I took a deep breath, opened my eyes, and forced myself to gaze unflinching out upon Hell again. From where I now stood upon the craggily eroded edge of some fairly recent and quite immense basalt flow, I had a perfect view of the stark reds and harsh yellows and cloying blacks of the Dantean inferno which splayed out before me in a nightmarish rendition of dark art. For as far as I could see there rose point after point of one rumbling volcano after another, each one doing its best in giving its not-so-mute testimony of the herculean forces that were raging beneath my very feet.

Here and there, their soaring and sometimes caldera'ed tops were wreathed by great billowing plumes of noisome gas and black ash; if it weren't for the rebreather I was wearing, I would have long ago succumbed to the lethal atmosphere which clung stubbornly to the surface of Sullust. The warm glow of the arc's occasional rivers of lava were interspersed here and there as, in a majestic and sudden display of fireworks, hidden fissures erupted into a blazing curtains of fire. Once in a while lava bombs flew out, leaving a brilliant trail behind them which only substantiated their futility in eluding this planet's grasp upon them. Like sobbing meteorites, the bombs would come whistling back to earth, impacting there with a thump oftentimes audible to me, shooting cinders and not quite crystallized blobs of semi-molten material up into the air as though in one last attempt to barter for their freedom.

Barter for freedom, I mused to myself with a little sigh. Isn't this the only thing anyone really wants in this Galaxy, their freedom? Freedom to gain personal happiness, freedom to assist others in gaining theirs, freedom to bring offspring into life without constant worry and threat hanging over one's head?

I sighed again, reaching down to pick up a little bit of volcanic glass which sparkled at my feet. For a long while I gazed into its amorphous depths, seeing my reflection staring back at me with eyes grown huge and somber. The rebreather looked like some kind of mutated insect's mandibles; unthinkingly, I reached up and adjusted it for the umpteenth time, assuring myself of its perfect fit. If it should loosen the tiniest bit, the noxious atmosphere of this wildly tectonic world would make short work of me...

...not to mention little Jhin'Darra.

Fighting back the grin which would part my sealed lips from my rebreather, I slid a hand down to my now bulging stomach. My gaze retreated from the hellish landscape and drew inward, seeing back to that fateful day when my naivete...

Oh yes, Galen Jhin'Dar; you may have thought yourself all big and tough, taking on one dark user after another as you have been doing, first on your own, then with Sorben, finally with Terrin; you may have considered yourself some kind of impeccable knight errant all along... but you're not. You're as human as anybody, and thus as subject to the sometimes unpleasant whims of Fate.

...had been thoroughly eradicated from me, leaving a cynical and distrusting and altogether quite shattered shell of my former self behind. If it hadn't been for little Jhin'Darra's comforting steady growth, as well as the equally steady love Terrin continued to pour out to me, I think I would have gone mad. In fact, I know I would have. It must have been weeks before I had managed to crawl out from the despairing pit I had been wallowing in, poking out enough to realize that hey, life goes on whether you're making yourself a part of it or not. I don't know for sure how long a time had elapsed while I lay in a mute ball in the hostel Naisra'len had found for me; nor did I know how much time had passed after I began taking new awareness of my surroundings once again.

All I knew was that I had gradually come to remembering who I was, and who those were who were with me, as well as of the pertinent fact that they had all remained here on Sullust with me, devoting themselves to keeping me and Jhin'Darra safe. It was a long time before I could even begin forming images of what had happened to me that awful night... but at length I was able to do so, and with a minimum of terror, and had at that point let forth a huge gush of mingled words and tears which poured out of my stricken soul like water over a dam. And it was only then that I began, finally, to heal.

Now I drew my gaze away from the obsidian I held between my fingers, and cocking my head cast that gaze out over the landscape once more. It remained merely that, an image from hell, one which at long last was not making me cringe away from other, less wholesome images the sight of it had always provoked within me. I closed my eyes, smiling to feel an inner door not just slam closed, but being completely ripped from its foundation. Then I opened my eyes and, clenching my fist about the shining bit of glass in my hand, I turned and began to carefully pick my way back to the barely noticeable doorway set into a deep indentation of the sharp rock.

Beyond it, I knew, lay love and light... and life.

Galen...

The road to her recovery from the events of that horrible night had started out very slowly and very rockily. For quite some time she refused to let anybody within her inner defenses, and he'd worried that she would allow the event to totally destroy her. And even when she'd at last let her inner wall start to crumble, he'd been the last person she wanted near her. She'd thought she was no longer worthy of him. That he wouldn't love her because of the cruel diflement which had been inflicted upon her person.

She had been wrong.

Though she didn't want him near her for quite some time, he'd remained nearby offering support and doing all that he could for her. He'd been between a rock and a hard place; while he hadn't wanted to push her too fast, he also knew that he couldn't completely remove himself from her. She'd needed to know that he still loved her regardless, and both pushing and completely disengaging would have been a move in the wrong direction.

So he'd stayed and waited. And as surely and as blessedly enough, the day had come when she let her guard down. Though even then it had been a struggle for her to even be in the same room with him, slowly and carefully they'd been able to bridge the gap.

Then the day came when he'd finally been able to utter the words and follow them with an action that would allay her deepest fears. He remembered it ever so clearly: she'd taken the ring he'd bought for her from her finger and given it to him. He'd dared to sit next to her, a little worried as to whether he was pushing things or not, but knowing that he needed to make one thing very, very clear. Carefully, he took her hand in his--how very tense she had been--and replaced the ring. Looked into those big beautiful brown eyes filled with unspeakable anguish with his own moistened blue ones and told her that he would not then nor would he ever stop loving her. That when she was ready he still wanted to take her as his wife, and adopt her child as his own.

Sometime either shortly before that or after, the process of healing truly began. He knew that she still was struggling, but she was fighting it, and that was progress. As each day passed yet another tiny but significant step was taken...and all the while the days grew closer to the birth of one very special little girl.

None of this could have ever taken place without the support of their faithful friends, either. Terrin was thankful for the presence of Yaoksi and his crew, as well as for the protection of Jedi Master Rean. Though the Sith hadn't shown their faces since that horrid night, Terrin knew that they were out there. But he also knew that Rean had sworn to help, and that he would. Likewise, Terrin would do everything in his power, albeit it how small, to protect.

And he would take nothing for granted.

As he shook himself from his reverie, Terrin heard a door close. She was back. Though the mountains served to protect them all, Galen, as well as the others, tended to feel cramped in the subground. For that reason, they'd all taken to occasionally stepping out in the hellish area which they found themselves surrounded. But she had done this the most. What she did out there, aside from slipping into her own thoughts, Terrin wasn't sure.

Shutting down the computer in front of him, Terrin got to his feet and ran a hand through his blonde hair. Then, after taking a moment to stretch, he sauntered out into their living area, where Jasyn and Matt tended to spend a majority of their time either drinking or playing cards. Fortunately for the moment both of them were off in their own rooms sleeping.

As she slipped the breather off, he came over to her, wisely waiting until she could see him before he approached. He smiled at her then stepped behind her, placing a hand on each of her shoulders and rubbing gently. Then he quirked a brow, noticing she was holding something in her hand.

"What's that, love?" he asked, slipping a hand underneath hers. "And how are you feeling?"

Then, waiting for her reply, he rested the side of his face atop her head as a silent reassurance that he was there.

No terror. No instinctive cringing away. No startlement, no panic, no fear, no self-loathing. Nothing.

...but a rush of warmth in turn. For a moment I stood quietly, basking in what I had thought I might lose, in fact what deep down I thought I had lost. Thank Khaandon I was utterly, terribly, and oh so very, very happily wrong in the matter.

"Mmmm...." I murmured softly, then gently detached my hand from Terrin's and raised it. As if offerring a rare treasure, I turned in his arms, and held up the obsidian.

"Look Terrin," I whispered. "See what I've found. It's a token, a bit of magick, if you will. See--" I held it up for his perusal. "It shows what was, and what will be."

Smiling now in turn, he crooked a brow as if to humor me. "No, really," I persisted. "Look." I held it up.

"See, it's black. Utterly and depthlessly." I paused, then rushed on in a voice so low as to be almost inaudible. "That's what... was...." I trailed off, and looked up into his wonderful blue eyes, seeking something there.

I found it. He knew, and was humoring me no longer. "I know, sweets," he replied, completely serious. "And here is what is yet to come, yet always has been as well."

I looked to where his pointing finger indicated the reflection of the two of us displayed in miniature in that shining surface of stone, and smiled. Then I returned my gaze to his, and pressed the obsidian into his hand.

"For you to keep, love, for always. Like us." My arms then found a home around his neck, and I pulled him to me, my heart bursting with the joyous realization that here too was not just something re-discovered, but indeed was something that had never been lost at all.

"Jhin'Darra, you mean," I said with a grin. "That's her name. I've decided to name her in honor of my father. I think that's fitting, don't you?"

I took one of his hands, and placed it on my stomach, putting my own pair possessively on top of it. It was almost as if by the gesture we were making a vow to protect this unborn one with our lives...

Then he placed his one free hand atop the two of hers that were planted firmly upon his other hand...

...his left hand. His OWN hand, as opposed to the prosthetic right one that he thought about a little less every day, while never forgetting the events surrounding his receiving it.

His smile broadened as he felt little Jhin'Darra turn a somersault within Galen's belly.

She was quite definitely and quite wonderfully coming nearer to birth.

Then taking Galen's hands in his he said, grinning and tilting his head in the direction of the kitchen, "So how about we tackle breakfast before everyone else wakes up and eats all the stash?"

Yaoksi and I hadn't talked much--our conversations had been limited to mundane things like what to make for dinner and such. I was pretty sure that he felt as uncomfortable here as I did. We were both lone rangers, riders of the spacelanes, and being planetbound equaled being sitting nerfs in our opinions.

Cella was another story. I hadn't exchanged words with her either, except in our tasks of nursing Galen. However, I'd managed to conquer most of my inferiority complex, thanks be. She still intimidated me, though...the way she and Rean conversed without words...the time we'd gathered for dinner and Yaoksi had offered to refill her drink...she'd refused with a smile and floated her glass to the dispenser as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It was uncanny.

Like the others in the compound, I waited patiently for the birth of Galen's child. But guiltily, despite myself, I wished to go back to the spacelanes, to the freedom of the smuggler's life. For Yaoksi and myself to leave these strangers and go back...

Rean and she had not had much to do with each other, in any case. Cella's own skill in healing was quite strong, and it seemed sometimes that Galen responded to her, and to the Twi'lek Naisra'len, in a way that she did not to Rean. Perhaps a woman's touch was needed?

In the weeks since, Cella had been basically isolated from the rest of the crew, speaking at mealtimes and being courteous and helpful, but little more. She and Yaoksi had to talk. She needed to tell him that she was sorry for showing up this way, for ditching him and then just bursting into his life again. There was so much she needed to say to him, to everyone...

"Morning," Terrin said. "I take it you were the winner of last night's sabaac hand."

"Actually, no," Matt said, frowning as he sat, "I just consummed about a liter less of liquor than Jasyn did. I'm exaggerating, of course. But yeah, I lost. Jasyn's probably got his winnings under his pillow hiding them for fear of losing them the next time we play cards."

"That's Jasyn for you," Terrin said, grinning. Then he turned serious. "By the way, I think I have a job for you. It'll involve some interplanetary travel, which I thought you might like."

Matt seemed to become more alert with that. "Let me hear it," he said.

"Seems the TIE fighter I promised Yaoksi a while back is ready. I got a sweet deal on a brand-spanking new one from the Senator of Sluis Van. Think you'd be interested in taking Yaoksi out there to get her? Jasyn might want to go too..."

"Actually, I'll stay here," a voice replied from the hallway. In a moment a half-asleep Jasyn entered the kitchen and sat at the table.

Terrin quirked a brow. "You sure?"

"Yeah," Jasyn said, looking a bit more alive and grinning, "Somebody's gotta take care of you kids."

Rolling his blues in amusement, Terrin leaned back in his chair. "Allright then. But don't whine if you change your mind and it's too late. Really, I'm thinking you all should be on your way as soon as possible. Today or tomorrow."

Matt nodded. "Okay by me. I guess it's up to Yaoksi though, since it's his ship we'll be taking. And he might want Naisra'len to go with him."

Matt paused a moment, frowning in thought, "So where is Yaoksi at the moment, anyway? Maybe I should give him a comm and tell him the good news..."

Terrin's fiancee wasn't the only consistently early riser in this unusual household, I mused silently, wondering to myself if she was ever aware of her constant watchdog. The first time I had heard her slip stealthily from our dwelling place every smuggler's instinct I owned went into red alert. And when I had seen her exiting into the gaping maw of the tunnel leading to the surface, it had been all I could do to keep from running up and confronting her about it. Instead, I had zipped back to our shared home, grabbed my own rebreather, and had followed her dirtside, not really knowing quite what to expect.

Every time was the same. She had picked her way over the sharp, cindery lava flow the tunnel opened to reveal, and had headed to a type of promontory. There she remained stock-still for perhaps twenty minutes or so before quietly turning around and going back the way she had come. The first time I wasn't quite certain myself if I had ducked back in time or not; if she had ever seen me shadowing her or was in any other way aware of my presence, she never spoke of it, though. So our little game of quasi-subterfuge continued, day after day. To the best of my knowledge she never told anybody about these essays, and to protect her alluded desires in the matter neither did I. But I couldn't help but think they were in some manner helping her to heal.

Now I found myself heading toward the kitchen area, seeking food. The hesitant little grin I had worn since pondering over the rebreather blossomed into a full-bore one as the words Terrin was exchanging with his crew came clearly into my ears. I quickened my step, hurrying to join into the conversation when I came upon the door to the great common room. Some little nagging demon made me glance through the doorway even as my feet were hurrying me beyond it...

...except my eyes crashed directly and quite unexpectedly into those of Cella Poliani. She was sitting in there, silent as space, and looked to be deftly creating baby clothes. An itty-bitty jedi robe, mayhap? the ornery thought rose up unbidden within me. Then I sobered with the realization that she hadn't moved her gaze from mine. My heart leapt into my throat when that was followed by another realization.

Now was the time.

Gulping some fortitude into my suddenly shaky psyche, I entered the room and came to a halt in front of her. The ensuing silence roared in my ears until at length I couldn't stand it any longer. My hand flew up to my mouth as I tried to put a wealth of thoughts and words into coherent speech. Thoughts and words which I wasn't quite certain of myself at the moment.

"Look, Cella," I finally began, a bit hesitantly. "I don't know about you, but I've been feeling that we've been tiptoeing around each other for weeks now. If we're all going to work together to look out for this woman and her baby, this has just got to cease."

I paused a moment, considering days gone by, feelings adjusted by events occurring in the interim. I let my hands drop quietly to my sides.

"I hope you don't think that I cut and ran from you back... back there," I finished, then trailed off into silence once again.

"You risked your life to finish the job when you so easily could have quit. And what did I do? I tossed your credits in your face, ran off with Jeroc, and basically said 'it's been nice knowing you, have a fun life'." She sighed heavily. "The situation was very tense and complicated, but that was no excuse for me to treat you as I did. I'm sorry."

"There's no reason to make amends, Cella," I said softly. "I don't know what's been going on in your head concerning how we started off from Ambria, but I know what's been in mine. I-- it really was a bit ridiculous of me to see things which just weren't there; I believe I owe you an apology for that."

Suddenly aware of my reddening face, I ran a hopefully distracting hand through my hair. From the way Cella kept those bright eyes pinned so clearly to mine though, I knew it didn't work. I smiled a bit crookedly, then lowered my hand and held it out to her. "I don't know all that lies ahead for us, but I'm glad to be able to be back working with you," I tried to smooth over months of unspoken thoughts and misquided feelings. She didn't hesitate, but calmly grasped my hand with her cool one, squeezing tightly as she continued to look into my eyes.

Strangely enough, there wasn't so much as one quickening beat of my heart at that touch. And stranger still, that little fact didn't seem to bother me in the slightest.

Bobbing my head in a silent dismissal, I then turned and continued on my way, a little spring inexplicably coming into my step.

Ten credits he's overheard, Terrin mused, grinning to himself. Nice to see some happy faces around here lately...

Yaoksi sat at the table trying his best to look completely oblivious to anything that was going on. Matt shot Terrin an amused look. Yaoksi either ignored that or missed it all together. Terrin had a suspicion it was the former and not the latter. He shot a lopsided grin over at Galen, who had a look of amusement herself, then leaned forward, his elbows on the table. He ran his finger along the rim of his half-drunken mug of caf.

"Sooo.." he started, fighting with the lopsided grin that was threatening to resurface, "I was talking with Matt, and it seems I've finally come upon a deal I couldn't pass up on the TIE fighter I promised you. You'd have to go pick it up at Sluis Van with Matt, but I thought it might be a nice break for you and your crew.

"The drawback is you'd have to leave as soon as possible. A deal like this one comes and goes--I'm talking a brand new, top of the line fighter at manufacturer's cost. They don't come an sweeter than that. And she's all yours, as soon as you go pick her up..."

...and it's time to space once again!

I couldn't help the idiotic grin that plastered across my face. I'm certain Terrin thought I was some kind of greedy profiteer or something, just tickled as blazes to have my property reimbursed to me, but it wasn't that. I mean, the WannaBee was a handy-dandy little ship to have, and did have her uses, but when push came to shove I did have the Bee... and one can only pilot one ship at a time.

No, it was more than that. It was the hauntingly beautiful siren call of the stars, beckoning me, beckoning that we come...

That we come???

..and lose ourselves, if only for a bit, amidst their mind-boggling splendor. I had to admit to myself: while I intended with every ounce of integrity I possessed to stay dirtside with this group, offering everything I had that they might need for as long as necessary, the fact remained that at heart I was nothing more than a vagabond and a rogue with a bad case of wanderfoot.

Ok, so maybe I wasn't a rogue.

Now I found myself outside Nassy's door, my hand raised to rap a smart tattoo upon it. After a moment's hesitation it opened, revealing an equally hesitant-looking Twi'lek. Her eyes grew deeper, darker when she saw me standing there. Then--

"Yes?" she asked simply, hiding behind her half-opened door.

I was in too good of a mood to let that bother me. "C'mon Nass," I enthused, probably overly so. "Time for a road trip!"

Hmmm. This warranted scrutiny.

The hair's-breadth passage of time suddenly expanded into an eternity, one in which I suddenly felt myself falling. Then I managed to bring myself upright once again. I gave her hand a sincere squeeze.

"Half an hour, gunner mine," I said softly. "I'll be seeing you aboard the Bee."

Then I slowly withdrew my hand from hers, and went to prepare my little infiltrator for departure. There was suddenly so much on my mind that I didn't even stop to bid anyone farewell; I just up and headed out the door. The shining specter of a spanking-new TIE-fighter was suddenly dimmed by a shadow of something far brighter, and possibly more enticing.

Slow down there buddy! No Eagle Enterprises employee, NO TIE FIGHTER!

Matt had to wonder exactly what was going on with the smuggler; wasn't like him to just up and leave.

Maybe he has something else on his mind? Matt mused. Somehow he didn't think a mere TIE-fighter was making the smuggler this hyper-happy.

Sticking his head in the kitchen door, Matt addressed Terrin. "I'll be in contact, but I think if I don't move I'm going to miss my ride."

Terrin nodded and saluted his assistant with a grin on his face. "If you don't call me, I'll call you," he said.

Smiling back, Matt told everyone goodbye and headed out.

Something told him that if he didn't get on the ball and get to the Bee that Yaoksi would completely unintentionally forget him...

Something was definitely wrong, and he knew the Sith had just gotten deadlier.

For a long moment I couldn't do anything but remain frozen in that position, grimly hanging on until the waves of pain subsided. At last they receded, releasing me from their steely grasp, and I was able at last to fully let go that breath.

"Wha- what was that?" I blinked as, panting, I turned back and forth between Terrin, who's supportive hands had flown to my shoulders, and the equally stunned Master Rean. The jedi seemed to be pulling himself together from an equally powerful and unseen blow, his clear eyes suddenly clouded with deep concern over something. Seeing that look in his eyes, my hand flew to my stomach; I clearly felt one final, almost defiant kick; then all quieted down within. Frowning, I waited to hear what Rean would have to say about this latest mystery.

Fear? When had it come to this?

Well, consider your variables. You have two people here who have ability to sense the Force, and BOTH have just doubled over in pain...

Terrin tensed a bit further as the grim possibilities began narrowing to a few utterly terrifying results.

...what about the baby...?

As if on cue to that thought, Galen's hand shifted to her stomach, and she tensed.

No, no, no. Please not another calamity, not NOW...

Suddenly, as if it were dealt by some divine hand, Terrin suddenly found within himself a spark of determination that he wasn't even aware of til it surfaced.

They'd made it this far, through this much Hell. He wasn't about to let them lose now what they'd fought so long and hard for. Whatever was happening in this horrible moment, they'd face it. And somehow they'd survive.

Sensing Galen's tension release only a fraction, he gazed at her a moment as the frown grew on her face and she directed a questioning look to Rean.

As he turned to look at the Jedi, Terrin prepared himself for the look he knew he'd probably see in the Jedi's face.

"Rean?" he asked as the Jedi seemed to regain his senses. Jasyn had placed a hand on the man's shoulder as if to steady him. "What's going on?"

I looked at my miserable hand, then scowled at the Idiot's Hand Matt had just splayed out so nonchalantly. Between his incredible run of luck, not to mention that of my gunner's, I was rapidly approaching a state of affairs where I'd have to find a run on Sullust, just to reimburse myself what I was losing here.

I scowled even more blackly, and threw my cards down in disgust. Matt chuckled with glee, and leaned forward to scrape in his winnings. Even Nassy joined him in muted laughter, though her small pile of credits was starting to dwindle a bit as well.

I leaned back in my chair, and flipped the switch disengaging my portable sabaac set. Matt froze in mid-scrape, and pinned his eyes into mine. I only scowled more deeply.

"No, I'm not letting you win just because Eagle Enterprises is giving me a new TIE," I muttered with a mock grumble. "Nor do I plan on financing your organization for the upcoming fiscal year."

"In other words, the buck stops here?" Matt smiled as he pocketed his winnings. Then he took a sip of the sparkling water we were all imbibing in. Nassy looked to him, to me, back to him, and grinned.

Now I let the grin I had been struggling to keep at bay burst out on my face. "All right, all right, I'll go another round if that's how you two are gonna be about it!" I relented. Nassy only cocked her brows at that, a slim hand raising to hide the smile playing prettily about her face. Matt had no such self-restrictions; he grinned like a rancor after dinner.

"Your funeral, pal!" he commented as he sat back, waiting for me to deal.

I sighed, beginning to shuffle the cards. "You know," I brought up a sudden thought. "I was just wondering if I could have your imput on something." I paused for a bit, awared that both Nassy and Matt had sobered, and were quietly waiting for me to continue.

"It's about what's going on back on Sullust." I waved an expansive hand. "Nassy has brought up before that she thinks it would not behoove us to remain like sitting worrts all in one spot; on one hand I sorta agree with her. Yet on the other, Sullust is a good place to hide. But I wonder if it is the most appropriate place in the galaxy to raise a baby...

"...not that I'm saying that's what the plan is," I amended hastily. "I'm just trying to figure out what that best plan would be. Not to mention I'm wondering how you think we can truly hide from Sith if they really do want to get their hands on that baby. You saw how easily that creature came and..."

I brought myself to a sudden halt, seeing a thundercloud beginning to condense in Matt's eyes. I held out my hands in surrender.

"Hey, I'm not planning a mutiny here or anything, pal," I continued; then, setting the cards off to one side I leaned forward and laced my fingers together. "I'm just trying to determine the best course of action for us, as a group. I realize we have these two Jedi with us to watch out and assist, but you know how they can be. Only acting in self-defense, and all that holier-than-thou rot.

"Me, I'm a guy who's a bit more action oriented. Yet something tells me that if we stay where we are there's gonna be more action than I want to deal with, or place my crew in direct line of fire of... not to mention the emotions of a gal who's already taken in way too much pain than anyone ought to see in fifteen lifetimes."

I sat back, running my hands down my face, wondering what the hell it was that I was trying to say. Why I was asking Matt, instead of waiting until we got back to speak directly with Terrin. Then it hit me, and I struggled on.

"I think Captain Danner is too close to the issue here, personally I mean. Maybe you are far enough removed to be able to use more logic; I know he wants nothing more than to keep Galen safe, and so far, outside of-- of, ahh... the incident... it has in fact been quiet.

"I think too quiet. What about you?"

Sullust WAS a good hiding place. They were safe from prying eyes and ears there. But then, considering the Sith they were dealing with, that DIDN'T mean bantha poodoo.

And the Jedi? Well, they always seemed to have a nack for either showing up RIGHT AFTER something terrible happened or disappearing right before. Though Cella Poliani HAD defended Galen against the Noghri back on Khar Delba...

But what would happen when defending themselves crossed the line of Jedi defense/offense? Would they be left high and dry, in an area where they could be potentially TRAPPED as well as hidden from everyone else?

And what would Terrin think of all this if Matt found himself agreeing with Yaoksi that they should move? Would he bothered that they'd come to such a conclusion without his being a part of the discussion? But then, maybe Terrin WAS too close to the situation. Maybe he needed to hear some brutal honesty from a good friend...

Sighing, Matt leaned back. "Something tells me we should give Master Rean and Jedi Poliani a fair shot at trying to protect Galen and the baby. But," Matt added, pausing to gather his thoughts, "You might be on to something in that it's been too quiet too long. I know Terrin just wants a peaceful life and a good home for Galen and the baby, but if we stay still too long we could be setting ourselves up for trouble.

"None of these transactions have Terrin's name on them," she observed. "Thinks he's hiding from us, no doubt."

Izzy warbled something.

"Yes, yes I know he's doing a pretty good job of hiding on Sullust from us you rusting tin can."

Izzy blew a raspberry and began to roll away. Shayla merely looked up at the droid as she began to drift and rolled her eyes. "Come back here you. I'm just irritated I can't find him. He always had a knack for business and stealth. But there's got to be something he's missed."

Bleeping something quizzical, Izzy rolled back.

"Oh really?" Shayla questioned back, glancing at the datapad again. Biting her lip, she stared at the data streaming across it as she thought. "Maybe you are on to something. Keep an eye on that, would you?" she asked. "I think we will be coming up on Sullust soon, I'm going to head back to the cockpit. You let me know if you pull anything of use."

Bleeping an affirmative, the droid headed for a terminal as Shayla stood and headed for the cockpit where Leev stood watching vigilantly.

When do these Sith ever quit?

As if to mock his thought, a little shoulder devil popped up and whispered in his head, Never.

Shut up, you, Terrin answered mentally. Then he reminded himself, Nothing has happened to us, not yet. And having Master Rean and Cella Poliani around just might give us some levity to work with if something should happen. Take it one step at a time, buddy. You are doing everything you possibly can at the moment to protect Galen and Jhin'Darra. And Rean is doing his part in trying to find out what exactly is going on. Pal, you'd better keep a level head on your shoulders.

Turning from his thoughts, he looked over at Galen, whose look was fairly unreadable. But somehow he didn't have to see any sort of look at all to know that she was worried. Probably more than that, considering what had happened the last time the Sith popped up.

Dammit all, he just wanted her to feel safe, he wanted her to be calm and at ease. He wanted to provide a good safe home for them to raise little Darra in. Since when were these sort of things too much to want for one's own family? he mused.

One thing at a time, Terrin. One thing at a time, a little voice reminded.

Placing a hand on her knee, he waited a moment until her gaze met his, unable to give voice to the worries she undoubtedly knew he had, let alone the worries of her own.

It was just that I was suddenly so deeply angry that I simply had to hit something... and as handy as Terrin's presence was at the moment, I was afraid it was going to be him. Resisting the urge to lash out, I clenched my fists and jaws, pursing my lips tightly together.

It wasn't fair; it just wasn't fair. There was nothing I hated more than being a pawn in some sort of celestial grand scheme, my life under no direction of my own no matter how I strove to manage it. It wasn't fair that this child I carried was destined to be some sort of super-Jedi, forced to that lofty throne by the effects produced when my sister had gone into that cave so long ago, and had done... something. Who was I, to be chosen out of the bajillions of sentients in this galaxy, to bear this kind of yoke? And Terrin, did he deserve such a family? And little Jhin; what about her?

But then... whoever said life was fair. Khaandon knows Dad never once mentioned anything of the sort....

I scowled into middle space, trying to think, my one hand slowly unclenching to top that of Terrin's upon my knee, the other moving to lightly rest upon my bulging stomach. Then my expression lightened as I thought of something. I sat up as quickly as I could, crooking an eyebrow as I wondered to myself if....

"Be right back, love," I murmured hurriedly as I clambered awkwardly to my feet. Then, after kissing the top of Terrin's head, I headed out of the kitchen and back to our room. There I rummaged about in my belongings until I came upon the item I had suddenly thought of. I looked down at it as it lay in my hand, glinting silver and black in the dim light of our room, and shivered. Something within me was urging me to go toss it into the nearest volcano... but instead I closed my fingers about it and placed it carefully in my pocket. Then I headed off to the one person I could think of who might be able to know what to do with this thing.

Master Rean looked up from his position of intense concentration as I burst unceremoniously into his quarters. "Yes, how can I--" he began, before grinding to a halt before the expression I knew was planted on my face. Hurriedly, so as to not let my momentum fade, as well as to try to cover up my rather rude entrance into his quarters, I reached into my pocket and drew out the item. I held it out to him.

He actually shivered to see its lethal beauty laying there against the coolness of my skin, all silvery black, and looking for all the world like some sort of weirdly articulated metal finger. A large and empty opening pocked its surface at its widest, mute testimony to the fact that something had once occupied the place but was now quite obviously missing. A mysteriously deadly aura hung over it, as if to hint to the fact that the missing something had brought unimaginable lethality to this device... but that it was scarcely less lethal without it.

Rean shivered again, his long blond hair flipping back along his back, and he slowly reached out a hand toward the thing. I held it out to him; it was almost as if it were a magnet somehow drawing the two of us together. For a moment we regarded each other over the myriad nasty promises this device was somehow projecting. At last I found my voice.

"I took it off my sis- off of that lady Sith who goes by the name of Graysith," I breathed in a low whisper. "What the hell is it, and can we use this in any way against them?"

"Out with it, buddy," he said, breaking the silence.

The words snapped Jasyn from his reverie. "What? Oh, I was just thinking."

"About...?"

"Do you think that...that maybe we should..." Jasyn halted for a second to collect and word his thoughts. "Is staying holed down here on Sullust the best idea if the Sith may be up to something?"

Terrin sighed a bit, then leaned back. "So, tell me where else we can go," he asked back curiously but not harshly.

"Well...I don't know. I just feel antsy sitting around here while they could be on the move most anywhere."

"I know, I know. And don't think that this very thing hasn't occurred to me. But we are underground here, and that protects us to some extent at least from other possible enemies. We also operate under different IDs here, which adds another level of protection. The way I see it, staying holed up here in the underground of Sullust at least keeps us away from prying eyes and ears. If we move now we'll attract unwanted attention, I think."

Jasyn seemed to mull over this a bit. "Yeah, maybe. But should we have a back up location just in case we have to bust out of here?"

Terrin bit his lower lip a bit as he thought that over. "Yeah, maybe we should. For now, however, I think it best to stay where we are. Not only for the safety reasons, but for the fact that Galen's about to have a baby, and she'll need the most secure and constant environment we can provide. She is, as well as Galen, my main concern. If the situation should arise in which we decide it would be best to move out, however, we will, I promise."

Jasyn nodded. "Allright, I see where you are coming from. But I'll be looking through some data to see if there's a good back-up option, should we need it. Always best to stay a step ahead if possible."

"I agree, completely."

"We may be going to the surface soon, depending upon how long it takes me to find Danner's group."

Leev nodded solemnly. "Proteeect you Missstress at all costs, I will."

Shayla smiled at the Noghri with gratitude. "I have no doubts about that, my loyal bodyguard." Then, turning to Izzy, "We must discuss your recent findings."

Izzy warbled in excitment, words scrolling across the datapad at such a rate that Shayla had to back up to read them all once she leaned over to look at the datapad.

"Slow it down, girl," she said grinning. Then, releasing the datapad from her grip and letting it again fall to the R2 unit's side, she cupped her chin in thought. "This I believe could lead us right to them," Shayla at last said. "Although I'm certain I could reach out and find the child's Force-presence, I hesitate to do that because any nuance in the Force may tip them off." Then she added, frowning, "Especially if there are Jedi with them."

The Jedi. You forgot about the stupid Jedi. If they aren't there protecting that kid they're dumber than a dozen drunken Hutts.

They are there. And you will face them if that is what must be done.

And you will succeed. In this, another step towards your True Potential will be complete...

He turned back to Galen. "Much has been asked of you, and I do not wish to ask more. But now is our time. I can help both of you if you are willing."

"What the HELL?!" Jasyn stammered, tripping to his feet as he stood and hurried out of the kitchen before Terrin could get a word out.

Well Hell, he just took the words right out of his mouth!

As the two of them entered the common area, they were met by an altogether eerie and disturbing sight. There, in the chair where Cella Poliani had been sitting, sat no one. Sprawled out on the floor in front of her chair was a needle, haphazardly dropped there, as well as an unfinished baby's dress.

Squatting, Terrin picked up the half-made garment and stared at it, a sudden tingle rising up his spine.

The last time something like THIS happened...

"Terrin?" Jasyn called quietly.

He shuddered as the rest of his thought played itself out.

...Oh GODS please...not AGAIN...not NOW...

Suddenly feeling an urgent need to check on Galen, to make sure she was still there, Terrin snapped to his feet, heading out of the common area without a word to Jasyn. His ears keenly attuned to the voices coming from his office, he immediately recognized the voice of Master Rean. Hurriedly, he followed it.

As he stepped in and saw Galen next to the Jedi Master, Terrin let out the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. As the adrenaline slowed a bit, he stepped in behind Galen, tuning in to Rean's words, and what he had been showing Galen just as he had arrived.

Rean? Rean had done this to Poliani? Who WAS this guy...? Why had he zapped the other Jedi who was here to help them?

...What if, after all this time, they were doomed to find out that this guy had something to do with the Sith that they had been trying to stay away from...?!

Instinctively, he stepped a bit closer to Galen, slitting his eyes at Jedi Master Rean as if looking at someone he'd never seen in his life.

As if responding to some mysterious cue, Rean addressed Terrin's thoughts immediately as he spoke to he and Galen both. "Please do not consider my actions to be equal to that of the Sith. As I said, the Claw focuses the All to the wearer's wants. I couldn't help but feel frustrated with Cella's poor judgment where you are concerned. I myself momentarily lost sight of just how powerful this weapon can be. Please forgive my momentary loss of senses; I am indeed here to help."

Still feeling suspicious and probably covering it miserably, Terrin mulled over the Master's words. The All? What the HELL was the All? The Force he'd heard of...but the ALL...?

As this very thought passed through his mind, Terrin heard Rean say to Galen, "Much has been asked of you, and I do not wish to ask more. But now is our time. I can help both of you if you are willing."

Now, what was THIS about? Were they going to use...that Claw thing on one of the Sith? And what was it that he wanted to ask of them? Of Galen?

Deciding to give the Jedi Master at least a chance to explain, Terrin cocked a questioning brow, waiting to see just what Rean had in mind.

No...not through the Force. This was something entirely more encompassing than just that, and it felt very similiar to other experiences Shayla had recently found herself in...with the Sith, no less. The jolt was...through the All?!

Concerned for her Sister and the ones on Khar Delba, Shayla reached out to them, immediately calmed to find that they were all safe. Then she slitted her eyes as something occurred to her.

If that blast hadn't come from something one of them did...

...Did someone else have control of the All who Graysith and the others were not yet aware of? At least someone that she was unaware of? Could it have been the Child? No, no, there was someone else, someone with more control than that the Child possessed at this point in time...

Settling her mind and clearing of questions, Shayla found that she was being lead to the source of that blow, to someone on the very planet she was orbiting. Suddenly it was of great importance to find out who this was and discover if this person would aid the Sith in their quest or if this was one who would stand in the way. A niggling in the back of Shayla’s mind indicated the latter.

How extremely unusual that this one was on Sullust, where Terrin and that woman were. Were they aware of the Child and her potential?

Setting herself to the urgent task now at hand, Shayla prepared to land her ship on Sullust, determined to uncover the source of this disturbing anomaly...

The ALL??? What in Hell's Seven Circles was THAT? I wondered, my eyes widening in not a little fear. Is that what those... those CREATURES, including my dear ex-sister, have at their disposal? Is THAT how they have so easily managed to thwart us at every turn, to pop in and out of existence so nonchalantly, to so offhandedly throw despair and conflict and anguish and pain at us time and time again? Is THAT what Jharmeen somehow got herself wrapped up in, way back there on that obscure little world in that hidden little cave?

Another thought slammed into me, and my eyes widened further. Is THIS what little Jhin'Darra now has within her as well... and does this mean she is destined to follow in the shoes of the evil that has been chasing us for a seeming eternity?

And why in Hell's Seven Circles can this guy use it as he did? He made Cella disappear just like others in our party had likewise vanished, or had appeared to do so. And he did say that weapon was one of the SITH...

and I had handed it over to him like a child hands his future into the hands of his elders.

Those last few thoughts were enough for me, the final bits of Imperial armor that broke the dewback's back. Without realizing it, I began shaking my head, slowly at first but then picking up momentum. "No," I said softly. "No." I drew in a breath, and released it in a strengthening crescendo of denial.

"No, no, no, no, NO!"

Then, before either Terrin or Rean could react, I leapt forward, my hand flashing out, fingers coming into contact with the menacing device still laying in Rean's hand. Non-thinking, aware only of the potential danger inherent in this device...

IN THE HANDS OF AN ALL-USER. JEDI USED THE FORCE!!!

...I whirled and burst from the common room. It really must be true what they say about desperation lending wings to one's feet; as pregnant as I was, if asked I would have stoutly denied an ability to scarcely waddle along, let alone run. But run I unexpectedly found myself able to do, and run I did, out of our home, out into the streets, unthinking, blind to everything about me but the fact that a terrible weapon was finally in our midst...

AS WAS ONE WHO COULD USE THE ALL. JEDI USED THE FORCE!!!

...a weapon that I had pressed Terrin to take, evoking the even greater ire of my sister and those hellish demons who accompanied her. All I could see was the horrible image of Terrin floating in that bacta tank, one arm gone... all I could think of was the fact that that had happened immediately after we had stolen the Nar Kelba.

I didn't even want to go anywhere near imagining what would happen as a result of our stealing this thing, but obstreperous images persisted in forming in my head. One of which was a smiling and heavenly blond Rean, his manner placid, his robes glowing whitely angelic... the ire of the Sith lurking beneath that humble surface like a wolf in a fold. Whether or not that was true was something I didn't want to gamble this weapon on; it simply had to be destroyed.

Cella. Cella had been sent away. Not Jasyn, or me, or Terrin, but the sole Jedi we truly knew of who was in our midst....

Now I found myself hurrying through the tunnel with which I had already gained such intimacy, my one hand clutching the Claw tightly, the other reaching into my pocket to take my rebreather and place it on my face. In but moments more I burst out of the tunnel's mouth, slamming my body onto the noxious surface of Sullust. Around me the atmosphere was dark with red-bellied clouds of ash and noisome gases; a volcano had apparently erupted somewhere fairly close to us. I didn't let that little detail bother me. This was far too important.

A quick glance behind me assured me that no one else had followed me from the tunnel.

Good. I knew the surface of this area of Sullust in a radius of about two to three kilometers from that tunnel mouth. As far as I knew, Terrin didn't. Lord knows he had had demons of his own to exorcise, but he hadn't been raped by--

That thought gave my feet added impetus. Without even stopping, I flew over the craggy lava flow the tunnel opened to greet, spotted the opening of a lava tube which I already knew led to a veritable underground labyrinth, and flew into it.

Bidding everyone a quiet goodnight, I had then gone to my quarters, only to find sleep elusive. With another sigh leading the way, I had then turned and made my way back to the bridge. All was quiet there; the Devil-May-Care was quite adept at taking care of herself for the most part when left to her own devices. For an extended time-wasting moment, I passed my hand across her navboard, scrutinizing the instruments and readouts to determine that all was indeed as well as it appeared. The revelation that all was green only provoked another sigh from me, and I slumped into my Captain's chair.

The question of what lay ahead of us all quite effectively dampened the joy I should be yet feeling in regard to obtaining a replacement TIE. Scowling, I plopped my head against my fist, elbow on the arm of my chair, and tried to let my mind go blank. Usually such mental exercises resulted in a sort of freeflow of thought, one through which answers to present problems oftentimes presented themselves.

But not this time. I sighed again.

A soft footstep behind me announced the arrival of my gunner; with a little start, I turned to regard her. "You couldn't sleep either, ey?" I offered with a somewhat wan smile. Then it dimmed, and I turned back to my navboard.

There came a hesitant touch... and then the two hands upon my shoulders tightened, and began kneading, poking deftly here and there to eliminate the knots which had formed over the last half hour or so.

"I know I'm tense," I said to the unspoken question. One hand raised to rub my face, coming down to rest lightly atop one of her slender ones. That hand froze where it lay; I was just beginning to turn to her, suddenly quite willing to just not plan or wonder or simply not think any longer, to just let the moment flow of its own device, when an ornery light began to flash on the commboard. I pursed my lips in a wry smile, looking up into Nassy's dark eyes and quite unreadable expression, then turned back and flicked the communications relay switch. Words obediently began scrolling across my data screen.

It was all I could do to keep my jaw from dropping as, my own eyes now wide, the slowly growing magic of the moment was lost in an instant. I turned back to Nassy.

"Somehow...Master Rean has sent Cella off to Kessel!" I exploded, unable to quite fathom the words which were coming forth from my mouth. "We're to deviate immediately and retrieve her at once."

Nassy's hands tightened in consternation upon my shoulders as I turned back, plotting a new course into the cyberbrain of my wonderful ship. Space shuddered into real-time as we dropped from hyperdrive; then Devil-May-Care nosed about for a bit and in a motion reminiscent of a podracer's leap from the start, took space and stretched it about herself once again.

Still scarcely believing this unexpected transmission... not to mention the undercurrent of trepidation it carried with it... I sat back in my chair again, my eyes glued unseeing to the viewscreen ahead of me. Nassy's hands merely tightened on my shoulders once more, and we headed off on our unexpected mission of mercy.

Something doesn't fly here. And so long as Galen isn't trusting this guy, neither am I, regardless of what he's done to help us. Some might call that betrayal, I call it acting in one's own best interests. Sometimes you gotta go with your gut no matter how harsh the reaction may seem.

"You stay here," Terrin said coolly.

As he said that, Jasyn appeared in the doorway. Terrin turned to his employee and friend. "You keep Master Rean company. I've gotta contact Matt. I'll explain later. We'll have alot of talking to do."

Jasyn gave Terrin a short nod to indicate understanding.

Needing no further indication, Terrin left for his and Galen's room where he commed Matt. In moments, his assistant was on the line.

"Matt Stanza of Eagle Enterprises. How may I help you?"

"Matt, this is Terrin."

Matt hesitated a moment, sensing unease. "What is it?"

"We have a big problem pal, a big problem. I'll explain more later, but Galen's gone with the Claw. I'm guessing she intends to destroy it, but I couldn't follow her in time to know. I was...behind with Rean."

"Can't Rean help you locate her?" Matt asked.

"I don't want Rean's help," Terrin replied darkly. "We have a huge problem, and there's no other way around this than I need you back here as soon as possible. And I've gotta find Galen, I'm worried about her."

"Okay, here's what we'll do. You work on finding Galen. I'll talk to Yaoksi right now and comm you as soon as we have a plan. Allright?"

"Terrin just commed. Galen's missing, and something's happened with Rean that's really got him worried. He wants us to come back ASAP, but I'm thinking we need a plan, since this was our trip to go get the TIE fighter. However, I want to get back to him with something very soon, so we need to think fast. Suggestions, anyone?"

Yet again I found my hands up to my face, trying to rub some semblance of normalcy into my head. It wasn't working very well; Matt's surprising announcement only served to strengthen a sneaky suspicion that our little universe was beginning to unravel at a rapidly quickening rate.

I blew out my cheeks, and after glancing quickly at Nassy, turned to Matt.

"I just received communication from Master Rean that he somehow has sent--yeah, that's what I said, SENT!-- Cella off to Kessel. Somehow; don't ask me what THAT entails. But he did implore us nicely enough to go retrieve her asap. I only just now plotted our new course."

I paused for a moment, as the full impact of the latest information from Sullust hit me.

Rean sends the only other Jedi off to Kessel, then asks us to go get her, adding to the time of our trip and ETA back on Sullust. Meanwhile, Terrin has informed Matt that something of a highly suspicious nature is revolving about said Master Rean... and in the middle of all this, Galen has disappeared.

Now... what was wrong with this picture?

Slowly I removed my hands from my face, and cast a quick glance at the navboard. Every instinct within me was screaming to turn tail and hotfoot it back to Sullust. Thank the gods of the universe for the one logical portion that insisted we get another Jedi back into our happy little crowd.

Knight Errant rushing to rescue Faiyre Damsel in distress....

Forcing myself to act like a Captain, I settled back into my seat. "The TIE is just going to have to wait," I found myself saying, totally eradicating the last remnants of joy I still harbored about it. "We'll go pick up Jedi Poliani; something tells me we're going to be needing her. Then we'll get back to Sullust in all due haste."

Without waiting for any reply, I turned to the navboard and played it like an instrument. The blizzard of starstreaks stretched further into physical impossibilities as with no further ado, Devil-May-Care doubled her velocity. I glanced at my chrono; with luck we ought to be back beneath the volcanic surface of the resort planet in only a couple of cycles.

Well, Logan was no longer here, that was for certain. Cella was nearly positive that he, Jeroc, and Thea were back on Yavin IV. Her thoughts wandered wryly to the Sith weapon that had flung her unwillingly across the seas of space and time. Seems like every time we get rid of one of those pesky Sith relics, another one pops up. I think they made enough nasty little "suprises" to fill the Senate building on Coruscant...they just haven't been all found yet.

Then her thoughts took a darker, more brooding turn. Why am I here? I am supposed to be--I was MEANT to be with Galen, tending her and protecting her baby. But that meddlesome, holier-than-thou so-called Jedi Master plays around with a Sith toy and puts me here!

Anger seeped into her mind like a red wine stain spreading across a white table cloth. Make him pay, said the darkness. You can, you know. You always could. You just never had the courage to use the power that was rightfully yours.
Shut up, Cella told the voices. But they persisted.
Make him pay. Open yourself to the darkness! You wouldn't have to keep using it. And it would feel so good. Quick, easy. Kill him and have done with it. And then go about your life as if nothing ever happened. Easy...You could do it...Revenge.

"Shut UP!!!" screamed Cella, slamming her head against the wall she leaned on. The cry echoed weakly across the arid plains. The throbbing pain in her head distracted her, but only briefly.
You would not have to sit here banging your head on a wall like a wild woman if it weren't for Rean. Face it, Cella Poliani, HE did this to you. And he meant to. He wanted you out of his way so he could have Galen's baby for her own. The only way to protect that child is to kill him.

He should have gone with his gut instincts to begin with. He should have known better.

And now she'd gone somewhere and he had no clue where she was.

He'd seriously entertained the notion of heading out and looking for her himself, the fact remained he didn't know where she'd gone. In the labrinyths surrounding them, she could be just about anywhere. And what if he wandered off after her and she came back? Jasyn would be here with Rean. But he'd be here with Rean.

What were they going to do about this guy? Someone he'd trusted for so long, but now was unsure of more than just a little bit?

What, just exactly what, were they going to do?

His thoughts were interrupted by a comm signal. Surprisingly, the voice on the other end of the connection was not Matt, but Yaoksi Joao himself, informing him that they'd be back in about two cycles, just as soon as they picked up Cella Poliani.

Two days? Something would have to be done way before then. Something needed to be done NOW, if he had to go out on his own to find her.

"Okay, I have to admit I agree with the logic of picking up Poliani first. But my fiancee is missing, and it is of great importance to me that I find her. I have an idea what she's doing, but with all that has happened, having her go missing like this really worries me. So, if you, or anyone onboard for that matter, have ideas of where she might have run to, I'd like to hear them."

I picked my way carefully, not paying a lick of attention to the twists and turns I was travelling through. I had stumbled across this system the first day I had dragged myself from the morass of despair I had been wallowing in, and had gone within seeking... exactly what at that time, I hesitated to say. Point being that I had found what existed at the end of a particular tunnel deep beneath the surface, and had been there often afterwards. It proved a perfect place for contemplation, considering what I had gone through, as well as those who had come to be associated with me.

A dim red glow in the distance began to brighten as I finally approached that which I now was seeking yet again. The craggy rocks about me began to take on a deeply reddish hue as that glow reflected off of their oxidized walls, intensifying their rusty tones with an outline of fire. Those walls were practically glowing as I came to an end to this particular lava tube: my footsteps delicate and determined, I stepped over a basalt projection and onto the lip of what at first appeared to be a cliff. Cliff it was not, however: I stood on the edge of an open fracture in the tube I was in, one which was probably created by on-going seismic activity, and one which revealed the presence of a second, deeper, and very much still-occupied lava tube that ran about 120 meters beneath the very one I had been travelling through. Clutching the circular rim of a nearby vesicle, I leaned carefully forward.

The heat blasting up from that lower tube was incredible; I gasped as it struck my face, carrying with it the blindingly gagging odor of rotten eggs. The lava river was moving quickly, too quickly for any sort of crust to form upon it; it's varying shades of orange and red and yellow writhed and twined together, then broke apart, then whirled and swirled in an continuous molten dance. I coughed a bit, gripping the little vesicle's sharp edge even tighter, as the cooler air of the tunnel behind me rushed back in a kamikaze desire to join with the raging fumes below.

For a moment I stood there, my mind flashing back to that one day of despair, that one day when I knew that my life, the lives of my companions, and the life of my baby girl would never belong to us again. That day when I felt there would be no way we would ever be free of the evil that sought us, that day when I realized that I had brought to these people the exact danger I had left Sorben for... that day when I had come so very, very close to leaping into that river of lava and just ending it all, right then and there.

Thank Khaandon a focusing kick from little Jhin'Darra had brought me to my senses.

I drew in a deep breath, and immediately coughed. OK, no better time than the present, I thought to myself. This Sullustan fire goddess didn't get me, but she's gonna get a much better sacrifice....

I took one last look at the thing in my hand, and threw it out over the river of 2,000 degree molten rock.

It soared out and down, lit up by the fires below, a symbol of one small victory over the pervasive Evil we would be followed by forever, arcing away like a small meteor seeking death in the planetary atmosphere it was racing through, now glowing a deep pinkish orange as the temperatures began to play their heated dirges upon it...

...and came to an abrupt halt about two meters from the surface of the lava. There it hung, defying physics, defying common sense, defying gravity... and defying me.

"Wha--?" I began, but got no further. As fast as a dianoga strikes, Sullust came alive beneath my feet. It was as though its fire goddess was angered that the sacrifice not only had not been made, but was taunting her out of sheer delight. A deep rumble came into my ears as a subterranean fault moved mere millimeters; not much in the grand scheme of things, but enough to cause the lava tube system to vibrate in reply. To my horror, I found my fingers losing their grip on their precarious hold on that little vesicle; I found my free arm pinwheeling as I tottered, my balance threatened, the certainty of the ground beneath my feet certain no longer.

A scream of primal terror ripped through my throat and pushed through my clenched teeth as I toppled from the edge of the fracture and tumbled toward the molten lava rushing hungrily below. It didn't echo long, but was literally blasted from my lungs as I came to a sudden and bone-shaking halt upon a tiny projection of basalt about eight feet below the place where I had stood. Instinct took over, and my scrabbling hands found something to hold on to, gripping for all they were worth, and slowly I came to the realization that I wasn't going to die in the lava after all. I'd probably choke to death on the fumes instead, which were strong enough to overpower the laboring rebreather I still managed to grip between my teeth. Shakily, I got to my feet to examine my little haven, wincing at the pain in my side produced by the impact. I chose to ignore the sharper and more insistent pains which began flaring occasionally and far, far deeper inside me.

The projection was only about four meters long, and perhaps two and a half meters wide. The basalt wall rose up behind me in a concave curve, one that I hadn't a chance in hell of scaling. Curved as it was, it effectively formed a little pocket of trapped air which was heated by the proximity of the lava. I cringed away from it, and carefully sat down.

I was trapped. There wasn't a thing I could do. All I could do was put my head in my hands and wonder if I'd ever be found, or if I should just go back to my original plan about this hellish place and leap out into the embrace of the lava after all.

Maybe you are losing your mind. Maybe you ARE wasting time. But there's a reason Galen ran from this guy, and you still have to trust HER over Rean. She comes first. Not this guy.

Closing his eyes a moment, Terrin answered Rean softly. "I can't trust you right now. I just can't. If something happens to her as a result of this..."

He sighed, the very idea sending a tingle up his spine. If something happened to her that would just kill him...

"...then I'll take the full responsibility for it. I trust her and I love her, and I've got do what I feel she would want. You've just got to understand that, if you are who you say you are."

Turning back to the comm in his hand, Terrin spoke into the device. "Yaoksi? Anyone come up with anything? Time is ticking..."

I snapped my mouth shut, and glanced a touch worriedly over to Nassy. To my utter surprise, she was frowning at me, her arms and lekku crossed.

It was as if she knew....

I blew out my cheeks again. OK, so Galen's privacy was no longer an issue. Giving Nass a wan little smile, I turned back to the comm.

"Ahh, there is one place I can think of where she might have gone," I began hesitantly. "After- after what had happened to her, she would often sneak out in the wee hours and go up to the surface. I, ahh... I would follow behind, you know, not letting her know I was there, ummm.... just to make sure that nothing happened to her again."

I paused a moment, uncomfortably aware of what nuances might be read into that statement. Then I pressed on.

"She would just go out a bit from Tunnel 43-G and stand on an edge of rock, looking at the landscape. I'd hang behind her, hiding. I never saw her go anywhere other than that, so I don't know if this information is going to be of any use to you or not."

Frowning, I pursed my lips. "We'll get there as quickly as we can, Terrin. Devil-May-Care out."

...and what about the incident in the kitchen from earlier about the Sith? What if they move when she's all alone? At least if you are WITH Rean, you'll know what's going on. Not knowing is just utter Hell...

"Allright," he said at length. "We're all going. I don't want anybody left behind because I don't know who to truly trust at the moment. But if Galen's in trouble, we've absolutely got to find her. Rean--leave your weapons. Jasyn, get a pack in case we need some supplies."

"Done," Jasyn said, slinging a pack on his back.

"Okay, lead the way, Master Rean. And if Galen's not at the end of the path you take us on...

"Is it just me, or do both of you boys smell a big fat vrelt here?" I raised my brows, drumming my fingertips on the bulkhead I was leaning against. "Cella is gone, Galen is gone...and all of this was set in motion when Master Rean showed up. Maybe he isn't exactly evil, but there's something pretty funny about all this."

I continued speaking, seeing that I had the attention of both Matt and Yaoksi. "Cella was there to help us. I didn't know her too well, but I knew for a fact she was there to protect Galen and the little one...not snatch the baby as soon as it was born and cart it off to Yavin IV. She cared about Galen. Maybe she made some mistakes before, but she honestly cared about Galen and the baby."

"And I don't know what to make of Rean. I don't know what his real purpose was in coming to Sullust...and he convieniently got rid of the only person who could possibly tell us." I frowned.

Not to deny the implications of this little situation either. Rean had conveniently zapped the one other Jedi in their midst, and he had sent them to find her, thus delaying their return. There was something going on that was peculiar.

Truthfully, what happened between Master Rean and Galen laid at the sole discretion of Galen herself. Obviously, she nor Terrin trusted the man at the moment. But then, Matt knew how Terrin was too. He wasn't too inclined to trust a soul, and particularly not after an incident such as this.

Even so, Matt sensed sincerity in the Jedi Master, even in light of what had happened. He trusted his instincts, they served him well. Although the situation certainly rose some warning flags in his mind, he felt it necessary to let Rean explain what had happened before making a snap judgement, for the fact remained that the Jedi had come to Galen's aid that horrible night. As well as the fact that he had remained as a source of aid, just as Cella Poliani had.

Matt had sensed the friction between the two Jedi. And Cella had made mistakes; even Jedi were subject to a mistake now and again. And the same was true for a Jedi Master. He was entitled to make a mistake or two as well.

And again, the fact remained that aside from this incident, Rean had remained in their midst as a protective force.

Matt refused to make any conclusions just yet. Other things were more important at the moment, such as finding Poliani and returning to Sullust to help Terrin find Galen.

"You aren't just a dumb gunner," Matt finally interjected, moving out of his thoughts into the reality at hand. "But I do think whether Galen is near Master Rean or not is her choice and not ours. I also think we shouldn't let this split us apart; the man could have made some sort of honest mistake, and I think it's not fair for us to decide if he meant harm or not til we know all the details. Although I know the situation leaves little to be desired, I have never sensed any deception or insincerity from the Jedi Master, and I'm a perceptive sort of guy, it's part of my job.

"At any rate, we absolutely cannot let this blow our group apart. Cella Poliani and Galen both need us now, and for the time being, until we can get any explanations from each other, we are going to have to bear the load together. Squabbling will get us no where, except perhaps leading us into the clutches of the Sith while we argue amongst ourselves."

I threw up my hands dramatically, suddenly irritated. "You know what?" I announced in a too-loud voice, then paused as they both jumped a little at my sudden melodramatic impulse. When they had settled, I leaned forward toward them, and pinned them with a look to their respective spots. "I have come to a conclusion."

I drew in a breath, aware that they were now looking at me as though the biggest krayt-pearls of wisdom were about to drip from my lips. I don't know if they really were or not, but what was about to be said originated from nothing more than good ol' common sense... the kind of common sense by which I had made a good living as a smuggler for a good many years.

"I think that all we can do is let circumstances stand for themselves. We'll get Cella, return to Sullust, and just sit back and see what develops. BUT we're not going to sit back lightly; we're gonna make good and sure there is always...always!... one of us in direct contact with Galen and Terrin, and I don't care what kind of damper this might place on them. We're going to keep them both under scrutiny; I hope we can persuade Cella into keeping an equally watchful eye out over this Rean guy."

I paused again for a space, glancing back and forth between Matt and Nassy. "We're going to guard Terrin and Galen, especially Galen, for as long as it takes, and keep Rean under a magnifying glass until circumstances parole him.

”Take care, my sister,” the warning whispered through the Link. ”There is one near you who has the ability to bring harm to you, although not to us or our destiny in general. But it is for your safety that I now have some concern; on one hand this is meant to be a test of your abilities, my sister. But on the other, I do not wish anything to happen to you.

“Do you need me there?”

Pulling back her thoughts, she looked up again into Lord Roan’s eyes, that voiceless look telling him precisely where she would go, and what she would do, if she deemed it necessary.

After all, she wasn't an All user, not yet. She didn't have the skills Graysith had, and this would be difficult.

But then, calling on aid before she'd even taken the first step would go against the very reason she'd come here on her own. She, Shayla Petrolu, wanted to develop her self-esteem, her self-worth, her self-confidence. Doubting self before she ever gave herself a chance would be a step backward instead of forward.

She would do this. And she would call on help only if it were necessary. After all, this laid before her, right at this moment in time, and any delay might result in not accomplishing some of the things she desired.

"I go, my Sister, with your blessing," Shayla answered at last. "I shall be careful, but I feel this is my time to branch out, to discover what I am capable of. Should it, however, become necessary that I call for help, you will be the first to know."

Grimacing, he shoved that particular demon as far back in his mind as possible and forced himself to pay even more attention to Rean for any hint of deception.

As if he possibly could pay the man any more attention than he already was. His eyes and ears had been focused on the Jedi alone.

Jasyn followed closely behind acting as a trail and a back up man. Terrin knew if anything went amiss, Jasyn would be the first to pick up on it. And that was the reason he was behind them. One false step by Rean, and Jasyn would react. He had a quickness about him that made him good at what he did, regardless of how much he liked to complain or how much Whyrene's Reserve he could consume. Still twisting through the labrinyth before them, following the lead of the Jedi Master even with questions still firmly implanted in his mind, Terrin could only hope when they got to Galen she would be allright...

Okay. So he was a bit on the mistrusting side...

...allright, so he was a lot on the mistrusting side. But he no longer had the ability to mistrust this man, not at the moment anyway. Not once now, but twice, he'd come to their aid. And this time perhaps he had prevented something even worse from occurring.

Although that little demon on his shoulder had his way in reminding Terrin that perhaps this was yet another trick of the Sith, he ignored it. So he still had questions, and he wanted them answered. But Terrin wanted to give Rean the chance to throw all his cards out on the table before he made any more decisions.

Laying a hand on the Jedi's shoulder, Terrin smiled just a bit. "I don't think that will be necessary. We'll talk, later." As Jedi nodded in understanding, Terrin let his arm drop back to his side. Rean then left with Jasyn following closely behind.

Turning his attention to Galen, Terrin sat on the edge of the bed, gazing into her deep brown eyes. He wondered if she was angry with him for trusting Rean, although after all that had taken place he doubted it. She knew he wasn't one to trust easily; and that very fact had almost put her in further jepordy. After all, what would have happened if he hadn't finally taken the man's offer to help?

"You scared me, love," he said at last. Then he added, "But I understand why you reacted as you did. I'm just glad that we got there when we did...that Rean lead us to you..."

He paused a moment, waiting to see her reaction, if any, to the Jedi's name. Not sensing any sort of adverse feelings in response, Terrin continued.

"...I think that he is truly who he says he is, sweets, although I have more than a few questions I want answered after today's events," he admitted, reaching a hand to her face to brush a stray tendril of red hair from her face.

"But now I think we all need a little rest." Leaning forward, he planted a small kiss on her forehead. "I love you."

After a quick inner perusal I realized somewhat to my shock that rest was the farthest thing on my personal agenda at the moment. I don't know what the Jedi Master had done, but I suddenly not only felt no more aches or pains, but another deeply inner anguish seemed to have finally been totally eradicated. My eyes reflecting this surprise, mingled with not a little gratitude, I quickly sat up. Er, that is, I sat up as quickly as my body would let me; quite a difficult feat in advanced states of pregnancy.

My self-absorption turned outward, and I became aware of the words Terrin was speaking to me. He thinks we should trust this man, and he's suggesting that I follow suit? I shook my head at that incongruency: my trust had entirely emplaced itself into the hands of the blond-headed Jedi the moment I saw what he was doing to that horrible creature. I might have been being naive about it, but that little niggle which had guided me so long and so far raised it's little hand for attention, and strove to point out the little fact that, trick or not, it was highly unlikely that the Sith would turn so heinously against one of their own. As far as I knew, the demon had perished beneath the roiling lava, and good riddance to bad rubbish was my final thought on that subject.

I smiled a little, nodding in agreement. "You're absolutely right, love," I finally spoke. "I think this guy is someone we not only can trust, but in all probability need to. And trust begins with communication-

"Hey!" I interrupted myself as I got to my feet. "You, Master Rean!" I began to take a following step, but paused when I saw not only him but Jasyn as well coming to an immediate halt just outside our bedroom door.

"Terrin is right; we do need to talk. Only I really think the time for procrastinating has long passed. We already know what those Sith have done in retaliation for us stealing the Nar Kelba; I don't like to imagine what lays in store for the fact that we stole the Claw when we did so.

"But we somehow managed to hurt their little imp; I really shudder to think of what might happen now as a result of that. I really think that now is the time to lay our cards on the table and be nothing but brutally honest with each other."

I stopped, keenly aware of the slight frown crossing Terrin's face. However, I was also aware that time was rushing forward... and I wanted a touch more reassurance than preceding events had revealed to me thus far that my baby was going to be absolutely safe when she was born.

I swallowed and pressed on. "Can't we go get comfortable over a cuppa caf, and shake the last skeletons out of our various and sundry closets?"

The gap that you've made by not trusting Rean, you ole' pirate! the angel that popped onto his shoulder sputtered. Businessman or not, you've still got the smuggler in you, don't you buddy? He's been in you for longer than you'd like to admit...

His grin shifting to a more bemused look that was completely a result of these inward musings, Terrin was unaware if anyone else had a clue what was going through his brain.

And there was something else. This seemed like the first time in months, since that horrible, awful night, that Galen radiated any amount of certainty about anything. She knew as well as, probably more than, he and the others that they would still face alot of troubles and alot of obstacles...they were still in harm's way. But she seemed to have some bit of hope that something could be done to combat this now; something that she hadn't had evidenced since that terrible evening...

Finally realizing he still hadn't moved a millimeter, Terrin stood, smiling and taking her hand in his and squeezing it. Then he looked over to the Jedi and to Jasyn. "Okay, time for some caf and some closet-cleaning..."

Graysith would be very, very pleased...

Now I sat up, totally alert, and placed Devil-May-Care into manual control. While we were coming in from above the general plane of the Maw, the myriad black holes within that nearly unnavigable void had a nasty tendency to perturb the bajillion meteoroids from their already chaotic orbits. More than one spice runner had managed to defeat the Maw only to die at the hands of one of its unnoticed satellites.

Although it took every ounce of concentration I possessed, I managed to avoid the major bodies which occasionally came looming unexpectedly up to us. After blasting a final, smaller one to dust, I guided my ship in a widening arc, the apex of which intersected the upper atmosphere of Kessel. Soon my efforts were rewarded with the vision of sickly pinkish clouds beneath us as we looped once around the planet, twice, and then settled into a steady high-altitude orbit.

I puffed out my cheeks and sat back with a sigh, powering down the majority of Devil-May-Care's systems in preparation of our departure. Then I slammed a fist on an inboard comm control. "Hey, ol' Cricket!" I called out to K'kihl, and was soon regaled with a variety of mysterious clacks and chitters which I took to be questions. I brushed them aside, and continued. "I'm about to go planetside and find Jedi Poliani; you stay here and keep the ship up to snuff, right?"

Although to the average ear the sounds emanating from the speaker's didn't seem to vary, by now I was so accustomed to the subtle Verpine nuances K'kihl was so fluent in that I clearly read his seeming affront. I grinned. "I know you will, pal," I concluded. "This ought not to take too long. Keep specs on us, and if we don't come back in a quarter cycle, come and get us!"

With that I flipped the comm to shipwide broadcast, and cleared my throat. "Attention all shipmates," I began somewhat formally. "We have successfully attained orbit around Kessel. Departure for the planet's surface will be in fifteen minutes; all desiring to accompany me should meet me at the Bee in the main docking bay. That is all."

Feeling very much the captain and more than a bit along the lines of what I named my ship, I gave my head a jaunty nod. Then I headed for the docking bay, to see who was planning to accompany me to the hideous and notorious surface of Kessel.

Rean then turned once more, wordlessly moving past a stunned and panting Terrin in order to make his way back to where Galen and the others waited.

Strangely enough, she hadn't tried to follow him back as he returned to the underground home. She hadn't spoken a word, in fact; not that he had either. Terrin had to wonder why she had been sent here and, more importantly, if she was alone.

Well buddy, if she was alone before she won't be after THAT, a devil persisted.

OH SHUT UP!

After securing the door behind him, Terrin headed for the room where Galen, Jasyn, and Rean had gathered. He turned and addressed Rean directly.

"I think we're in trouble," he started, taking a moment to catch his breath. "The woman who tried to make off with the Claw...that was Shayla Stargazer Petrolu, a former Jedi student. Last anyone heard a thing about her, she was the student of one of the Sith, in particular the student of Graysith. And something tells me she's been sent here to watch us, my friends..."

This Jedi Master needs to meet his match...

At length Yaoksi reared off the durasteel plating of his infiltrator's hull. "OK, then," he began with a little sigh of disappointment. He turned to Matt. "Looks like it's just gonna be you and me, pal."

With that, he waved his hand toward the open hatch of the Bee, indicating that Matt enter and make himself comfortable. The moment the other man had entered he followed, closing the hatch behind him. Making his way to the forward pilot's seat, he began a quick systems check and warm-up procedure. Soon his navigation board glimmered as myriad green lights proceeded to pop on and inform him that all systems were go.

He leaned forward and flipped a comm switch. "Bee to Devil-May-Care, we have green board and are requesting bay vent for departure." He sat back, adjusting a couple controls as a red light began blinking a vibrant warning, telling him wordlessly that whatever he would do now, it would behoove him to NOT step one foot out of his little ship. A forgotten datapadd flicked past, substantiating that warning as it headed out into space along with the atmosphere once held within the bay.

Yaoksi smiled a bit, grasped the controls, and waited for the light to turn green. Then he asked the Beeto do what came so naturally to her, and she happily obliged him. In a burst of ignition and a completely soundless accompanying roar, the infiltrator leapt out from its hangar and headed toward the sickly mauve potato that was Kessel.

Now Matt sprang into helpful life in the seat next to him. His eyes seemed to widen with pure joy as he began fiddling with the bio-sensors, seeking the unique signature of Cella Poliani from whatever other organic life that might still be evident on the planet below. Yaoksi couldn't help but see that look, and he smiled. Nothing he enjoyed better than the company of a man who appreciated a good ship... unless it was the actual ship itself. He refrained from pointing out shortcuts to Matt, understanding that half the fun was discovering them on one's own, and realizing that the man had the intelligence to do so quickly. His smile broadened as that thought was justified by Matt's low whistle.

"I think I've found her," he announced, adjusting a dial to clear up the muzzy signal he was receiving. "She seems to be inside one of the old Impy forced labor mining camps, ahh--" He fiddled a bit longer, then turned to Yaoksi who was waiting patiently. "I have her coordinates as 380357N by 1274524E, or at least somewhere within a square klick of that position." Sitting back in his seat, he turned to Yaoksi with a satisfied look on his face.

"Way to go, Ace," Yaoksi smiled before typing in the coordinates. "You ever need a job as a navigator, you just come see me, ok?" Still smiling, he then focused all attention on his controls, and soon brought the Bee into a gracefully swooping descent through the terrible atmosphere of the remote little planet.

Matt's orienteering was impeccable; no sooner had the values begun to scroll across his data screen than Yaoksi caught a visual of the old camp in his forward viewscreen. In a whirl of dust and blasted rock and soil, the lethal little infiltrator came to a feather-light landing immediately outside the perimeter of the mining camp. Yaoksi powered down then sat back, puffing out his cheeks.

"Well," he finally spoke. "The easy part's over. Don't forget your rebreather; you won't last long on the surface without it."

With that he got to his feet and indicated Matt lead the way. Soon the pair had departed the ship, and stood on the salty, barren soil of the surface of Kessel. About half a klick ahead of them, the crumbling facade of a foreboding primary entrance loomed in the dim light of the planet's setting sun.

Yaoksi shook his head. "Figures we'd be heading into nightfall," he commented wryly as he set off toward the old durasteel gate. "Just gonna be all that much more fun finding the Jedi.

"C'mon, let's go get her. Hopefully she'll be sensing us, and this won't take that long."

Whatever thoughts Matt had on that subject he kept wisely to himself, and together the two men proceeded to seek out Jedi Knight Cella Poliani.

"Please, come, teach me."

"I wish to talk with you, to understand why you have chosen this path. I will, however, abide by your wishes; if you wish for me to leave now I will do so. You have my word that I will not trouble you in this matter again." Rean sat motionless awaiting the young adept's reply.

Funny, Shayla really didn't think of herself as being "lost to the Sith" anyway. Rather, she felt that she had been found by them. And she wasn't about to betray them now, not after they had done so much for her.

Letting herself relax a bit but staying on the alert, she decided she'd at least entertain this one for a little bit. "I have chosen this path through my own means as well as through the means of the All which guides. There are those that I care greatly about, those that you and others misjudge. I will not turn my back on them now, or presume to speak for them.

I chose this path because there is far more to the scope of life than the Light Side or the Dark. These are but small pieces of a much grander and beautiful picture. So tell me," she said, changing the subject just a bit, "Why is it that one who has use of the All places himself among the Jedi?"

"You sure she's in there?" I indicated the forboding entrance with a nod of my head. Then I looked around at the crumbling salt flats over which we had trekked to get here from the Bee. I'd much rather trudge for kilometers over that desolate terrain than to enter into one of the forbidden spice mines of Kessel; not only were they notorious for the Empire's lack of proper upkeep, they were home to the stealthy and deadly energy spider. The Impys had long gone, but I really had my doubts about those spiders... with a small gulp, I tightened my grip on my blaster and directed a hopeful look in Matt's direction.

He fiddled with his biosensor, then raised his shoulders in a shrug. "Yup, she's in there," he affirmed, now pinning my eyes with his. Then his eyes moved off to stare through the massive gateway. "According to what I have here, she's about two and a half klicks due east by northeast. Maybe three; there's a lot of ore here that's kinda messing with the sensor." He shook it for emphasis, then quieted.

I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips. Blast that Master Rean; he just couldn't have sent her to Dagobah or one of the Outer Rim worlds; oh no, he just had to zip her off to this backwater of the forgotten swamps of the Galaxy instead. I hoped to Fates she hadn't actually been planted inside one of the tunnels themselves; dire and unseen dangers lurked therein, and not only in the form of the aforementioned energy spiders. It was well known that glitterstim dust often wafted up-tunnel from the mining depths below; it didn't take the inhalation of much to produce an instant addiction in anyone breathing it in, and I didn't know if she had a rebreather on her. The thought of a Jedi Knight suffering from THAT unpleasant malady was more than I wanted to consider at the moment, since glitterstim was reknown for it's ability not only to heighten one's mental and telepathic abilities, but to loosen one's emotional inhibitions as well.

Forcing down another shudder, I sighed. My hand tightened its hold on my blaster. "Well, I guess there's nothing for it but to go on inside, is there? C'mon, let's do it and get the hell out of here." With that, I checked my own rebreather yet again, and stepped through the massive gate, followed by Matt, who I was certain was just as apprehensive as I was about this entire affair.

I all but tiptoed as we moved along the abandoned and ghost-haunted avenues of the old Imperial camp, my eyes everywhere, my blaster in dutiful synchronization. There wasn't so much as a puff of wind to mar the oppressive silence of the place; the only sound was the steady crunch, crunch, crunch of the salt crystals which gave way beneath our feet. Wonderful old Empire, wouldn't even spring for the cost of pavement here....

My wandering thoughts were interrupted at length by an announcement from Matt. "OK, sorry buddy, but I think she's in there." He indicated a mining tunnel off to our left, and about half a klick in front of us. He pursed his lips, fully realizing the import of the words he had spoken to me. "Yeah, I'm positive," he replied to my upraised brows. I sighed again.

Oh yeah. This truly DOES all keep on getting better and better and better....

Making my blaster an automatic extention of my body, fully attuned to every sense I possessed, I took a breath and continued on through the darkness which by now had fallen about us. Soon I led my companion to the mouth of that tunnel where, after but the merest moment of hesitation, we girded our figurative loins and entered into the even deeper darkness which taunted us there.

She was that psycho-woman’s student now. And she was here, watching them.

Watching them for what? Since when had the Sith ever needed someone to come watch for them? Usually they just popped up out of nowhere and did something or other that was absolutely horrible.

Then reality dawned in him.

The baby. She was here to wait for her birth. And then...

...then...

Suddenly a quite natural and altogether furious and passionate thought welled within him.

Over his dead body would she take little Jhin’Darra. And over his dead body would she dare touch either the little one or his fiancee, his soon to be bride, his true love... Sure, he might not be a Jedi. He might not have one lick of Force ability. But he’d gladly give everything he had if that’s what it took to protect them.

Truthfully, the entire thing infuriated him. In trying to take the baby before she could even hold her own head up, everyone was deciding for her what she should do with the gifts she had been given. Since when did everyone else come over her own wishes and the guidance that would be given to her by her family? Her mother? Her...father? By those who loved her?

Running a finger along the rim of his fresh cup of caf, he look over the table to Galen and then to Jasyn and back. There his gaze rested on her pair of brown eyes. When Rean returned, Terrin wanted to get everything, and that meant everything, out in the open.

I sighed, and looked at the nasty weapon which lay quiescent on the table next to my plate of food. Suddenly not hungry any longer, I reached out a finger to push my cold food away from me... and in pulling it back allowed it to lightly trace the alien designs on the articulated device. I shivered, remembering it on my sister's finger, and how it came to be here now....

Pulling my hand back with a jerk, I raised my eyes to Terrin's again. I squeezed his hand with my other, my thoughts beginning to drift. And I didn't like the look of the murky waters into which they were drifting.

There had to be something we could do to assure our safety, Jedi Master with us or no. The way these demons kept popping in and out of our lives, wreaking havoc with almost offhanded nonchalance, was certainly not something we could defend ourselves against with normal weaponry. To be honest, I didn't really think the Force that the jedis used with such dignified pride would even be helpful; something told me that Force was just a drop in the bucket in comparison to what we were up against.

The All. What the heck WAS that, anyway? Did it have anything to do with those wonderful little ships I had, er... appropriated from that awful planet where this entire mess had been given birth? The mere thought of my uncatchable little ship yanked me off into a tangent:

While Jester had been flung into a star in a fit of rage by that awful Sith Lord who had hounded Sorben and I, somewhere Jester II was still functioning. Rather, I hoped not actually functioning per se, but operable and just waiting. I wondered if Quee still had her docked aboard his ship, waiting for me to come back and claim her. And Khaandon knows she had the ability to elude that nasty Dark Lord... maybe she could help us to elude this bunch as well.

The problem was, I didn't have a clue where Quee had gone after I left Sorben. Maybe back to his retreat on Sol Varek. Possibly to the Bounty Hunter's Guild, to leave my little ship with Seus. I wondered if those there still remembered me, and would yet extend a hand of friendship in our direction for my sake alone. That was a possibility....

Placing a hand across my mouth, I considered this for a bit. Then I spoke up, and proceeded to spit out my musings, wondering how Terrin would react to them and the potential they held.

Secondly, Terrin wondered if the nasties they were dealing with now were the same as this Dark Lord that Jester II had been able to elude. These guys seemed to be even worse than any Sithspawn he could possibly ever imagine. Would they be able to even get past the wonderful workings of this ship?

Frowning a bit as he thought, one obnoxious shoulder devil finally made a point worth listening to. You won't ever know if it'll work or not if you sit on your rear and never try it.

No time like the present.

"I think we should contact the Bounty Hunter's Guild and try to find Seus," he said at length. "The ship may or may not get past the Sith we are dealing with and might not even be in our grasp, but at the very least having more contacts means having more friends to call on. And we'll never know if the ship will possibly help us unless we have her. Any small item in our favor is worth going for, and the time to act is now..."

...before something else happens to one of you, a nagging mental voice added.

His Mistress was in trouble, and he could not stand in the way. But he knew her plan, and he knew that he could at least complete one task for her, acting only if and when the circumstances required.

The tunnel wasn't so bad. Dark, but dry and cool. Although there was an odd cinnamonlike smell about them that she couldn't quite place...

Cella inhaled deeply, and the world seemed to explode around her. She could feel every thread in her clothing, almost every wrinkle on her skin. She saw in a thousand spectra, heard the sounds of the birthing of the galaxy.

At least that's what the glitterstim filaments she'd inhaled made her think.

With that Rean took his lightsaber returning it to his weapons belt, awaiting their reply.

Even so, leaving right away might be a good idea. But they still had to consider the fact that they would have a very pregnant woman on ship. They might need just a little bit more than the smaller freighters Shayla used to pilot around.

Time to call on some favors of your own, buddy.

"Allright, we'll go. But I'm not too thrilled about using Shayla's ship, and I can get my hands on something in moments that is quite a bit more sufficient than the smaller ships she frequently uses; you don't sell ships for a living without earning a few favors. Besides, using a Shayla's ship doesn't exactly thrill me since I don't know what surprises might be on board. I have at my disposal a nice enough yacht that the company just bought in hopes of selling it. Since I made the contact, the ship is still here, waiting for someone to retreive her. I say we take advantage, retreive the ship, and get the Hell off this rock. To the Bounty Hunter's world we go..."

I reached down to my belt where a luminary hung, and flipped the little light on. It wasn't a big one, as these things go, since in the course of my career I really had never planned on going spelunking or as a matter of fact anywhere that a larger one would ever be needed. I did realize however that such devices were often useful should some emergency situation arise; while I didn't quite categorize our current one as that, it did come close. I lifted the little light from my belt, and peered nervously into the dimness ahead of us.

The tunnel loomed like the mouth of some great beast waiting to devour us. That thought sent a shiver down my spine, and my grip on my blaster tightened. I cut a sideways glance to Matt who, if as nervous as I was, was doing a great job of not showing it. My estimation of him rose by another power of ten; sheesh, did anything ever rattle this guy?

"You positive she's down there somewhere?" I asked yet again. He didn't even bother to reply; the sigh that came wafting into my ears was more than eloquent enough. I sighed back. "OK, let's go then."

Taking care to remain as silent as we could, we tiptoed stealthily yet steadily into the maw of dark. Bit by bit the tunnel entrance waned behind us, and bit by bit the encroaching sunlight fell further and further behind. Soon we were only illuminated by the dim blue glows of our carrylights, which managed to be enough to reveal broken wiring and light fixtures hanging from overhead. I sniffed a touch ruefully; sure would have been nice it they were operable....

That thought was abruptly truncated as a darker shadow dropped suddenly down in front of us, crouching in a threatening manner. I couldn't help but take a step back, brushing against Matt as I did so and nearly dropping my light in the process. Before my startled wits could ascertain the thing for what it was, a ray of ruby flared out from my partner. The looming shadow emitted a grating screech, and collapsed to the tunnel floor.

Now Matt stomped ahead, stopping at the black mound to look down upon it. He aimed his light; the outlines of a rather nasty looking multi-legged creature shown a dim blue. "Energy spider," he snorted disdainfully. "They're pretty dangerous, but stupid. Don't know what this one is doing here; I don't see any webbing anywhere nearby...."

His words trailed off and he raised his light and shown it around him. I came up beside him, my lips curling in distaste at the sight of the nasty creature who thank the Fates lay dead before us, and added my light to his. Their joined glow revealed nothing other than rock, rock and more rock, yet more defunct lighting wires and fixtures...

...and a barred cage waiting silently for us some ten meters ahead.

I cut my eyes to Matt again, raising my brows. "Miner's cage?" I offered with a sarcastic grin. He merely nodded.

My grip on Terrin's hand tightened as I sensed the concern that flooded him. He was doing the best job he could, fighting against the waffling "trust/don't-you-DARE-trust" emotions which tore at him regarding this Master Jedi, and I can't say that I could blame him. Khaandon knows I'd be smack dab back into the Distrust Department myself, if the conjoining link the man had opened between himself, me, and the Sith Adept hadn't told me otherwise. I had known before he returned to us that the Sith had turned with unwarranted viciousness on their own. I was also aware that Master Rean was likewise informed of our conversation regarding travelling to Seus's world of the Bounty Hunter's Guild.

I had just been so enthralled by the events which had unfolded so rapidly that all I did was sit there, my eyes seeing an image elsewhere than the kitchen in which I sat, feeling the almost palpable confines of the Lioness' bulkheads about me as Master Rean had entered within, sensing curiosity combined with a, quite frankly, refreshing naivety which emanated from the young woman who so boldly, and as it turned out disastrously, confronted the easy power of the All-User who had come from the Council to aid us.

Or perhaps not. Maybe he hadn't been sent from the newly developing Jedi Council which rumor had spread was trying to put itself back together on Coruscant. Maybe it would be wise to check that out as well.

Now I turned a somewhat rueful look into the eyes of my love. "I- I'm sorry, Terrin," I stammered a bit. "It's ok. I've been aware of what's been going on; it's just that I... well, I guess I kind of got wrapped up in things."

Now I got awkwardly to my feet. Placing my hands on the table, I leaned over it a bit and addressed both Rean and Terrin together. "Ok then, it's settled. We'll go to Terrin's ship and head off to Seus. Khaandon be with us that he has my Jester II, but if he doesn't, that's ok too." I gave them a mysterious little grin, and refrained from elucidating. I'd tell Terrin later.

Master Rean nodded, apparently relieved. He was about to say something but was paused by my pointing finger before the words were able to leave his mouth.

"You had to get here somehow," I announced suddenly, trying to keep my tone from wafting back into one sounding accusatory. "I think our strength may be in numbers. Why don't Terrin and Jasyn and I go in Terrin's yacht, and you shadow us in yours. And as for this-"

I held up the Claw, then turned my eyes into Terrin's blue ones. "Who's going to be responsible for this?"

I stood there in silence then, ready then and there to go out the door and get the hell off this ball of volcanism that called itself a planet, and waited to see what anyone else had to say about it.

Khaandon be with us, me being so very pregnant or no, we'd be off-Sullust and on our way to Seus within the hour.

Who was going to keep a watch on that thing? Did he dare give it to this Master Jedi who he still didn't have complete trust in, or keep it on the ship that he and the others would travel on?

As he thought this through, his blue eyes shifted to another time and place, and he knew he was no longer really seeing what was in front of him but instead what happened in the past...

Khar Delba. His removing that THING from HER finger. Then a shift to the trip to Sullust, when that Demon from Hell had taken his arm...

...then to that horrible day on Sullust. A time that was supposed to be joyous, ripped from the very pages of time by the cruelty of one very demonic Sith...

Sucking in a breath, Terrin knew that neither option he had presented the safety he'd desired for them.

But they just had to, absolutely HAD TO, get off this damn rock. And they had to make a decision concerning who should take care of the weapon.

While they could just simply give the weapon to Rean, the distrust Terrin still had for the guy, regardless of how he might WANT to trust him, put a stop to that idea. By the same token, having the thing on their ship without Rean to protect was a horrible idea.

The way those damnable demons just pop up...

...but they could pop up without Rean being there regardless of whether they had the weapon or he did. In fact, if Terrin knew how these creatures acted, that'd be just what they would do.

There had to be an alternative. There had to be something that could both protect them and keep the weapon in their sights...

"It's staying with us," Terrin said at last, forcing himself to refocus on the situation at hand. "But I want the ship protected if that...thing is going to be aboard."

Then, turning an electric gaze to Rean, Terrin made his request. Or rather, his demand. "I want you to Force shield...or All shield...whatever the hell you want to call it...our ship. With you trailing us, that will be the best safety mechanism for us. I want to keep an eye on the device for reasons of my own, you'll just have to trust me on that. And understand that I'm putting my trust in you to protect us regardless of my concerns, so it goes both ways."

Standing, he took Galen's hand in his, but his eyes never left Master Rean's. "We are getting off this blasted planet, and I mean right now."

Finally reaching the miner's cage, he and Yaoksi entered and slowly headed down. As the cage hit the ground, Matt stepped out, Yaoski behind him. As he did so, the hint of a strangely sweet smell wafted through his rebreather. He frowned, and turned to Yaoksi. "Glitterstim," he said, more as a statement than as a question.

"Okey day, pal. If that's where you say she is, then let's go get her and get back to the surface. I don't do very well underground, in case you were wondering."

The look Matt shot my way in response to those words only spoke his unvoiced opinion that he had already figured that out about me. Hey, some might call me cowardly when it comes to things like that, but I never had been one for confined spots, other than those within a good, fast ship. Give me wide open spaces... or the eternal openness of Space itself. That I can handle. Creeping about in the dark far beneath the light of day smacked too closely of those things that go bump-in-the-night; suppressing a little shudder, I hoisted my blaster and proceeded down the corridor, trying not to tiptoe, much to the obvious amusement of my companion.

As I moved along, I could hear him snorting to himself as he tried to be polite and choke back his laughter. I grumbled a little to myself when I heard that. Fates knew he was probably trying to lighten the situation a bit, but at the moment it seemed otherwise. Seeing gremlins where they didn't exist, I turned to give him a sharply defensive retort, and thus missed seeing the very real "gremlin" which suddenly came at us out of the dark. The beam from my luminary shot upward, splaying itself against the rock of the corridor, sending little reflective sparkles shining from the crystals imbedded in the matrix there. My arm shot out as I flailed to maintain my balance, but I was already halfway to the stone beneath my feet. I came to a crashing finale against the wall of the tunnel, my luminary now leaving my hand as though possessed, and for a moment I wondered why I was still able to see that which had tripped me. Then I realized it was Matt's light which was shining down toward the floor of the tunnel, where it dimly but clearly illuminated the huddled form of Cella Poliani.

But then, just when you think things can't get any worse, that's usually when they do.

After pulling along a highly unstable and untrusting Cella Poliani to the miner's cage, which had been a hard enough task in itself with the rocky and uneven surfaces and the anxious energy spiders, Matt discovered what their next bitter dish would be. Stepping into the miner's cage and waiting til his companions had also made it in safely, Matt pulled the lever that would trigger the cage to begin its ascension. The lever didn't respond, so he gave it another pull...to no avail.

"Uhhh...I think we're in trouble," he muttered at last, not daring to glance over at Yaoksi to see the look he knew would be planted there. Then he gave the lever another yank. As if to mock the situation, the damned thing came clean out of its track on this pull, ending up in Matt's hand.

It's reedy little beam lost itself to enveloping darkness about 50 meters over our heads, dimmed considerably by dust and other aerial jetsam along the way. I turned to Matt with a sigh.

"Well," I began, trying not to sound too discouraged. "It looks like we're going to have to climb for it, I suppose. If that's even possible. This shaft looks pretty smooth; obviously it wasn't meant for anything other than raising and lowering that Cage."

My shoulders slumped in a momentary fugue of perplexity. Then another thought struck me, and I brightened. "Unless you can raise the ship; maybe Nassy and K'kihl can do something to help.

"If-" I raised a hand, nodding in a preemptive manner to ward off a possible responding protest. "If the signal can get through all this rock; we're down fairly deep; umm..." I made a quick calculation in my head. "Maybe, ah, one and a half, two kilometers?"

Now I took another couple steps away from the Cage, shining my light all about me. The tunnels which bisected this central locale ran away in all directions like sandrat warrens; it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that a "hunt-and-peck" bid for freedom would probably take a long time. A very long time. One quite possibly altogether too long in fact.

Repressing yet another shudder at the thought of dragging Cella hither and yon, seeking an as-yet-unknown pathway to the surface...

Dammit! There HAD to be one! What did the Impys do when their systems broke down?

OK, ok, so you don't really wanna go there, pal.

Scratch that idea.

Problem was, the only ways out were by trying to hunt their way back or by going up somehow. So what were their assets?

A couple of rebreathers, a broken mining cage, a commlink, and a biosensor.

...A biosensor...

Matt bit his lip, deep in thought. The biosensor had lead them to Poliani well enough. Generally speaking, the device was fairly decent at picking out human body signatures over animals.

But then again, some animals...rather unpleasant ones at that...had body signatures very similiar to humans, and they could really muck up sensor readings.

And counting on the biosensor alone might lead them right to one of those sorts of creatures.

Of course, Matt didn't think they'd likely find too many creatures in a mine. Aside from the energy spiders, which were unpleasant enough, there wasn't much here. For that matter, there wasn't anything human to track either, aside from them.

Scratch that idea.

Yep. Only one alternative. Raise the ship and pray to the Maker that you get through.

Or else hope that you come up with some brilliant escape route...soon...

Sighing, Matt finally shook himself from his musings. "I'm thinking as fast as I can," he said. "But we don't seem to have alot of options...

...Unless..."

Here he paused, glancing at the Jedi.

Maybe she could find the way out...

Then he dismissed the idea altogether, realizing that if she'd had the ability to get out of the place, she probably would have done that to begin with.

At least, he would think that she would have if she could have...

Waving a hand, he continued, "Nevermind. Had an idea, but it won't work either." Then reaching for his commlink, he sighed. "Everybody pray this gets through to the Devil-May-Care..."

I opened my mouth to suggest this, then thought better of it. Something told me that Matt might be more than a little bit affronted by the suggestion that his equipment might be leaving something to be desired; turning that unvoiced comment rapidly into another, I cleared my throat.

"Well buddy, it looks like something is jamming up the transmission. Maybe scattering it; Fates know what kind of ores are in the rock around here." I flashed my luminary around, pausing only momentarily as its beam limned Cella in its bright glow. The Jedi still remained mute, her eyes now having turned inward in appearance as though trying to divulge the answer to a question only she could hear. I shuddered briefly when I saw her...would she ever be back to her old self again? I wondered, then grimaced as logic immediately presented me with an answer.

As long as we remain down here, and she is constantly breathing the glitterstim we now knew was invisibly clouding the air, no. Matt and I had only the two rebreathers among us, and didn't dare risk incapacitating either one of us by giving her one of ours. Jedi powers or no, it was up to our brute strength and mental prowess... such as that is! - I laughed grimly ...to get us out of the predicament we now found ourselves in.

I straightened up with a sigh. "Maybe if we just start heading along one of those those tunnels we might find one leading upward. If we get closer to the surface, maybe our transmission can get through more clearly."

I didn't bother to mention the myriad "...or maybe nots!" that followed on the heels of that suggestion. Heading over to where Cella's stood in frozen silence, I paused and turned once more to Matt.

"Now, if your electronic wizardry could somehow recalibrate those sensors of yours to detect air pressure, or temperature, or something useful like that, we just might be able to figure out when we're getting closer to the surface or when we're going off in the wrong direction. Assuming any of these tunnels leads up and down at all, that is.

"Any further suggestions, Matt?"

I reached out and lightly grasped Cella by the upper arm. Before taking off willy-nilly, I wanted to hear what other wonders Matt might have up his sleeve.

"Matt Stanza to the Devil-May-Care, Matt Stanza to the Devil-May-Care, Dear gods we need your help down here..."

All due haste and from my duties am I retrieved. To comm unit I go, and reply is flashing sending.

"Devil-May-Care replies, this is Devil-May-Care." My response is flashed back in hurried pulses. "Come in ground; Yaoksi and Matt, recieving you I am."
Moments pass, no answer comes. Concerned I am growing, again I try. "Devil-May-Care replies, this is Devil-May-Care" once more I transmit, then quiet as expectantly await an answer do I. None is coming, concern for my captain and friend is now growing.

What to do, what to do? What would Galen have had me do?

Galen....

Now outward send I once again, fiddling with band-widths to send out broadscale. Hoping am I that Terrin receives this; far from Sullust are we now, and time we now must not waste. Concerned am I that no reply to my response has yet to come, concern I send along the ether to those yet behind.

"K'kihl on Devil-May-Care, this is K'kihl on Devil-May-Care. Captain Danner, receiving this are you? Trouble is here on Kessel where we are, assistance we are needing. With all due haste, please respond and hail to us.

"K'kihl on Devil-May-Care, this is K'kihl on Devil-May-Care. Captain Danner, receiving this are you? Trouble is here on Kessel where we are, assistance we are needing...."