Hell's Seven Circles could the ship inform me of a moving lifeform that was beyond the local horizon...

...and why it would bother to do so in the first place.

Leaning over the controls, I studied them further, struggling to read the strange characters of the Sith lettering. It had indeed been so long....

I rose up with a jerk, my eyes widening as I quickly memorized the coordinates. Then I grabbed a scanner, raced out of the ship, and rejoined my companions.

"Hey!" I exclaimed as the hatch rang closed behind me.

"The ship's sensors were set not to hunt for human lifeforms, but humanoid. So I guess what it was trying to tell us is that yeah, the guys are fairly close... and at least still alive.

"But there's another humanoid on the far side of the planet; maybe we'd better scope it out after we pick up Matt and Jasyn?"

I drew in a deep breath, and ran the scanner around me, nosing it back and forth before finally holding it steady.

"According to this, the guys are maybe, oh... I'd say about 28 kilometers or so due ESE from our present location."

I eyed the sun, which was hovering somewhat close to the horizon.

"Plans, anyone?"

--------------------

--------------------

But then he had more to say, more which he had been thinking upon as the others discussed just how they were going to fit 5 people aboard the little Sith fighter. "And you know," he then added, his words very serious, "I should be the one to stay behind."

That statement grabbed the attention of Shayla, as Erik had expected. She turned abruptly to him, the look in her eyes clearly concerned...

...but somehow seeming to also read his logic. "After all," he then explained, now that he had the attention of everyone, "You will need Shayla's healing abilities, will possibly need Panthar's connection to the Sith, and will need Galen to of course find her daughter, if indeed she is on K'eel Doba as we all suspect."

He paused then, pursing his lips thoughtfully as something else occurred to him. "Unless, of course, you'd rather regroup somewhere til everyone is off Korriban. At least this way we can get another ship, and can take a little time to get the EE guys healthy again. After all, if we're going to K'eel Doba, we could use the numbers..."

--------------------

"Yeah, I guess you're right. 28 klicks is a pretty far distance to go to find the guys; I guess I can make a hop and get to them in the ship.

"We might as well all get back aboard then."

Giving the scanner a little toss and then catching it, I turned and began climbing the ramp once again.

[ 09-03-2004 04:01 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"Guess it's too late to go back to the Kaminoan lab," Matt interjected then.

"I'd say that's a fairly decent observation, considering I don't think I can even walk right now. But if we don't try..."

"...we won't make it anyway," Matt finished for him.

Jasyn closed his eyes a moment at this, his exhaustion even more evident than before. "Let's just wait a few minutes," he then stated, "I need to rest my eyes..."

--------------------

...but she still didn't like it. After all, if he was going to stay behind everything within her cried to stay with him as well even though this time she absolutely knew she couldn't. For in the short span of time they had been on Korriban, she'd been able to zone in more clearly on the links she shared with Jasyn and Matt.

"We'd better hurry," she stated aloud as she sat down, most likely unnecessarily. "I get the feeling our guys may have had just about all that they can take of this place..."

--------------------

"Ok, guys; grab onto something. This is gonna be short n' sweet!"

Not even waiting for the others to take a seat, I slammed the hatch and lifted off. The little ship rose to an altitude of about five hundred meters, traveling in a nice parabola the apex of which we hit before I could even draw a breath.

Seconds later, and the ship descended to make landfall in a flurry of sand and grit and dust.

Once again I reduced power, but kept her running should we have to take off in a rush. I popped the hatch, turning and taking a look outside as it opened.

About 300 meters away was an extremely familiar sight: the lip of an immense canyon seemed to smile spitefully, holding its horrendous secrets to itself like some miser gloating over his hoards.

I shuddered.

I didn't know that this was where they were!

"Let's go!" I cried then, leaving the controls and heading for the open hatch. I ran through it and down the ramp, this time grabbing a scanner and a nearby medkit in passing. At the bottom I waited impatiently for the others.

"I know that canyon, and believe me it's not with the fondest of memories!" I called up to the others, who were clambering down the ramp in my wake.

[ 09-03-2004 04:31 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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He trotted to Galen, winked, and headed out away from the ship to allow the others room to pass. He ran a few steps, then stopped dead in his tracks.

Before him, just meters from his feet, was the edge of the most awe striking sight he had ever set eyes upon. A wide, monstrous canyon, carved into the desert and gaping like the maw of the planet itself lay in his path. It stretched for miles in all directions, and Panthar suddenly felt very, very small.

He stood transfixed on this wonder for what seemed like eternity. Then he finally looked downward, not fully able to see the bottom amidst the mist and haze. Yet something down there called to him, almost beckoned him to take just a few more steps.

Just a few more…

He barely noticed his feet moving…

[ 09-03-2004 04:41 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Panthar Dantares ]

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