"Yeah. I suppose you're right."

I took my seat again and waited in silece for a minute or too. The only thing that could be heard was the hum of the hyperdrive as we continued on to the Hornett.

I finally spoke up.

"So... This lady witht he drugs. She wouldn't stay on Sullest, or not for long then. You think she would go to those location Bon was talking aobut. If so, I bet that's where we would find her."

I pasued before continueing.

"...As for Galen, I don't know where she would go and be. You know her better then be."

I fell in silence and tried to remeber everything that had happened since me and Dash left the Hornett to chase after her.

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Now me, I never really had any trouble with those guys. I mean, sure, maybe they were a little imposing… ok, a lot imposing. And they did have a knack for sticking their noses into things. But they never stopped me from doing my business, and they tipped well. I ran a few legit cargo runs to outposts here and there, delivering mundane crap to troopers who missed their fruity crisps or their home-planet magazines, so my name should be on file with them as at least being an honest businessman. Well, we’ll see…

“All right kiddies, bang the walls and grab your – um, seats. We’re blowin’ this joint!”

I followed the Impie’s instructions, and in a little bit we were leaving Sullust to its fiery self. The fighter escort was waiting, and I was almost relieved when they didn’t start blasting right away.

“Hello, boys” I said into the comm. “This is Rasia, thanking you for the company and feeling a whole lot safer now.”

I continued on the vector given to me, and assumed that they’d either form on my wing or something military like that, or blast us.

I was sorta hoping they wouldn’t blast us.

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...if those guys aren't honest about what they're up to, they'll be found out. And that aside, there is no kriffing way they are going to get into Sith space without the Empire's blessings."

Pausing at that, a little black demon popped up and made an addendum. And you aren't going to get there without the Empire's blessings, either...

He strayed from that thought, going instead to Jebbua's next few statements to then reply to them. "The last probable known destination for Galen was K'eel Doba, although I haven't ever heard from Jasyn or Matt to find out if she got there, or if they even got there for that matter...."

He trailed for a moment, suddenly recalling something, kicking himself for not remembering it before. "Wait a minute," he then said, "I did hear from them once, after they went to look for Galen."[/i]

He frowned at this, angry with himself for not remembering such a critical issue. So many things had happened in the past few years, it was all really becoming a jumble of events.

Aaron couldn't imagine how it was for those who actually experienced those said events. "They were on..."

He paused a moment, thinking back, "--well, Sullust, actually, at the hidden base we just left. Jasyn said they'd crashed the Raptor on K'eel Doba, and that Galen had crashed the Eagle, which was Terrin's old lambda, but she was okay. I'd forgot how mixed up and befuddled they were...

...none of them could remember a kriffing thing about the Sith. And that was the last I heard from them..."

Trailing again, Aaron sat his caf mug on the table, put his elbow on the edge, and ran a hand through his hair to then rest his temple on it. "How the hell did I forget something like this?"

[ 06-14-2006 09:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aaron Barnes ]

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"Roger Rasia, this is Imperial fighter FJ-845. You will proceed through vector as given to point at approximately two billion klicks; from there to continue with maneuver assuring your safe arrival Kati'Shyn space. At point of engagement, all vessels will attain hyperspeed simultaneously, along pre-assigned vector.

"This is Imperial fighter FJ-845, out."

Cutting off any further outgoing transmission but leaving his boards open should Rasia wish to say anything, the pilot smoothly moved his sleek little fighter to a position just above and slightly behind the yacht's forward deck. The other two moved equidistant along her flanks, this time a slight bit below her midline.

Together, the yacht framed by three points of an equilateral triangle, the ships moved off and away from the roiling, fiery planet that was Sullust.

[ 06-14-2006 10:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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They burst back into life, in vivid three-dimensional and kodachromatic glory.

"Consider yourself lucky, pal," I muttered darkly, for those were memories I would dearly love to forget. I sighed then, and turned fully to face him.

"Looks like we will be heading off to this, er-- what did you call it? K'eedalba? Whatever; but hey..."

I paused a moment, shrugging my shoulders and waving both hands out to either side.

"This baby is too... refined for that; from what I know of the Sith you mentioned, we're going to need bigger guns.

"I'm more than willing to offer the services of Devil, assuming of course that K'kihl has her repaired by now."

And Yaoksi ol' pirate, what a question. Of course he has her repaired; he'd be positively mortified if it took him more than three days to get her back to her usual two hundred percent efficiency...

[ 06-14-2006 10:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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I smiled and turned to Cass.

“Now, should we hold hands with our buddies or make other plans? Of course, doing that will give us away, and if Bluebell is right about the Impies having an interest in that area we're ultimately headed to, well...”

I bit my tongue.

"Maybe we better play it cool."

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...but then I hope the plan I have in mind will at least temporarily keep them from us."

She frowned then, her eyes turning distant, thoughtful. "Dealing with them when we get where we are going and they have all their grand capital ships at hand, will be quite a challenge on its own."

She paused, finally making a small admission. "I'm not sure what we will do yet at that point...

...and I'm counting on your piloting skills," here she looked at Rico, "And your brains," she then said to Bon Foyagee, "To figure it out."

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Here he trailed, frowning. But something was beginning to come to his mind, something that just might solve the little thing that was now presenting itself as a very large problem for their future plans.

"We've got a major roadblock in our way in the form of an Imperial blockade surrounding the Sith worlds," he said, stating the obvious. "We're going to have to justify ourselves--legitmately if possible--to them in order to get through. Now, there is a possibility we might have something the Empire might be willing to give us passage in exchange for," he then said, looking to Link, "That is, of course, if we can prove that anything in those files you stole have anything incriminating in them."

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For all I know they are just being over protective of thier families secret recipies.

"I'll start on decyping it as soon as I have all the things I need; a room with a fresher so I won't be interupted while I work, a holo pad, and lots of caf brewed as srtong as possible."

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...or even implicate that it might be worth something, the time will be worth it. After all, we may not be able to entirely decrypt the files regardless of the tools you already have at your disposal and the ones the Hornett will have.

"Unfortunately, at this time, I haven't got any better ideas. Any one else have something?"

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"Phoenix forget about getting clearene, fire up the engins we're leaving."

The ensign at ATC whirled in his seat, his face appearing to strobe in the yellow warning lights now flashing across his boards.

"Sir--!" he began, but got no further. The Control Coordinator was by his side, staring over his shoulder to consider this little bright spot in an otherwise boringly normal day.

"Contact Sormontato; we have a runner," he said mildly before reaching over the Ensign's shoulder to flip a button. Immediately the klaxons ceased to yowl, the lighting returned to normal.

"No need for such theatrics now, is there?" he commented lightly as with a nod of his head he returned to his post, from there to watch over proceedings in general that Air Traffic Control was dealing with.

ABOARD SORMONTATO...

"Sir!"

The young officer needed not call out as he did, for already had the Officer on Deck arrived at his station. There he paused, peering over his shoulder to read the information now scrolling across his boards.

"Interesting," the Officer mused, a slightly chilling smile now creeping across his face. He straightened, cut his eyes to the immense viewscreen ahead, which was showing a small ship now trying to pick up momentum and leave Sullustan space altogether.

His smile grew even icier.

"No need to bother the General with this; we'll merely follow SOP for such incidents."

He nodded to another officer, who immediately began playing his hands along his control panel.

Within moments the great super star destroyer had engaged its gravity well generator, that the obviously fleeing ship would not be able to slip away into hyperspace. This was followed a split second later by a tractor beam, which lanced out and snared the ship, latching firmly upon it.

"Shields up, double strength," the Deck Officer continued, his voice still mild.

"Bring this one in to docking bay 87; I'll go inform General Ahem as to what is happening."

He gave a brief salute to the chorus of "ayes" that followed in the wake of that order, turned on his heel, and left the bridge. Behind him, concentration divided: part to keep an eye on the comings and goings of ships in this vicinity, the remainder now focused on bringing the captured ship into their own, immense one.

[ 06-19-2006 12:09 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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"Phoenix stop powering up weapons, even if our countermeasures did work we still have the gravity well to deal with. Power down all nonesential systems and lock yourself down."

I made my way back to my quarters aboard the ship and placed all my weapons in their proper place. Opening the one special locker in my room revealed my old Correllian Defence Forces Dress Uniform. It took only a few minutes to put it on and straighten everything out. The uniform itself was a dark blue coat adorned with all the awards and honors I managed to amass during my time in service, the finishing touch was the cerimonial saber that I wore at my side. I decided to forgo the usual sunglasses I wear, letting them see my eyes.

"Time to say hello I guess."

(((OCC: Aaron, Yaoksi, Cel (Link), and Jebbua jump to The Dream of Those That Wake in the Empire and New Republic forums, thank you.)))

[ 06-20-2006 10:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Aaron Barnes ]

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Nothing happened.

The Master-at-Arms stiffened further, cocked his head slightly sideways to address a younger officer who stood with equal rigidity at his elbow.

"Has there been any further communication yet?" he inquired, now nodding infinitesimally toward the freighter. The younger officer merely shook his head.

"Negative, Sir," he replied, checking the padd he was carrying.

"Logistics state she has remained quiet; no protest to our tractor, no attempt to escape. She shut down all impulse the moment we snagged her, Sir; to all appearances she's on autopilot."

The Master-at-Arms merely frowned.

"That is highly unlikely," he said, one hand going to rest lightly on the butt of his blaster. He didn't draw it; no need for that yet. Now was not the time for theatrics or overplaying one's hand; now was the time for cool logic to win the day.

And cool logic stated they wait to see if the pilot of this craft would continue to remain stubbornly silent.

"Hail them again," he directed, and in moments the call went out.

"Phoenix, this is ISD Sormontato. In response to you departing from Sullust without clearance, you have been tractored aboardship. You are hereby... requested to present yourself for inquiry as to the reason behind this illegal and dangerous act.

"Sormontato, over.""

"Message sent, Sir," the officer standing for communications stated, albeit a bit unnecessarily. The Master-at-Arms merely nodded his head, stiffening further, as he and his squadron settled down into a military wait.

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

I keyed in a quick command and the boarding ramp lowered allowing me to exit.

"Phoenix lock things up until I get back and DO NOT FIRE at any of the Imperials unless you have to."

I casually walked down the ramp seeing the master-at-arms, and an Imperial officer. I cafefully walked up to the Imperial officer and offered him a salute.

"Colonel DarkSaber, Correllian Defense Force retired."

"Colonel," he said as he then turned, one arm out to the side to indicate their guest step out in the desired direction: toward the hatch leading into the outer corridor, where yet another escort stood waiting for his arrival.

"If you would go with them, Sir," the Officer continued politely, now indicating a group of four finely tuned soldiers, who might have been anything from an honor guard to a police escort. Nodding in dismissal then, the Officer backed off and motioned to the Master-at-Arms to follow them; then with another slight gesture he caught the attention of the next rated officer, drawing him off to the side and out of earshot of the newcomer.

"Do not attempt to board this vessel until you have express orders to do so," he said curtly.

"Being of a military background, this Colonel should have understood so simple a thing as the proper SOP for planetary departure; the fact that he chose not do follow such leads me to consider him with some suspicion. Any idiot would know his ship would be tractored aboard after so blatant a gaffe; his vessel may be booby-trapped."

The younger officer snapped to a smart attention, saluted.

"Aye, Sir," he replied, then barked an order equally sharp to the others. The merely came to arms, and spread themselves out in an arc about the flank of the YT-2000, barring anyone from entering or exiting it.

The older Officer nodded his approval, then whirled upon his heel, quickly departing from the docking bay to follow in the wake of the others. He couldn't help but smile a bit to himself, though, at the thought of how surprised the Colonel was certain to be in the very near future.

It wasn't just anybody who was brought directly to General Ahem, after all...

[ 06-21-2006 12:04 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by The Empire ]

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...if not more so. Cardissa had to at least give the Empire credit for that.

Cardissa turned to look at Bon Foyagee, who was daydreaming once more. "You need to give the coordinates of our destination to Captain Riven so he can program the navcomputer ahead of time. We're going to be in for a quick entrance and exit at Kati'shyn...

...unless of course anyone else here has a better idea."

She turned, tapping her pointer finger on her lips as she thought. "Getting past what will be a huge blockade at our actual destination is going to be problematic enough. We may have to tangle with the Empire regardless of what we do before our arrival there."

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

I closed my eyes, Kais, my pet nursing gently from the nutrient harness still on my shoulder. I was careful to lean to the left in the chair, as not to crush him against it. "So... have any of us been to this place? I mean, do we know what kind of planet it is at all?"

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“Stars and stars, man, that’s what it’s all about. But when one knows the stars, one only needs to open one’s eyes to find the length of a jump. Never been to the planet, man, never been. But I know the system, man, I know the paper the psychic drew, and I know the coordinates, man.”

Bon turned and walked to Stern, fire seemingly dancing in his eyes.

“Like I said before, we got our brothers everywhere, man! Even in the ranks of the oppressors, man! How you think we got the order in to deliver goods to an SSD? How you think we got news of the blockade? Man, it’s all about who you know, and what you know, and how you think they know what you do. The oppressors been heavy into this, man, and their own computers figured out what the psychic meant, man! I know where we’re going, man, and I know how to get there!”

Bon turned back to the couple in the pilot seats.

“You telling me you know right where to jump to?” I asked. “And there is a Imperial blockade around the system? And we’re just gonna waltz right in and do our business like they’re not there?”

I slumped back in my seat, holding my head.

“Well, I suppose we could jump in close, feign being lost, and hope they blast us quick. Or, hey, you got some kind of legit company, right? We could tell the truth and say we’re there to find a missing researcher and ask them if we could land.”

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

...and we need to think a step ahead of them. There is no possible way to jump from one hyperspace point to another, not unless you are knowledgeable enough to read the stars within hyperspace to make an immediate jump. Furthermore, even if you do know the stars within the hyperspace continuum enough to take such a risk, we'd still need to realign or destination...

....although it certainly seems to me you believe you can read and know the stars enough to get us to our true destination with no difficulty."

She paused, frowning. "We could crash into our escort if we aren't careful. We'll have to shake them, somehow. I doubt that our connections from within the Empire are quite powerful and influential enough to get us redirected to our intended location and through that blockade without attracting unwanted attention."

Pursing her lips in thought then, she turned to Rico. "I don't think the Empire will go for the idea that we lost a researcher where we're headed. Perhaps your idea has some possibilities however...

...I do have some ties that may be of use. My grandfather is known by the Empire, and his name will be of interest to the powers-that-be, unless they are totally uneducated in such matters.

"If they do know of him, this may help me get us where we want to go, if I can make our visit down to these Sith worlds somehow mutually beneficial...

...at least by all outward appearances."

[ 07-02-2006 07:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cardissa Mitra ]

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Thank you.))

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