Eagle came blazing into the fiery skies of Sullust looking like nothing so much as yet another bit of volcanic ejecta being blasted against the heavens, only to fall earthward, trailing heat and flame of her own. But this particular bit of ejecta seemed to have a mind of its own; it descended to about five kilometers when its rather steep trajectory flattened, and it began swooping the surface like a nosing nek, searching for something.

It found that something in the form of the Piriingisi spaceport, nestled amidst the crevices and crannies of one particularly immense and ancient lava flow, long since eroded into the approximation of valleys and hills.

I brought her screaming in, only to nestle her lightly against the tarmac. I then whirled in my seat, and pinned Lo Ban with a look.

"Go get her," I gritted through my teeth, getting up myself and checking to make certain all was ship-shape aboard the shuttle we were about to depart. Lo Ban went aft; I heard the door sliding open, and he soon returned with a very pale Shayla slung over his shoulder. He paused at the hatchway, then proceeded down onto the tarmac. I gave everything a last once-over, settled my blaster on my hip, and disembarked in his wake.

Once upon the tarmac the incredible heat went a long way toward reviving the woman Lo Ban was carrying. She soon began stirring; he promptly set her down and took her by the arm. Pulling her along, we proceeded to the nearest tunnel leading into the underground capital city of Sullust; once gaining entryway, I paused, getting my bearings as people of all ages and species thronged about me.

At length I pointed.

"The police station is that way," I said briefly. "They'll let you send a transmission."

With that I sent Lo Ban my own version of THE LOOK, and then stepped forward... coming at length to an old familiar face.

The Blue Asteroid.

Oh what the hell-- I thought to myself as I entered and headed to a booth in the back. There I flopped with a little grunt, propping my elbow on the table to swipe my hair back from my forehead, and ordered a light drink from the little waitress who appeared at that elbow as if by magic.

Zack was alive...

...but something was just wrong, he just wasn’t responding...

Sorrow clouded her eyes further as she continued to try to reach him, practically oblivious of the fact that she was being carted somewhere-or-other by Loban Kenobi. Nothing else mattered at the moment.

Her little boy. Her sweet and innocent little boy...

Erik tried to warn you about going off alone like you did...

Her heart broke further. Erik...how was she going to tell him this? She couldn’t bear it herself...

And that’s when it hit her. She couldn’t bear it alone...and he deserved to know the truth. He’d always been so strong and steady, and she needed him so badly...

Shayla froze in her steps, jerking Loban to a halt. “I need to contact my husband,” she said softly, her greeny-blues boring into his electric eyes. Then she just stood there waiting as an insidious and troubling thought traveled its way to the forefront of her mind.

She was going to spend the next few months carrying a baby within her who might never respond to her presence ever again...

Lo Ban chuckled to himself a bit, as Galen walked off... into a nearby cantina...

Lo Ban was already to the Police Station, when Shayla sprang up from his tight grasp on her forearm...

Lo Ban simply speared her abdomen, taking her up onto the strength of his right shoulder...

Police Station

Lo Ban entered the station, not receiving any looks his way that would construe difficulty amongst the situation...

Evidentially many people were drug in this way, kicking and screaming...

He walked to the officer desk, in charge of admissions...

"I'd like to admit this one, for detox..."

In Shayla's state, she neither had the strength to resist the officer... nor the state of mind to present full coherency...

"Make sure she get's her transmission... she'll be contacting her husband for pickup..." Lo Ban said, as he turned and exited the station...

The Blue Asteroid...

Lo Ban approached the only woman in the bar...

"That's a tight flightsuit... how does one go about getting into it?" He said, as he waited for an invitation to share the booth with this redheaded fireball...

DETOX?!

Shayla might have been in the depths of despair, but she wasn't quite as clueless as Loban Kenobi apparently thought. Maybe a little slow to realize what was going on, but far from clueless...

She jerked her hand from the officer now dragging her to the back, her eyes ablaze. He whirled on her, preparing to take measures to retrieve what he thought was an idiotic drunk, only to hear these words waft into his mind:

You don't need to take me to detox.

He wasn't even totally aware that words now slipped forth from his mouth. "I don't need to take you to detox."

Then, he could have sworn he heard: You can direct me to the nearest hotel.

But he then heard his own voice. "I will direct you to the nearest hotel."

And he did just that, not laying one more hand on Shayla Kartan, but instead stepping outside the police station with her and pointing her to the Azure Planetoid.

She thanked him, and headed on her way, buying a room and then heading there, her mind and body very weary...

...and still very much in pain.

Before she slipped off to slumber, too tired to call upon the Force to do so herself, she dialed up the frequency for the Sith warship, praying that Erik was there. "I'm on Sullust in the Azure Planetoid, Room 423. Please hurry...I need you so badly..."

I grinned back, and set the glass down.

"Nice line," I opened with a toss of my head. "That and about twenty credits will buy a lady some dinner. You in the market?"

I let a bit of mischievousness tinge the look I returned to him, and patted the tabletop a couple times.

The waitress promptly scooped them up,"I'll have a Nerf steak, medium rare/bloody... the lady will choose her meal, and would you please send us your best bottle of wine... this should take care of that..." Lo Ban said, handing the waitress an additional 200 credits...

It wasn't so much that Lo Ban had the credits to spend... but that he was willing to spend them on me.

The lady....

A warm little feeling wiffled between my shoulder blades, spreading out until my entire torso was feeling like a treat a child would roast upon a campfire. With a small effort I jerked my gaze to the waitress.

"I'll have the same, only I want my steak still staggering."

The waitress nodded, left, and soon returned, a bottle of the House's best vintage on a silver tray. She set it down, popped the cork, and set it on the table to breathe. Then after pouring a bit into a wine glass for Lo Ban, she waited for his affirmation.

He ran the glass beneath his nose, then smiled, sending her on her way. He finished pouring the glass, and handed it to me, then poured one for himself.

I already had mine raised in a toast.

"To beginnings..."

He raised his glass, never taking his eyes from the browns they swam in...

"To the undiscovered..." They touched glasses, then drank the contents... and the rest of the bottle, as well...

"Another bottle?" He asked, sparing any expense for the first of many magical nights...

A smile lingering on my lips, I shook my head.

"I don't think so, love," I said softly. "I think I've had enough to drink; I-- I'd like to keep a clear head tonight...."

I trailed off as a little yawn erupted from somewhere deep behind my eyes, which were suddenly feeling as heavy as lead. I put a hand to my mouth to stifle it.

Gods, when had I slept last? A true, restful sleep, that is, in a real bed between real sheets....

Another start: it had been some time ago, again during my last visit here.

Way too long a time. Well, at least it seemed that way.

I blinked again, and settled my eyes into Lo Ban's.

He stood there alongside his father, staring into the greeny-golden depths of the Crystal Octahedron, watching. There in the enigmatic swirls of something other contained within the crystalline latticework, another enigma hovered: a ship, and a most peculiar ship indeed. There were no stars or constellations about it to give one bearing as to its location; indeed, none were needed. For spatial relationships of that ilk are dependent upon time and space itself, and slowly but surely he was learning from his Father that such things really have no meaning in the greatness of All That Is.

Aeylmaar gave his adopted Father a direct glance, his amber eyes unwavering before the volcanic pair before him.

"Now, Father?" he said simply, his voice quiet and controlled even though every inch of his body was trembling with barely restrained excitement.

The great Dark Lord of the Sorcerers inclined his horned head, closing his eyes briefly in acknowledgment. And when he lifted his face, it was to find his adopted son had vanished.

He smiled.

SOMEWHERE IN HYPERSPACE....

Aeylmaar glided into the Sith warship from the non-ness of the portal through the All like a tawny ghost, his eyes veritably glittering in the dim lighting therein. So quiet was his entrance that, Force strength or no, Erik wasn't aware of him until he had come up directly behind him. The young man whirled in his seat, blinking back his astonishment.

Aeylmaar waved a robed arm about himself, then laced his clawed hands together at his waist. He pinned an exceedingly expressionless look upon Erik.

After all, this had only been the second time he's had a drink in his life...

The first time wasn't as happy as this one, stumbling with a drunken stupor into the magical bedchambers of Graysith...

Then to find himself on a naked trek past Galen's home on Keel Doba...

This time would have a better ending, indeed...

Lo Ban slid out of the booth, holding his arm out to guide Galen out as well...

They made their way to the nearby hotel, The Azure Planetoid

"I'll take care of the bill babe, it's room 14..." He said, handing her the key...

Lo Ban didn't know if it was the alcohol, but his face turned so warm from the simple touch of hands between he and that redheaded fireball...

Erik had to literally force himself not to reach for his blaster as he whirled, listening to those quietly spoken but very meaningful words. His look hardened a bit and he stood, folding his arms as he faced Aeylmaar.

"Take the ship then," he said a bit flatly, his look not shifting one more iota. "My wife...

...and son...?

is in trouble, and I've gotta get to her as quickly as possible, so I'd ask that you drop me somewhere so that I can purchase a ship and be on my way again...

...that is, of course, unless you would be willing to bring me right to her..."

He trailed at that then, his certainty in the Sith clearly shaken by his wife's uncertainty in them. After all, Shayla had always trusted the true Sith until recently, when matters became unclear.

But then, maybe there was still hope...

Erik waited to see just what Aeylmaar was going to do next...

Sheesh, Galen ol girl, either that wine sneaks up on ya or you're more tired than you thought....

The recalcitrant door finally opened; I pushed it with my foot and marched in... and directly in front of my eyes saw the most inviting sight I'd seen in too many hours.

I didn't bother to close the door tightly, just let it drift partly shut in my wake. At least I thought so; I was too busy focussing on the bed and trying to take off my boots as I headed there.

A display of flowers, imported from Naboo, were in the window...

Lo Ban entered the shop, placing 500 credits on the shopkeeps counter...

"I want those-" Lo Ban pointed at the flowers,"In room 14, within the hour... all of them..."

The payment was enough for the flowers, labor of placing them in the room, and a handsome tip for promptness...

Happy with his purchase, Lo Ban exited the shop...

At length, he decided to go back to the hotel Clerk's desk... Lo Ban asked for the room next to # 14, not wishing to interrupt what they both needed so badly... sleep...

Room 16

The wine had taken over, as Lo Ban fell into bed...

Large card, attached to the largest arrangement in room 14, read:

Dear beauty, from the cantina;

I'm not one for one night stands, I hope these greet your morning where I could not...

All my Love, Room 16...

My room was filled with color and fragrance.

Now I let out a disbelieving little yip, a hand instinctively rubbing my eyes to clear them. No, the jungle was still there....

I slid from the bed then and headed toward the nearest bouquet, where I took hold of it gently and plunged my face amidst it's silken petals. I moved on to the next, and the next and the next, shaking my head to myself all the while.

Where--?

Then I found the card, hidden coyly amidst the leaves of the largest bouquet... and it was then that I realized the fact that, save for the flowers and myself, Room 14 was empty, and had been all night.

That warm little spot began growing behind my shoulderblades again, digging deep to spread itself through my torso. I smiled like a kid on Boonta Eve, and pressed the card to my cheek. It smelled like all the flowers in the world were bundled up into that little white greeting, a scent incredibly overlaid by another, one deeper and clean and somehow fresher and masculine.

I tottered to the bed and slowly sank down upon it. A realization then struck; this was perhaps a nexus, a turning point.

Galen Danner, how do you feel about this? About him?

I knew the answer before I even framed the question. Knew he did indeed love me, had loved me for some time, and was now professing that. Knew that I, in turn, knew little of him--

But then, what had you known about Sorben? About Terrin? Since when are background investigations prerequisites for such matters?

--only that he was reaching out. And I?

Found myself facing the utter certainty that I had been hurt too many times. That I had love yanked from me more times than anyone should in their life, if indeed they should suffer such at all. That not only was Lo Ban reaching out to take my heart in his hands and hold it... but that deep inside I was jealously guarding it myself, clutching it, afraid to let it go too soon until I was absolutely sure.

And even then I'd think about it?

No. How could I judge that? I'd go the rest of my life, afraid and sere, if I placed myself under such harsh restrictions. Life is pointless if one stops taking chances. How can anything grow if one refuses to plant the seed?

He had suffered the pain of losing a spouse as well, yet he was reaching out.

Jedi, heal thyself....

My head whirled, and finally came to a stop. The pathway cleared a bit before me. I went to the large bouquet, where hidden amidst the scent and color and rich luxury a tiny flower beckoned. It was a Dagoban swamp-orchid; tiny, delicate, the color of pale, pale apricot, its shaggy-edged petals rimmed with white, it's throat the deepest, richest violet.

This scent shall be my perfume for him....

I plucked the orchid from the bouquet, placed it in my hair over my ear. Then I went to the door dividing our rooms and flung it open.

I paused on the threshold, suddenly shy. Then I proceeded in, finding him coming awake as I did.

Perhaps I didn't quite love him, or just didn't recognize the fact of it. But that didn't mean I never would.

I swallowed, wet my lips, and let three little words escape from them:

"It's still morning--"

Even as I spoke I was moving forward then, suddenly eager to explore this unexpected, undiscovered aspect in our relationship, needing to nurture back into life another all-too similar aspect of my very being.

To Erik, Force or no, through budding All-use Aeylmaar remained a statue.

He let an eternity pass. Then--

"Such matters are not of concern to us. You will come about, and return this ship to Khar Delba immediately."

It was only after those words had been uttered that he let a flash of something bordering upon darkness flicker in his eyes. Then he raised a clawed hand, ripped open a portal in the All, and returned to Khar Delba.

The portal winked smoothly out of existence in his wake.

The Goddess simply stood there at first, her tongue then sensually showing itself in anticipation...

Galen fully entered room 16, the door still ajar in her wake...

With her sight fully in Lo Ban's view, it took all of his strength to pull away from the depths of her brown abysses... to note which flower she held as her favorite, and how it accented every aspect of the fiery colors within her hair...

Speechless...

As he now caught the fragrant mixes of Galen's natural perfume and that of the swamp-orchid... he was beyond speechless, passing onto paralyzed with anticipation...

He simply sat at the edge of the bed, soaking up all that was Galen's beauty...

Hyperspace...

After Cartina's "inquires," Jasyn had slipped back into unconsciousness, having nothing more in the external universe in which he had been existing to respond to. When in a few hours he woke again, he found his mind clearer...

...but yet he was still confused as all Hell.

Where was he? What had happened? Where was Cartina?

And why the HELL was he lying...

He cracked an eye open in sudden curiosity...

...on the deck of the Raptor?!

Along with this realization came another, even as Jasyn tried to shift from the uncomfortable position he was in, his shoulders extremely sore and the side he was laying on aching dully.

His hands had been bound behind his back.

Opening the other eye, Jasyn sat up as best he could with no hands to help him out, licking his dry lips to wet them a bit.

Well, lessee, buddy. You have just woken up bound on the deck of the Raptor. You've probably been drugged...

...and the last thing you clearly remember is kissing Cartina...

...a bounty hunter...

WHAT THE HELL were you thinking?!

Jasyn could give her one credit: she was sure a damn good bounty hunter, considering how convincing she had been. To think it was nothing more than a cleverly designed trap all along...

“For a pretty gal like yourself, it sure must be Hell living life heartless,” he commented at length, his brown eyes hardening.

”And why the Hell should I expect that the mere plight of a human would concern the Sith?!" he growled at the place where the Sith had appeared. "Nevermind what was..."

Falling silent at that, he turned and reseated himself, his eyes glazing over with determination. The Sith could have their damn ship back. But only after Shayla was back safely with him...

She took a long swig of ice cold water...

I halted in my tracks, suddenly shy again.

No one should be placed on the pedestal his gaze was apparently placing me upon....

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what I wanted him to say. All I knew was that suddenly the moment seemed to be leaning toward something of an awkward one... and that was the last thing I wanted.

No awkwardness between us. Just honesty.

Blinking a little I stepped forward again, quickly gliding across those last few meters still separating us. Coming to a halt in front of him, I sank down on my knees, and took up his hands in mine. I could feel the hot trembling in his palms, like earthquakes on the sun.

"I don't believe in one night stands either, Lo Ban," I began at last, my voice a whisper but my eyes lifted up to his. I paused...

...complete honesty. COMPLETE.

Then I surged on.

"I-- I'm not completely sure how I feel about you, about us, Lo Ban, but I do know this. I know I want you in my life, if you want to be there. And I want you to get to know me as much as I would like to get to know you."

With that he turned to the Octahedron, raised both arms, reached out through the All...

...and within the warship the cyberbiotic brain awoke. It immediately sensed the Calling from its Master, the singing of the Beacon, the Beckoning Home...

...and smoothly popped an emergency override into play, turned itself about in hyperspace, reoriented, and headed toward the unknown space where a dim little star existed with it's twin children....

...and envy every drop of water as it disappeared.

Why the little...!

He jerked his eyes from that glass, and glared right into the darkened lenses of the hunter's helmet, knowing there was a pair of brown eyes somewhere behind them.

He had crossed the line of no return aboard the Eagle... from simple attraction on Keel Doba, to something much much more...

...after all ships do that to avoid crashing into stars or planets...

...and the lights all quieted in what had to be less than a second...

...excepting one sigil that burned a constant green. Erik frowned, not recalling what this sigil was for, nor recalling it ever lighting up in the times he'd flown this ship. A little niggle in the Force told told him that all might not be well...

..so for at least a standard hour, Erik inspected every crack and cranny of the ship, in the end finding nothing that would trigger that sigil to burn in warning or announcement.

Finally sighing and sitting back in his seat in utter frustration, Erik's mind flashed back to the look in Aeylmaar's eye when he'd requested that the ship be returned at once. There wasn't much to read in it, but there had been a little flash of something...

...and Erik didn't think it was something entirely pleasant. About that time he glanced down at his chronometer...

...and realized he should have been at his destination a half hour ago. He reached for the controls with intentions to get a course bearing...

...only to find he had no control whatsoever. His browns flashed up to that green sigil...

...and the probable meaning registered at last.

This ship was on her way home...

(((OCC: Follow Erik back to Shall We Dance? in the Sith Temple and Jedi Praxeum forum.)))

Good! a deep part of me sighed. Then... we step forth on this journey of exploration together.

I don't know if I said the words aloud or not; I might have, to judge from the expression which came from nowhere to transform Lo Ban's face.

I had never seen anyone so suddenly serious in my life.

Now it was my turn to tremble, the smile falling from my lips as I knelt there, holding his hands like a lifeline, allowing myself the luxury of drowning in the twin blue seas of his eyes.

"I do know one thing... above all, I want to make you happy... and I plan on doing exactly that..." He stood, taking her up with him...

Then I turned my own thoughts to my daughter. He was right, there was a time and a place for everything. Later we would explore the place we were beginning to find for each other within ourselves, but now....

A shadow flickered through the happiness within, something began niggling deep in the back of my head.

Darra... with Sorben, and the Empire... or, at least she was with Sorben... or....

My eyes widened, and I began trembling again, although for an entirely different reason. A terrible thought came sailing in from nowhere, hitting me square between the eyes.

All I knew was that Sorben had taken Darra from Kamino; the Prime Minister at least indicated that she was with him. But whether she was safe with him was something that was entirely unknown.

Didn't he "kill" us when we had gone to Quee's hideaway, where I had gone to ascertain just what kind of a threat he really would be to us? Hadn't that told me everything?

Did I think he was so stupid as to not realize that the pair he had killed were clones? And now, oh dear Khaandon... he had Darra, the genuine article.

After he had assassinated what he thought to be the genuine article, not to mention me. What would he now do?

I swallowed as this hit me, suddenly swaying. I couldn't begin to form any words with which to speak a building suspicion too terrible to be considered....

"The first approach should be the most direct, kindly ask for Darra to be placed in the hands of her Mother... that would require a trip to Coruscant, we can figure out the rest later..." He hoped his words would spring some action from Galen... if not, at least convince her Darra belonged with her, not the Daddy...

"If--" I gulped, choking back tears. They started flooding anyway, brimming in my eyes.

"If she's still alive," I finally whispered.

Then I sagged against him, reaching up, placing my hands on his chest as in a terrible whisper I told him the story of how Sorben shot what he thought at the time to be me and Darra, how I had purchased the clones from the Kaminoans, how I had felt myself so smug and safe after that...

...and how I didn't really know now if I was safe from him, or whoever had hired him to kill me and our daughter.

I trailed to a stop, cursing inwardly between sobs.

To think he had helped heal him on Kee'l Doba, before these events took place...

This was part his fault...

Guilt, anger, hatred... visions of the old Lo Ban began to spring...

His hold on Galen now tightened, he would protect her and Darra... WHEN, not if, he took her from that bastard on Coruscant...

Having problems expressing his strong emotions, he did the only thing that felt right... in that moment...

Lo Ban brought Galen's face within view, lowering to wipe each tear on her cheek within his lips carreses...

Making his way to her forehead, where he finished with a prolonged imprint...

Lo Ban slid a hand onto the silk undersuit Galen adorned, placing it in the middle of her chest...

"..but for now, right now... this is all I want..." He said, placing a soft kiss upon Galen's lips...

I couldn't believe what he had just said... especially after the heartachingly awful fears I had just disclosed to him.

I just wouldn't believe it.

"Wha--?"

He didn't know what was expected from him, let alone what he should do...

Rejected... denied... you try to heal her pain, and you fail miserably...

He couldn't stay in the room any longer...

Lo Ban quickly strode to the door, with great purpose and determination...

Before closing the door, half way into the hallway, Lo Ban gave Galen a look of confused rage...

The door closed, as Lo Ban found himself nearly running to the Spaceport...

He'd retrieve Darra, or die trying...

Perhaps this act would express his feelings, where his words could not...

Spaceport

The Raptor made it's final descent, docking in bay one...

Lo Ban, searching for a pilot to contract, found himself eyeing that same damned bounty hunter from Kamino...

The hunter was alone, seeming to make a visual check up on the ship...

With the hilt of his lightsaber, and the stealth of a Jedi, Lo Ban knocked the bounty hunter down for the count with one blow...

The ship was his to commandeer, and take where he pleased...

The obvious was Coruscant, as he brought the engines back to life, The Raptor roared through the Sullustian atmosphere and entered hyperspace...

Lo Ban heard a low rustling from the Bathroom of all places...

The door was under great stress, as Lo Ban reached a hand to open it... this was to be explained as the door all but collapsed at Lo Ban's touch, flooding the cabin with enough water to fill the bathroom three quarters to full...

In it's wake was one very tired Jasyn Lancaster gasping for air...

"Thirsty?" Lo Ban said, holding back the laughter he knew would most likely transform into conscious cognition of what he'd just done to his new found love...

At this point would cause him to take his rage out on the bound man before him...

Lo Ban waited for any reply, before he would free the man...

...although it certainly seemed to go hand in hand with that comment he made now, didn't it Galen?

I couldn't move; in the space of but mere moments I had gone from the soaring heights of bliss plummeting down into the depths of nothing less than sheer anger and hurt.

Well... that just figures now, doesn't it! I told myself as with a grimace I tore the orchid from my hair and flung it to the floor of the room Lo Ban had so hastily departed, grinding it under my bare foot with a painful sort of glee.

Face it. You're just not meant to find happiness in this universe, are you? At least not on a permanent basis; oh, the fickle finger of fate is more than certain to come along here and there, dangling the proverbial treat before your nose... just to yank it away the moment you let your guard down to reach for it.

Something a cross between a sob and a growl tore from my chest as I whirled and fled back into my own room, trying to avoid the admission that Lo Ban appeared to be just like any other guy after all, out for one thing, saying all the right things, making all the right moves, coaxing me into vulnerability so he could....

I stopped in my tracks, and found great satisfaction in slamming the door shut with a kick of my heel. Then I whirled and nailed it with my fist, drilling a neat hole into the shining wood.

Let Mr. Moneybags pay for it! I seethed through the fog of rage which quite effectively masked the growing hurt I felt in response to Lo Ban's apparently tom-cattish actions. Then a wrenching sob erupted from my very toes, flinging itself through my lips, flinging me from my feet as I sank down to the floor, there to just sit and cry.

And finally, as with all things, the tears came to a stop and I turned my thoughts away from those of myself. I sighed and hiccupped, suddenly realizing that I was back to square one regarding Darra, and I really didn't have a clue in hell as to how I was going to get her.

If--

I pushed that thought away before it formed, forcing the fresh flood of tears to repress themselves, to coil up and direct their tightly wound energies into something useful, something I could depend on in order to find my daughter.

Which I planned on doing just as soon as I got my act together.

Knowing of a nearby hotel, she decided to clean herself up before finding way off planet... back to her ship on Kamino...

The Azure Planetoid

The oil adorned hunter purchased an hours use of room 12...

Room 12...

Faint whimpering of distant cries came from the room separated by a wall, and a thin locked door...

In Cartina's vulnerable situation, she couldn't help but fear the worst had happened on the opposite side of that door...

Now cleaned up, she decided to knock on the door adjoining room 14 and the hallway Cartina waited in...

A hand at her waist, where she had placed the blaster rifle from The Raptor...

I froze, immediately suspicious.

Who in Hell's Seven Circles would be knocking?

I paused, leaning forward a bit toward the door, curious but suspicious as hell. Then--

The way your luck is going lately, you'd best not, Galen ol girl. If that's Lo Ban, well...

He's got the Force. He'll find you. If he doesn't....

My eyes darkened with a mixture of painful and angry tears.

I hesitated no longer, but hurriedly donned my flightsuit, opened the door back into Room 16, tiptoed through it and peeped that door open to glance up the hall.

There outside my door was that damned bounty hunter again!

I froze again, and just as quietly closed the door. The lock turned with a barely perceptible snick... but I wasn't stupid. Sorben had been the best of the best in that unenviable profession; I learned a lot from him. One thing being the wide assortment of devices they had, including sound amplification receivers.

Hurriedly I moved across the room to the balcony, which opened up over that same pool my room on the fourth floor had overlooked. It didn't take me long to vault over the edge, hitting the light-bending device as I went.

The early-bird spa users were shocked to find a spiralling fountain of spray vortex upward as my invisible form hit the drink. But I didn't stay there long... I was out and running, my feet quickly drying as did the few tracks I made.

Now I knew I was being hunted....

Oh gods, Lo Ban...!

...and all I could do was make as quick an escape from Sullust as I could.

I ran through the streets, avoiding people where I could, running beyond the few looks of fear when I accidentally -- and invisibly -- caromed off of someone or another, and soon came to the tunnels leading to the spaceport where Eagle was berthed and waiting for me. I literally flung myself at her, slapping my hand against the hatch release, climbed aboard as that hatch opened, flinging myself at the controls and firing up the systems even as I called in a request for emergency departure.

And even as I sat there waiting for my clearance vector, it was all I could do to push away memories of the happy moments I had spent within her bulkheads the last time I was in her, memories which persisted in haunting me.

My clearance came in... and I hit the enable switch. Eagle launched herself into the fire-laden skies of Sullust, taking me to....

Taking me who the hell knew where. All I knew, after the initial rush of adrenalin had faded, was that it was, again, alone.

For a bounty hunter, a locked hotel room door was a minor hindrance...

Once within room 14, Cartina found the door leading to room 16 slightly ajar...

Carefully entering the next room, she noticed the only way out had been the open balcony...

Coming to look down upon the crowd, she found confusion amongst it...

Leapt, into the water below??

A mystery to unfold on its own accord...

Cartina made way for the spaceport, to buy passage to Kamino...

I came to from the deep fugue in which I had been enveloped to find myself hunkered in the pilot's seat, my feet drawn up on the rich navy blue upholstery, my arms hugging my knees. Around me Eagle clicked and muttered and blinked to herself, utterly content to continue on as she was in the mysteries of hyperspace, no real destination beckoning other than the knowledge that it was a mighty big universe and she could go on and on and never find the end of it.

Kinda like me.

I jerked as that little thought arose, blinking in surprise at the connection my subconscious mind had made.

Is this indeed your destiny, Galen? To go on and on, caught upon a Mobius loop of repeating situations, a wild roller-coaster ride through the hazards of the undiscovered country that is the future, only to never find the happy ending within it that you seek?

Undiscovered....

Now I didn't even attempt to blink away the tears which came to my eyes. I just let them flood, which they did, easily forming and spilling and wetting my cheeks.

Lo Ban had returned my toast with that very word.

Now I lowered my forehead to my knees. A little series of shudders raced through me as my thoughts flew back to that awful scene in his room.

Oh Lo Ban, how could you....

I sniffed, reviewing every moment of it, trying to find a meaning, a reason for the sudden change in his attitude. What had sparked it. Dammit, it hurts to find out one is being used, and sure as there's treasure on Roon I was going to find why, if only to make myself feel better. But look as I might, nothing made logical sense. It was as if a sleeping lion had gotten abruptly to its feet and roared; one moment he was holding me, his grip tightening, his actions expressing what I thought was caring but actions utterly belied by the simple sentence he had uttered as he had placed his warm hand on my chest, the statement and the motion seeming to place Darra and my fears for her into the nearest waste receptacle.

It didn't make sense.

Tears stopped, standing in my eyes as I raised my head and frowned.

That whole scenario didn't make one lick of sense... if I were to judge it from the basis of the short history I had already had with him. He had professed his feelings... he had vowed to help find Darra... why that action then? Why the sudden turnaround...?

I blinked, considering another possibility.

Galen, are you misjudging? He is a Jedi... and Khaandon knows jedi are known for their abilities to control their feelings, for their ability to be subtle where subtlety is needed.

Was he trying to get something across to me but had been tiptoing like a whiff of a breeze about me, because I was in such a delicate emotional state at the moment?

Did I misinterpret an action of giving as its more selfish counterpart?

Remember that look he shot you, the confusion... the rage... rage perhaps not against me, but Sorben--? Hadn't I just told him what Sorben had done?

My thoughts whirled, and with a start I found my hand had raised up to lay upon the exact spot where Lo Ban's had. Focusing, I could clearly feel my heart pounding beneath it, it's wild beating suddenly accelerating as a trio of realizations struck in rapid sequence:

I had indeed misinterpreted.

He wanted my heart, Darra and pain and all, and oh Khaandon somewhere along the line it had already been given.

And, sudden fear that I had pushed away too hard... and I'd never see him again.

I would have laughed aloud at the awful serendipity of it all had I not felt so miserable. I just lowered my head against my knees again, and let Eagle mutter and click on her way, not caring where we were going for the moment, just trying to adjust to this new burst of pain now dwelling in my heart.

Pursing my lips, I reached out a remarkably steady hand, and toggled a control. Eagle obliged by spreading her wings to brake herself, dropping from hyperspace with smooth efficiency and in the middle of the blanketing beauty of billions of stars came to a quiet halt, awaiting new direction. I keyed in the command quickly; then sat back with another great intake of breath.

Eagle whirled about on her z-axis as her port jets flared for the turn, muttered a bit, then shot off into hyperspace once more. Destination:

Sullust.

I leaned back against the pilot's chair, letting one leg loosen to dangle while I clasped my hands around the other raised knee. Ahead of me, a particular path emerged as if from the tangled overgrowth of uncertainy, remarkably clear if a narrow one.

I had to find Darra. And I just couldn't do it alone. I had options to follow, though they might take a bit of time to do so. And even while my arms were screaming to hold her, logic told me quietly that in either event, time was indeed one of the options I did in fact have.

For if Sorben had indeed killed Darra as I feared he might... then racing there pell-mell, unthinking, would do no good whatsoever. And if not... then by logical deduction she was safe, deeply safe, in the arms of the Empire.

I had time, the time I needed, to turn around and for once instead of running away start running toward.

I sighed, letting my vision grow dim as I starting wondering where in all the universe Lo Ban had gone. I hadn't a clue, and it was indeed a mighty big universe.

But I'd find him. I had to... for I had already admitted that I wanted him in my life, and there was no greater a need than the one I was now reaching for: his strength by me to assist in finding my daughter.

And from that point, the exploration of the aformentioned undiscovered country.

If he still wanted to.

I pursed my lips, and busied myself with checking the ETA on Sullust.

He had to still want that.

A pleasantly smiling concierge came up to me, blinking his limpid black eyes.

"Yes, Madam?" he inquired politely enough. "Seeking a room? We have some available...."

I waved him off.

"My name is Galen Danner; a companion and I had just been here, rooms 14 and 16. I-- I was called away momentarily; has Lo Ban Kenobi checked out of room 16 yet?"

I held my breath-- then did everything I could to prevent my shoulders from slumping when after a brief check the answer came back in the affirmative. Taking a disappointed breath, I went on.

"Would you please give him this, should he return?"

I held out the card that had been in the bouquet, upon the back of which I had scribbled the words,

"Neither do I. Still waiting for morning...."

Then with a little sigh, I turned away, and walked back out into the buried streets of Piriingisi.

Ok, Galen; where do we go from here?

I hadn't a clue.

...yet the memory of things which had so recently occurred hadn't yet resurfaced. Not even opening her eyes just yet, she unconsciously reached for that little lifeform growing within her as she did with each morning...

...only to slam into utter silence. That jolted her memory at once, and she trembled a bit, and pulled the covers over her head, curling into a little ball and simply aching. Tears began to flow once more...

...and Shayla couldn't help but notice how very, very lonely she was. That prompted a need for something else...or rather someone else. Again, Shayla stretched out into the Force, pining for her husband's warm presence...

...only to find him further away than she had expected.

Shayla sat bolt upright in the bed, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes wide with sudden worry. She turned them to the chronometer in her room, and frowned darkly at the time displayed on it.

Shouldn't Erik have been here by now, considering the capabilities of that warship?

She sent a message along the energies of her link with her husband. Where are you...?

As she waited for the reply hopefully, Shayla couldn't help but think that something just was not right...

I whirled, a smile on my lips as the ghostly echo came into my ears... and then I realized that it wasn't my ears that had actually registered them. Even so I couldn't help but look quickly about myself, searching the thronging crowd which went about its business there in the capital city of Sullust, seeking the owner of that voice, for yet I hoped to find him there.

It was only after the fourth attempt at fruitless searching had passed that I paused to consider... and in the pausing suddenly felt...

Him. It was him. Sure as Khaandon made lil green worrts, I knew it was him; how could I forget the sensation of that ephemeral psychic touch on my being?

Never, I never would.

Recognizing it as such, an immediate response welled up within me. I just closed my eyes, there on the busy street, and with all my being strove to repeat that time I was locked in Gravin Dark's ship, when I reached out as hard as I could to Quee that he and Sorben could follow the link. I was no force user myself, but Quee was a strong enough Master, and he had keyed in upon it.

My very heart knew that Lo Ban would as well.

So I just stood there, letting myself seem to rise up on my tiptoes, letting every lick of feeling I was so rapidly discovering that I had for Lo Ban rush up from my soul and wing its way out of my body, following that ethereal link and hopefully arrowing back into his heart.

Lo Ban, I am so sorry. Please find me. I love you....

The Raptor came to a controlled stop in the same hanger it had left a few hours before...

Galen was strong, as was her modesty in the ways of the Force... or Lo Ban's talents exceeded his own confidence...

In any case, he easily found Galen among the crowded streets of Piriingisi, leaving The Raptor behind... not aware if Jasyn had followed him, Lo Ban had one thought running through his mind...

He smiled as he spotted Galen's dorsal, the short red hair giving her away... with Jedi stealth, Lo Ban crept up within millimeters of her left ear:

"Love... is never having to say you're sorry..." he whispered...

I really HATE this kriffing planet... he thought to himself smugly as he made great strides to catch up with Loban Kenobi...

...then stopped dead in his tracks as he recognized the person that Loban had approached so steathily, relieved that the bounty hunter hadn't found her...at least for the moment. But then he frowned, sensing something else between Loban and Galen...

Suddenly feeling like nothing more than a third wheel, not wanting to intrude on anything, Jasyn just tried to blend in with his surroundings, and waited for someone to either greet him or tell him to simply go the hell away.

Much, much stronger.

I smiled, my eyes still closed, reaching out harder yet...

...and in that reaching pausing once again to feel... only this time what I felt was the tickle of warm breath in my ear.

My eyes flew open at that, and I whirled about, only to see the most electric blue eyes I'd ever hope to see mere inches from my own. I blinked, just to make certain.

They were still there.

...but I will.

In but a moment, she was on her feet, shoving her own despair aside as worry for her husband's safety took precedence. She headed to the 'fresher, washed her face, then hurried from the room altogether. In moments she was again on the streets of Priingisi, and within an hour's time she had purchased a sweet little YT-2000. No way would she leave Erik stranded on Khar Delba, no matter how much her heart was aching...

Taking her newly-purchased ship to the skies after recieving initial clearance, Shayla keyed in some familiar coordinates, oriented the ship towards her hyperspace vector, then pulled they hyperspace lever. Stars formed into starlines, and her new ship, as-of-yet unnamed, carved a course bound for K'eel Doba...

(((OCC: Follow Shayla to Shall We Dance? in the Sith Temple and Jedi Praxeum forums. Thank you.)))

He had been going to try to get Darra for me... but he had come back....

With great effort I pulled back from him a little further, now reaching up to cup his face in my hands. The bustling street in which we stood promptly disappeared; all that existed for me at that moment was him, and the trembling beginnings of an us.

"Together, Lo Ban," I murmured, sending my soul to his through my gaze. "Whatever comes from this moment on, I want it to be together. I didn't know how badly I wanted this until you left--"

I paused at that, wetting my lips as that last, lingering little pain of when I thought I'd never see him again was finally laid to rest at my feet. For now I held the certainty of its defeat in my very hands.

"I need to be a part of your life, Lo Ban... if you will have me in it. I need you in mine. Please don't ever leave me.

"I love you, Lo Ban--"

I fell silent as there simply were no words which would adequately express my feelings any better than those very feelings themselves... which even yet were flowing from me and into his heart through the force link he had set up between us.

I just stood there, tingling all over with the warmth of my profession to him, basking in the heat of his, his caress on my palm like a tiny sun ready to explode throughout my essence and carry me off in it's fires. To passersby we might have looked like the young lovers we were, just finding each other; or perhaps, two hungry people meeting for a tryst... or maybe something else.

Frankly, I didn't give a damn. All I cared for was this man, and the fact that fate was deigning to grace me with another serving of happiness, one I hoped with all my heart would not be torn from me somewhere down the road...

And then I pushed that thought away from me completely as a simple truth rose up within me.

Live for this moment, Galen... and this moment will live forever.

I stared up into his serious gaze.

"I--" I whispered, flailing for words, seeking within myself, finding the penultimate truth within, wondering if he could realize it but proceeded onward anyway.

"I will never leave you, my love. I can't. For you are part of me now...."

I need you so much, Lo Ban... can you hear me? Do you sense this?

I can feel you... there is no love like your love... there is no other... Lo Ban spoke, this time without movement of his lips...

Indeed, he could feel me... and I him, as I had felt no other ever before in my life. Not even the link I had with my child when I carried her had been as strong, as all-encompassing as this sweeping sensation of utter completeness I was receiving from my love.

Somewhere a part of me that was still cognizant of such things stood in quiet awe.

But the greater part of me was lost in the wonder that was the sharing of souls, which went so much deeper than words could express, which burned so much more brightly than the heat produced from mere touch.

Closing my eyes now I simply let a little part of me go, freely given, and it took wing and soared into Lo Ban and mingled therein with him, and thus in the streets of Piriingisi we two became one and in the doing, inexplicably enough, became more than the sum of our parts.

And then I slowly came into awareness of two selves again, and within found that entity called Galen, and found her reaching out to express her own yearning now, and that entity whispered even as she stretched her arms out toward this man,

"Now that you have me... where would you take me?"

He led her to the spaceport, to the hanger he assumed The Eagle would be waiting... he was wrong, as the hanger was empty...

With great effort, I put it back. I gulped, counted to ten, did it again, and finally found the ability to speak.

"Eagle is over that way," I managed, pointing and then letting my arm drop. I stared hard into his eyes... and shoved my heart back deeper into my chest again.

A time and a place... but whatever he thought, it was definitely not the time to go waltzing off after Darra. That little hunch I always got was emphatic about that... unless he had a plan up his sleeve.

And if that was the case he was being awfully tight-lipped about it.

I gulped again, struggling with myself, slipping away yet again by his intoxicating nearness...

"Wait..." Lo Ban said, holding Galen back in protective anticipation...

Docking Bay 7

Cartina had been waiting for her contracted pilot to allow her passage aboard his ship, when she caught a faint whisper on the sound amplification receivers within her helmet... She knew the voice well, it was Lo Ban Kenobi... She sought revenge on he and his close friend she had tried not to notice on Kamino, the jealous type she was... not to mention the anger she felt toward the whole situation to begin with, and top it all off with the doubts she had about her profession:

No more Ms. Nice B. Hunter...

A shot of energy came from the distance, connecting Lo Ban in the shoulder... knocking him to the deck, motionless...

From the shadows emerged an armor clad individual, directing a blaster rifle at Galen's person...

"Galen Danner, I presume..." holding her surprise at bay, Cartina finally successful in the pursuit...

For the barest nanosecond I hovered against the great uprushing need of tending to my fallen jedi... but luckily logic took hold of me once again.

I hadn't spent the time I had with Sorben picking my nose and drooling over his magnificent body, after all....

In one motion I launched myself at this meddling armored moron, one hand slapping against my belt and enabling the light-bending device, even as I tucked and rolled in mid-air so as to alter the shape of my form rushing at her... and thus foiling her guess at my trajectory.

I came to a crouch directly in front of her.

Her helmet swept down in my direction; of course she could hear me. But by then I had launched myself strongly upward, and one sweeping crescent kick made contact with the blaster, sending it flying from her grasp, while momentum carried me around in a full pivot to deliver a roundhouse kick precisely beneath the lip of her helmet.

I smiled like a tigress to feel my foot strike the softness of flesh... and to feel the crunch as something in her throat broke beneath that flying foot.

She fell like a stunned ronto, and I fell with her, landing in a crouch from which I launched myself to retrieve her blaster.

I whirled... then relaxed. She was out like a light.

I smiled grimly, and now headed to see how Lo Ban was faring.

And waking up on the cold deck of a flight hangar wasn't what I would call all skittles and beer....

I sat back on my heels, thinking. To get back to Piriingisi involved a long trek through the tunnels, and then transporting his body through the crowded streets. Even the thought of a nice clean bed in the Azure Planetoid wasn't enough to warrant so lengthy -- and undoubtedly pain-filled -- a movement.

The obvious answer lay a few hangars away.

Now I steadied myself, balancing my weight between both feet and reaching down. With a great oof! I managed to struggle back upright, now with Lo Ban's unconscious form draped across my shoulders and half-dragging on the ground. I gritted my teeth, and set out for Eagle.

It was really quite lucky that it was still early in the morning; there wasn't a soul around. Sullust was a tourist world... and tourists didn't like getting up early. Thus the majority of incoming traffic didn't usually arrive here until nearly midday; this little corner of the spaceport was blessedly quiet and free of nosy eyes and ears, and the sight of a short redhead dragging a lean and lanky jedi off to a lambda was viewed only by the few ships I passed in order to reach my own.

I finally came to where Eagle sat waiting, and managed to get Lo Ban aboard her. There I quickly laid him on her deck, while I once again called in for an emergency departure vector. I scarcely needed to; the skies were clean and clear as I took off, staying at the controls until I had left the Sullustan atmosphere and disappeared into hyperspace.

Only then did I return to Lo Ban, once again taking him carefully beneath the arms and hoisting him halfway off the deck. Now I was starting to stagger a bit; as quickly as I could, before my strength failed me, I hauled him back to the sleeping quarters where I lowered him onto the closest of the two bunks tucked away into the shadows there. Moving quickly then, I removed his outer robe, pausing in near awe again to see his lightsaber adhered to his side. I remained still a moment, my hand poised for a bit before quietly removing it and the attaching belt from him... and then his under robes.

Then I went for some water and the med-kit, and began cleaning his wound. It was ugly and blackened... but my previous assessment was justified by a further investigation. It would heal... although I'm sure for sometime it would hurt.

Suddenly his body shivered; I started, then quickly pulled the blankets up to his chin. He only shivered again, his face a bit pale. I tucked the blankets more tightly, went for another. Yet another set of tremors raked his lean body.

His hand involuntarily moved up Galen's thigh, to her side, and stopped there at the small of Galen's back...

From his semiconscious state, his eyes opened... along with this came cognition of the pain the rest of his body had been feeling during his unconsciousness...

That was good, for it meant he was healing, yet the clamp it had on his head was mind-numbing... literally, it would be some time until he'd be able to do much more but lie limply in Galen's loving embrace...

The pain was too great, as Lo Ban slipped back into the nothingness of his unconscious being...

It was too much, even for a jedi. Now I winced to feel his pain, watching as his eyes rolled back in his head and then disappeared behind his falling lids. Then I just pulled the blankets more tightly around us, and snuggled closer to him.

Good, he's healing. But it's still going to take a little time; blaster burns are never fun.

Giving his sleeping lips a little kiss, I slid out of the bed and redressed myself in my flightsuit. Then I went to the navigational computer and dropped out of hyperspace, to see where in Hell's Seven Circles we now were. I smiled as the charts popped up, obliging me with a glittering golden dot to show our current spatial location relative to those systems within a twenty parsec leap in any direction.

Hmmm... not too far from Bespin, I mused, my smile broadening. What better place to recuperate than amidst the splendor of the clouds....

Nodding in satisfaction, I keyed in the coordinates, and Eagle soared off towards her new destination. I snuggled in the pilot's seat, dangling one leg, daydreaming of the time when Darra would be safe with a complete family, with me and with Lo Ban... then blinking in sudden embarrassment at the length to which my wandering thoughts had strayed.

Don't even think that, Galen! I berated myself, sitting up and taking a tighter mental and emotional grip.

...and that she just might pop up at any given moment. So he followed Loban and Galen at a very stealthy distance...

...so stealthy, in fact, that when they reached the docking area he lost sight of them altogether. He only managed to find them again when a blaster shot caught his eye and careemed its way into Loban Kenobi’s shoulder, knocking him to the ground. He followed the arc of that energy shot back to its origin, and located the aforementioned bounty hunter...

...who then approached Galen. Jasyn reached for the blaster he had taken from the Raptor’s small arsenal, pulled it from the holster, and set it for stun...

...but never had the opportunity to use it. Galen took care of matters herself, then proceeded to take care of Loban and his needs. Jasyn moved to help her out...

...then stopped, eyeing the downed bounty hunter thoughtfully.

This bounty hunter isn’t gonna stop until she finds Galen, Jasyn thought to himself. Unless perhaps someone stops her first...or perhaps changes her mind...

His mind made up even as he saw what had to be the Eagle blasting off into the sky, Jasyn approached the hunter, scooped her up, Mandalorian armor and all, and headed back to the Azure Planetoid where he bought a room...

...thankful that no questions were asked regarding his “baggage.” When he reached the room, he simply placed the hunter on the bed, removed her helmet, and surveyed the damage. No injury was immediately obvious, so maybe she was just knocked unconscious. But then, that kick was delivered right to her throat, and not with just a little bit of force. Only time would really tell...

...and knowing he fully intended to keep a close eye on her quite a while for other reasons, Jasyn knew that time would come.

Deciding he might as well make her entirely comfortable in the meantime, Jasyn stripped the rest of her armor off all the way down to a thin navy blue bodysuit...

...which he couldn’t help but notice revealed a rather trim form. Jerking himself from that thought, Jasyn actually tucked Cartina into the bed snugly, turned out the lights, and sat in the chair next to the bed, his brown eyes drooping.

Yet he managed to keep them open, at least for the time being, just waiting for the hunter to wake up. There had been a lot of things he could have done to her in her vunerable position while the getting was good...

...but Jasyn figured the best revenge was to do the absolute last thing anyone ever expected.

He awoke, this time the pain tolerable enough to stay amongst the aware...

Lo Ban surveyed his immediate surroundings...

A bulkhead above...

Attempting to move his head in either direction caused waves of pain through his body, the natural warning for him not to take any advancing movement...

The haze on his mind began to fade a bit, as he recalled what had happened...

couldn't get the lightsaber in defense... must protect Galen... GALEN?!

Lo Ban shot out from underneath the safety of the blankets, his feet hitting the floor... the pain, again taking over, caused Lo Ban to hit the deck altogether...

A large thwack and sharp yelp of pain poured out of the Eagle's sleeping quarters...

Instinctively leaping back, sitting on her shins in the best defensive stance she could compile through the pain...

She clutched her neck, falling to the bed once more...

Something was wrong within the anterior of Cartina's neck...

There I found Lo Ban on his hands and knees, shaking his head as if in the attempt to clear it, clearly fighting the pain which I knew just had to be screaming through his body. I sank down on my own knees beside him, reaching a cool hand out to cup his chin and raise his face toward mine.

To comfort Galen, against the fact it was much to the contrary...

He wanted...

Alas, the moment his head hit the pillow his eyelids seemed heavy enough to fold over twice...

So Sleepy...

He pursed his lips. Musta sprained or broken something...

...this is gonna take some time to heal.

At that thought he simply stood and approached the bed, glancing down into those pain-filled eyes, wondering if she was even clear enough to realize anyone was standing next to her, let alone know who it was.

He pursed his lips again, then reached out and propped her head on a couple of pillows, making sure the neck was stabalized. Then he took the hand with which she had been clutching her neck and carefully removed it, holding it for a split second then letting it fall softly by her side on the bed.

"Better stay still and keep your hands off that for a while," he said simply, turning then and heading to the nearby sink to pour a glass of water in a complimentary duraplast hotel cup. Then he returned, sticking the straw he ahhh... appropriated from a pouch in her armor in the cup and sitting down in the chair nearby the bed.

He held the cup out to her. "Thirsty?" he queried, then waited.

All the while, a little shoulder-devil couldn't help but point out that, considering the fact when this bounty hunter was holding him as her captive he couldn't get so much as a drop of water from her, this scenario was mildly humorous...

Generating a healthy sweat during his bodies fast healing, the gel partially subdued the pain...

Galen, busy at the helm, was unaware of Lo Ban's turn for the better...

Donning an under garment, and tearing another to form a makeshift sling, he gingerly made his way to the cockpit...

"Couldn't wait to get be in bed again, ey babe?" Lo Ban said, his obvious attempt to mask pain was painfully evident...

"No, I don't have an approach vector, that's what I'm requesting... and yes there is an injured person aboard the Eagle... and for the eleventy-millionth time this is the Eagle, identification code EE-284-9RJ-H224...."

I growled under my breath as the idiot at the helm of that cloud car merely repeated the obvious once again, that I was approaching Cloud City without clearance, and wasn't expected, and could I please repeat....

Growling again, I slammed the palm of my hand against the console... and nearly jumped out of my skin when the tickle of warm breath came into my ear, Lo Ban's sweet voice shortly thereafter.

I turned a sidelong glance in his direction, noting with great satisfaction that he appeared to be 200 percent better, although still obviously not completely healed. He stood staring back at me, a disarming grin on his face that set an immediate barrage of goose-pimples marching up and down my back.

I turned back to the communications section of the console in front of me.

"Not now, sweets; I'm a little on the busy side--"

Then my lips curled in a mischievous grin.

"But I wouldn't mind it once we finally make it into Cloud City-- that is, assuming that these bozos are going to let us land...."

The last thing on Cartina's mind was her slightly dry tongue, she was scared to death... for all she knew, the next movement of her neck could be her last...

Not even a jedi master has eyes everywhere...

...but somehow I didn't think he needed to hear that at the moment. I finally just turned my head and looked up to where he stood, all serious, behind me.

"I don't want you in my life just for protection, Lo Ban," I whispered softly. "I--"

Then I was interrupted as the approach vector clearance came sailing in, along with the cloud car, which now seemed to be hovering on my port wing. I gave Lo Ban the most love-filled look that I could, then turned to the business of bringing us in for a landing.

Hopefully, somewhere amidst the soft lighting and soothing pastels and soaring architecture that was this city in the clouds, we'd find a quiet little nook to talk and otherwise get to really know each other better...

"No, you haven't--"

Lo Ban continued by kissing Galen's upper lip...

"thank you..."

Her lower lip...

"thank you..."

He would continue... thanking each part of Galen's beautiful anatomy...

I jumped with a little trembling shudder, my arms instinctively reaching out as Lo Ban pulled back at the sound of that pounding. He stared down at me, I returned that gaze.

Then I forced myself to my feet and moved to the hatch. Arrowing a promissory look Lo Ban's way, I hit the lock; the hatch promptly whooshed open to reveal a pair of medics with a stretcher, and some sort of official looking person standing off to one side with a data pad.

I smiled wanly, and pointed toward Lo Ban, who just stood there with his arm in a sling.

The official-looking type took one look, then waved the medics away. Then he turned back to us with a somehow affronted glare on his face.

My smile grew wider, although no less wan.

"Er-- he's a jedi, and he heals quick?"

The official led the two, within the Cloud city they were referred into the emergency ward of the hospital...

Hopefully they wont need to amputate...

Well, at least she won't be hard to keep down for a while, he mused, glancing in her direction.

About that time, a little devil popped up and sputtered something in Jasyn's ear. You know, she's pretty severely injured, petrified, and is being taken care of by YOU: someone whom she really wasn't entirely kind to aside from when she was playing you to get what she wanted. You could have some real fun with this, Jasyn ole' buddy. After all, you know what they say about payback...

...and maybe it'd be good for her to know what it's like when the boot is on the other foot.

Jasyn pursed his lips at that, pulling his blaster out of its holster and twirling it a bit in his hand as though it were a toy. Indeed...

He reholstered the blaster in a smooth motion at that, then just sat back and folded his arms, waiting once more for Cartina to awake again, most interested to see just what kind of mood she was going to be in when she did...

And so it begins...

"Yes, I suppose I could," he started out, standing up and coming to the edge of the bed. "And I promise that I won't lock you in there with running water," he added a touch more darkly. Then he paused, pursing his lips a bit.

The pain of the moan was worth the deafening ring it gave Jasyn...

Each moan she let out, crying for HELP, was thus met by deaf ears...

She simply lied still, her head to one side, unable to move it... and terrified to move the rest of her body for the great pain that was sure to accompany...

Guess it's up to you, pal, a shoulder-angel said, stating the obvious.

Mentally, Jasyn answered it with a Yeah, you're right.

And besides, no matter how angry he'd been about what Cartina had done to him before, Jasyn wasn't quite angry enough to simply let her lie there, struggling and petrified.

"Allright, relax," he said quietly, now stepping in closer and reaching for her. "You're just gonna have to trust me."

With no further ado then, Jasyn carefully scooped Cartina up into his arms, making sure to keep her head supported as he did so then heading for the 'fresher.

A quick jump on a gurney, he was hauled even further yet...

Until, finally reaching the appropriate facility...
Burn Victims unit...

Fresh bandages, a gel that was cool to the touch, and Lo Ban was given a clean bill of health...

Finding his way to the waiting room, Lo Ban approached the payment desk...

Paying the ridiculous amount, Lo Ban was happy enough that the pain had become nothing but a reminder...

Turning from the clerk, a fresh stamina, he strode to Galen's sitting form...

"The doc says to go easy on it for the next week or two, but other than that I'll live..."

"That's good to hear, love," I smiled, now leading him out of the medical center. We stood in the corridor beyond, waiting for another transport to come along to take us to one of the vertical transportation shafts which dotted Cloud City like xylem within a gnarltree.

I laid my head against his arm with a sigh.

"Maybe it's good this happened," I said softly. I turned my face up toward his.

"Now instead of rushing off to Coruscant, we have time to really plan what we're going to do to try to get Darra out of there. And no nicer place to rest and plot than amidst the clouds, wouldn't you say?"

"This is all for you, babe... I do need my rest, anyway, even if a great part of me wishes your unhappiness to last not a moment longer..."

The 'fresher...

Cartina was unable to voice any reservations she might be holding, due to the extreme pain of every simple movement...

She was unwillingly submissive, and at Jasyn's mercy...

"Far be it that I contribute to anything detrimental to the health of a Jedi," I whispered in a low voice.

This was NOT going to work. And besides, why should he care, considering she'd tried to kill him...?

At that Jasyn turned back for the bed, and put Cartina back down. He took a step back, and bit his lip thoughtfully. "You aren't in any shape to sit up right now," he said. "I'm gonna call for a doctor..."

And with nothing more, Jasyn turned to the hotel room's little comm unit, called downstairs, and made the arrangements for a medic to come by and check Cartina's injury out...

...as well as properly care for her needs. Once that was set, he turned back to Cartina.

"Doc will be here in five minutes or so," he said in an as-a-matter of fact tone. Then he stepped outside of the room and waited, relieved that someone else was going to be taking care of this...

...and sensing an opportunity for him to make an exit...

While I waited, I couldn't help the thoughts which came marching into my head. Always, like the predictable flow of some great and unstoppable river, they poured into me, coming to one great concern which seemed to have haunted me the entirety of my life.

How to get Darra safely back....

I sighed, considered a bit as possible scenarios popped into my head. One, Lo Ban was a Jedi--

Can Jedi love? Are they supposed to? Is what is developing here something which really ought not?

I frowned, pushed that unsettling notion onto a mental sidetrack, and continued my former train of thought. One, Lo Ban was a Jedi, and possibly between his use of Jedi stealth tactics in combination with my light bending device we could manage to sneak down to Coruscant and proceed from there.

Dicey, very very dicey... and full of more holes than mama's homemade cheese.

Two... I was the proud owner of Hornett, which led a nice fleet of ships. I didn't know how far we'd get in that direction, but we at least had enough firepower for a fighting chance of bullying our way in.

And three... we could just proceed to Coruscant, whereupon I could simply up and announce, "Yoo hoo, Admiral Actar, it's me, Galen...." which at the very least would guarantee my own personal passage down to the planet.

I snorted a little, immediately dismissing that third and way too frivolous thought. Which brought me back to the former two.

If we go with the brave, frontal approach, I'm gonna have to figure out where the hell Hornett is, I mused in further consideration. There's that little base of operations Terrin set up on Sullust....

I took in a deep sigh.

Sullust. Lovely.

Then I simply put all thoughts aside and looked up at Lo Ban.

He has to heal first, I told myself firmly. We'll figure it out later....

Galen was not alone in her brainstorming, as Lo Ban worked his calculating Jedi mind... but, for purposes far from that of Galen's intentions on Coruscant...

The transport doors opened, leaving the two to pass freely into the city's Lodging accommodations complex...

"I'll get this one, babe... then, how does a mid-afternoon nap sound?" Lo Ban said, reaching into the deep folding of his robes...

The clerk reluctantly informed Lo Ban there were few rooms left... and those few were suites, the expensive kind...

Lo Ban shrugged off the expense, singed the register, and paid the man... adding a hefty tip for good measure...

"Ok, Mr. and Mrs. Kenobi, here is the key to room 178... one of our finest honeymoon suites..." The clerk mistakenly retorted...

Sheesh, and I thought the suites Actar gave me on Ambria were rich....

It was a room in a cloud, that's the only analogy which immediately came to mind. Everything was white: the furniture, placed discreetly about; the thick and luxurious carpet, the heavy curtains which draped from a valence overlooking a simply immense convex type of bay window, the walls; even the bed was cloudlike, almost amorphous in design and piled high with covers of cottony snow. There wasn't a single thing in this room having a flat plane; the walls curved up to join seamlessly with the arching ceiling, upon which great swirls and billows representing the ever present atmospheric feature for which this city was named was engraved in bas relief.

The late afternoon sun poured into the room, lighting it up with a brilliance that was at once both soothing and nearly blinding; yet about the far curved nooks faint shades of lavender and blue hovered as the sun slowly began approaching the distant horizon.

I bet this room is absolutely mind-boggling when sunset hits, I thought, just standing in the door and drinking it all in.

It was so beautiful I was almost afraid to enter.

So fresh... so clean... so white.

I hovered there on the threshold, blinking like a kid staring in the window to a candy store, and all the while a little mischievous voice whispered in my ear, sending pleasant little ripples racing up and down my spine:

I went to the bed and looked down upon the quiet form there.

Well... he was injured, and does need rest, I told myself. I smiled a little, then sighed. Then, moving quietly so as not to disturb Lo Ban I went over to the window.

It was more of a huge bubble affair than an actual bay window, and had a crystalline bench running its far curvature upon which one could sit. A rueful little smile planted on my lips, I entered and curled up on that bench.

With the door closed behind him, Lo Ban proceeded to the transport...

In search of a fine trinket shope...

Lo Ban was in luck, as the shopping complex was only two floors down...

Easily finding such a shop, Lo Ban was swift in his purchase... for surprise was his main intent, and Galen would soon feel his absence...

Acquiring the most beautiful engagement ring he'd ever laid eyes on, he requested procurement from the shopkeep...

"Damn... I don't seem to have the full monetary means to compensate you... could you possibly let this go for any less?"

Dammit, no one would take Tattooine credit...

The keeper dismissed Lo Ban's appeal,"ok, what else do you have... rather, what will this buy me?" Lo Ban placed the remains of the last credits to his person... but, not to his name...

Lo Ban was given a very humble gold ring...

A free spender he was, and it might have just cost him the most perfect romantic moment to pop the question...

For what seemed like such an ideal aboard the transport, has transformed into so much doubt...

Everything pointed to this being THE moment... perhaps it hasn't come yet... besides, how could I give her this... ring... unless the perfect moment slaps me in the face, I'll just have to wait and buy the biggest damn Diamond Ring on Tattooine!!

Lo Ban had already left the shope, and entered the transport by the time that deduction hit...

He snuck back in as quietly as he had fled... Lo Ban only hoped Galen hadn't expected, or sensed anything abnormal...

Naturally, since my eyes were closed my ears were operating on double-time....

I peeped one eye slyly open and watched Lo Ban quietly re-enter the room.

Where in Hell's Seven Circles did he go to? I wondered, snuggling back against the glass.

"Missed you..." I called out, closing my eyes again and relishing the warmth flowing in from this gas giant's great sun.

Without a word, Lo Ban nervously approached the bench...

Beside the bench, he knelt down to Galen's level... on both knees, Lo Ban reached for one of her hands not fully curled into her body... not moving her hand, he simply held his out to her...

"I missed you, babe... I can never manage to take my mind off you, and the further away... the more I hurt... but, when I am with you... when I am with you it means more to me than life itself, more than my dreams as a child... you're first, Galen... everything I do is for you... and, now, before we embark on what seems to be my only hindrance to keeping you eternally happy... I want to express my undying devotion..." Lo Ban stopped at that, now bringing his left knee out of the crouch...

Kneeling on his right knee,"...I love you..."

He held the ring in his left hand, still within the pocket...

Somehow, gathering courage above rejection...

Well, not if I could help it.

In one smooth movement I slid down onto the floor of the bubble, landing on my knees in front of Lo Ban. My left hand reached out to the one he extended, grasping it and holding it tight. With the other I reached out and lightly traced a circle round his heart, then laid it there, a promise for the rest of my life.

Words would be nothing more than superfluous. The quiet, special moment stretched on, the clouds of Bespin roiling about us, now beginning to be tinged with a deeper orangey-red hue as the sun began setting beyond the distant horizon. The fires of that sunset lit up Lo Ban's face in front of me, shooting beyond to cast the room behind him in a fireplace glow which beckoned softly.

Lost in the magickal lighting and in the depths of Lo Ban's eyes, a place I wanted to remain forever, I finally managed to answer him.

"I love you, Lo Ban," I began and then trailed into silence, shivering to see the strange admixture of utter seriousness and utter happiness which crossed Lo Ban's face.

I couldn't hold back any further.

"Yes... yes... yes--" I went on, wrapping my arms around him and enjoining him to lose himself with me in our new special place amidst the clouds.

"Your lady-friend has a serious neck injury," he started. "One of the vertabrae is broken. The reccommendation is that you allow us to take her to the local hospital where she can recieve proper treatment and meds. We've already given her a sedative and pain killer at the moment, but it'll wear off."

Jasyn frowned. His lady-friend?!

"Do whatever is best," he said in reply.

The medic then arched an eyebrow, suddenly seeming to look Jasyn over measuringly. "How precisely did her injury occur?" he queried.

Jasyn wasn't too surprised by the question; in fact, he had suspected it. "I'm not entirely certain. I spotted her laying unconscious on the tarmac in the docking bay and carried her here myself."

Well, it wasn't totally a lie, and no one could prove otherwise anyway.

The doctor gave Jasyn another measuring look. "Will you be accompanying her to the hospital?"

Jasyn shook his head. "No. Now that things are going to be taken care of properly, I'll be on my way," he replied.

After all, a little shoulder-devil snorted, You've still gotta get the water-damage on Aaron's ship repaired...

Unconsciously, Jasyn's eyes darkened at that.

"Will you leave some means for us to contact you should you be needed for further questioning?"

Jasyn didn't see any reason to argue. He merely gave the medic his comm frequency, told him that he'd be on Sullust for some time longer...

...and then took his leave, heading for the streets of Priingisi.

Time to find someone to fix Aaron's ship...

Nothing big. Nothing ostentatious. Just an eternal circling band to eternally proclaim the simple fact that he loved me and wanted me in his life forever.

I thought I'd explode from sheer happiness. Reaching up on tiptoe again, I whispered into his ear.

"It's perfect, my love. Just perfect. And I'm ready whenever you are to make this official."

If she wished to admire that simple ring, he would admire her in doing such...

Wanting no part in jinxing this perfect moment...

Lo Ban held her in his mute embrace, waiting for her to break such silence...

"I hope our future together will be as perfect as this moment," I whispered, going up on tiptoe again, this time to lightly brush his chin with my lips. "I'll do everything in my power to assure that it is."

Then I drew back again, so as to stare more deeply into his eyes.

"Lo Ban--" I began hesitantly, suddenly shy. "That-- that-- connection I felt between us in Kamino... is it-- is it--"

I faltered, not sure what it was I was trying to say. All I knew was that through that preternatural link I had felt with him, I felt closer to him then I had to anyone ever before.

Save Darra....

I smiled slowly, gave up trying to express myself. It was too complicated; I knew nothing about Force users in general--

But ask me about those dark entities out there who use something other!

--only knew that I yearned for that connection, recognized it as an essential part of my very being.

"I-- I already feel married to you somehow, Lo Ban," I finally stammered, hoping these words somehow conveyed the feelings I was trying to express.

She would spend the rest of the day in the tank, then discharged from the hospital completely...

Adorned with her thin undersuit, and neck brace, she made trek back to the hotel...

"...and I'll take a Whyrene's..."

He cut himself off then, frowning a bit.

Better NOT...

"I'll take an extra-large caf, and make it black."

The waitress hurried off and came back almost immediately with Jasyn's caf, promising his order would be right out. As she departed, Jasyn scowled down into the black liquid within the mug he now held, then moved it to his lips and took a good sip.

"Let me keep you warm, Lo Ban, both in body and in heart."

I then lifted my arms, inviting him to sweep me up and deposit me with him into that luscious whiteness that was the bed, which sat against the curve of the white wall giving the impression that it too was simply floating there amongst the clouds.

Swooping her into his arms, one strong and one still injured shoulder...

Lo Ban winced, as he bolted to the bed...

Almost thrashing Galen onto the bed, seeming to be as dense as a cloud, less he drop her to the suite floor...

In pain, he flopped down next to her spot on the bed...

I could use that healing Galen-heat about now... I just hope she doesn't assume me a rough lover...

I scrambled a bit, trying to keep from sinking in the wealth of cloud-soft covers as I hauled myself up on my elbows, a grin and a retort trembling on my lips. Then it died altogether as I beheld my knight in shining armor...

...sleeping like a baby.

The grin softened to a smile. I wriggled off the bed to remove my flightsuit, leaving the form-fitting silken undersuit on. Then I clambered back up on the bed where I molded my body against Lo Ban's sleeping form, giving his cheek a light kiss before nestling my head against his good shoulder, one arm draped across his chest.

Sighing disgustedly, Jasyn accepted the comm, figuring it was some local Sullustan official wanting more information regarding the injured female he had given over to the medics. He was surprised to find the voice of Matt Stanza crackle across the frequency.

"Aaron wants to know where you are, and how things are going."

Jasyn scowled, and sent a return message. "Things aren't going, and I'm on Sullust. As much as I want something to happen, I'm starting to give up hope here."

The line was silent for a moment, then Matt seemingly changed the subject. "Well, since you're on Sullust at a standstill, there's a job you might be able to do."

Jasyn cocked an eyebrow. "A job?"

Matt gave a small laugh. "Yeah, a job. You know the thing you get paid for?"

Jasyn scowled at that, hoping this wasn't an assignment to sell a ship or something. He hated that... "I'm listening," he said instead.

"We need a good techie to act as a liason between EE and Stargazer Corporation. They need someone who can tap into some blackmarket advertisement areas, and we need someone to keep tabs on what they are doing. They report to Aaron, but frankly he's not got the time to pay attention to both the jobs of running EE and making sure Stargazer Corp is doing the best business it can. This will allow you some freedom of movement, as well as some vast resources. And I'm certain that, in your travels, you've encountered some new information worthy of being sold...

...as well as some potential buyers. With you on Sullust, the information lines are pratically at your fingertips with the base that you and Terrin set up there."

Jasyn bit his lower lip thoughtfully, nodded once to himself, then replied. "Allright, I'm game. I'll be in contact."

"Good. You know where to go to tap into the EE system so you can then link to the Stargazer Corp network. If you need anything further, let me know. Stanza out."

With that, the frequency snapped closed, and Jasyn turned his attentions to the waitress, who was just bringing his dessert. She asked him if he would like anything else, and he started to order that mug of Whyrene's Reserve...

...and the angel on his shoulder final peeped up loud enough to stop him.

He needed a clear head to get this thing with Stargazer Corp going.

"No thanks," he told the waitress instead, handing her a good amount of credits both to pay for his food and to give her a tip. She nodded once in appreciation then departed, and Jasyn took his first bite of the rhyskate cake.

Dammit, too dry... he thought, taking his mug of unfinished caf and swallowing a good portion of it. As he pulled back, he actually grinned a little.

This caf stuff sorta grows on ya after a while...

Unable to leave the downy silk of the bed, further inept to leave the velvet skin pressed against him...

He could get used to this...

Content to hold his love, Lo Ban planted his face on Galen's flush fluff...

I snuggled more closely, kissing the hollow of his throat in greeting.

"ah... it seems the sensation has moved further down in my chest... but, I think it's you're presence that causes that pain..." He said, an unseen smile upon his face...

Fully attired, I headed to the door.

"I'm going out for a bite to eat," I announced without so much as turning my face back to Lo Ban. Coming to the door, I opened it, stood framed therein. I turned back in one smooth motion.

The waitress brought him his drink and he drank it slowly thinking of whether or not to go off to find his freind and help him no matter what. After all he did still owe one life-debt to him.

I smiled a bit as I strolled along, glancing down every so often at the simple band on my finger, finding myself musing as I went along.

I thought Jedi weren't allowed to have such connections with others, the insidious thought popped in my head. Yet... this is not the first. Has the oath of the Jedi loosened to allow the order the freedom of personal expression of love? Or...?

I nipped that thought of in the bud, the smile on my lips flattening a bit as a touch of a frown came to my face.

Lo Ban was not the first Jedi in the course of history to take a partner, I argued back. There have been others....

Of course the most famous -- or rather, infamous jedi ever known to have done so immediately came to mind, bringing me to a halt. What child hadn't ever been regaled with stories of Anakin Skywalker? He was as well known to the galaxy as his counterpart, Master Yoda. Indeed, jedi had come and gone, but yet in the history of the Republic and the struggling New Republic which followed in its wake, none had seemed to capture quite the essence... nor the power... of these two adversaries of old.

I shook my head.

Galen, what in Hell's Seven Circles are you thinking?

I blinked myself away from that train of thought, then noticed a small kiosk nearby. A tiny gnome of a woman was selling fruit; smiling, I hastened to her and used the last few credits I had on me to buy some of her wares. She handed the sweet pieces to me in a woven basket, her beady eyes gleaming with thanks.

Guess I overpaid again. Oh well....

I raised a ripe red berry of sorts to my lips and began munching as I turned and headed back to the posh rooming facility where Lo Ban had found our suites. I don't think the entire trip took me more than thirty minutes--

A smile on my face, I came to our room and let the basket of fruit lead the way in.

"Something to refresh yourself, love?" I questioned lightly, holding it out. Yet--

Yet something of those niggling questions popped up in the back of my mind to haunt me. I'd just have to get brave and ask Lo Ban about them--

But now was not the time.

He took the berry from Galen's hand,"but, first... how about a sneak preview..."

Lo Ban reached in to plant a quick, deep kiss upon Galen...

He then popped the berry in his mouth...

After all, everyone knows which is the quickest way to a Man's heart...

"Here." I walked over and set it on one of the nightstands. "Help yourself. Then heal yourself. We've got things to do... that is, I have things to do."

Amazing... that short walk to the kiosk and back and what it did to my mindset... simply amazing....

"I'm going to go check on the Eagle and see if there's anything she needs. Or maybe see if I can get hold of Aaron Barnes on Hornett."

"Perhaps you can help me... as you can see, this is not something I'd wear in public.. given the choice, that is... do you have a lost and found, or something... I think I left my clothes in one of your rooms..."

The clerk looked Cartina up and down, then shook his head in the negative...

"You could purchase a full set of armor we picked up this morning..." The clerk retorted with a smile...

Cartina left the hotel distraught, tired, and no having where to go... she entered the local cantina...

Sheesh, the hospital keeps patients no time these days, he thought. Of course, she'll still be out of the bounty hunting business for quite some time with that injury...

That thought then transitioned to another, and Jasyn wondered if Galen and Loban had gotten somewhere so that his injury could be taken care of. There was one possible way to find that out...

...and aside from that, Jasyn also wondered if, since Galen had been on Kamino, she had found out something concerning Darra. Pulling his left arm up, Jasyn used his right index finger to dial in the secure frequency for the Eagle. He pulled the wristcomm a bit closer to his lips so that his voice would carry over the hubbub of the cantina.

"Hey Galen, it's Jasyn," he started out. "I just wanted to get in contact and see if Kenobi got some medical treatment after that bounty hunter fired on him. I would have checked sooner, but I've been a bit...

...preoccupied seeing that our bounty hunter friend is out of business for a while. I also wondered if perhaps you'd found out something about Darra since you had been on Kamino. Give me a reply whever you can and let me know," he ended with, keeping the connection open to recieve that reply and taking another sip of the remainder of his caf, one eye steadily on the apparently sleeping Cartina...

I looked upon Lo Ban... disconcertingly enough, he was half-propped in the bed, the fruit he had chosen still held in his hand, his eyes still open. But they seemed to have a rather peculiar and far-away look in them, or at least that's how it appeared to me.

I frowned, my lip quirking upward to compensate.

Must be a jedi thing....

Still smiling, I whispered over to him and laid a hand on his good shoulder. No response-- with a sigh, I leaned down and kissed his cheek. Then I turned and wound my way back to where I had left Eagle.

I gave her systems a thorough once-over, and then some, finding a few minor repair needs which I called in to the appropriate people on Bespin, praying that they'd take Republic credits. Luckily, these establishments were only to happy to oblige, at exorbitant interest rates, but what's a pilot to do? Eagle needed to be at her very best, and if that meant that the auxiliary back-up for the head-flush system was to be fixed, then as sure as Khaandon made little green worrts it was going to get fixed.

Among other things....

It was only after I finished my third check of her systems that I turned to the little light flashing on the communications board. I flipped a switch, then reared back in surprise as the voice of none other than Jasyn Lancaster filled the lambda.

Wondering about Lo Ban, is he? the thought popped into my head at the same time that a nicely fuzzy feeling started flooding me. Smiling, I sent back a quick reply along the connection he had left open for me to do so.

"This is Eagle responding. All is well on this end; Lo Ban has found medical attention, and is resting while he heals. We are on Bespin; I'm not certain how much longer we're going to stay, but I plan on heading back to Coruscant from here.

"Jasyn-- Sorben has Darra there... and I aim to get her back."

I paused a little longer, considering... then went on.

"Look Jasyn, watch out for that bounty hunter. You know they never mean any good to anybody but themselves..." I fought down a wince as my thoughts immediately rushed to a bounty hunter with whom I had once had what I thought to be a perfect relationship "...and they can be terribly sneaky.

"Keep your wits about you, and keep me updated as to your progress in whatever you do. We haven't planned exactly how we're going to rescue Darra yet, but the time may come where I need more oomph than what I've got, and you're my only link in that arena.

"Keep in touch, Jasyn. Eagle out."

With that I closed the connection, pursing my lips a bit as I wondered to myself just where all this would lead. Well-- perhaps not where, exactly; that I knew as well as I knew the back of my own hand.

It was the "how's" that had me a touch concerned....

He felt renewed strength, as he moved to the spacious window overlooking the high clouds of Bespin...

There, he contemplated a small sort of mixed feeling he had felt from Galen...

Does she really need me?? or, is it more important that she want's me?

He remained standing where he was, his back to me, seeming to be staring out over the brilliant clouds of Bespin. I faltered just a touch, then continued across the room to come to a halt behind him. I slipped my arms around his waist, ready to greet him, when I stopped.

Was that some strange tenseness I felt in Lo Ban? Something seemed to be bothering him...

A little chill rippled down my spine to tickle deeply in the pit of my stomach. There it remained, the tiniest of knots, coiled like something ready to strike. I did my utmost to ignore it, and laid my cheek against his back, my arms still wrapped around his waist.

Lo Ban took his arms over his head, elbow height, turning in Galen's grasp... then lowering them to take her in his, as well...

"...any thoughts in that pretty little head of yours?"

Darra, on Coruscant, in Imperial hands with Tarnus. Actar, who had repeatedly sought out Galen and Darra, his intentions dark. Add to that mix an impressive Imperial blockade, easily capable of blocking out anyone or anything that didn't belong...

Getting that baby out of Imperial hands and back to her mother was going to take some oomph indeed, and Jasyn knew where to go to get some of that. Pursing his lips a moment, Jasyn sent one more message to the Eagle.

"I'll make sure and be careful concerning the bounty humter," he commented first, smiling a bit at the concern. "If you need anything, let me know, and I'll keep you informed as to what I'm doing. I'd had plans to stay here on Sullust for a bit longer..."

...Gods, why did he want to stay here anyway...?!

"...but on second thought I think I'll be heading back to the Hornett. Getting through that blockade at Coruscant and getting to your daughter is going to take some oomph indeed...and some careful planning. Aaron's acquired Stargazer Corporation in a business exchange, so I plan to fish around and see if there's any information regarding holes in that Coruscant blockade...

...or if it's simply going to have to be done the hard way. Whatever your plans are, the Hornett is at your beck and call, and I'd be happy to help you in any way I can. You are, of course, welcome to stay aboard the Hornett as you are deciding just what you are going to do to get to your daughter as well. For now, I'll leave you with my personal comm frequency, which is 51880, and Aaron's, which is 61848. I'll be in contact and will let you know if I find anything out concerning getting past that blockade. Lancaster out."

With nothing more than that then, Jasyn closed the comm frequency he'd been keeping open to the Eagle and stood, throwing on final bit of credits on the table to pay for the rhyskate and tip the waitress. Then, casting one final glance towards the still-sleeping Cartina, he proceeded out of the cantina and back to the repair shop where he'd berthed the Raptor. After paying for the water damage repairs, he took the now immaculate little lamby, fired up her systems, and retrieved a departure vector.

In moments he was in the sky, where he opened a secured frequency with Matt Stanza. "Change of plans," he commented. "I'm on my way to the Hornett, and I need some coordinates."

In short order, those coordinates came streaming across the secure frequency, and Jasyn programmed them into the navboard of the Raptor. Moments after Jasyn pulled the hyperspace lever the little ship faded into starlines...

"I'm ready when you are, love," I began, never letting my gaze drop from his. But--"

Now I paused a little bit, wondering how to go on. Finally deciding the best approach was a frontal one, I pushed on.

"You seemed distant for a moment, Lo Ban," I began again. "I-- I don't know what about, but I'm all for complete honesty and sharing between us. Maybe I'm imagining things..."

I trailed off, but that persistant hunch niggled. Suddenly the time seemed so appropriate to say something that had been slowly developing inside me for some time now.
In for a credit...

"I need to say this, Lo Ban, so I will. I know it's as if we just met yesterday, this all came along so suddenly... but, I want you to know that I need to make you happy; I want whatever it is you want. I need you to need me... I-- I want to be in your life.

"Maybe you already know this, but just in case I want you to know that. I do love you, Lo Ban, and I'm happy you have come into my life. You've shown me a part of me that needs completion... and I find that completion in you."

I stopped then, suddenly embarrassed for all I had blurted out seemingly from nowhere. Then I planted that smile on my face again, and just stood there, waiting. For the realization struck me: it didn't matter if he had already sensed the above from me.

"Don't ever doubt this. Ever. I meant every word I said to you. And I'll keep on saying those words forever, that's a promise."

Now I stepped back, still holding on to him but raking him up and down with an appraising eye.

"Soo... how's the shoulder coming along, love? I thought you were healing youself, so I popped off to check out the Eagle's systems, and ordered some minor repairs on her. She'll be ready to space tomorrow, or so I've been told.

"Oh, Jasyn Lancaster commed; he was concerned about you. He's going to keep in touch; we might need Eagle Enterprises to reclaim Darra from the Imperials... that is, if between the strength and power of a jedi and the intuition and determination of a certain red-headed loudmouth it can't be done."

"He was a co-worker and very close friend of my- my ex-husband, Terrin Danner," I offerred simply, shivering a bit at the welling memories the mere mention of Terrin's name still brought. "Terrin told me his capacity within Eagle Enterprises, but I'll be damned if I can remember exactly what it is.

"But he's the guy we rescued from Kamino with the bounty hunter... when you got lambasted yourself, love."

I paused with that, lost in memory of where that injury had led... and smiled. Then I sent a coy look up into those fantastic electric eyes of his, fighting down the wave of goose pimples now cascading through me.

"Looks like your jedi healing skills are going to be put to the test, Lo Ban," I teased, taking a small step closer to him. "You've been hurt twice since you've been with me; maybe I'm a jinx!"

I fell silent then, still smiling, hoping my lighthearted teasing would pull him away from that distant place he seemed to have gotten himself to once more.

This might be something I'm going to have to get accustomed to....

On Kee'l Doba, the same guy that had been aboard the Bounty Hunter's ship... on Sullust... he was also with us on Kee'l Doba... he, and... Aaron, was it??

"You're right, that was Jasyn... and yes. He did seem to have quite an... er, affinity for Sith brandy."

I paused then, as a shiver ran through me at the mere mention of the name.

Sith.

In an instinctive motion I wrapped my arms about myself. My mouth worked a bit as I continued on, flailing to find the words to fill the empty space that single word had created.

My mind was suddenly light-years away... and the highly populated Sith world of Khar Delba whirled below as the "Eagle" soared about it in low orbit... and somewhere down there was a person who had once been my sister and who often tried to kill me... as had others... then the exotic technologies of K'eel Doba exploded in my head as I remembered back to yet another world, with yet other Sith, where I was amazingly enough so briefly happy....

"Jas- um, Jasyn probably really isn't that bad to get to know, I guess," I stammered, not really paying attention to the words which were stumbling from my mouth. "I'm sure Terrin wouldn't have had a drunk for an employee... maybe it was, ahh... the circumstances...."

I fell silent, my fingers digging into my arms, seeing nothing but too many painful memories beginning to unreel in front of my eyes.

"I'm sorry, love... I know, I know... this just keeps popping up, you just don't know, it's been too long, too long, too much..." I babbled on, trying to express what was bottled up so deep inside me and only sounding more and more like the village idiot with every word I spoke. Now I turned my face into his chest, burying it against the rough homespun of his robe. I held it there for a long moment, before finally pulling away just a fraction so I could breathe... and speak.

"It's the Sith, Lo Ban," I said in a muffled whisper. "I'm so very, very afraid... and so tired. So damned tired. All I want is my baby girl and a normal life with someone I love. Is that too much for a person to ask for?"

His father was killed by the Sith?

I gulped, swallowed, and pulled back a bit in Lo Ban's embrace. Even as shudders of anger and sadness and despair racked my frame, they were joined with a building anger as I thought of even more death brought about by their hands.

His father was killed by the Sith...

...but who? The Sith peoples had only recently been brought into the future, and up until that moment the only Sith frequenting our galaxy that I was aware of had been Lords Aelvedaar, Recinis and Roan... and their adoption of my sister, Jharmeen JhinDar.

I hiccuped a little, now reaching out to try to banish his own pain.

"Lo Ban, oh Khaandon, I'm sorry to hear that, let me share your grief with you as you are sharing mine with me; please, love. Together let's try to erase the nightmares we hold."

More tears came flooding as just saying the word brought another vivid memory searing back.

"He- he defiled me too, Lo Ban, the Sith Lord, on Sullust; oh Khaandon, now you know... now you know...."

I fell silent then, unable to cry, unable to get past the huge lump in my throat, unable to come close to forming words or thoughts or anything other than the fear that now Lo Ban knew and now he would leave.

For how could he not? I had never said the words aloud, and hearing them now made me want to escape from myself.

I gripped him tighter, and just stood there, afraid to even look him in the eye.

His lungs distastefully full of air, Lo Ban shouted them empty...

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!! ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!" His head lifting to face the ceiling, as his last breath escaped him...

He fell from Galen's grasp, straight down to his knees...

He knelt there, hugging Galen about her waist...

I gripped him more tightly, bent a little to place my cheek on the top of his head. I knew he could feel my tears wetting his hair.

"Just don't leave me, don't ever leave me, oh gods I couldn't stand to lose you too, I've lost too much, please don't ever leave me...."

I trailed off into sobs, closing my eyes against the awful vision of my new fiance facing off against the grinning and self-assured and oh so very powerful Dark Lord of the Sith. Now I fell to my knees, and from there wrapped my arms as tight as I could around Lo Ban's head, drawing his face into me.

"He'll kill you, Lo Ban! You don't know-- he's powerful, there's no stopping him; he comes and goes where and when and as he pleases; oh my love! Please! Let's just go find Darra and go away somewhere, to some nice little planet far, far away, and stay happy with each other forever, oh please don't seek revenge for my sake!

He loved me that much.

It was quickly followed by a familiar feeling.

A very familiar feeling indeed. From somewhere deep inside me I could feel the sudden urge to get away, to leave Lo Ban, to thus assure myself that he would live. No matter what he said, I was not worth dying for; there is nothing worth dying for.

Love is worth living for, not dying... wasn't it?

"Perhaps we'll find a way, and no one will be killed...." I stopped at that, my mouth working voicelessly as I just stared up into those wonderful eyes of his. They seemed to darken in front of me; a chill rippled up and down my spine when I recognized that look for what it was.

"No," I whispered, standing up and letting my arms fall limply to my sides. "I will not let you risk yourself for me, Lo Ban, especially in a senseless act of revenge. I should never have told you; I'm sorry I did."

I paused, shivering a bit as that chill began to spread throughout my body, for Lo Ban wasn't saying a word. His eyes merely grew darker and darker, and more and more vague as his gaze seemed to turn inward, the contrast sharp against the tears standing in his own eyes. I couldn't help the frown crossing my face, chasing away the last of my tears as a new fear rushed up to push out the remnants of the old; now I actually crossed my arms around me and took a step back.

It was as if my vision cleared on the spot, for even as I moved back his own arms fell away from me to hang almost listlessly, the sleeves of his jedi robes hanging down and completely covering his hands. It suddenly bothered me that I couldn't see his hands. I shook my head, my grip tightening about myself.

"No," I whispered and took another step back. Then another and yet another. And quite suddenly I had turned, and was striding purposefully from the room, my footsteps coming faster and faster, the view afront growing blurred and watery and soon I was running... with a growl I raised a hand to rub my eyes, and through the indistinct shades and shapes now surrounding me there came a flash of gold. It was the ring Lo Ban had just given me, and it seemed to be laughing....

You're doing it again, aren't you Galen? I chided myself. You're running. You always run, and where has it gotten you?

I gulped, then gritted my teeth as a lightning reply flashed through my mind.

I didn't run fast or far enough... and Terrin was killed. If I go now....

That thought was interrupted by the steady pressure of returning logic.

Terrin was killed because he chased after... don't you think Lo Ban might as well? Not to mention that as a jedi, he probably now has some blasted moral obligation to go after Lord Roan, all the more so for what you just told him. Leaving isn't going to solve a thing, but it might create a problem.

It might cause him enough inner distraction to where he won't be able to defend himself against Roan when and if he meets up with him, assuming he does....

I sighed, laying my forehead against the cool glass of the window. Just beyond, the clouds of the gas giant's thick atmosphere seemed to beckon to me.

Just a soft fluffy pillow, to lie down and rest upon and all your troubles will go away, Galen....

I jerked back with a start, shivering. That cascade of shivers intensified then, as another realization slammed into me.

As long as Lord Roan is alive, you'll always be running, won't you Galen? You'll never find peace, you'll always be looking over your shoulder, you'll always be alone...

...and that's the worst thing to happen in the universe. To be alone. And Khaandon knows you don't want to be alone, do you? Not now, especially after finding someone who can fill your life with happiness, who can mend the gaping holes in your soul. Someone you've come to love in so short a time....

You know what has to be done, Galen; Roan has to be stopped somehow, he has to be destroyed or you'll never find happiness. And you're going to need power beyond just blasters and ion cannon and brute force to do that.

Another kind of Force.

I shuddered as a sobbing sigh tore through my lips. The glass in front of me grew blurred as tears welled up to stand in my eyes. For several moments more I just sat there, giving the tears release, firming my soul for the road ahead which was most certainly filled with more danger than I had yet to cross paths with.

"Lo Ban, please forgive me, I'm--" I began, panting, when my words were abruptly truncated by the realization that the room was empty.

The swelling in my heart roughly deflated, prompting my feet into further motion as I now hurried from one room to the other, seeking Lo Ban, hoping to find him in some meditative or healing trance hidden away in a corner somewhere. But no; a swift examination of the suites, followed by a slower yet somehow more frantic one only turned up what I initially feared.

I was alone.

I went over to the bed, sank down into it's splendid whiteness, and just sat there while my entire world shrank from white to a tiny band of gold. I don't know how long I sat there, hoping that he had merely stepped out for something, or maybe had given chase after me, even though I knew deep inside me that this probably wasn't the case.

He was a Jedi after all. He could easily have found me.

No, he was gone.

Galen, you've done it again.

When I finally looked up, it was to find the room trembling on the edge of total darkness. I must have sat in stony misery the entirety of the day. Slowly I got to my feet, took another look around myself, my questing gaze at last touching upon the ring on my finger. I took it off with a shaky hand, and just looked at it for a moment. It blurred before me as fresh tears flooded my eyes.

Face it, Galen; you're just not meant to find permanent happiness, are you?

I was just about ready to place it on the nightstand and leave when, Khaandon be praised, defensive anger suddenly rushed in to blanket the sheer pain in my heart. I blinked as a thought popped up out of nowhere, causing me to stay my hand.

You know, Galen... he sure left in a hurry now, didn't he?

Now my lips were beginning to curl as I thought of how long and hard Terrin had chased after me in comparison.

What does this tell you? What about all these oh so suddenly developed, and so strong, feelings? Isn't he a Jedi? Don't they have some kind of weird way they can manipulate people's minds? Can they do the same thing in regards to people's hearts?

The tears dried instantly as I simply stared at the ring.

No, I wouldn't leave it here and go. That would be running off again. I would keep it, a reminder to myself to be wary, to guard my heart more carefully. And if Fate should decree that I would ever cross paths with Lo Ban Kenobi of Tatooine again....

To throw it into his face.

Armed with fresh resolution, I gave the room a final checking over. Then I strode to the front desk, checked out, and went directly to the private landing pad where Eagle awaited, gleaming and polished.

It didn't take long to obtain departure clearances, and moments later I was airborne. I wasn't too surprised when, after gaining the cleanliness of open space, I found myself programming in the coordinates of a planet I had known deep within myself I would return to, even before my mind consciously did.

Might as well go back to Plan B....

Bespin disappeared behind me in a brilliant white flash as the stars stretched, streaked, and converged upon it, taking me away with them into the utter impossibility of hyperdriven space.

Next stop, Sullust.

((OOC: Please follow Galen back to Sullust in the thread In Harm's Way in the "CSWU" forums, thank you.))