"You dont seem to understand, You are at risk, i can not allow you to sell these weapons, i sense that your futures may soon be harmed by the transactions.."
The jedi spoke, his voice calm, and void of emotions.

Wheres the group of men he was talking to seemed ready to bust open one of the crates of weaponry which they possessed, wanting to sell them on the black market, or something...

"No, Mr. Jedi, I think not, its you who dont understand, this is our turf, and you dont have a say in this... Times have changed, you jedi's mean nothing!"

The jedi's smirk grew a bit "Very well, i take this as a will to cause pain in the galexy, you can not be permited to live."

as if out of thin air a metalic object appeared from the jedi's robes, one that looked a bit like a lightsaber.

"We're sorry! take them! we wont do it again!" the man suddenly screamed, running off in fear of his life, which his comrades soon followed in suit.

With that the free hand reached up to pull the hood down, revealing a neat, yet tangled mass of coppery-golden hair, and a pair of jade ringed eyes, centered by a simplistic hassel, the smirk on his face quickly turned to a roguish grin as a small chuckle escapped his lips.

Looking down at the small handle, Flac hit the littel "activation" button, causing it to open at the top, allowing him to take a big swig of the dark liquid held within.

"damn Spice adict, weapon smugglers, they'll believe anything."

Laughing again he threw the brown cloak from his body, revealing a somewhat average colection of clothing, a gray shirt, a pair of baggy black pants, and a black leevi jacket, a somewhat large, yet still one handed, blaster pistol sitting at his hip.

Taking another little swig of the flask he laughed. "and they said this lightsaber shapped flask would never come in handy... Hah, just wait til the ol' boy's back at home hear about THIS one..."

he reached up then with a strong hand, and yanked a tarp off of his hidden vessel, opening a hatch that went directly to the lower portion of his ship, and quickly, if not loudly, put all the large crates under there.

"bout time i got this 'shipment' i was running low on things to sell..."

With another chuckle he hopped into Tamerak and started her up, flying into the atmosphere.

But as soon as he hit space something seemed to "kick" or "fluxiat" with the engines... and he sure as hell didnt like the sound of it... he'd heard this baby do some wierd stuff, but this just didnt seem right...

Muttering to himself about finaly getting repairs on the "piece of scrap metal" he went about checking compartments here and there, untill finaly he found the card he was looking for. "For all your ship and travel needs, call eagle enterprises... Or so he said, that bastard better be right about this place..."

Muttering to himself he tapped in a comm signal and sent a message saying "hey, i need repairs, can you help me" though the card was over 3 years old, from the time he had gotten it, he sure hoped the comm frequiency was still right... or quite frankly, he was screwed...

[ 10-25-2002 07:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Flac ]

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Flac sat within his ship, approuching the planet when he suddenly had an idea... he always was one to push things to the limit... And that whirring sound was dying out a bit...
"you can make it through a hyperspace jump cant ya, Tammy? course ya can... aint no ship thats lasted this long before without breaken down, i dont see a reason why you'd start now..."

With a slight chuckle he tapped in a change in course, punching his hyperspace lever, causing the stars to blur for just a moment, before suddenly his engines cut out, and he was thrown back into real space with a start... Normaly a man would be dead after that kinda thing, but old tammy kept her friend Flac alive at all costs... and he sure as hell hoped she kept doing so... The engin sputtered again and he found himself needing to land... or he'd be dead in no time at all... Quickly he put her down on some planet... eyes glancign downward to look at the commlink.
now would be the time to start praying for a mirical, cause that comm sure is quiet...

His hand tapped the comm a few times... sure enough, that thing was as dead as a swamp rat tresspassing on a farmers crops...

with a casual shrug the commlink flew backwards, slamming into the wall and shattering into a million pieces...

"up for a game of 'where the hell am i' Anyone? good, glade to here it..."

grumbling to himself he exited the ship, and placed a tarp over it yet again, checking to make sure his best frined Mr. Bryre was still fully charged and ready for action...

With that roguish grin flashign all over the place, one of his hands reached up to run through his thick mass of hair, pulling it back for a moment, only to have it part again in its natural wierdness after his hand left....

"and now to find out where you are, buddy Ol' Pal... You were guessin when you hit those coordinates... So where are ya?"

He sighed and sat down, thinking, once again beggining to mutter to himself "Maybe you should get a map, he tells ya, Oh no, i dont need a map, i know this galexy like the back of my hand, you reply... But a map would be helpull, he say's, oh no, really im fine... Geez flac, why do you have to be such a moron sometimes?"

his smile grew into a little smirk "cause your the best damn 'bussinis man' there is... And there aint no one who will dispute it..."

he laughed to himself at that, taking out a small bottle of water from his belt, and sipping it idely... "where to go next... Where to go next... "Alrighty, where ever you are god, if you dont totaly hate me, hows about givin me a hand?

"bah! Maybe i shoulda lead a better life... but then again... Live a better life, and miss out on all the fun? NO WAY IN HELL!"

With that he jumped to his feat,fully showing that little grin of his once more, he set off to figure out just where in the universe he'd ended up in...

[ 10-26-2002 02:33 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Flac ]

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...but it wasn't the starsmears of hyperspace that I was seeing there.

I couldn't believe it, I just couldn't believe it. I mean, yeah, I figured he'd be after me sooner or later, either on his own behalf or that of his goon buddy Actar. But I didn't think he'd actually kill me... and certainly not our little daughter.

No. Galen Jhin'Dar Danner, you stop that right now. YOUR daughter!

But kill me and the innocent child he had... or at least he had killed our clones. I winced; even clones had a right to some sort of life, I guess, even though these two had been specifically made simply to act as decoys and thus weren't much to write home about in the mental department.

Which was all well and good, as I could barely afford those two anyway. And one of these days I'm going to have to go back and make good on that damned contract I signed with the Kaminoans....

Something pressed into my dark thoughts with quiet insistence, and I blinked, coming back into the reality of my blessed little Sith ship. I took a quick gander about, instinctively making certain that my sith belt was not only operational but the Force-blocker was fully operating, then patting the strangely shaped blaster I had found in the weapons niche. I was about to reach for one of the Sith's enigmatic and solidly black ovoid helmets when I realized it was merely the proximity sensor bleeping for attention.

Here? Where in Hell's Seven Circles were we?

I reached forward to slap us back into the hyperspace we had so recently dropped from when one of my infamous inner hunches sat up and began to scream at me. I paused, hand stretched out, and glanced to see what my ship was trying to show me.

There on the forward screen was what looked like a potato made out of rock. If it weren't for the thin bluish haze that hugged it like a Toydarian hugs his cashbox, I would have sworn that it was just an asteroid we almost plowed through. But this baby had an atmosphere, and after a quick once over of my Sith navigational maps proved to be a planet not only with atmosphere, but one entirely where there ought not to be one.

A rogue!

I sat up now, curious. I had heard of these, who hadn't? They were said to have formed when the blasts of supernovae sent heavy elements careering into space, forming aimless, sunless planets destined to wander through space forever alone... but usually stocked with an abundance of natural elements.

Natural heavier elements. Like gold, for example.

Hmmm... fancy that, Galen ol' gal. And you with a nearly empty pocketbook....

I didn't have to think twice. I had all the time in the universe, after all, to find just that special quiet place where I could settle down to raise Darra. I reached out and keyed in the command, and Jester IV plummetted to an inertialess landing on the little planetoid, touching down there upon its alien surface as lightly as a feather.

[ 10-26-2002 03:06 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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As he sat down, to iddly sip his water, he saw... SOMETHING enter through the atmosophere of the place off in the distance... He shruged to himself, completly dissmissing in, before standing and shakign his head.

"ya... Like you got something more important to do? Keep it together Flac... We all knew you were missing a few rungs in your latter, but we didnt need you to be just plain ol' stupid..."

He chuckled to himself as he trudged on, unconciously activatign the small absorbtion shield device held on his wrist, looking down at his wiest where his pistole sat loyaly. "Good Ol' bryre, i can always count on you cant i buddy? Yep... Your a loony flac... Always have been, always will be..."
He chuckeld to himself, once more running a hand through his hair, taking a small sip of water, before continuing onward...

Finaly he reached the site of landing... and BOY was it amazing... he hadnt been sure what had landed before, but now he knew... It was a ship... Maybe, to tell the truth he wasnt quite sure... It looked like a ship, but it was a bit... Ah? odd?

he just sat there gaping at it fore a moment, before once again he half-wittedly started speaking to himself. "dont that just beat all? what the heck is it? I know youve seen soom wierd stuff out there... But jeez..." he looked down at his water bottle "what the heck did they put in this stuff?"

He sighed, plopping down on a small rock. "maybe you should go check it out... HA! and take the chance that its real? your a loony, buddy, just face it... Youve lost your mind..."

[ 10-26-2002 03:17 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Flac ]

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Not that this potato had a star of its own to orbit... but at the moment seemed to be heading toward a whole damned cluster of them.

Wow. And I thought Kessel was out in the boonies.

So clad completely from head to toe in enigmatic black, I tapped my sleeping daughter's tiny nose, then headed down the ramp to see what was out there.

And sure as there's Treasure on Roon I didn't expect that "what" to be a man.

I froze when I spotted him, my hand flying to my blaster, noting all the while how his own mimicked my move. And so, since he was into to playing Simon Says with me, I just stood there in silence, waiting to see who was going to speak first...

...and knowing it wasn't going to be me.

[ 10-26-2002 02:17 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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His eyes put the scene together like clockwork...
Strange ship, wierd suit...none of it fit, cept that kid was outa place...and the way that black figure held the child... A mother, so its a girl... Hmm... blaster, she's a tuffy... Odds of survival? Not much if that blaster was as wierd as the ship...

Nodding his head he placed his blaster back on the his hip, eyeing the woman carefully.

He paused a second to consider, before flashing his smile. "the names Flac... I dont know if you care or not... But hows about returning me the favor?"
Whether he was refering to the gun, or her name though, even he didnt know... He'd kinda like to have both favors done...

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

Once in a great while does a ship pass by this planet...

But now, two landing??

The humming sound the one ship made wasn't enough to break Malf's hibernation period... although loud, the rhythm kept it from becoming annoying...

Not until that being opened his mouth, and let out that noise did Malf come from his state of half sleep...

He growled,"KEEP IT DOWN OUT THERE!!!"

He placed his head back down on the cold surface of the golden cave...

PEOPLE?!!

He hadn't seen another being in nearly 3 years...

His head popped up, hitting the deposit of gold he had for as long as he could remember...

He jumped to his feet, making sure to clear himself from the barrier this time, and ran out the entrance of the cave...

By the time he reached the two, he was out of breath...

Heaving in and out rapidly, foam at the corners of his mouth, and his head a glistening gold he blurted out words that sounded like growls...

So much for first impressions...

[ 10-26-2002 04:27 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Malf ]

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"Wait," I barked at him, waving my blaster in a 'don't you dare fire' kind of way. "Flac, is it? Hang a tad; I think he's a friendly."

With that I quieted so as to better hear the translator, which basically took hold of this furry monstrosity's warbles and whoofs and turned them all into one simple word.

"Hi!"

Slowly I came up from my instinctive crouch, loosening my hold on Darra for a bit so as not to choke her. Hidden beneath the alienness of my helmet, my eyes cut over to Flac.

"Pretty popular place for a rock going nowhere," I finally observed wryly, finally lowering my blaster just a touch but never allowing it to leave my hand, or to move from an area I had chosen vaguely equidistant between the two of them.

I then fell into silence, just waiting to see what either of these two would have to say, if anything. But while I waited, I perused them both carefully.

Was that gold dust spread all over that walking carpet's head...?

[ 10-26-2002 12:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"whatar ya anyway? Yer to big a fellow te be a wookie... I tell ya what, you dont kill me, and we wont have problems, Gott it? By the way, you got a name?"

His momentarily stunned look now turned into a sloppy grin as he turned his gaze back to the woman.

"Ok, you say this guy's friendly, and by the looks id say he is... But whata 'bout you laddy? you got a name? maybe you could be so kind as to remove your helmet?"

He shruged to himself, taking a swig of water, "any of you want some? Cause im kinda wishing i had something a bit more potent..."

He shruged and put the cap on it, setting it down at his side...

Momentarily glancing up at the big guy, noting that his face seemed to be...ah...whats the word he was looking for? oh yes... COVERED IN GOLD!

the relization hit him with a bang... But didnt really affect him much... He wasnt a greedy person really, more content with the thrill of the chase, then the prize for first place... but then, that piece of trash ship he flew more then simbolized that...

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

Remember, Galen: nothing happens just by circumstance. This is all too coincidental....

I loosened my stance another fraction, aware that the mountain of fur had quit its deafening howling and seemed to be waiting to hear what I had to say as well. With great difficulty I refrained from shrugging, and then finally lowered my blaster.

"My name..." I began slowly, shifting Darra's weight and settling it on my left hip. "It's best you don't know that, believe me." And after a moment longer: "...nor even know I was here, got it?

"Which brings me to my next question," I smoothly segued.

"What in Hell's Seven Circles are the two of you doing on this rock?"

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

he then stood, and walked over to her, examining the black suit she wore, and eyeing that helmet strangly. "I dont know what has been in your past lady, but i tell you, mine aint filled with roses either... relax a bit, everyone needs a friend... Just look at me! ive ended up talking to myself when im alone... Its a bad life that... But if you dont wanna open up, thats intirely up to you..." he then turned to face the hair ball. "And as for him... well, id like to know that much as well..." his gaze snapped back to galen. "to tell you the truth, im not much worried about him... But you... You ask a lot of questions, for someone that dont wanna answer any back, i find that a bit odd..."

Shaking his head, he reached over and flipped the switch at his wrist, deactivating the almost invisible energy field about him.

"ok Lady, nows your chance, if you really dont want me to know you, then heres your chance, you shoot me now, im probbably dead..." he smiled then. "though there aint been a laser yet that could end me in one blast..."

he laughed to himself, taking a step to the side, raising his hands from his side. "its now or never honey... Dont matter to me, if you dont help me out im as good as dead anyway."

[ 10-26-2002 01:52 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Flac ]

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What is it with you and dramatic meetings with peeps, Galen? I asked myself as I shook my head slightly, finally breaking down to holster the blaster altogether. First Sorben, snatched from a dark jedi no less, then Terrin, running from Actar...

I stopped at that. Just because I had met those two in THOSE circumstances, each leading to a particular circumstance in its own, didn't necessarily mean this would end up in the same manner. I shook my head again, suddenly aware that Darra was still snoozing away in my arm, completely unconcerned, her little head hanging and a wad of drool wetting the arm of my suit.

I swallowed a bit. "It's not that I'm not wanting to open up here, friend," I began cautiously, cutting my gaze to the hirsute giant and then back into his eyes again. "It's just that it's best that you just don't know me. At least not yet.

"But then, I never was much for killing people anyway. I supposed I could be a little more friendly..."

With that I reached up with my now freed hand, and in one smooth motion swept that helmet from my head, the move so reminiscent of one I had made nearly three long years ago. Putting that helmet awkwardly into the hand which still held Darra against my hip, I now ruffled my fingers along my head. Three years or no, I still hated helmet-hair....

I then let a little air escape me in something that was not quite a sigh.

"How can I help you, Flac?" I asked at length, really trying this time to put a modicum of warmth into my voice.

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

As he spoke he continued to examine her contently... She had big brown eyes that seemed to tell there own story... Enduring hardships, finding a way... he sure as heck new that story, his own life had mirriored in in a way, though the way she acted, and the look in those eyes told him that the little hardships he endured were probably nothing compared with those she had faced...

he shruged to himself, speaking again, "Well, i gotta say, thanks for not shooting me... i wasnt sure, but for a second i thougth you mighta... Man, that woulda been a bummmer..."
Especialy with those crates filled with "supplies" just waiting to be sold, sitting in the lower portion of his ship.

"So, you dont think i should know you? well, i tell you, it'ed be in your best intrest not to know me either, but then, AH, well, i sure wouldnt mind someone to talk to now and again... heck, maybe we can help eachother out... You scratch my back, ill scratch yours, and well-" he turned looking at the mountain of fur beside him "-it might take both of us to scratch his..."

He chuckled to himself, smiling that roguish grin of his.

Always with the humor, ey Flac? oh well, its worked in the past, your not dead yet, are ya? But remember, just cause she's cute, and she's got a pair of gorgeous eyes, doesnt remove the fact that she's got a blaster in easy reach, and could blow you away in a passing glance....
Instantly another little thougth came to in reply Hmmm... Good point, ill watch out... Red heads are well known for there somewhat... Ah, burning? personalities... Ya, i better be carefull...

Though he was having his own little inner conversation, his facial expression didnt change a bit.

He turned his gaze again from the walking "talking" 9 foot tall rug and glanced at her once more.

"Alright wide eyes, what shall i call you? go ahead and give me a fake name if ya want... After all, i did tell you my names flac... But then... I even call myself that one... Hrmmm I donno." he shruged and walked over looking at the ship she had landed in, whistling to himself. "now thats a ship....Where'd ya get it?"

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

Who in Hell's Seven Circles was he, to so quickly and so blithely toss out that we hook up together? Buddy, if you only knew what tends to happen to guys I hook up with....

I was getting ready to shoot back with one of my characteristic scathing comments when I interrupted myself. Now I loosened up again, and seriously considered his words.

Galen you're going to need some kind of contact with the universe if you're going to live. Someone to get you food and supplies; if you're going to hide out you just have to do it right. I mean, I could find a hidey-hole to go burrow in, but I couldn't stay there forever without having to poke my nose out on occasion. And every occasion I had to do that was one more risk to being found.

There was just the matter now of the growing scowl I had plastered on my face. Trying not to be too obvious about it, I forced it into an innocent smile, which then shredded as his last words came into my ears. I hurried over to him, and lightly took his arm to prevent him from touching Jester IV's strange feeling skin.

"Ahhh-- you don't want to know that, either," I blurted, wincing a bit even as I said the words and now trying to be unobtrusive about how I was trying to lead him away from my ship. He turned and went along with me, craning his head over his shoulder in what looked like a drooling glance before he turned and cocked an eyebrow at me.

I refused to fall for the ol dashing eyebrow-cocking routine; gritting my teeth a bit, I just hurried him along for a bit. Behind me I could hear the snap and crackle as tree limbs and small boulders fell before the feet of the following hairball; when we had gotten a bit further along, the hand I had wrapped around Darra made a quiet little move... and Jester IV disappeared from sight as the light-bending device popped on to hide her.

I pressed forward, not letting this guy have a chance to look back again.

"Name," I babbled inanely, not really thinking about it but finally realizing that I had to tell him something. I hadn't a clue, and said the first combination of syllables that popped into my whirring brain.

"Jhanna," I burst out at length, hurrying on. "You can call me Jhanna; yeah, that's me, Jhanna... Mindaar. Heh. Nice to meet ya, Flac."

I then fell silent and just kept moving, anywhere in the general direction of over there until we were far enough from where I had parked Jester that I felt it safe enough to stop walking. The giant hairbrush gound to a whoofling halt beside us, gargling and waving his gold-dusted arms.

"Hmmm, er... now what did you have in mind about me helping you off this rock?" I finally asked Flac in an even nicer tone of voice, now that I had him safely steered away from the Sith ship. "I'm afraid I'm fresh out of engineers or mechanics, but if it's a computer program that's crashed I might be able to help you out.

"You wanna show me your ship, and I'll see what I can do? And then maybe we can sit down over something cold and talk a lil about this mutual back-scratching you're talking about...."

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

He cast his grin on her for a moment, before turning a bit, he sorta knew where he was going, he hoped...

"now, i dont know your past, and quite frankly, wide eyes, i dont wanna know, i dont need to know, not untill it almost gets me killed, or untill you feel the need to tell me... But jeez, you aint gonna last 5 seconds hidding in the universe if you keep this up... It dont matter how stealthy you are, hiding isnt a skill, not an ability, its a state of mind honey, and you need to change your way of thinking FAST..."

He stoped suddenly, turning his gaze to her, a slight frown creasing his normaly light hearted features. "listen, i know i probably seem like some half crazed psycopath, that is looking for a free ride, and a dinner date, but that aint me, i dont operate like that... If you want my help, its here for you, but you are gonna help me in return, You got a kid, your hidding, most likely someone important wants you dead, and you want to protect her... and the way you pay attention to her tells me that you dont really care a lick about yourself, more about those you have developed a liking to..."
He sighed and turned, his grin coming up in full again. "You take me with you, somewhere, anywhere, and get me where i can fix my ship up, ill make sure its worth your while... Money? a hidding place? heck, ill play bridge with ya if you want me to... My motto is, go where ever the wind takes you, and you seem like your the kinda gal that carries a breeze with you where ever you go, hence your paranoia about me knowing your real name, and where you got your ship, id guess that if i know, i run a risk of accidently giving that information up to the wrong person, and you wont have it, will you?"

he shrugged, as they came up to a tarped mass, turning his gaze to her again he uprose a single finger and pointed it at her menecingly. "i got three rules, 1) no looking under the floor boards, two, no laughing at my ship, and three, no asking for explanations of the rules..." as he turned and took a handfull of tarp he muttered to himself, "ah hell, why do i even bother anymore? first thing she's gonna do is laugh, then go in and look under the flooring, and asking me why i bother making the rules..."

WIth a slight sigh he said in a much louder voice "and with no further adue, i give to you, Tamerak..." he then pulled the tarp off, revealing the most beat up piece of junk shuttle anyone could ever hope to see, but he still simply looked at it in pride, he'd had some good times with this baby...

[ 10-26-2002 05:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Flac ]

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Sheesh, you've really lost it over the past years, ol gal. Against my inner lids an image of a finger rose to admonish myself, shaking back and forth there like a stern schoolmarm disciplining her class. You got by just fine when you were on your own; must have gone stagnant after...

After...

After indeed. Since you became a mother; funny how that changes things so quickly. Practically as funny as how this guy pegged you quicker than a dianoga's strike.

I forced my mouth closed, then worked it silently as I tried to think of what to say. Stood there then, eyeballing his rattletrap shuttle, trying yet to come up with appropriate words. Realized how this all must look to him, especially after his glimpse of the little wonder that Jester IV was; struggled harder to try to make amends for something I as yet couldn't quite figure out why I felt apologizing for.

Which in turn made me mad. Which was never good. Everything he said suddenly hit, about hiding, about caring, about running... about him going where the wind took him, stating I carried a breeze with me... which as far as I was concerned was more of a rampaging hurricane, if the truth were known.

Truth.

I deflated like a pricked fabool, juggling Darra against me a little.

"Look," I started again. "My real name is Galen Jhin'dar Danner. Trust me, it's best that you forget you ever heard that."

I quickly averted my gaze from his and studied his ship, then shook my head.

"My ship isn't big enough to take yours, but she does have a tractor beam. I suppose I could take you to wherever it is you want to go to fix this thi-- I mean, to repair your ship, heh. But I'm afraid I don't know where to take you, not to mention that I'm not really keen at the moment about hitting up any overly populated worlds. There's an Empire in the making, in case you hadn't noticed."

I couldn't help but wince at that, my thoughts flying back to Admiral Actar and Sorben. And from them to those opposing him, and those others of whom I was acquainted who were secretly in hiding as well. With a mental jerk I yanked myself from that reverie, and focused on Flac and his ship again.

Behind me the animated tapestry whiffled and moaned.

"Maybe I'd just better leave," I finally blurted. "I can send out a transmission buoy at the nearest shipping lane; I'm sure help would come along before you know it."

And buddy, believe me, you'd be better off here on this rock than anywhere close to me and that Sith ship....

With those words I drew in a somewhat soulful sigh, and began to leave, cuddling Darra to me as I did so.

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

Welp, he always was one for radical action...

he ran after her quickly, stepping in front of her, raising a hand.

"galen... Listen, You got guts, i can tell, and obviously you wanna do the right thing, but you cant run. I wanna help you... I have been by myself for sometime... And quite frankly, its nice to have been able to talk to you, im no defensless little kid, trust me, i am in the same amount of danger with you, as i am by myself, im not, well, not very many people are to... ah... pleased, with me... You see, im a smuggler, but i dont need the money, i dont care much for the stuff really, but i enjoy the wild life, and i run risks... Listen, you keep saying im better off not knowing you, but what if i wanna know you? what if im willing to help you out, just because it gives me something better to do then pick my toenails? You may not understand this right now, cause really i dont quite get it myself, but i really dont care much about myself, heck, if i did, id be waiting on some backwater world right now, waiting for a pickup that i ordered from some ship company, but i decided 'what the hell, might as well see how far i can make it' and ended up here... Im not much of a believing in fate, but as far as im concerned, this has to be as close as it gets."

he sighed and stepped outa the way. "It seems like you feel bad about something, whatever it is, dont, stuff happens sometimes, i know, i have been through a lot of things that i wish i had acted differently... Well, ive learned from my mistakes, and that knowledge is telling me that Im suposed to help you..."

While his face had remained completly serious up untill his point, his lips turned up into a little grin. "C'mon, give me a chance, you never know, ya might like what i have to offer... and trust me, while that ship dont look like much... There is a reason i been in 'the bussinis' for half my life, and never once been caught when i didnt want to be..."

He took another step to the side, not baring her way any longer "listen, wide eyes, I aint gonna stop you again, your free to go, but at least give me a shot..."

he then gave her a little wink as if to say "hey, what do you have to lose?"

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

Reacting instinctively to his charm, I let my lips broaden in a genuine smile, and stuck my hand out to his.

"I guess I could use some company, as long as you're ready at a moment's notice to jump ship the minute I think you should." I let the smile broaden further, showing my teeth, in an attempt to soften those words. Chances were excellent that my clone ruse would work, but there was also the little fact that one of these days someone was going to be coming for Darra, someone who nothing would stop but a blaster right between the eyes. And only if she was taken by surprise. If she came at all, that is; there was the little matter of a couple of Sith running around the galaxy.

But there was more than enough time until that happened.

Now I glanced to the big fuzzball and let that glance comb his fur.

"What about your buddy here?" I asked at length. "Is he coming for the ride too; er, and where was it again you said we were going?"

Now I pulled my eyes back down to human level, and let them bore into Flac's interestingly bi-colored ones.

Thank Khaandon they weren't blue....

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he then looked the the big furball and shook his head. "my buddy? from my perspective he is following you, so maybe i should be asking you the same question..."

pausing a second, he nodded... "Well, my furry friend, whats your story? nows the time to speak..." he then looked from the big hairball to galen, and back again, shaking his head...

"No way we gonna last like this..."

walking over to his ship he opened up a back compartment, revealing a few large crates... walking in, he opened one and picked up a big pulse cannon, barely able to hold the massive thing he dropped it at the furry things feat, nodding, as it was just the right size for the thing to handle it with no troubles. "if you travel with me you travel with at least one weapon..."

His gaze shifted to galen, "i dont know how affective your blaster is, and you have no idea how happy that makes me, but if you want, you can help yourself to whatever you want... I was just gonna drop 'em off on kashyyk and make a buck or two anyway... nothin big...

He shruged, then, and entered the ship under layer once more, coming out holding three bottles of whin, he handed each of them a bottle, and claimed the third as his own.

"you were saying about sitting around something cold???" he laughed and took a sip, grinning that sloppy roguish grin...

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Gurgling, he finally spoke,"I'm dying here, my mouth gets very dry when I run, you try lugging this frame around... now, that wine was enough to allow me to speak without sounding like a wookie, but I would appreciate some water... by the way, they call me Malf..."

He approached Flac, leaned forward scooping him from the ground and giving him a near bone crushing hug... after doing so picking up the flask of water and drinking that dry as well...

"I owe you my life..."

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The image warmed me... or maybe it was the wine after all.

I just took another sip and waited for someone to come up with somewhere to go that was not on this rock... er, after we scoured it for capital gain, of course. I mean, Flac acted like he had some means of his own but that's really not my style, glomming off of strangers. I'm not the exploitive type.

So I just sat there, waiting for the opportunity to interject the possibility of finding some gold --like that wasn't going to happen, sheesh, talk about Roon's Treasure! -- and again waited for inspiration to strike. Maybe this furball, Malf, had a home we could all go hide in, I dunno....

I let the thought expand into obscurity as I took another sip and just sat there, content to watch the two of them, happily sensing the small motions of my daughter as she continued to entertain herself in my lap.

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Alright, what can we do? where are we gonna go? well Flac, what do you always do? hmmm... No, deffenetly not a good idea... She wanted to remain hidden, remember?

If you wanted to hide... where would you go flac? DUH! but that wont help, not everyone can simply shed an identity, and hide living as someone else, and even rarer still were the ones that actauly had a successful alternate identity...

his hand came up to tap upon his chin, letting thoughts play themselves out...

"if you wanna hide... Theres always the classic plan, move to a backwater planet, and start a rebbellion... Imperials are to blind to see whats right in front of them... heck, i got the weaponry to pull it off to... But that aint my style..."

He continued on muttering to himself in mindless rubish before speaking up once more "Maybe we should start a bounty, put a price on someones head, high enough to catch some attention... and that would keep the hunters off your trail for quite some time... especialy if that person didnt exist. With that done we could hop over to... Well, someplace that has a lot of people... id say corruscant, but of late theres not much chance of getting onto that planet... Where ya from galen? feel like taking a little trip home, under assumed identies?" he then turned his glance to malf for a moment "and as for you furry... Well, i think you could make a pretty convincing pet...if you dont lowering yourself to that level, in public..."

He smiled "we gotta do something to call attention to ourselves..."

he shruged again, taking a sip of his wine.

His eyes glanced into Galens for a moment, looking at them he sighed... She was determined... and nothing he did or said would get him through that shield she, most likely, had unconciously rissen about herself...

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He then waited for a response...

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he smiled as malf got up and walked eagerly into the back hatch of his ship, which he had to duck very low to enter, but somehow managed it...

he took another sip of his win and walked over to sit by galen, looking at her child for a moment with a simplistic smile, befor turning his gaze upon galen.
"whats her name?"

[ 10-26-2002 10:25 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Flac ]

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