Matt and Jasyn didn't have to work too hard to get into the freighter; in fact, it had been left secured, but not locked up. So they basically walked right in...

...and immediately came upon the body of someone who had been unfortunate enough to be left behind. Matt had to wonder if this was his ship, and Stargazer had taken it from him and killed him, but then there was no visible signs of injury. Then again, Stargazer was a Force user, and she had other methods at her disposal.

So, after respectfully taking care of the remains of a person they'd never laid eyes on or met, Matt Stanza headed for the controls of the ship, while Jasyn headed to the back to find some supplies. Matt had an inkling Jasyn might be checking the liquor cabinet out as well while he was at it, and made a mental note to make certain he didn't have too much fun with it.

Seating himself at the navboard, Matt actually set the engines to warm up, and pulled up the ship's last known flight pattern. Other than the mild surprise at finding an aborted trip to Bespin in the ship's logs, he wasn't at all suprised to find Tatooine on the recent logs.

Keying another sequence on the navboard, Matt then pulled up schematics for Degobah. Or rather, he pulled up the very few things the ship had on Degobah. All the logs really indicated on the planet was that it was a swampland; obviously, no one had been on the planet long enough to realize that a series of caves existed as well. And when he ran a general read on the planet's surface, Matt of course got indications that there were many life forms, but little technology.

Which left him pretty much at square one.

Sighing at that realization, Matt got up from the controls, and headed back to where Jasyn was already sifting through the frieghter's galley.

"We should get some containers and see if there is any good clean water as well," Matt suggested. "Some portable light, some weaponry, and some rope could be helpful too," he added. Then he paused, listening to the ship's now purring engines...

...and raised his wristcomm to his lips, tapping into the general frequency so that everyone nearby that was receiving messages could hear him. "Hey, guys, I'm wondering if I should fly this ship closer in to where you all are," he said into it. "Granted, she landed here because it's higher ground and more secure here, but I don't know. There are a lot of things in this ship we can use; water, containers, weapons, light. And we haven't even gone further back into the ship yet and really thought outside of the box. What do you think, should I bring her down there?"

Wow, I thought to myself. That's some communication device the Sith have; how the heck would Matt have been able to slash into the frequency between Terrin and us?

The immediate answer, one that Terrin had already noted, that Sith were magick was enough to kill any further wonder on my part quite dead. I chewed my lip a bit, now scrambling to my feet and making my way carefully back to Panthar again.

"Tell the guys that a good rope would be nice, and to see if they can find anything in the way of an energy light source; hell, a couple good blasters wouldn't be something I'd turn down right now...

"And food!"

My suddenly growling stomach chose that moment to interject it's own three-cent's worth into the conversation. Yet another grumble from my nether regions awoke me to the fact that I was just famished.

"Any kind of food, and please, SOMETHING to drink!"

A groan of pain from Panthar made me halt for a minute, now removing my hands from his to find his cheek in the dark and give it a reassuring pat.

"Don't worry, Big Fellah. I'll get you out of here, sure as there's Treasure on Roon!"

Grasping his hand and beginning to tug again, I finished with, "You know, I wonder if it would be possible for that freighter to just blast that little crack wider. We can go hide in the tunnel while they try, assuming it won't just bury us...

"...and assuming as well that I do manage to unstick you..."

I groped around until I found Panthar's hand again, and began pulling for all I was worth.

"And- some- k-kind of - so-solvent would be- be handy, t-too!" I grimaced through clenched teeth, droplets of sweat now beginning to spring up on my brow and between my shoulderblades.

He trailed, a guilty sort of look falling on his face. Matt merely rolled his eyes, shrugged, and headed back to the cockpit. As Jasyn began heading back towards the cargo hold, he could just barely feel the ship leave the ground.
Better him flying than me, Jasyn thought glumly to himself.[/i]

Finding the storage hold then, Jasyn fairly easily found about 4 standard issue blasters, a rope, and a couple of glow rods, amongst other various and sundry tools. Taking all that he could carry, it took him a couple of trips to collect the items and take them near to the hatch. Then he paused, frowning to himself as he realized he was missing one particular item.

A solvent. Damn, what could they use for aw solvent? And was there even any of that aboard?

Still mulling, Jasyn headed back to the galley, already aware that there was food and drink...

...oh yes, drink...

...there. He reached in the cupboard and snagged a bottle of something called Tatooine Sunset, popped the top, and prepared to drink it...

...but then paused, eyeing the bottle. Putting the top back on it then, he headed for the cabin where Matt had the ship hovering. He turned to look at Jasyn and opened his mouth to say something when he saw what was in the other man's hand.

"Hey, solvent!" Jasyn exclaimed happily, falling into the copilot's chair and grinning to himself.

“You better worry about getting yourself out of here,” he said softly. The movement of his chest brought a fiery blast to his lung. “It’s getting worse, and things are going numb, and I just want to sleep…”

His mind drifted for a second, entering into another lucid dream state. He heard Galen’s voice saying something, tuned out by the memory of something she had said on the com link. Something about Shawn being above them…

But if he was above them, then what was the blob appearing below them on the life scanner?

Panthar opened his eyes and struggled for the com link button, not registering the words Galen was saying.

“What—hey, Shawn—what did you say… what was it that dumped you in the cave?”

I blinked, wiped my face with a grimy hand.

"Oh, you mean the dragonsnake," I answered then, leaning over with my hands planted on my thighs before straightening to go at Panthar once again.

Panthar froze.

Dragon snake?

Tenticled beasties were one thing, but a great big dragon snake was another! He had seen vids of those things, studied a civilization that worshipped a weird variety of them on some planet, and had to quit that dig because of the nightmares. Large beasts were always something that frightened him, as evidenced by his fear of the tuk’ata. Even his experience with the tuk’ata in the Temple of Armorers did little to get him over that fear.

Feeling the bone chilling rush of anxiety come over him, Panthar’s heart began to race and his pulse pounded in his ears. His muscles all tensed, and the pain forgotten for the moment, he let loose with a loud roar and pulled as hard as he could. The goo began to loosen around his arms, and with an effort he pulled most of himself free from the beast. He struggled a few inches more, then collapsed in a heap, panting for breath.

“Drag… snake… no… kriffin’… way…”

The pain came back in bunches, and his chest was again an inferno.

“I need…” he panted, not finding the breath to get the words out. “…need to… tell… her… oh, hell, Galen…need a minute…”

The word burst from me, winging its way down into the big guy's ears and leading my there beside him. At least I think I was beside him; still blind I patted about until my groping hand found contact with his side. From the way it was jerking and heaving I knew that his trip down the crevice compounded by the nasty goo from the mysterious beast had injured far more than his pride.

I gritted my teeth and sat back on my haunches, still maintaining hand contact with him.

"Rest easy, we're ok for the moment," I offered up, full of a bravado that I suddenly didn't really believe in. For he was right:

What else in Hell's Seven Circles could the blip be but that nasty canasta that carried Shawn off to who knows where?

Then a thought struck me, and I brightened considerably.

"Hey Big Red, don't get yer pants all in a bunch. Those dragonsnakes are aquatic; we might be stuck here for the moment, but I'm sure that if that's what the blip turns out to be, it won't be bothering us here where we're all high n' dry...

"Well, low and dry, that is."

At least I hoped to hell not; and whose to say that blip wasn't some other big and foul-tempered thing with too many teeth and too little patience?

I forced a smile on my face which was lost on Panthar, and just sat there letting him catch his breath and composure.

And hopefully the strength to help me figure out what in blazes we were going to do next.

He turned his head to speak into the commlink. "Hey, guys, Matt and Jasyn are here, and we'll be sending supplies down to you shortly. I'm hoping that, once we start sending supplies, the supplies and rope will knock the Sith warrior's bag free too."

"Boy howdy, could I ever use a snort!" I hollered as loudly as I could. Then, fidgeting a bit, I appended that comment.

"It's cold down here, ya know..."

A groan from off to the side of me reminded me of my poor buddy, who had definitely seen better days.

"Hey, Panthar's unstuck!" I sent upward. "As soon as he catches his breath, I think I'll have him hold me up. I'll see if I can snag the end of the vine, and between you and me swinging it maybe we can dislodge the bag you tried to send down.

"Speaking of tight fits, is there anything you can use to widen that crack? Any sort of equipment on that freighter the guys found?"

Another groan assailed my ears. Not waiting for a reply from above I groped my way over to where Big Red was and plopped down beside him.

"Hey, I thought you Sith were tough guys," I opened, trying to distract him from whatever pain it was he was feeling. Dammit, but if he had something majorly wrong with him, like broken ribs or squished disks or something like that, I truly didn't know if we'd be able to get him out back up the way we came.

That thought sobered me; frankly, I didn't know if I'd make it back up that crack.

"If they can't figure out how to widen the crack, we're just going to have to try the tunnel, Panthar," I said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I sure hope you are going to be able to travel--"

That reminded me of something.

"Hey, Terrin!" I called back up, getting to my feet and letting my head fall back again.

"Send down some kind of tracking device if you've got it. If we can't get back up the crack we're going to have to risk the tunnel; I don't want you to not know where in Hell's Seven Circles that we are."

I shivered as at my own words an army of goose feet promptly marched up and down my spine.

Hell's Seven Circles; being underground as we are, whose to say we're not in Number One right now?

Shaking himself from those thoughts, he called back down to Galen. "I'm sure between Matt and Jasyn they can rummage up some sort of tracking device," he offered. Then, "And I'll see if they have some extra clothes or something on the ship to send down to get you warmer," he continued, pausing then as he cut his eyes sideways to see the ship near the ground, but not quite touch. The hovering ship's hatch extended.

Terrin turned to Darra then. "Hey, your Mother needs some warm clothes and we need some sort of portable tracking device. We also could use something--anything-- that might help widen the hole so that we can get her and Panthar out without them having to go through tunnels to try and find their way out. I really don't want to move from this spot at the moment, however. Think you can go let Matt and Jasyn know what we need?" he queried, nodding towards the ship.

"All right," she said instead, turning away and loping lithely toward the hovering ship. The extended gangway slid about over the tops of the swamp grasses, but it wasn't difficult for her to leap atop it, and from there quickly gain entry to the ship proper.

Soon she found Matt and Jasyn, and relayed the information as Terrin had told her to do.

“Yeah, we’re tough, I guess,” he said. “Thing is, I’m not Sith.”

Panthar tried to stand, making it to one knee before needing to stop. He gripped his chest tightly with his good hand and forced himself up the rest of the way. He could feel dampness trickle down his back and leg, and hoped it was from the floor of the cave, or maybe some goo, but he knew better. He steadied himself by shifting his feet, and the pain shot up through his left leg. There would be time later to assess the damage, they needed out of here now.

“Yeah,” he said tensely, “I think I’ll be alright. Just can’t move too fast, I might have twisted an ankle or something. You know, there might be some rope on the ship, depending--”

A severe pain in his head cut him off, and he teetered on his feet. He flailed out for anything to steady himself on, and eventually found Galen. He caught her off guard and she nearly stumbled to the floor, but managed to brace herself. After a second Panthar let go of her shoulder and stepped back to regain his balance.

“Yeah, bad ankle, definitely. But that ship, it might have rope, or supplies, or cargo, if it’s a freighter. And maybe meds, or a bandage when we get out of here. But rope… yeah. And um, solvent. Lots of solvent. In fact…”

Panthar pressed the button on the link.

“Hey, that ship got rope? Or drugs? Or cargo? Or booze—I mean solvent? Send it down, like now. With rope. And drop a rock or something so the water can fall the rest of the way.”

He quieted and turned, heading aft for a few minutes before returning with a couple of blankets and some clothes. Then he began picking up some of the items he had collected by the hatch of the ship: glow rods, a rope, blasters, some containers of water. He gave JhinDarra a few of these things to carry as well.

While they were collecting all of those items, Panthar's comm also came through. Jasyn started to sit down the items he was holding, but Matt rose a hand for him to wait, headed back to the cockpit, and returned in only a few moments with a small first aid kit, handing it to Darra.

"Okay," Jasyn said, steading the things he was holding, "Let's go ahead and get these things out there so Terrin can get it down the hole. Then we'll work on a tracking device and maybe something to widen that hole."

In a moment, he heard a thud on the floor of the cavern. He turned his eyes to where he thought the sound originated, then a soft yellow glow came lowering slowly from the ceiling.

“There!” he cried out. “Glow stick! And stuff!”

He took a step and paused, letting his big Sith body absorb the pain. Galen headed towards the light and Panthar forced himself to follow. He stepped into the circle of light just as the bundle of goodies hit the floor and Galen reached it. He looked down at her, and catching his hand from the corner of his eye, he noticed it was still somewhat wet with a violet colored liquid. He wiped it again.

“Any water?”

Or maybe not. For one final thought was gnawing at the corners of his mind, but he wasn't certain if it would work either. After all, the bat didn't seem to be understanding his "emotional message," but maybe...

He then reached down, tore a small portion of fabric from his robe, and then dialed a number in on his wristcomm to access the frequency he had been talking to Panthar with.

"Hey, Panthar," he opened up with, "I have myself a nightbat who has responded to my Force call, and I'm trying to figure out a way to get him to direct me to you, or vise versa. I'm not sure if this will work...

...but it might be worth a shot. Can you just talk. I'm going to try to give him a piece of cloth and see if maybe he'll fly away to you."

"Oh Hell's Seven Circles, Panthar; why didn't you tell me how badly you were hurt!"

But now that the words were out in the open and all wonder about his condition was trampled into the cool light of objectivity, I thought that I could at least do something about addressing his wounds. Coming to his side quickly, I patted around until I found what could only be another glow-stick; moments later and the feeble light of the glow-stick burst into the almost unbearable glare of that produced by two of them.

Okay, so I wax poetic under pressure...

Further scouting around produced the first aid kit that had been sent down, a flask of water, and a bottle of Whyr-- er, that is, solvent. Gathering these up, I turned to Panthar.

"Ok buddy, tell me where it hurts and exactly what I should do about it," I said in a tone that brooked no excuses.

At length these too quieted to silence, and the nightbat just sat there, regarding Shawn with its bright and beady little eyes.

“Hang on,” he grimaced. He pushed the button and spoke. “Um, yeah, Shawn. That’s great, we’ll be watching for it. Oh, you’re trying to get it to know my voice, like following a scent or something? What do you want me to say? Oh, I know! I’ll tell you about the time I was visiting lecturer at the Yahoonian Academy, I was giving a talk on the possibilities of ancient advanced civilizations and speculation on what happened to them, and I was expounding on the remnants of an outpost--”

Panthar stopped, his chest burning and the words catching in his throat.

“—Hope that’s enough,” he choked out, releasing the button. He held the device tightly, looking to Galen. “I think… I think something is broken. Ribs, maybe, dunno.”

A cough gripped him and his hand flew to his mouth. As he alternated between coughs and sucking in air, his hand began to drip the oddly colored Sith blood. Finally Panthar stopped, and he sat slowly onto the dank floor.

"That's the last thing you need, buddy!" I said, my tone still of the no-brooking-of-excuses variety. Snorting to keep the rising spectres of panic at bay, as well as to ward off the steadily increasing march of goose feet up and down my back, I moved to where the rope Terrin had sent down still dangled.

"Hey Terrin, Panthar's hurt pretty bad!" I called up as I took hold of the rope's loose end.

"There's no way we're going to be able to climb back up out of here, nor is there any place that I think it's safe enough to hide while you blast that damned crevice-- assuming you can, that is."

I stopped, unhappy at the obvious conclusion toward which my words were heading. But just because I didn't like it didn't make it any less of a stone-hard truth; sighing a little I called up again.

"Terrin, I need this rope!"

With that I gave a yank for all I was worth; Terrin evidentally either heard me or was taken by complete surprise, for after a couple of breath-holding minutes the rope slithered down to land in a sizable heap at my feet.

"Thanks," I said in a small voice, staring down at it. Then bracing myself with a good, deep breath, I picked it up and made my way back to where Panthar was. Er, that is, to where he had moved; the two glow-sticks yet lay upon the floor of the little cavern, and after a bit of groping around I found him leaning against the stone wall, just out of the reach of the light.

"You might be right, about the ribs, that is," I said, trying to keep my voice somewhere between cheerful and realistic. Holding the rope awkwardly with one hand, I reached up to pat his face with the other.

"I'm going to bind you up with this rope, pal; it should help you a bit in the broken rib department."

“Um, all right,” he said. He held the rope tightly to his chest, which was no problem since holding his chest made the pain more bearable.

"No, dufus," I muttered, staring at his chest and flustering about there like a broody hen over her chicks. Then I sighed, and lightened up a notch.

"Try not to be so full of humor; it's got to be hurting."

I shot a daring look that dared him to say anything I would interpret as being stupid, then moved back to where the glow-sticks lay upon the ground. Grabbing one, I held it out and hunkered down on my haunches to see what goods Terrin had sent down.

A couple of cloaks. The first-aid kit. Glow-sticks.

Crap.

Then I caught a muddled little lump laying a bit off to one side. Approaching it, I discovered it to be a bag, presumably the one Terrin had tried to send down to us.

It must have gotten knocked loose by the rope and those heavy cloaks, I reasoned as I picked it up. Without a bit of hesitation, I dumped its contents on the floor and hunkered closer, studying them.

Ahh- there's the ticket!

Grabbing up the small but extremely sharp blade, I then headed back to Panthar. But not, however, before pausing to scoop up one of the cloaks. Coming up in front of him, I upended the cloak, and with the knife cut about a meter off from it's bottom.

"Here," I said, holding it out to him.

"Make yourself a pad with this to protect yourself, or that rope's gonna chafe something wicked."

While Panthar busied himself with this little task, I then measured out a length of rope that I paced out to be about nine and a half meters long. Putting away the shudders that tried to rack me as I re-measured--

Damn. Were we that far down? There was so much rope left...

--I then used the knife again and cut the shorter length of rope from the entirety. I then returned to Panthar, who was standing where I left him, holding the folded piece of cloak around his torso. In order to do so while yet holding onto the end of the rope against himself, he had to stick his elbows out.

The look on his face reminded me of a gandy-rak in headlights.

I stifled the laugh that wanted to burst hysterically from me, but could not suppress my grin.

"Ok, now you spin-- but SLOWLY. You don't need to get any dizzier than you already are!"

With that I picked up the rope about at roughly its mid-point, prepared to feed the line to Panthar as he turned.

“I knew it,” he said, standing slowly. He propped himself with his hand on the cold wall and finally made it to his feet. “All right, but don’t let Terrin know you had a strange man tied up in a dark room, he might get jealous.”

Panthar thought a moment.

“Then he might want you to do it to him,” he added. He turned slowly, pulling the rope tightly around him as he moved. With each revolution he groaned as the rope coiled into a brace. When it was around his upper body, Galen moved in to tie it off. He looked down at her as she worked.

"I'm sorry, Big Red," I said in apology. "It's just that this whole thing--"

I waved a hand around indiscrimatively.

"--has me kinda spooked. And speaking of spooks--"

I reached out and took a gentle hold of the hand with which he was holding the occasionally squawking communication device.

"What's all this about you talking to a-- nightbat?!"

Panthar walked a step, then another.

"I don't know," I said, emphasizing the words with a shake of my head. My hair promptly fell into my face; irritated, I shove it away with a swipe of one hand. It flopped back, annoying little beggar that it was.

"All I know is that there's a pile of that goo a little ways inside the tunnel, and that there's no other way I can find where we might try to get out of here. Just standing here isn't gonna get us out, nor is it gonna make that crevice we came down--"

I winced, seeing his reaction to the words.

"--any wider. So it's off into the undiscovered deeps, pal; hell's bells, but we could sure use that nightbat right about now! Terrin could block up the top of the crevice, and we could follow it out of here..."

Presuming that there actually is a means of escaping this rocky prison!

"Sheesh! Here Shawn is with a nightbat that responds to him, obviously some kind of means for it to fly in and out to where there are others, and he doesn't use it! Here we are, others knowing where we're at, but no way to find if there's another means of escape!"

I paused a moment before turning off and beginning to gather up our meager load of supplies.

“Shawn,” he started. “Guys, everyone. Hey, I’m pretty banged up here. Even if the bat found us I don’t know if I could follow it fast enough. But if it got out and the other guys upstairs found it, maybe they could send it down here. If you could still call it, then maybe it could show you the way here, if we let it free to find you?”

Panthar frowned.

Ding.

The proverbial lightbulb popped on over my head.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" I said in growing excitement.

"No use trying to get Shawn stuck here with us; who knows if he's anywhere near us, anyway? I mean, his voice was pretty much breaking up, wasn't it? That means he's kinda far away."

I paused a moment, waiting for inspiration to solidify. It was getting close--

"Why doesn't he send the bat out, holding the whatever it is he's tied to it. If others see it, he could then call it back and the bat could lead them to him. Then maybe he could send the bat down to us, they could plug up the opening, he could call back to it, and..."

I trailed off into silence, grimacing a bit at the myriad inherent ifs my grandiose idea carried with it.

Panthar got back on the com and relayed that idea to Shawn.

“Whatcha think, there, Shawn? If they can get you out first then things might be a little easier. We have supplies, you don’t.”

Panthar let up on the button and waited for Shawn. But he also looked to Galen.

I plopped on the stony floor, plopped my elbow on my knee and my head against my hand, and blew the hair from my face again. In all the strain and worry about Panthar getting stuck down this hole, joined now by yours truly, I had quite forgotten why we were here to begin with.

"We're never going to get off this rock-- er, this bog!" I groused morosely, poofing at my recalcitrant hair once again.

“Hey, stop that,” he said. “We have people upstairs, with a ship. And we have a really good Jedi with a bat. We’re going to get out of here, and we’ll find Erik, and we’ll head back to the Sith worlds all intact so I can get some new ribs, and you’ll get a shower and wash your hair.”

He looked up, and added quietly.

"Hey Panthar, d'ya mind if I just sorta lean against you here and catch a few winks. I'm all of a sudden kinda sleepy--"

He leaned his head back and watched the lights of the glowsticks cast strange shadows on the walls. He looked upwards towards the hole and wished he was taller. He held the device to his head to listen for Shawn

But for now, the soft breaths of Galen were all he heard.

Lowering his wristcomm at that, Shawn then tied the piece of cloth he'd torn from his robes to the nightbat, who sat calmly regarding him, meeping every so often but not moving an inch. Then, Shawn reached his hand up to where the nightbat sat, let it walk onto it, and then extended that hand, cupping his other underneath it so as to hold the bat in his palms.

Calming all of his emotions and staying mentally "silent" in the Force with his usual calm serenity, Shawn raised both hands up in the air smoothly, directing the bat to fly before he lowered his hands and released the creature altogether.

Go, he thought both mentally and via the Force. Go...

He looked back to Jasyn and Darra, who were still there waiting expectantly, both probably wanting to be of any help that they could be.

"Maybe Matt has had some success finding a tracking device or something," he opened with, trying to stay optimistic. "We need to get water and food supplies down there to them." He paused, frowning, his eyes darkening. "We've gotta figure out a way to get them out. We also need another rope; hopefully there is one on board. We can tie anything that might be short to the vine and get more tools down there.."

Terrin trailed, pursing his lips, then calling down below. "I'm gonna send more supplies down as soon as we get more rope," he said, "And hopefully Matt has found some sort of tracking device.

"Galen, did you get the warriors bag? He sent alot of stuff that might be useful in it but I don't have a clue what they are. If Panthar is able can he ask him what he sent down?"

“We got the supplies,” he said quietly. “There was water and solvent, and a knife, and other things. Galen is asleep, and I’ve got broken ribs or something. She bundled me up for now, but I’m a little worried. Oh, Shawn is trying to send his bat outside, you should look for it. He’s tying something to it. Maybe you can find him if you see the bat. Blast open the rock with the ships weapons, I don’t know.”

Galen stirred a little beside him, but remained asleep. He shifted his arm before it fell asleep and her head slid down a bit until it rested between his arm and chest, and her own arm swung around to plop on his chest. He bit his lip to choke back the pain, but it didn’t last long and he relaxed against the wall.

“We’ll be all right for now,” he said. “Help Shawn, and keep in touch with us. We’re both just exhausted right now.”

Pausing at that, Matt frowned deeply, concern glinting his green eyes. "I suppose we could risk widening the opening with laser cannon or something, but that poses alot of danger to everyone below. I don't know if we should risk it, but we might be running out of options, and we aren't going to be able to find Shawn any time soon, even with his bat possibly enroute. But..."

Matt paused, and trailed. "Maybe if we did find the bat we could have it fly below with our tracker, find us an opening to get Panthar and Galen out, and hopefully at least have a clue of our options. But, in the meantime..."

...and then paused. "Oh yeah," he said, turning back to Matt. "We need more rope...

...anything. If we have to, Terrin says we can tie any shorter rope to the vine we already have."

"I'm sending down some water and food and a small tracking device," Terrin called down, unwilling leave the edge of the opening. "And Panthar, you really need to ask the Sith warrior what's in his bag. Maybe something there could help you..."

He paused at that as he began to work the new supplies, tracking device included, down the hole...

Recognizing this, the little creature arrowed straight and sure back to roost on Shawn's shoulder, where it carefully folded it's wings before settling down to clean itself. The bit of material Shawn had tied to it was by now accepted, and received a thorough licking as well.

...and thinking of the travails her mother and the hulking Sith Panthar were more than likely going through was something she simply couldn't bear.

"Yes, Father," she said simply before hurrying off to the Portal. It remained open, shimmering in the Dagoban gloom like a shining shadow against green velvet. Pausing before it, she called out:

"Lord Aelvedaar? Lord Phalomir? We have run into trouble and need your assistance..."

"My Father... that is, Lords Aelvedaar and Phalomir have returned to K'eel Doba to discuss matters with the Dark Lady; I'm afraid they have closed the Portal they used to travel there so I cannot go to them in person to relay your request.

He trailed a moment. "...unless he's lead me back as far as he thinks I can go, maybe."

Leaving his message at that, Shawn again paused to think, wondering just how he should respond next. HE had been cutting upward through the cave, and he was beginning to wonder if perhaps that tactic could still help him. But, just to check and see just what the bat would do, Shawn began to walk forward, back inthe direction where the nightbat had originally come. And he didn't stop walking, but merely continued.

Shawn’s voice came quietly out of the com device. Panthar let the words echo in his mind for a bit, not fully grasping the sentences. Then a random thought struck him.

“Shawn,” he said quietly into the device. “Your bat friend, you said he responds to your force call and now we won’t leave? Can you turn it off? Your force call, I mean. Make it want to leave? Scare it? Something?”

Panthar winced.

...but not blocking myself from the Force. Maybe if I did that, he'd fly away...

...but Degobah is a big swamp planet. The bat could fly off anywhere. I think he'd respond to my Force-call again...

...but it'd sure be helpful if he had something, or better, someone to track once I block myself."

I step forth from the quiet solitude of the Temple into a veritable whirlwind of sights and smells and sounds. They pound against my eyes, my ears; my nostrils flare as I pause for a moment on the threshold of the Portal, taking in a great draught of green-laden and extremely humid air even as I marvel at the rest of the wonders Dagobah has to toss in my direction.

Not the least of which is a young, flame-headed woman.

"JhinDarra," I state simply, lowering my head but once in a nod of greeting before raising it and giving her the full brunt of my imperial gaze.

"You have summoned me here--"

A quick glance about confirms what I already knew: she is alone at the Rift in the Fabric of spacetime. One wave of my hand, and it closes with a little schllptt.

"Lead me to the others, that I might discern the difficulty you are encountering," I state, then fall into step behind her. It doesn't take long for her young and fleet-footed pace to carry us to where Terrin is, incongruously, stretched out upon the ground. Nearby there hovers an odd and unexpected ship, a freighter I believe.

"You are in some difficulty--?" I mention, almost offhandedly, then fall into the raucous silence only this Planet of Life can provide, tucking my hands into the sleeves of my robe as I do so.

"Galen and Panthar are stuck down in this hole," he began, pointing downward. "Panthar fell down there and Galen was the only one small enough to go after him; he's hurt, possibly broken ribs. We've lost Shawn and can't find him, and Kartan is still missing as well as Thoran." He paused at that, frowning a bit further, something of a Captain who sincerely felt the loss of those in his crew showing in his eyes. "We've also had a couple go missing, into the swamp, from the party you sent along with us."

Quieting a moment at that, he then directed his attention downward, noting that he couldn't hear anything or anyone below. "We've gotta get them out of there; Panthar was already attacked after falling partially down there and then pulled down further by something."

"Fear not," I reply, raising one hand as I step up to the lip of the crevice in the rocky soil. It slits beneath my feet, leering like a madman in the height of a manic episode.

"I have the ability to widen the crevice to where you can then lower me down; once beside them I can create a short Portal through which they can step up to the surface."

Saying nothing further I motion the human to move back. Once he has situated himself several meters away I close my eyes, reaching upward with my arms and outward with my talents, using that magnificent All-force inherent but unknown to all but a very, very select few. It obeys my call; an eerie groan rumbles from beneath my feet as the molecules of the rock promptly sublimate directly into a gaseous state, separating into their natural components and wafting upward from the now widened hole in the form of oxygen and water, carbon dioxide and ozone, while the silicates remaining tumble to the level of the trapped pair with a tiny tinkle of falling rock.

I lean back a little to avoid the uprushing noxious fumes; after enough time has passed I lean out over the spot, which has widened to an ellipsoid perhaps two meters across.

I smile grimly, motion for Terrin to return.

"Let me down this hole, that I might join the pair," I order, waiting for him to respond.

With nothing further than these final thoughts, then, Terrin, along with Jasyn and the Sith Warrior, began lowering the Dark Lord down to assist those below.

I smile, letting out a sigh of relief as his head jerks in my direction.

"Greetings, my friends. It appears you have gotten yourself into quite a predicament. If you will allow me--"

It began on Kamino. I was standing on a landing platform of one of the stilt-cities, looking out over the storm-ridden seascape. Above my head dark and threatening clouds lowered and roiled, shot through with zippers of lightning, thunder rolling over the waves.

I shivered, wrapped my arms about myself, and simply let myself go. Down and down I went, headfirst into the waves, into the darkness of the deeps...

...which abruptly erupted into brilliant light and life. Luminescent fish flashed and displayed all about me, coming to me in great looping schools to escort me down even further, down toward the magnificence of, improbably enough, Gungan City where a blurred figure stood alone behind an entry-field, waiting.

I swam now with all my might, heading toward that one lonely figure when there suddenly came a series of distant murmurs. I didn't know what they were; whalesong, the hunting sonar of sharks or other strange beasties, or the tympany of the Neirieds as they sang their enticing seasongs. Louder and louder the noises came, at strange intervals yet oddly rhythmic, breaking into the otherwise quiet, the solitude...

I opened one eye, blinking as the sounds sequed into a quiet interchange between Panthar and Shawn. Still too drowsy to wish to let myself awaken fully I remained where I was, listening as they spoke back and forth about the bat.

So-oo-ooo comfortable here...

That sensation wound it's way into cognizant thought, and I opened the other eye.

"Maybe he's making himself too comfortable for the bat to want to leave," I mumbled as I closed my eyes again, giving myself in to half-sleep.

"Heh. Shawn's got hisself a buddy--"

A bit more time passed quietly, a quiet broken by another series of noises, something like the tinkle of a crystal waterfall. It came to a halt, only to be followed by something sounding like the groans of a mating ronto. Something echoed somewhere; still on the verge of unconsciousness I wondered if the thing that had dragged Panthar down here was coming back. For some reason I wasn't alarmed--

It obviously didn't want him, or he'd be dead by now.

Strange, the workings of the drifting mind.

Now, footsteps approaching.

"Greetings, my friends. It appears you have gotten yourself into quite a predicament. If you will allow me--"

Wow. So this is what lucid dreaming is all about! Guess I'll make the most of it...

I stared upward, falling into the molten eyes of the Sith Dark Lord of the Sorcerers.

Galen ol gal, when you have a lucid dream you sure do have a doozy!

"Well, howdy do!" I exclaimed brightly, still nestled against Panthar's side beneath his arm. I grinned like an idiot, pleased as punch to have been able to make such an obviously inane remark. For I wouldn't be degrading myself thus in the real world, hell no, and especially not to one of those Sith that dear ol' Sissypoops has gotten herself all tangled up with. This Li'l Red Hen didn't want to end up as mush.

Sure as there's Treasure on Roon!

...pushing it forth into the air and remaiming calm. Panthar had suggested that, since the bat was tracking his Force-call, maybe he could just turn it off...

...and he could do that, at least, mostly.

So again he raised a hand to his shoulder, where the nightbat perched, and slowly placed it beneath the bat until the creature walked off his shoulder and onto his hand. Stretching his hand out and cupping the bat with both hands, Shawn then errected a Force shield, blocking all of his emotions and his very Force signature.

And then he pushed the bat forward into the air, let his hands drop from underneath it...

It circled about, meeping and listening, "wondering" in its tiny little nightbat-mind where its comfortable roost had disappeared to. Its search was fruitless, so it finally settled by flying up to the arching roof of the tunnel, about thirty feet away down the corridor from where Shawn stood.

Utterly alarmed, the bat let go of its roost, plummeting down a couple of feet before swooping up in a great, soaring arc. Then it barreled off in the direction from which it had entered the corridor to begin with, its sonar providing it with perfect "sight" in the absolute darkness, its wingtips brushing against stone not because of faulty echolocation, but only when and where the passageway narrowed.

Eventually there came a dim light up ahead. Squawking, the bat arrowed straight for it, and soon shot out from the side of the immense scarp, in the exact position where it had entered to begin with, and trailing the bit of cloth that Shawn had secured to its tiny body flitted off over the damp, Dagoban swamps below.

...but then, Degobah is a big swampland, and it could go anywhere. Something is going to have to prompt it to come to you, if this is going to work at all."

“Galen!” he said through tearing eyes. “Aelvedaar is – is—haha! Aelvedaar is here! For real! HAHA! OW! ”

Panthar managed to click the button on the com link.

"Aelvedaar is here, we have a portal. Guys, look for a bat flying around, Shawn sent it out -- haha! With a bit if his robe-- hahaha! tied to it! OUCH! Shawn, hey, Aelvedaar is here and if we can locate you, heh, I think we can get you out. If the guys can find your bat--"

The image of Jasyn looking around for a bat jumped into his mind, and after a short pause Panthar burst out laughing once again. As tears flowed down his cheeks he managed to look up at Aelvedaar.

"I'm sorry," he laughed. "It's just so good to see you! Galen, you awake? Think you could help me up somehow?"

We had company...!

"Oh-- oh, my!" I exclaimed somewhat limply, embarrassed as hell for my faux pas. Smiling in what I hoped was an apology I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the "Ow!" Panthar shot my way as my hand put pressure on his chest. Soon I was upright and bending over.

"Here, lemme help you--" I began but stopped in my tracks. For materializing like magick smack beside my own small hand was a large and sharply clawed one. Gaping, I cut a glance sideways to find the towering Sith Lord far too close to my personal space. I forgave him this, however--

Guess we're even now, huh!

-- when that hand coiled about Panthar's wrist, another one now materializing at his back. A deep basso rumble came to my ears.

"Let me help."

Moments later and Panthar was on his feet, tottering and weaving but upright. When I was certain he wasn't going to fall flat on his face again I let go of him myself; then leaving him to the tender mercies of Lord Aelvedaar I felt my way over to where the materials we had accumulated lay all in a heap.

"I've got these!" I stated the obvious as I turned around, eyeing the shimmering Portal a bit dubiously even though I was as anxious as all get out to get the hell outta there.

But I bet not as anxious as Big Red!

“I was starting to feel just a tad bit concerned there, but I knew someone would come. And besides, the company was pretty good.”

He turned his head towards Galen and shot her a painful smile. He took a step and cringed, pain shooting through his body. A drop of blood trickled down from his shirt and hit the ground with the glop!, blending in with the drips of water from the other parts of the cavern. He lowered his head, regaining his balance, then let the smile return to his face.

“Ladies first?”

The bemused but seriuous look he saw from Galen told him otherwise. He smiled broadly and took the few painful steps through the portal.

"Come on in, L'il Red! The water's fine!"

---

On the other side of the portal Panthar breathed deeply of the fresh air, and collapsed onto the soft grass. A fresh stream of blood ran freely from his back, where a deep puncture wound lay exposed to the damp air of Dagobah, pumping its violet contents onto the ground.

Lordy. Those eyes of his are actually glowing!

--before getting yanked back into reality by Panthar's distant call.

"--er's fine!"

The words unglued my feet; clutching the unwieldy bundle to my chest I came up to the shimmering Portal, closed my eyes, took a step...

...and promptly stumbled as my foot came down upon the wet grasses where this entire little mini-escapade had begun.

"Panthar, we're here!" I cried, dropping the things I was carrying and whirling to look for him. It took a moment for me to find him, for to be honest the dark blur on the ground didn't register to my light-shocked eyes. But when my eyes finally adjusted...

"Panthar!"

I shot over to him, took one look, then grasped the corner of the bit of cloak we had used to pad him with. I tugged it, trying to yank it over the wound where I could apply pressure; meanwhile my feet were busy kicking against the loops of rope we had bound him with as I tried to loosen the cloth.

"Aelvedaar! Terrin! Someone!" I hollered, giving up entirely then and simply placing both hands and all my weight against Panthar's back in the hopes of staunching the ominous flow of blood.

“Bat…” he said quietly. “Jasyn needs to find the bat…”

"Oh, hell!" he gasped, looking up to where Jasyn had snapped from his bat-watching reverie. "Jasyn, go get that first aid kit," he started. "No, wait," he then ammended, seeing the pile of supplies Galen had carried out with her, "Get that blanket, quick."

As he nodded towards it, Jasyn hurried that way to get the blanket that had been sent down the hole earlier. Meanwhile, Terrin assisted Galen in loosening the ropes around Panthar enough to move the piece of robe she had been pulling on in order shift it so that they could put pressure on the wound. About this time Jasyn returned with the blanket, and Terrin took it from his hands.

"We need to wrap this around his body and make a makeshift tourniquet. I'm afraid this piece of cloth won't be enough, and nothing in that first aid kit will be large enough for this."

Working to do jsut that then, several of them worked to get the blanket around Panthar's torso. Then they all pressed their hands against the wound to apply pressure just as Galen had already been doing, and remained there.

"Gods, I hope Lord Aelvedaar hurries," Terrin said, worry evident in his words. After all, it really didn't matter that Panthar wasn't truly an Eagle Enterprises crewmen. Through all that they had been through, he somehow had become a member of the crew just the same.

I shall take no more time in seeking answers to personal questions. Turning, I hasten to the Portal, step through, hear it close even as I come out upon the swamplands to a scene of--

"Let me help," I state my former words, shoulder past the others and kneeling beside our wounded fellow. He is out cold, his skin pale and clammy from blood loss. I frown; I can totally heal him, but there are others still missing in this place, and I might need all my talents in a new direction.

So reaching out a hand upon his wound, I send forth just enough of my magicks and All-strength to knit the wound; at least he will lose no more blood.

Creating the blood he has already lost, however-- I rise to my feet, open a Portal back to Khar Delba.

"I shall take him to my world, that our Healers might expedite his recovery," I state simply, and then do so...

((OOC: Panthar is taken to Khar Delba in the thread Silence of the Lambs in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

Moments later, I return alone, ready to assist the others in finding their other lost comrades.

"Maybe we can all get aboard that," he began, nodding towards the ship Matt and Jasyn had discovered, "And find Shawn and Erik. After all, flying Degobah skies is sounding like a much friendlier alternative to stepping into another hole."

He paused, frowning, looking back to Galen. "You mentioned being really hungry, and there is food and water at our disposal from the ship now too. If we board and head out, we'll have supplies on hand for all of us to get some strength back and for Shawn and Erik, when we find them."

His last words stated in a definite, determined tone, a final addendum waved a banner for attention. "Someone said something about Shawn sending out a bat with a piece of his clothing or something?"

"I thought I heard something like that, but it was Panthar who was in actual comm-contact with Shawn.

"Didn't he comm any of you up here?"

I waved a hand about to indicate the ship, as well as those aboard her.

Which soon included our little group; thank Khaandon for that. Firm footing, reliable transportation, hot food...

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, turning towards Lord Aelvedaar. "Is there some way you can track him, or maybe even call the ngihtbat to us?" he queried. "Otherwise...

"Can't you just...link with Shawn or something? Track him somehow?" he asked towards the Dark Lord. "We do know that he is probably at a higher elevation than we were..."

He trailed, biting his lip a bit. "Maybe we can assess the Degobah landscape and see if we can find any higher ground."

He paused, sighing. "Dammitall, why do we have to lose the one Jedi I actually liked? You'd think Petrolu could worm his way out of this one, he sure figured out how to do so when we were all stuck in the spice mines on Kessel back in the day."

"Yeah, that's right," I answered, if nothing more than to help fill our growing nervousness with the sounds of something as mundane as reliving old memories.

"I think he said something about those mines, once. I think he said--

"GAAK!!"

I about fell out of my seat as words from nowhere suddenly filled my head.

((OOC: Aeylmaar contacts Galen from Silence of the Lambs in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

Galen, Galen, hear me. There is danger; you must break down the wall or Shawn will die...

On and on the eerie warning went until I knew it wasn't me, that my overly-stressed mind hadn't conspired with my overly-active imagination to make this so.

No. This was real, from somewhere... someone...

A bulb flashed on over my head.

"Hey guys, wait a sec!" I interjected, cocking my head and letting my eyes turn inward, for now it wasn't just Aeylmaar's voice that I heard. It was images, terrible images, images that he was seeing-- or rather, had just seen-- with his own eyes.

"It's Aeylmaar; oh, nevermind about the how, just trust me, ok? He's saying that 'the wall must be broken down or Shawn will die...' hell if I know what he's talking about! Oh yeah, and there's this, too."

Quickly I described the image he had sent to my mind, an image of the Master lashing out at Phalomir with all of his not inconsiderable power.

Terrin frowned. "I wonder if that is literal or symbolic?"

Terrin's frown deepened further. "Did any images come along with Aeylmaar's warning other than the one of the Master...?"

"Quick-! Who flies this vessel?"

Saying nothing further and with no more ado I go to Galen, and swiftly lay my hand atop her face. Large as it is, it entirely encompasses her features, fingers cleanly reaching out to nerve ganglia and nexii.

"Be thou still," I command her, in the Ancient Tongue, that she knows this is no mean feat I am now attempting.

Pausing at that, Terrin then raised the wrist comm Jasyn had given him to his lips, and punched in Matt's comm frequency. "Matt, we need to get out of here," he said through the commlink. "I need you to close the hatch and be prepared, ok?"

Matt replied in the affirmative, and in short order the hatch smoothly closed.

Then, across the comm came two questions from Matt: "Where are we going, Captain? And do we have everyone on board?"

Terrin spared only a moment to respond. "Yes, everyone is accounted for," he answered. "As to where we are going...just take us up and skim the surface of the planet for now. More direction will be coming shortly."

Quieting at that, Terrin lowered the wristcomm...

"Do thou this, and hold," I command her, now taking one of her own hands and placing it in an identical position atop Matt's face. That the ship has already gained altitude and that his vision is now blocked does not concern me; there are more than one means of flying a vessel.

"Hold," I repeat sternly, then delve deeply into her mind, ripping here, sliding there, until at last I find it cowering bravely in a corner of her memories:

The Link my Chosen Son has seen fit to develop with her.

I smile, thanking all the gods that he had the foresight to do this, whenever it had been and for whatever purpose. It is but a casual thing, then, to contact him via this mental connection.

"My son, this is your Father speaking to you now. Go to the Octahedron, my boy; ask it to show the wall which must be broken, the wall behind which Shawn undoubtedly waits for us.

"Find his whereabouts, my son, that through this link you may send the information into the mind of the pilot of this ship."

To all outward appearances, it is as if I am silent and still, locked in a strange three-way embrace with the man named Matt, and the blood-sister of my own Chosen Daughter.

But then--

((OOC: Incoming from Silence of the Lambs in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

The mysterious greeny-goldness suddenly swimming in my vision whirled and collided, melding and molding and roiling until the image of a dark pair was lost entirely, replaced instead by that of a towering scarp face. As I watched, a bat flew forth from a tiny crack, about 1800 feet up the sheer face...

Instead he inspected the image of the towering scarp face, and of the bat...

"That's Shawn's bat," Matt whispered, barely moving so as not to break any link. Then he puzzled over how to use this information, for certain he could not ascertain what scarp face this particular one could be in this large swamp-world. Then he realized.

The bat knows the way...

It flipped, did a somersault, flew in one direction, only to find the sensation dwindling a bit. Meeping in something that would be an indignant manner had it more intelligence than it did, it rounded, casting its own sonar out in the futile attempt to home in on the warmth.

It's sonar did not work for it regarding this... but simple flight did. While the bat was no rocket scientist, it did hold a modicum of animal intelligence; it did not take it long to discover that if it remained flying in one direction, the warmth it sought not only remained, but grew stronger.

Crying out against the humid Dagoban air, the bat arrowed on, now using its sonar to avoid any unseen impediments as it headed in a veritable beeline to that particular place where the ship was, likewise, flying to meet it.

My mental smile broadens, for the response is instantaneous. The mental imagery now shifts from that of the scarp, to that of the bat, and the landscape over which it is flying. I grunt, strain, but it is a pain easily borne as I now reach out to my companions.

We found this ship in some higher ground...

...but nothing that high, he thought, keeping an even, calm outlook. Pursing his lips, he took a closer mental look at the images being shown to him. and that is when something familar at last caught his mental eye.

Wait, the water below the nightbat...

...Jasyn and I followed water out to the higher ground where we found the ship, and the swamp-creature took Shawn into water to begin with...

Matt's thoughts trailed for a moment. Maybe the higher ground Jasyn and I found was just the beginning of an upward climb, we didn't go that far...

...and something about that water does seem familar..

...mostly because he really didn't have any choice. His fingers feeling for the controls, he shifted their course slightly, still flying in atmosphere, using his eyes to lead them back to where he had found the ship. Once he had done that, he simply continued to follow the line of the waters below them, keeping his eyes open, and remaining on course for quite some time before the slightest speck of something in the skies caught his eyes, aside from the fact that the land below them was indeed growing increasingly and quickly steeper, forcing him to change altitude.

After some more time, the speck became clearer, til at length it became a small flight-bound creature trailing a small piece of fabric.

Without realizing it, Matt took in a sudden, quick breath.

"Good," I let the word out in a sigh of air as, now reaching in all directions I release everyone from the mystical bondage by which I have held them in thrall. I hear twin grunts as both humans react to their freedom; in parting, I likewise feel a sensation of relief coming from the Temple on the so very distant Khar Delba.

Letting my head roll as much as it can in the confinement of the little cockpit, for my horns indeed have a wide spread, I then lean forward to Matt.

"Can you determine the little creature's trajectory, and estimate backward to the exact place from which he left that?"

But then, below was becoming higher and higher til after some length of time they arrived at a familar towering scarp face.

Matt slowed once more, analyzing the scarp before him in comparison with his mental image.

"I think this is it," he said at length, falling silent then as he finally caught sight of a tiny crack...

"Then that must be the wall we must break down; are we in agreement, or does anyone have another idea to offer? For I am not stating this as being an absolute fact. It is, rather, a deduction I am making in light of the message sent to us by my Son," I state solemnly, then turn round with a tight smile.

...but aside from that being risky, I'm also not certain how effective it would be."

Furrowing his brow a bit, Terrin considered the scrape once more. "Maybe if we could just widen the gap of that crack the bat flew through to leave Shawn..."

"I dunno," I said, yawning.

"Why don't you ask Shawn? He might come up with an idea; we've just got to be in range of his comm now, right?"

Besides, I couldn't help thinking an ominous addendum.

This will tell us if our deductions have proven themselves to be right now, won't it, if we find Shawn really is somewhere fairly close inside that rock...

But I didn't say this aloud. Hell no. No use in bringing up another wealth of "what ifs."

"Hey, Petrolu, this is Terrin. We're in a ship looking at a scarp face high in the sky with a crack in it, and we think you might be in there and are considering ways to get in without blowing you to bits. Please tell me you are getting this message, and that we haven't found our way to the wrong place."

Fallng silent at that then, Terrin lowered his arm, keeping an eye on the wrist comm expectly. Keenly aware of Galen's weariness, however, He wrapped the other arm about her supportively...

"I read you loud and clear, Terrin," Shawn then replied. "As for the crack you are looking at...

...that must still be somewhat ahead of me and perhaps somewhat above me as well, cause I don't see any light ere, and a crack that opens to the outside would do that."

He paused a moment then, thinking. "If I could find the crack somehow, I might be able to Force-push and levitate any fallig debris while you blast and keep it from coming inward."

He chewed his lip a bit. "I've been cutting my way up through the rock with my lightsaber to higher levels; I wonder how high up I am now, and how close I am to the outside..."

...please let me know."

Falling silent with that then, Shawn stretched out with the Force, once more making himself a simple part of it, feeling all the life which surrounded him in all its complexity and greatness...

...and in turn seeking out a single essence from within the pool. Finding it after some time, Shawn locked on to it mentally, now using something far more than his eyes to then begin his travels through the cave again. Not even igniting his lightsaber...

...for that alone might break his concentration...

...Shawn simply moved onward, his movements now controlled by the Force as much as he controlled the Force in turn to lead him out.

Nothing untoward presented itself immediately, but then he heard it.

The sound of flowing water, as he had heard before...

...but then, there was something else. The sound of something crumbling...falling...?

Shawn frowned then, the warning sensation not diminishing. He raised the wristcomm to his lips. "Ummm, guys, I might have a problem here. The Force is telling me that something is amiss, and I keep hearing the sound of flowing water, and have been for a while. But now I'm hearing something that sounds like falling rock..."

...and prevent any sort of disaster in the process. Unable to think of anything extremely profound, he decided to go for something more practical, although somewhat out of the realm of his expertise. He was not, after all, any sort of pilot, and knew only a little about any ship's systems.

"If we're so close to this cave of Shawn's, could we somehow use the ship's sensor array to at least access the terrain?" He paused, pursing his lips. "Maybe we could fly in from somewhere and then scan the area? I mean, if we know Shawn says he hears water flowing, and falling rock. Maybe if we could at least get some sort of an idea what is in there," he continued, nodding towards the large scrap before them, "We might be able to figure out where Shawn is better."

Quieting at that, Jasyn waited to see if anyone could make sense of what he was thinking.

"Hmmm..." I pondered aloud, frowning. "This is a freighter; I'm not certain what level of scanners it would have on it..."

Saying no more I turned from the others and went to join Matt. Smiling as brightly as I could manage under the circumstances, I shrugged in apology and began to scrutinize the features the ship's bridge offerred. I could feel the query in Matt's eyes on the back of my head, but bless his heart he kept to the task at hand, which I'm sure my proximity to him didn't help make any better.

"I'll be out of your way in a-- there!"

All apologies aside, I shouldered my way into the seat next to him and began fiddling with some controls.

"They're not the most sophisticated of scanners, but they should serve the purpose..."

Muttering under my breath then I let my fingers play around a bit, deja vu-ing back to the days when I would perform just such an act for Dad in his quest for buried xeno-archeological finds. Granted our scanners were tons better than the ones this antiquated vessel sported, but from past experience I knew that these would be able to do the job required of them.

And they did.

After much manipulation of dials and levers, some numerals began to scroll across a little screen set in the console in front of me. I sat back with a scowl, and puffed out my cheeks.

"Well, he's in there... or at least somebody who's humanoid is."

I turned round to face the others.

"About another 850 feet lower than us...

"...and in about six and a half kilometers..."

...and there is water below us. And, obviously, he got where he got via the water. I'm wondering if he would have more success working his way towards the water, and not necessarily towards us. After all, we know that the water leads out...

...and, if we could give him some direction on which way to go based on the readings the scanners have given us, he might have a better foothold on which course to take to get out."

I puffed out my cheeks again and ran a quick hand through my hair, as if by the gesture I might somehow kick my brain into a higher gear and come up with something. Unfortunately, all it came up with was cold fact, and that based on my personal experience.

"Dad and I poked around in many a cave system," I went on, turning in my seat now to regard Terrin solemnly.

"If Shawn is hearing water, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to lead him to that same water where the dragonsnake grabbed him to begin with. Well okay, lemme amend that."

I paused a trifle, trying to marshall my thoughts.

"If Shawn is hearing water, it means the cave system is a live one, still growing. And you may therefore substitute the term eroding for growing."

Terrin only gave me a blank look. I let a slight flicker of a grin light upon my lips, then went on.

"Caves form from water, for the most part. I mean, there's other things involved, but to put it generally the water seeps into cracks and crannies and hollows them out. So yeah, while the water that he's hearing more than likely is connected to the main body of water at the base of this big ol mesa thing we're hovering in front of--"

I waved my hand toward the forward port.

"--there's probably miles and miles of connecting passageways and so on where the water flows. I could try to generate a layout of the interior, but that's going to take some time."

Frowning at this thought, Terrin fell silent, pondering wondering for all the Universe just what they could do, other than just simply sit and wait while Shawn linked up wit the Force tracked signatures.

Hmmm...tracking Force signatures, and linking...

"Hey wait, can you link with Shawn in the way that you did just a few minutes ago with Galen, Matt and Aeylmaar?" Terrin queried, turning to cast a questioning gaze Lord Aelvedaar's way. "I mean, I thought you did when we were all hidden in Prinn'chatka and planning things against Roan, anyway."

I nod slowly.

"Yes, I can activate that Link once again," I state solemnly, giving Terrin a steady look.

"But to what purpose? We know where he is--"

My words are truncated as an idea flashes into my head. Now I smile, beginning to forgive myself my earlier oversight as I turn now to Terrin's wife.

"Did you not say you could generate a map of the interior of this cave system? Perhaps if linked to Shawn, and thus able to view his passage through his own eyes, then with such a map to guide from an outside point of view, the two viewpoints might merge to where the jedi might be successfully led out of the predicament he appears to have gotten himself into."

A plan. We finally had a plan! And one that appeared viable to boot.

"I'm on it, Your Lordship!" I quipped as I turned back to the console, bumping into the still silent Matt in the process.

"'Scuse me," I murmured as my hands began racing across the dials and buttons that controlled the scanner once again.

"If you could keep 'er steady, I should be able to come up with a map of the interior in fairly short order. Shouldn't take more than an hour or so; somebody might want to inform Shawn..."

"Hey Petrolu, stop and take a breather," he began with. "We've been putting our brains together here, and we're working on generating a map of the caves via the ship's sensor array," he explained. "Once we've got it, Lord Aelvedaar--who incidentally is along with us and has gotten us this far--is going to open a Link with you and 'steer' you based on what he 'sees' through your eyes compared with the map that we get. So hang tight; the map will take about a standard hour."

Nope. Not on my watch!

So the murmurs of the others, and the soft clink of tableware were both easily ignored as I went about my task; the smells of the food they'd prepared was a different matter however.

In a little bit, Galen ol' gal! I gritted to my stomach as, contrary beastie that it was, it rose up in a series of loud complaints.

Almost done, almost--

"Ta-da!" I announced brightly, blowing away a tendril of hair that had fallen into my face.

"Here it is!"

I gestured toward the intricate maze which now appeared on the screen, color coded as to depth, tiny numerals runnng alongside each spidery tracing which gave the dimensions of each passageway.

It looked like leftover duraglass after a fighter had crashed landed: yet intact, but nothing more than a webwork of lines going off in all directions.

I blinked; I was alone with my handiwork.

"Umm-- guys?" I called out, rising to my feet.

That's what happens to a guy who is served by the Sith and has been the lazy Captain of a ship who always takes his meals in the nearby mess hall, came the errant thought.

So he rummaged around, for quite some length of time as others joined him...

...til after a quite some time he heard Galen's call.

Grabbing a plate, and piling it high with whatever was fixed, hoping it was at least palatable, he headed back to the cabin.

"This is for you," he said to Galen, holding out the plate a bit. Then, his eyes wandering to the screen of twists and turns and mazes, he finished with, "Oh hell, is that the map?" he asked unnecessarily, already knowing the answer. "Is there a way out of there?"

Hmmm. What in blazes was this thing? Not bad though; kinda like a chewy grapplefruit...

--and gestured toward the screen with the fruit.

"Yeah, I think there is..." I trailed, then shoved the fruit into my mouth, holding it with my teeth to free both hands.

...two years? Three years...? More than that?

Still, what once was "old hat" came back to him rather easily; ever the pilot of smaller ships and salesman that he was, he couldn't help but check out the specs on the frieghter they were now using. Nor could he ignore the rising memories of days seemingly long gone but near and dear at the same time.

Aboard the Eagle after blasting out of Ambria...

Shaking himself from these thoughts with some effort, Terrin refocused on the task he'd taken over...

...and began looking at the map himself, making a suggestion here or there.

...but then something happened. For while he felt peace, through his link with the Force Shawn could at some level sense everything which existed in the Force: other beings, other emotions, love and hate, life and death...

A shock wave of something from somewhere radiated through the Force for an instant, sending a tingling up his spine that then dissapated, bringing in its wake the silent scream of souls in shock, souls which were then silenced for eternity to then merge once more with the Force. For that brief moment, a Darkness rang out...

...but after that moment, it was simply gone. As were the souls screaming in terror.

Shawn's eyes snapped open in shock. Not knowing anything other than the emotions he had felt through his meditation, however, Shawn could not place the Darkness and certainly didn't know what happened. All he knew was that something terrible had happened.

Trying to unnerve himself, Shawn then raised his comm to his lips, and opened the frequency upon which he and Terrin had been communicating. "How is your progress on the map?" he then opened with, simply enough. Then, the event which had rocketed him still gnawing at his mind, he continued with, "Is everyone doing allright? I've just gotten the sense that something terrible has happened, somewhere...

...or the assistance of something other. Deep within, the Force stirred in his mind, sending a red alert that something was entirely wrong with his situation, and with something greater than just that. Slowly, ever so slowly, his mind, seasoned in training in Force use from his youth, began to stir under its insistent prodding.

Wake up. Wake up! it seemed to yell into his psyche.

And at last, he did just that. Squinting his still-heavy eyelids as if to quiet his now stirring thoughts, Erik Kartan opened both eyes...

...to discover he could hardly move a muscle, for he was encased in tree branch.

Completely. In fact, he couldn't see through the tree branches to ascertain where he was, so well had he been wrapped in them. He couldn't move his arms, his hands, or his feet, either. The branches were effectively wrapped around all four limbs, rendering him completely immobile, stretching them out uncomfortably and confining him there. And he was still too drowsy from whatever Shayla had done to him to even try to work his way free...

Shayla...

Although he didn't know for certain, somehow he knew, his heart aching, that she was the one who had done this to him. Still, he couldn't resist the urge to stretch out and see if she was somewhere nearby, even at the risk of discovering something that he perhaps just didn't want to know.

But his Force link to her was blocked.

Emotional pain slammed against him then, causing him to groan, urging him to fight this.

No, no, no! Not again, not like Khar Delba! He couldn't let this happen again, he couldn't. She had to know he would come after her, or else she wouldn't have left him like this...

...but...why?

Struggling against the branches wound taut around his body then, Erik stretched out to the Force, seeking to telekenetically move the branches away...

...but then, telekenetics had never been his forte, and he used the Force so rarely that he'd grown unpracticed. That fact, along with his current drowsiness, made his efforts futile. Still, he struggled physically for a few minutes longer, trying anything to free himself. But the telekenetics Shayla had no doubt used to set him in his current predicament were too skillful; she had cacooned him so tightly he could not free himself. Not alone. And most certainly not in his current state.

At length giving up on struggling at that particular moment, Erik let his muscles relax, at least as much as he could. And it was in that moment he remembered that he hadn't come here alone...

...and that he remembered just what he had done to those who had come with him.

You fool, he chastised himself. You should have listened. And now you've quite possibly shot down your only chance of getting out of this and getting to her.

Unless...

Stretching out with the Force then, he let his personal pain and distress overflow like a river, seeking to draw the attention of any sentient life still out there for as long as he could.

Help me, please, Help me. I've got to get out of here...

Over and over he sent this SOS out through the Force, until finally, his body, still drowsy, could take no more of the physical and emotional stress it was under, and he fell into a restless slumber.

Must be boring as hell in there, and a bit uncomfortable, too, I reasoned to myself as the squawk pressed me to hurry.

I mean, being stuck in a rock maze beneath who in all the known universe knows how many feet of rock, with the continued threat of that dragonsnake...

My eyes widened as that pretty little thought crawled evilly through my mind.

"Hell's Seven Circles," I muttered as I manipulated the computer again, giving it a set of parameters a bit more general to work with. Oh yeah, Shawn might have to be sucking it in to get through some of the corridors I'd spotted, but--

"Was that Shawn?" I asked without removing my eyes from the map or my fingers from the board.

"Tell him to use a bit of that famous Jedi patience; I'm working as fast as I can here..."

Raising his comm to his lips, he then formulated a reply. "Look, Shawn, hang in there, we're working on it as quickly as possible. Sit tight while you can; you'll be very busy shortly."

Sending the message off, Terrin pursed his lips as he looked at the map once more...

...then turned back towards the aft of the ship. "Hey guys, could you give us a hand with this?" he called out. "We're getting there, but the more heads we have, the sooner we can start getting our buddy out of his current predicament..."

"Not really," I snorted, backing from the boards just long enough to gesture at it with both hands.

"There are plenty of passageways large enough for him to crawl out to somewhere; it's just the where and which that I'm now letting the computer handle for me."

I paused a moment, then turned back to work.

Turning a moment to eye the navboard then, he tweaked a control or two, making certain the ship remained steady before returning his gaze to her. "Still, circumstances notwithstanding, it's good to get a few minutes of quiet...

...and that was when an intentional, unspoken but clearly felt distress call registered in Shawn's senses. Frowning a bit, his eyes closed once more, he stretched out to examine that call, for it felt vibrant enough that its source had to be nearby. As he traced the sensation back to its source...

...recognition came.

Shawn sent his own mental vibrations back out along that Force call towards the familar essence.

Erik, I hear you.

Pausing then, Shawn sensed outward further for others that were familar to him, particularly his sister or Graysith. He didn't sense either.

"Nah," I said offhandedly, waving toward the computer.

"This thing has all the information it needs; it shouldn't take long before it lets us know--"

My words were interrupted as the computer cleared its electronic throat and pinged at me. Simultaneously, the screen flickered, then settled into the view of the cavern system once again, only a particular portion was now glowing in a brilliant and eye-catching red. My smile broadened, and I leaned forward to tap the image, letting my finger then run along the line delineated by the computer.

"There ya go!" I chirped cheerily as my finger came to an abrupt ending of a line, indicating the actual terminus of the passageway. I shot Terrin a satisfied grin, then returned to the map.

"He's only got to follow the line the computer has projected here; if we can link him through Lord Aelvedaar again so he can describe what he sees, we can direct him when to turn and how many paces he should travel and all that kind of thing."

Still beaming, I turned back to the map... looked at it a touch more closely.

My grin fell off my face and landed on the deck, dragging my jaw open in the process of its departure.

"Oh Hell's Seven Circles, he's got to wind around and around and up and down; do you see these little numbers here? They tell how deep the passages are; not only is he going to have to be connecting with passageways at all kinds of different levels, but the distance he's got to travel--"

I turned an incredulous stare into Terrin's blue eyes.

"Terrin, it's nearly forty-three klicks!"

Silence thudded all around us, a silence I began to break with a murmured, "Well, at least he'll get out," when Terrin's wrist comm started beeping at him again.

I knew who it was; who it had to be. I slumped back in my seat, food now forgotten, and just let Terrin handle whatever it was Shawn had to say...

...not to mention letting him be the Judas goat in passing along my wonderful news.

"Can you tell if he's in any severe danger, Shawn?" Terrin asked. "You are probably the only one here who has a link with him of any sort, so we'll probably need to get you out of your current entrapment first. And regarding that..."

Terrin trailed a moment, filling Shawn in on the details of his upcoming hike through the Caves of Degobah...

...distances, twists, and turns included.

...but something is going on, on a larger scale than our problems, I'm afraid."

Pausing then, he frowned a bit. "As for Erik, I don't sense anyone immediately near him who is familar to me, but then I could be blocked. Still, even though he seems distressed, I don't sense him projecting any immediate danger. I think if he was in any he would let me know. I do have a link with him, and between Lord Aelvedaar and myself, should be able to find him. This will, of course, be a much simpler task once I am out of my current situation, as much as I dislike putting him off."

Rising to his feet, his senses keenly attuned to all that surrounded him still, Shawn finished with, "Lord Aelvedaar is going to guide me through this labrinyth I find myself in?"

"Hey, guys? Lord Aelvedaar? The maps and Shawn are ready..." he called, looking marginally over his back as he continued to man the controls. Then he turned to Galen, arching one brow slightly. "Think anybody back there hears anything that is going on up here? Maybe someone ought to go aft and give them a heads up."

"Sure," I said, now rolling my head around. For gads, but a body can develop a heckuva little knot, right at the base of the neck, if one sits too long at a computer console.

But piloting a ship... well baby, that's an entirely different animal. Nothing feels better than that of controls in one's hands.

"No problem," I said as Terrin moved away. Then I quickly took his place, grasping the controls so smoothly that the ship didn't boggle even once. A quick flick of a switch, and a portion of the viewscreen cleared to show a realtime forward scene.

Sighing happily then, I wriggled my butt more deeply into the pilot's chair and kept the ship headed in the direction it was going, arrowed straight out thataway.

Wherever in Hell's Seven Circles that was!

Matt shrugged fractionally. "What he did back there between Galen and Aeylmaar was quite a feat."

Terrin nodded, understanding Matt's underlying meaning. "So I suppose we wait...

"Yes," she affirmed softly, recalling the few times she had touched upon that awesome inborn ability she had.

"Using this... power takes a great deal from one. I would imagine Lord Aelvedaar would need a bit more time to recoup his strength to continue helping you in the manner he is."

She paused a moment, raising the cup of tea to her nose to bask in the scent and warmth it sent out. The aroma was fragrant, the heat a welcomed touch within her hands; she took a sip, thinking.

"What type of sensors does this ship carry?" she suddenly asked, looking up at Terrin and cocking her head.

"Do you think they could find Erik? After all, father, there aren't that many humans on this planet."

After all, they were part of our strategy for finding Shawn, although we had to be pretty close. We could at least use the sensor array to determine if someone is anywhere in our scopes other than Shawn at our current location...

...and if not, then wait for Shawn to get out of these caverns so that he can bring us close enough to his brother-in-law to get a better sensor sweep."

Terrin pursed his lips. "Good thinking," he said Darra's way, "I think I'll go see if we can find out anything."

"I wanted to show Darra some of the controls on the ship, and show her how to use the sensor array while we wait; Lord Aelvedaar is regaining his strength," he said in Galen's direction. "Darra suggested that we try to use the sensor array to see if we can get at least some idea of where Kartan is, if we're close enough."

Motioning for Darra to then take a seat in the copilot's chair while Galen continued to keep the ship steady, he showed her the location of the sensor array, how to activate it, and how to tell it to search for a specific type and class of being. Then he showed her a few other major controls on the navboard; the hyperdrive lever, the navcomputer, controls that maintained and changed the pitch of their flight path, and so on.

Immediately a screen on the console in front of her lit up.

That look was not only ignored but went entirely unnoticed, so glued was Galen to the task of flying the ship.

Now her blue eyes slid back to Terrin, myriad questions darkening within. He too remained quiet, his arms crossed, but nodded at her in an encouraging manner.

It suddenly hit her then.

These are my parents; they handle this ship as I handled the embroidery the Nurses were teaching me to do--

Is it in their blood?

A moment's distraction as her thoughts side-tracked to an impossible memory, one where something within her had burst out in glorious splendor to assist them in a time of trouble...

That is in my blood too; yet I am not Sith. From where comes this magick then?

The tiny frown wrinkled further along her brow as she cocked her head, still pinning Terrin with a querying look. But then she straightened, allowing her expression to segue into one of determination.

They have this in their blood; she is my Mother; I therefore can do this as well...

Turning away now she bent more closely over the panel, scrutinizing it, studying it, allowing every dial and switch, every blinking color upon it to burn into her mind. Then she straightened, reached out, flipped one switch while pulling down upon yet another lever. The screen Terrin had pointed to flipped to another, one filled with strange looking words and characters...

...but beside each was, blessedly enough, a representative image.

Smiling, she scrolled down further until she found an image most closely representing human. Touching that image resulted in another blank screen popping up, one however which boasted a series of ascending coordinates running up the Y- and across the X- axes. In the corner was a blinking, red dot.

She pushed it, and the light turned a steady blue as other dials began blinking on and off in what appeared to be a random pattern.

"I hope--" she began, then forced herself to stop.

He paused then, pursing his lips a bit as he watched the lights flash on the navboard. "I don't know how far out this ship can scan though, nor how far out Kartan is, so it might take a while, if we can pick him up at all." He paused. "Maybe if we can't find him this way he has a commlink or something..."

Terrin trailed as some numerals began scrolling across the screen, first indicating the humanoids within the ship, then to Shawn...

"I-- I don't know, but..."

She paused, her frown deepening as she studied the blips and blinks glittering on the screens in front of her. Then, the move as swift as a dianoga's strike, she reached out and flipped a switch.

Abruptly the screen segued into something with lines that criss-crossed. Off to one side was a blinking blue dot, beneath which strange sigils scrolled.

"Have I found anything, Father?" she asked, not daring to take her eyes from the screen in fear that by doing so the signal she had happened upon would disappear.

"What does this mean?"

...and it seems to be remaining stationary. That could very well be Erik, and I'm certain Shawn could verify if it is him...

"Does this mean we're getting closer to whatever this is?" she queried, indicating the screen.

He paused, turning then to Galen. "What do you think? Whatever or whomever we are picking up doesn't seem to have any more humanoid lifeforms surrounding it. Which means that if it's Kartan...

"Yup, whatever it is, or rather I should say whoever it is-- for sure as Khaandon made lil green worrts it's human-- it's not moving at all."

I frowned, reached up a hand to scratch my nose. The motion was really nothing more than an affectation, for obligation had already risen up in all it's glory to holler in my ear.

"Yeah, we already know that Shawn's okay, if only a little uncomfortable being stuck away in some caverns. But he's got light and he's relatively warm, and he's in contact with us. This person--"

I nodded to the screen, then raised my eyes back up to Terrin.

"Is... well, awfully still. But we are picking up a lifeform reading, and it's blinking; that means that he or she is still alive.

"I say we go find out what the scoop is before that little variable changes altogether--"

He trailed, turning over his shoulder. "Hey guys...we're on the move, hopefully to pick up Erik Kartan," he called over his shoulder. "Hang tight."

Then, taking a seat himself, Terrin flipped the message switch on his comm. "Hey Shawn, I think we've got a coordinate lock on Erik. We're gonna go investigate, hopefully pick him up, and then we'll be back."

As he sent this message off, Galen needed no further cue...

...but proceeded to easily guide their ship away from the scarp face and towards the coordinates that were indicated on the monitor. On screen, a blip appeared that indicated the ship and its proximity to the indicated lifeform. After only a short trip the original blue blip merged with the ship's orange blip and the newly created blip remained solid and steady.

"Hell if I see anything other than green stuff!" I muttered, now flipping the screen to it's actual viewport option. Immediately the images as seen through a lens segued into the real McCoy, and I bent closer, straining to see anything that might be our missing companion.

I sat back in my seat with a sigh.

"Just green stuff, and swampland, and vines and mosses and Khaandon knows what else. Damned if I can figure this out; sensors show there's someone right below us!"

I snorted, then whirled back to the controls.

"This is crazy," I muttered to myself as with no further ado I arced us downward until a bump more jarring than what I was normally wont to produce announced our arrival on Dagoban soil

Or swamp. Whichever.

"Ok, guys," I said as I flipped everything into standby. The ship quieted, but continued a deep and almost subliminal hum, one that my ears were keenly attuned to for it told me she was ready to leap to the skies again at the slightest of provocations.

"Here we are. I'll stay put and mind the ship; go on out and see what you can find. Don't forget to take sensors."

I smiled at Terrin, motioned that Darra get off her hiney and go help with the search.

"Luck to you all!"

As Galen popped the hatch they headed out, finding themselves surrounded by vines and mosses. And damned if the life sensor wasn't showing a lifeform reading not more than 30 feet in front of them.

Terrin frowned, surveying the area, seeing not a soul...

She turned back to her father.

"I-- I don't know what this is," she said as she straightened up, drawing in a deep breath before returning her focus to the greenery. It sat there before her like a verdant stone lump, small leaves upon it wiffling in the light breeze now brushing against her face.

Another frown traced her features, and she reached out once more and grabbed one of the vines. Small fingers clenching as tightly as she could get them, she then placed a foot against the base and hauled back.

Something seemed to groan.

Abruptly she lost her grip... not to mention her balance. Before she knew it, she was sitting rather unelegantly upon the portion of her anatomy that suits such things best.

"Oh... spit!" she blurted out, puffing away a stray tendril of hair which had come flying into her face as she fell.

His muscles registered a jolt, and responded painfully. He groaned, a sudden thought springing forth to taunt him.

Here you are completely immobile. So if [i]something made this thing you've been imprisoned in move...

...it wasn't you. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and all that.[/i]

Wondering then if he was to be the dinner of some swamp animal, Erik couldn't help but stretch out with the Force...

...and was immediately impacted with sentient life forms that were so close he couldn't miss them.

And they were familar too.

Help! I'm stuck in here and I can't move..." he called out hoarsely between dry lips. "Who's there?"

"It's him; he's in there but he's trapped!"

So saying she scrabbled to her feet, returned to the place where she had grasped the vine and flattened herself against the greenery. For the longest moment all she could hear was the thumping of her heart in her ears; then--

"Yes!" she smiled happily, drawing back.

"It really is Erik--" She paused fractionally, catching herself in her own assumption, then continued. "I mean, I think it's him; he didn't say who he was, but whoever he is he's alive but says he's stuck--"

She sobered and turned slowly round to face the others.

"Does anybody have a knife?" she asked.

... somebody didn't want him to get out on his own, if at all. And with the creatures on this planet..."

He trailed, leaving his thought incomplete, knowing others would understand. "I wounder who did this to him."

Pausing a moment then, he considered Darra's qestion. "Maybe there is a knife on the ship," he suggested, trailing then as the obvious dawned upon him. "The Sith warrior can help us with that," he said, correctng himself. "But now that Panthar isn't here I'm not sure how we're going to relate what we need to him other than gesturing and hoping he'll follow one of us here," he added thoughtfully.

A thought struck then. He almost dismissed it as improbable, but the truth was he didn't really know what Darra had been doing before they found her on K'eel Doba. Which basically meant anything, at this point, could be possible.

"You haven't happened to have learned any Sith?"

Cocking his brow in Darra's direction for a moment, he then turned back to the tangle of vines once again. "It's going to take a long time to get him out of there like that, but without knowing exactly where he is inside, that's probably the safest option unless someone comes up with another idea."

Yes, I speak Sith; I was taught this so as to speak with everyone in Phrinnchatka; it is a matter of course. But-- there are those who speak otherwise, who easily speak in the language of my mother and father; Lords Aelvedaar and Phalomir speak this, as does Lord Phalomir's companion Thoran--

She paused in mid-thought, her eyes widening.

"Father," she blurted in seeming non sequiteur. "It is Thoran; what has happened to him? Is he with Shawn? Do you remember that he spoke of blaster fire before he left Lord Aelvedaar's chambers on Khar Delba? Have you or has anybody heard from him?"

She turned back to the mound, started circling it.

"You don't suppose he's in here along with Mr. Erik, do you?" she said in a soft voice as once more she took hold of a tendril and tugged. It pulled out the barest bit, but the tension it held prevented her from moving it more than a couple of centimeters.

Biting her lip, she let it go, contemplated it as it twanged back against it's fellows. It was only then, when she was standing head down in thought, that she noticed something in the muddy ground about the perimeter of the mound.

A footprint. Or rather, several footprints.

"Look," she stated, beginning to cast about the moist ground.

"These belong to one-- no, to two different beings."

She cut a glance to Terrin, smiled to see the mix of confusion and startlement now crossing his features.

"Being raised among warriors, one learns of these things," she said softly as she motioned not only to him but to the other men, asking that they follow where her finger pointed. And once the men's eyes were directed to the correct places, the tracks were obvious.

Some small, dainty, seeming to be feminine. Another set large, obviously Sith in origin.

Her eyes raised to the mound, then travelled back again to the sets of tracks. She stood silently a moment longer, pondering upon the story they were trying to tell her, then turned to the others again.

"A small-footed person stood here, walked about a little." She pointed to the mound.

"And afterward, a large-footed person, presumably Sith by the size and shape of the track, came here. This person then went off--"

She cast about once again, leaving the others now to nose about in the increasingly swampy ground. While most of the trail had long been lost to the riotous overgrowth of the planet, there were yet enough showing to give at least an indication of what direction their owner had gone off in.

She raised her eyes, stared off into the gloom of the surrounding swamp.

"I wonder if they belong to Thoran," she mused aloud before turning back to Terrin. "But--

"Wasn't he in some kind of bar?"

She stopped a moment, frowning her confusion, then went on.

"Yes, I speak Sith. I shall go back to the ship, and request the warrior lend us whatever he has that is sharp about his person, and hope that this will be enough to release Mr. Erik, or whoever is inside that mound, from his prison."

Finally he looked up to the others. "If Thoran followed Stargazer, or Jharmeen, or whoever...

...then he might have gotten himself into trouble."

Pausing again, Jasyn's frown only got deeper. "Maybe we should scan the area for other life forms, just in case, Boss?" he queried in Terrin's direction.

"We found Kartan...

...and two sets of tracks heading off in a particular direction. One of those sets of tracks appears to be Sith, the other belonging to someone very small," he explained. "We'd like to scan the area to see if anyone is... lurking. Meanwhile, we're going to have to cut Kartan out of his current predicament; he's stuck in a rather well-made prison of vines. Had to come back on board to get a knife...

...and perhaps some other equipment."

"Ahh-- vines, did you say?"

I turned in my seat to cast a somewhat incredulous look Jasyn's way. This all sounded too, too strange-- but what was beginning to really worry me was that it was sounding too, too gut-wrenchingly familiar.

How in Hell's Seven Circles did Erik get himself wrapped up in a tangle of vines, vines apparently so tight and thick that the men had to come get something stronger than bare hands to free him from them?

I said as much to Jasyn, ending with--

"These smaller footprints; they wouldn't happen to be human, would they?"

When he turned to her she immediately lowered her head, speaking rapidly in Sith, explaining the situation. He merely nodded, rose to his feet with a slight grunt, and came up to her. He did not pause to speak further, but passed her and moved forward, heading toward the hatch which was close to the command cabin of the ship.

As Darra followed on his heels, she couldn't help but overhear the conversation going on inside between her mother and Jasyn. Her brows raising, she hastened a bit faster until she was able to touch the warrior slightly upon his back, slowing him down as he turned his head to cast a sidelong glance in her direction.

Quickly, she explained in Sith, leaving out any speculation, just giving him the facts. His face immediately creased into a frown; clearly, magicks of some sort were in play here, and magick was something that the warriors, although possessing some knowledge of it, did not as a rule employ much. His voice was flat as he barked this to Darra; she respectfully answered him, and nodded toward the cabin door.

He stared at her a long moment, his chromatic eyes darkening; then without so much as knocking he pushed the hatch to the command cabin open and strode inside. Once again Darra had to hurry to keep up, for the warrior's stride was lengthy... even though it only took him a couple said strides to enter into the area.

She hurried off to one side of him, flashed a quick smile at Galen and Jasyn.

"I explained to him," she began without preamble. "This warrior feels that there are magicks at play. He says it is doubtful whether his spearhead will be able to break through the vines."

...and he was determined he wasn't going to leave here without her. Apparently someone was equally as determined that he wasn't going to leave here with her either. The question remains who that particular someone was. After all, Stargazer did threaten all of us not to follow her on Tatooine. So what if she made good on that promise?"

Jasyn frowned and shook his head. "I guess we really won't know unless we ask Erik, when we get him out. Darra is talking to the Sith warrior about using his knife to help; seems like the best option at the moment..."

Jasyn's explanation was truncated then as Darra entered with the Sith warrior. He frowned at the warrior's summation that perhaps magicks were involved.

"With all due respect to our representative of the Sith world..." I turned to the hulking warrior, gave him a respectful nod of my head as I had seen others do.

"Seems you'll know whether the spear will cut the vines when you try it."

I turned to Darra and raised a brow. She in turn looked sheepish and quickly spoke in what sounded like gibberish. Apparently said gibberish was Sith; the warrior barked something back, frowned, glanced at his spear, then held it out toward Jasyn.

Now I aimed that cocked brow in his direction.

"Just remember, if I die I expect to be buried with some Sith brandy."

Waiting for no further comments or assistance then, Jasyn proceeded back out to the mess of vines, ignoring the cocked brows as he walked by. Pausing in front of the vine mass, he raised the spear, hesitated, and frowned.

Prayed for the first time in his life to whatever gods might hear him. "You might want to back up," he called back to whomever was there. "If this thing is booby-trapped with Sith magick, who the hell knows what might happen."

Then, stating nothing further, he paused a final moment to say one more urgently delivered prayer...

...and touched the spear to the vine, beginning to use it to cut through the cleverly spun prison.

"Well, I'm not dead yet..." he commented, cotinuing to work his way through very thick, dense vines.

It was worse than hunting for a needle in a haystack, or at least that's what it looked like to me.

"Ahh... hey, Jas," I called out as with a quick flick I opened up the ship's outer speaker.

"Looks like all that growth is just... woven together somehow. Take a good look; is it actually attached together, or just woven?"

I then sat back to wait for him to figure out how best get a reply back to me.

"I think it's just woven together," he said out loud, pursing his lips. Turning a bit to then cock a brow Terrin's way, he continued with, "I wonder what she's thinking?"

"Well-ll... I dunno if this would work or not, but is there any way that it could be unraveled?"

I paused, trying to figure out a way to cement what was floating around in my head.

"Like a house of cards; you pull the right one, it collapses. A tapestry: you pull the right thread, it starts to unravel.

"Like that."

I flipped the speaker back to receive and plopped back in my seat, blowing away a stray tendril of hair that had fallen into my eyes, frowning to myself all the while. For sure as there's Treasure on Roon that idea sounded goofier by the minute.

He quieted for a moment then, actually stepping around the prison of vines a bit, considering. Then he paused again and cupped his hand over his mouth for before saying anything further. "It's too bad this can't be cracked open like an egg or something. I mean, if we had the ending point and began working through it from its weakest location by pulling, cutting, or both..."

Cracking an egg...

Again I took a moment's pause before flicking the speakers to send once more. Something about the gesture didn't seem quite right, quite natural; a quick glance at my hands confirmed it.

They were shaking.

"Ahh--" I began, floundering. Then I gave myself a mental shake and forced myself to continue.

"I know this sounds risky, and it is, it's terribly risky, but...

I paused, took a breath, and finished in a final burst of words.

"I could bring the ship there, gently nestle it down just enough... ya think that might crack all the branches and free Erik?

"I could hover there until you pull him out..."

Terrin paused a moment, thinking. "Hang on a second, Galen, I am going to ask Erik something. As risky as this is this may be our best shot to getting him out of here in a reasonable amount of time...

...and I want him to be aware of what we plan, and contribute anything he can to it to protect himself as well. I'll be back with you in just a couple of minutes."

Sending off the message at that, Terrin headed over to the vine prison, getting close to it.

"I am bound by the vines," he responded, the weariness apparent in his voice. "I'm competely stretched out, immobile. I can try and shield myself with the Force some...

...but I don't know how much. Tell Galen to do it. I've got to get out of here..."

He trailed then, closing his eyes and stretching out to the Force as best as he could...

To tell the truth, if I let myself think about it, actually THINK about it, I'd run crying into the hills. This was risky, too dangerous, wasn't gonna happen...

I gripped the controls as if they were twin feathers in my hands. The engines thrummed, braking thrusters coming online to push outward, impacting the ground beneath the ship as she rose mere tens of meters into the sky.

Let me do this, oh Khaandon, let this happen, don't let the thrusters fry Erik.

Gently, tentatively, I let the ship creep closer, inch by unnerving inch. Peripheral vision revealed the tips of the giant gnarltrees tiptoeing by the side ports; I gritted my teeth and ignored them, for they only served to remind me how dangerously close to the ground I was.

Just follow the horizon, Galen ol' gal; keep it steady, don't think of what's beneath, just hit the right altitude...

Carefully then, slewing the ship about it's Z-axis so to prevent the thrusters from igniting the same pile of wood I was trying to crack, I moved tons of durasteel and glass and polymers with the occasional bit of flesh tucked in here and there to the appropriate spot.

I let it hover, hoping that the others had managed to escape the blast of incoming energies--

It takes something to make a ship hover, after all.

--and then inched it downward the barest of millimeters. There I let it stay, waiting until someone would come online and tell me if I had been successful, or if Erik was so much crispy bug-splat now.

...and that he somehow could get to Shayla before it was all too late. After all, it had nearly been too late the last time, on Khar Delba...

...and this time it, when he knew better than to linger, he had been held up yet again. The very idea of losing her was unbearable within itself. He closed his eyes, and the pressure the ship was creating as it came down upon his prison became increasingly obvious. Erik gritted his teeth a bit, so as not to cry out and alarm anyone outside the prison unnecessarily. But he was stretched out so tight, and what he suspected might happen was fairly unavoidable.

And that's when he heard something crack. Or rather, he heard a few somethings crack inside.

The vine prison suddenly snapped loudly, and a cry of utter pain could be heard. But in that moment, the created prison quite nearly did crack on both sides, and for the first time, Terrin could see the human body yet tangled within.

Terrin raised his comm to his lips, quickly dialing in the frequency. "Galen, you can pull up a bit," he started, "I think we can get to him now, sweetheart."

Sending the message off then, Terrin waited til the ship and its thrusters were enough out of the way that he and the guys could get safely underneath. Motioning Matt and Jasyn to follow, he stepped through the tangled vines, getting scraped here or there despite any efforts to avoid them. As he got to Kartan, he heard shallow, raspy breathing.

Not the greatest sign, but a good one that he was breathing at all.

Terrin opnened the comm frequency again, feeling that it was important to let Galen know this. "He's injured, but definitely breathing and alive," he let her know. "He's wound up still, but we can cut him free now. You did it."

Once that message was off, Terrin nodded towards Jasyn, who still held the Warrior's spear, and then towards Kartan. As Jasyn worked, he and Matt took up careful positions to alleviate any added stress to Erik's body, for it was so tightly caught up that he'd ended up hanging precariously after the vine prison had cracked. Vines were tightly woven around his arms, legs, and torso. While it did take quite some time, especially considering that Jasyn had to take great care, at length Erik was finally free enough to be moved from the vines.

"We've got him free," Terrin announced across to commlink in relief. "We're moving him and getting him to the ship now..."

...carefully, came a final mental addendum as Terrin once more took note of just how shallow Erik's breathing was.

"We're going to have to take care," he then indicated probably unnecessarily to the others. "I think he's got at least a cracked rib or two, and maybe a broken arm," he said, noting how one was hanging a bit strangely.

As they all surrounded Erik's peron then and began to lift him and move him towards the ship's now yawning hatch, Terrin mentally thanked the gods that Kartan really wasn't that big of a guy...

...along with continual, marked, sharp stabbing pains radiating through his chest and up and down his right side. He was laid down on something, with seeming great care, but still the impact of being put down at all caused an increase in the radiating pain. Erik gasped a bit then groaned as another pain shot through him, and his eyes fluttereed open. At first they only registered bright light, but slowly adjusted to pick up the images of a familiar face or two:

Terrin Danner and one of his employees. Someone else stepped in and put a glass of something cold and wet to his lips, allowing him to take a good drink before removing it.

"Thank you," he whispered softly, his brown eyes shifting between all those he now saw present: Danner, Jasyn Lancaster, Matt Stanza, and JhinDarra. He closed his eyes for a moment as more pain radiated outward. "Tell Galen...thank you," he managed then, noting that taking shorter, quicker breaths seemed to lessen the pain, but only slightly.

He remained as he was for a few moments then, mentally assessing what was hurting and keenly aware of the probable reasons why...

...but unable to escape the one huge question which had been bothering him all the time since he'd been left in that prison, seemingly to die there:

...Why...?

He couldn't help but come to the question which followed then. He had to know. Opening his eyes, he looked directly at Terrin Danner, the pain radiating from his eyes due to something much deeper than the injuries he had sustained.

"Terrin," he began softly, his voice softening futher to a whisper, "Where's Shayla...?"

"Shayla's not here, pal," he then said. "We haven't any idea where either she or Graysith are."

Quieting at that, Terrin didn't say anything else for a few long moments, noting to himself that there was no way in Hells Seven Circles, as Galen so frequently said, that he was going to let Kartan know Shayla was burned and injured the last he saw her. "Please, try to get some rest. You've been through quite a lot, and Shawn is trapped here, in some caves. We've been trying to get to him for a while, but JhinDarra ran some scans and we picked up your signature thanks to her efforts," he then indicated. "You really need to take it easy for now," he reiterated.

Then he glanced back to where Jasyn, Matt, and Darra stood. "Hey, someone see if there is some tape onboard this ship to wrap him up, he's obviously got some broken ribs. And we need a splint for his arm too; seems to be giving him some pain as well. Someone should go back towards the galley and see if Lord Aelvedaar is done meditating and perhaps can lend a hand here...

...and also head to the cabin and let Galen know we're all on board so she can take us back to the scarp face where Shawn is, so we can get him out of there. I'm liking this planet less and less..."

He hesitated.

Gods, but he hated to be the one to break the Dark Lord's solace...

Clearing his throat, Jasyn finally broke the silence, at first hesitantly. "Excuse me, Lord Aelvedaar, ahhh... sir," he began, "We've recovered Erik Kartan, and he's pretty seriously wounded. We were hoping you could help him out. He's got several broken ribs, and maybe a broken arm, and seems to be breathing shallow..."

"Sith magicks are not something I well understand, but I do know they require great skill and concentration to utilize," she piped up, sipping then upon a drink she held in one hand. "Not to mention the odd power he wields, as does my aunt.

"Both cause a great strain on the user; Lord Aelvedaar has been connecting minds across the vastness of space and time to help us rescue Snawn; I wouldn't bother him now with something as minor as a few broken ribs," she asserted, then fell into her more customary meek silence.

He paused, frowning a bit to himself. "I suppose we'll do the best we can in the meantime."

Heading off then, Jasyn headed off to find the medkit, knowing that bandages and so forth would most likely be there. After a bit of rummaging about, he finally found what he was looking for, and headed back to where Kartan was, getting to work with the supplies he had found, being as careful as he could.

In only a few minutes he was satisfied that the wounds were taken sufficient care of. The medkit even supplied some painkillers to make Kartan's ride a little more bearable while they travelled.

Once he was finished, Jasyn turned to Terrin, who had remained for the time being.

She shook her head, wondering for the first time if she would ever fit into the world of humans, for it wasn't until that exact moment that she realized that, with the exception of her aunt, all those she had ever known had been Sith.

She sighed then and tiptoed out of the galley, keeping as still as a mouse so as not to interrupt Lord Aelvedaar. She remained as silent once away from his presence, and soon moved off like a shadow to see if she could find the Sith warrior.

...but it was there. After loosening him just a bit, Terrin finally stood. "I think I'll head to the cabin. I'm certain you can keep an eye on things here in the meantime; just don't let him move about too much," he said, looking Erik's way. "Get some rest."

Without further ado then, Terrin headed out, passing through the galley and then back into the cabin, where Galen was intently keeping an eye on the controls. "Kartan is wrapped up and resting as comfortably as possible," he opened with. "He looks like he's got some broken bones, but he's been talking..."

He trailed a moment, sighing. "...and asking about Shayla. I do not want to tell him how we saw her last," he admitted. "But thank the gods you have the piloting skills you do, or he might be still stuck in that mess. I wonder who did that to him?" he queried, frowning a bit. "Someone certainly didn't want him out easily, that's a fact."

Pausing again, he pursed his lips a bit. "Anyway, I think we can get going now. I really don't think, given the state he was left in, we want to run into anyone else in this area right now."

"I can think of a couple possibilities as to how Erik got wrapped up how he had, no pun intended!" I growled as I flipped a couple of switches on the navboard in front of me. The view outside changed slowly then, as the ship slowly rose skyward, leaving this particular little boggy splotch on fhe face of an even boggier planet far below.

"Shayla was hell-bent to get to Sissypoop's body, obviously. I would hazard a guess that dear ol' Jharmeen is behind this. She's the only one I can think of with the power to wrap someone up in greenery that way, unless..."

I turned in my seat to face Terrin. Shot him a look of pure concern.

"Unless it's that Master guy, whatsisname. As I recall, he had that same weird power Jharmeen has, and didn't hesitate to use it, remember?"

I clamped my lips together with a little growl, returned to the controls.

"I think we'd better get Shawn out of his predicament as fast as we can; something tells me all isn't skittles and beans around here, and we need all our peeps with us and out of here pronto!"

I shoved the thruster controls full-force, and the ship shot off like a rocket, returning to the same course as it had been following before we had sidetracked, heading to the rock scarp behind which we had found Shawn's life signature.

Screaming individuals, of all races, a looming Darkness...

...and white spiders.

Slowly, Shawn opened his eyes as a strange chill swept over him...

...and something within that existence of the Force began speaking to him, almost calling to him. Knowing the tales of the planet from the days of Yoda, Shawn began to wonder if there was something about the planet that called to the old Jedi Master as well.

Without really thinking about it, Shawn stood, sensing outward,sensing the continuing call even as he did so...

He trailed, his frown deepening slightly, "I think."

Then he shifted his line of thinking altogether. "I'm sure it will take some time yet before we can get Shawn out of those caves," he considered. "I hope there's nothing like what we ran into back when we lost Panthar nearby him. After all, between that and white spiders...."

If it hadn't been for his goggles, which helped him land amongst the trees, he and the food would be gone.

What would have followed was nipped dramatically in the bud as an indicator began to holler for attention on the control panel in front of me. I about leapt out of my seat; it wasn't just any ol proximity sensor going off but...

"Terrin, I'm getting a distess signal!"

I shot him a look of pure astonishment, for this was absolutely the last thing I expected to find on this backwater world. I blinked, shook myself together, attended to the panel to see if there was a glitch in progress or anything.

Nope. It was genuine, all right.

I felt Terrin come up behind me, sensed his presence as he bent over my shoulder to stare at the information now scrolling across my screen. Not that it really mattered, but I gave the appropriate buttons and switches a final adjustment.

Same result.

"From the looks of it, it's originating some, ahhh... fifteen hundred kilometers from here. That puts it smack in the middle of--"

Now I punched up another screen, scrolled until I found the Dagobah system, entered the coordinates of the distress call, and punched a final button. An image of green and gray and fog and swamp obligingly appeared on the screen.

"More swamp," I finished, now turning to give Terrin a concerned look.

"That looks like prime dianoga territory; Terrin--" I waggled my brows, pressed my lips together.

"If there's someone alive sending out a distress signal, he or she is in an area not promising one an extended future, and you know it.

"What should we do?"

Nodding aft, where the Sith Lord still remained in some kind of weird trance, I then waited, meanwhile entering the coordinates into the nav-computer so there would be no further delay should we decide to investigate this new mystery.

All I had to do was punch enable.

Whomever was out there was perhas closer to danger than the Jedi. And at least, with whomever it was, they could probably do something to help them. While the Dark Lord was still meditating, they would be nothing more than sitting ducks regarding Shawn.

"Shawn is going to have to wait until Lord Aelvedaar is ready anyway," Terrin opened with, frowning. "Besides, I'd love to know what happened to get anyone out here on this particlar hellhole of a planet. Not exactly a vacation spot."

He paused a moment, his frown growing a bit darker before lightening some. "I can't stand the thought of leaving someone calling for help stranded either.

"We should go see what we can do to help."

I hoped it wasn't going to be somebody's funeral...

It didn't take long to arrive at the spot, perhaps half an hour or so. As the proximity sensor began setting off a series of warning bleeps I began circling, banking the ship so all could get an eagle's eye view out the starboard port.

"See anything anybody?" I asked, gripping the controls and keeping her in a tight circle.

He frowned. "No...."

He paused, trailing. "...ahhh...yes...

...I think."

Pursing his lips, Terrin then pointed out towards something, in a grove of trees. "Looks like the trees have been tossled about some...

....but there's really not much."

He was playing a dangerous game he needed to get off this planet and they were the only things who could get him off this planet. He shot the four standard blaster shots that he had been taught while he was in CPA, but he wasn't aiming at the sky he was aiming at the cockpit.

Before I could answer Terrin's question it became a moot point as what was obvious firepower came slamming across our bow. Without even thinking of it I grabbed the controls, shot us into a wildly upwardly spiralling escape vector. Everything and everyone not fastened down immediately found a new place to occupy; even I found it difficult to maintain my seat, and I knew this was coming.

"Someone just shot at us!" I hollered by way of explanation before leveling off at about eight klicks above local terrain. From there I flicked on our hull spotlights, and brought every camera and sensor we had to bear on the relative origin of that unexpected blast.

Okay, I had to breath, I holstered my blaster slowly, but kept my sword out.

"Ummm... Terrin--? There's a, ahh... mudman down there with a sword, in a tree--"

I cut myself short a moment, peered closer.

"Not anymore; he fell," I finished, but before Terrin could reply something came in over our receivers. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well!" I stated, then gave a little snort.

"What do you think of that? But more importantly: what do we now do? I can't land down there; looks like he couldn't either. If we're going to get him out of the fix he's in I'm going to have to get close enough that somebody can be lowered down on a line to assist him. Mmmm..."

I punched more buttons, scrutinized the results of local sensing.

"Seems he's-- that is, he was about fifteen meters from the forest floor; yeesh, I sure hope this guy's like a cat. That's a heckuva fall; I hope he's all right.

"Anyway, we've got at least thirty meters of line aboard; thoughts, m'dear?"

"Not sure how thrilled I am about hanging out on a line for someone who was just trying to scare us," he commented, irritated. "I think this all sounds rather fishy. We probably just ought to pick this guy up for the fact that he's a real hazard," he commente then, chewing his lip a bit. "Maybe I can convince Jasyn to go down on the line with a blaster in hand while I hang on to it," Terrin added sarcastically, standing up.

"This is-- Rescue One," I said, shrugging quickly at Terrin before I went on.

"We're going to be lowering a man down to assist you; what is your condition, please?"

"Better take an emergency medkit with you," I suggested, giving a sideways nod toward the forward viewscreen. Emblazoned upon it for all to see was the most beautiful image of trees, trees and more trees, through which wisps of fog rose gracefully into the air before disappearing under the influence of the Dagoban sun.

"And something to stabilize his broken bones with, too. Hmmm... you might want to take some pain-killers along as well; raising him up isn't going to feel all skittles and beer for him."

With that I turned back to the controls, concentrating on keeping the ship level and in one spot so the boys could lower themselves safely to assist the unknown person we had stumbled upon.

Jasyn scowled as they headed to the hatchway, and Terrin hit the release to extend the hatch.

"I'll let you hang on the the rope here, and I'll go down," he said, sensing Jasyn's distaste for the whole idea, further sensing that perhaps Jasyn's PR skills were lacking for the task of getting some random person out of his funk. Not that Jasyn intended to be that way or really felt as he acted...

...but it was something to consider. Especially since they didn't know who this person was, how he got here, or why he was here. Besides, judging from his handling with Kartan, Jasyn's nursing skills were also obviously lacking...

Terrin unholstered his blaster, strapped on the medkit, and secured the rope around him.

"Allright pal," he said, turning to Jasyn, "I'm counting on you to hold me steady and get me and whomever is down there back up in one piece.

Terrin raised his wrist comm to his lips, and opened a frequency. "Galen, we're set back here. I'm on the way down now."

His leg was bad...really bad. The creatures had grabbed his leg so hard, that when they let go they took skin with them. He pulled himself up with his one good arm, and flicked his goggles on hype-vision. He vision shot up to close view on the person. The rescuer had a medpack, a blaster, and was moving very carefully onto a branch. Daiosk smiled 'these people were good'. He let his limp body slouch back down to the hard surface of the branch.

"I've got some line and a really good pilot," Terrin called down. "Don't get even more hurt when we might be able to get down to you," he added.

Taking a few more steps down the tree he found himself in, Terrin didn't at first see the "moving branch" coming in torwards his leg. The snake-like thing was in the process of wrapping itself around one of his legs before he saw it in time to shoot it off with his blaster.

"How close to the ground do you think you are?" Terrin called out below, taking even more cautious steps as he kept working his way down...

"probably ten meters now, I'll stop if you think you can reach me"

He paused, looking over the tree a bit as he considered the best way to get over to this man without killing one or both of them. He worried about the strength of the branch...

He wasn't able to stop himself from crash landing face first into the tree. At the cost of his nose he had gotten closer to the person who was going to save him. He pulled himself up with his good arm and called over to his savior.

"is this close enough, I don't think I can climb up to you."

Carefully then, Terrin worked his way through the branches of the tree he was now in to then carefully step over to another. With only a couple of more trees between himself and the other man, he then began working his way down, making fairly decent progress despite his slow and measured steps. Terrin was actually beginning to think that perhaps he would get over to the man fairly easily...

...but then the limb below his left foot suddenly gave way, snapping at an unnoticed weak point. Terrin lost his footing, slipping quite a bit before managing to grab onto another branch, thanking all the gods in creation that he had the line back to the ship around him. Still, he managed to scrape both hands rather nicely, and one knee was feeling a little less favorable than he would have liked.

Terrin chose to ignore it, working his way around the tree he was hanging precariously on until he felt his body was fairly secure on it once more. Turning then, he eyed his new distance from the goggled man. Although he hadn't quite made his way down in the manner he would have liked, Terrin was glad to find that he was down to about 3 meters above the man, and now about 5 meters apart.

Terrin raised his wrist comm to his lips, opening a general frequency that both the ship and whomever had a comm device should be able to pick up. "It's getting a bit difficult down here," he opened with, wincing a bit, "But I'm getting close. Hopefully I'll be to him in a few minutes."

Hey" he called "Do you need me to help guide you down"

Daiosk looked down at his legs and determined that they were now moving. Those creatures were coming up from where he had been moments ago.

He looked down and saw the creatures moving up in a slow creeping manner. They had him. He knew it and worse the knew it. He pulled out his blaster and fired down into the pit.

The creatures backed up for a moment, then continued. They were going to get him.

He looked up at the person making their way down."uh, we're going to need to hurry this up." He swallowed his last numb-pill, and used his good arm to continue another climb.
"Their coming up and blaster fire won't hold them off any longer." He warned the rescuer.

After a couple of long lift ups and crossovers he now could see the creatures moving more quickly after their escaping prey: HIM.

"Gotcha," I finally sent out as a lull in the wind gave me the opportunity to release a control long enough to flip the comm from receive to send.

"But hurry it up, will ya? It isn't any walk in the park up here, ya know..."

With that I hurriedly flipped the come back to receive and then returned to gripping the controls firmly with both hands once again. None too soon; another freshening breeze sent the ship sailing a few meters off to one side once again. A curse erupted from me as I hastened to compensate, wondering all the while what havoc that errant little puff of wind had wrought on the line Terrin was dangling upon. When she had steadied I flipped the comm open once again.

"Oops, sorry about that, flyboy," I sent in apology. "You okay?"

"Kriffing hell!" Terrin blurted as tree limbs cut and scraped his face and arms fairly nicely. Thank goodness he was wearing the Sith flightsuit, however. That saved him from any major injuries to his legs. Gods knew what would have happened if he'd been in one of those damned Sith robes...

Somehow still able to think "on his feet" (as the expression goes, of course), Terrin did manage to look back in the direction he was sailing, gaining him not only another good set of scratches on the face but also a reasonable glimpse of his target. He judged, reached out, and grabbed the nearest limb near the injured man he could manage. When the swinging finally stopped and he gained his bearings and looked down, the injured man was not not more than half a meter below him. Terrin took a few more carefully placed steps down, keenly aware of the crawling things that were nearing, reached out a hand...

...and made contact with the injured man. He flipped on his wrist comm. "Given some scrapes and scratches, yes. At any rate, I'm down to our guy, and getting a more secure grip on him. And if you all could figure out some way to pull the both of us up and out of here quickly...

...that would be nice, because the ahhh... local serptine wildlife is coming in for a visit here..."

Terrin sent off the message and took another couple of steps down now even with the injured man. Immediately he knew the guy probably had a broken arm. He quickly reached into his medkit and pulled out a split. "Not the best of conditions to meet under," he opened with, "But I hope we have time for more formal introductions later. At any rate, maybe this will help your pain some before you get yanked up on this line," he said, indicating the split. "And I have pain meds."

I'll attend to those when he's safely up again, I thought in non sequiteur before finally coming up with a thought.

"Hey guys," I hollered over my shoulder, aiming somewhere towards the aft of the ship.

"Do you think you can haul up the line Terrin and the new guy are attached to? Once they're ready to get the kriffin hell outta the trees they're more than likely stuck in..."

At length deciding that he'd created as best of a sling as he could, Terrin offered the man some more pain medication, opening the comm as he did so. "Galen, we're as ready as ever. And that local wildlife..."

With that I hollered over my shoulder again.

"Start hauling in the line, now!" I said before turning the full force of my concentration back to keeping the ship steady. I hoped everyone understood that I couldn't simply fly up and out with them; to rise straight up would only fry them to a crisp, and to take off at an angle in order to avoid that, well...

There were lots and lots of trees on Dagobah, sure as there's treasure on Roon!

So I kept her side-to-side motions as minute as possible, and trusted that the muscle of the guys would get Terrin and the newcomer safely aboard.

Daiosk looked up to see if they could make it in time. The worm creatures had come even closer, and they didn't look like anything was going to stop them.

He reached his good hand up and turned his goggles on. His vision got alot better, and he looked at the worms. They were coming hard, but not faster. Daiosk watched them as they went from a full crawl, to a slow creep, then eventually stop.

Why had they stopped? He was about to ask the man, but then the worms started to move again, but then stopped.

...and it simply wasn't important for him to know just who was there. What was important was getting that line moving up, carefully, but quickly. So, setting his mind to the task, not looking completely back, Jasyn hollered over his shoulder:

"We've gotta get this thing moving steady, together! Pull!"

Then, throwing every ounce of energy he had into it, every bit of muscle he could muster, Jasyn began to pull, counting on his strength, in combination with whomever might be helping out, to be enough.

He reached for them, grabbed onto them with his free hand, while still hanging onto his injured charge, moving as carefully as he could to help the man from hitting any of the branches, shifting himself as well as the man to work their two bodies around the impeding branches.

They made it fairly unscathed through the first set of branches, but Terrin knew this wasn't going to be easy, and that they weren't going to make it all the way back up without a few additional injuries for each of them. So he planned to make certain that he took the brunt of any incoming injuries while he worked his new charge up, as they continued to be pulled fiercely by the line. The next set of branches were already incoming, and Terrin could feel the pull of the line back to his right as well. Again he began working around whatever he could, moving Daiosk as best as he could from getting entangled in any branches and tree limbs, taking a few blows as he did, adrenaline keeping him going despite new pains of his own.

"Hang tight," Terrin finally managed to comment to the man, his teeth clenched. "Whtever those worms are doing done there, we aren't going to be around to find out."

Then he set himself to work once more. No matter how far they had risen in the past few minutes, Terrin knew one thing for absolute certain:

I frowned, chewed my cheek as I thought.

I guess I should have let well enough alone, for suddenly a gust of wind came flying from the canopy, sending the ship sharply to the port side.

"Oh, kriffing hell!" I cried as my hands shot to the controls in a vain attempt to steady the ship before she moved too much. Another curse from the aft made me wince--

Oh, sheesh. That didn't sound good...

--and work all the faster to bringing the ship to her somewhat canted "even keel." I wanted nothing more than to contact Terrin to make sure he was all right, but truth be known I wasn't too keen on the idea of letting my hands from the controls even the short time it would take to do so.

The enivitable happened as a result: He and Diaosk when slamming into a tree: the latter head first. For what seemed like an eternal moment, all Terrin saw were stars...

...and all he felt was a definite resounding pain in his side. Clenching his jaw harder, Terrin reached out for the nearest and strongest tree branch he could find and steadied the both of them even through the pain in his side. He spared a moment to glance at Diaosk, and realized with a start that he was suddenly laying limp, totally out of the loop and possibly unconscious.

That only motivated him to move with more effort, regardless of any pains he might be having. Looking upward, Terrin could begin to make out the shape of the ship above them.

He had to get this guy up there, and soon.

"Dammit!" he blurted, holding tightly, his muscles already aching, sweat literally dripping as they all dealt with not only the weight of two grown men but also the interruption of trees in the path as they pulled the two up to the ship.

His teeth clinched, Jasyn grunted out another curse, and pulled harder. "Keeping pulling!" he called out behind him fiercely, giving it all he had, never letting go, never intending to.

After a good fifteen or twenty minutes more of constant strain and pulling, Jasyn could finally see the two men fairly plainly just below them. He gritted his teeth more, and pulled even harder.

Now, however, she found a means to be truly useful. "I'm on it," she called over her shoulder as she hurried to the ship's small but adequate medical niche. There she found a bewildering array of medicines and other supplies; not really knowing what would be the best she grabbed some bandages and something bearing directions for use in alleviating pain. Before returning to Jasyn she quickly prepared the sole medical cot, in case someone needed to be laid there. Finally, en route out the door, she spied a type of flexible stretcher; grabbing it as best she could she dragged it along and dropped it close to but out of the way of the men.

He was sure he now had brain damage.

The wind was still going strong, and he had no way of trying to grab on to something. He felt helpless depending on someone else to carry him.

But right now he had all the admiration in the world for the man that was helping him. He couldn't really move, he didn't have alot of space to maneuver around. He looked at the man.

"I'm really sorry about putting you through all of this" Daiosk said as they still swung.

He looked up to the things that were pulling them up. They were probably giving alot of heart and muscle into pulling them up against the wind.

Daiosk tried his best not to move, it would only make pulling them up harder.

The man pulled them to a branch, through pain Daiosk could see, and leveled them. Daiosk could feel the energy draining out of his body.

He began to lean to the side, almost feeling as if he wanted to die, but he used his good arm to bring himself back into the right position. He was losing alot of blood, but he had to hang on...

"Hey, Boss, give the new guy a boost in this direction, I'm gonna try and get a hold on him as carefully as possible."

Working as cautiously as he could then in the position he was in, taking whatever help he could get from an obviously worn-down Terrin, Jasyn called back. "Hey, keep hanging on, I'm gonna let go and help pull our injured man in," he said, carefully releasing the line and getting up off the bulkhead of the ship, stepping out even more cautiously as Terrin worked his charge over towards the ship. Jasyn cringed at the injures on the man, trying his best to avoid hurting him any more than he already was, probably not having the greatest success. Still, after about ten or fifteen minutes of careful back and forth, Jasyn finally had a secure enough hold on the man to pull him into the ship and lay him gently on the flexible stretcher Darra had found before returning to the hatch to help Terrin the rest of the way back into the ship.

When he was satisfied tha this was accomplished, Jasyn heaved a sigh of relief, and closed the hatch before turning towards the cabin of the ship.

I heaved a sigh; "Gotcha!" I called out as I quickly pulled the ship up and away from the rippling green sea of leaves she had been hovering over for far too long. She seemed thankful too, to finally spread her figurative wings and gain the freedom of the skies.

I couldn't help but smile a little as I returned to our previous course.

One-- no, two down; one more to go...

Nodding to herself she snatched it up, and returned to where the others were in the process of sorting themselves out.

"Here, father; you look as if you could use this," she said softly as she dropped to her knees beside him to hold out the wine. Then she turned to the newcomers, who was laying in jaw-clenched pain on the deck, waiting to be transported to the medbay.

"These will help while we move him; looks like they are fast-acting," eh then stated, his green eyes intense and carefully trained on the wounded man.

Then, turning only slightly, Matt turned and quickly assessed Terri's injuries as well. He was fairly covered with scrapes and scratches and seemed to be in some pain, so Matt gave him a pain pill as well.

"We're going to get this guy to the medbay, Terrin. Got anything major hurting?"

Terrin shook his head to this, waving off any concern for himself and indicating the other man as if to indicate that his needs were, at the moment, much more important.

The man not establshed as Terrin had to be a strong man. He had risked his life to save a complete stranger. He had almost as many scratchs as Daiosk did.

Daiosk tried to talk but as his pains started to fade away he felt sleepy.

As he started to fade he said in a weakened voice "Thank You Terri...n"

He felt awake but wasn't able to talk. He let the men handle his body, they were trying to help him. He rested his head back but managed to look at his arm.

I hope they have a good doctor.

She raised the bottle a little bit, looked down upon it, let it drop with a muffled thud to the deck. Then she returned to the door behind which Lord Aelvedaar remained in mysterious communion, and seating herself leaned back against it. She pulled her knees up and rested her cheek upon them.

These humans, she surprised herself by thinking.

"I think this guy is going to need more than a good rest," he said then, nodding towards Diaosk, "Some of these breaks look really bad."

He trailed a bit at that, frowning, suddenly realizing that he was exhausted. "Kartan is in the one sleeping area on the ship. I think I'm just going to head back towards where everyone else is...

...and find a place to sit and get some rest."

He quieted at that, once more waving off any concern for himself. "I'll live until we are more certain of his status," he said, once more indicating Diaosk. "Let me know if he gets any better or worse."

Falling silent with that, Terrin turned and began heading towards the front of the ship where the others were, taking a seat in a small nook and leaning heavily against the bulkhead. Nearby Lord Aelvedaar remained in meditation behind a closed door...

...and on their side fo the door Darra sat, knees to her chest, looking very distant and very forlorn. Terrin frowned at this, and a sudden realization slammed into him.

For someone of her apparent physical age, she really hasn't had these sorts of experiences in her life. Ever.

"Things aren't always this way," he then spoke up softly in her direction, not really aware of what was bothering her. "You've been a big help."

Then he closed his eyes for at least a few moments...

She blinked, swallowed to see the straits he was in. Rising to her feet, she whispered to where he was sitting and joined him, not letting her body's weight come in contact with him but just brushing against him. A tentative smile crossed her features.

"Thank you," she said softly then closed her eyes, unaware that something was now coming into play between them, an innate ability she had yet to learn to consciously control. Strength began flowing into her adoptive father's body, and his scrapes and bruises began to heal.

But it felt good.

Kriffing hell, he then thought to himself, I suddenly feel worlds better...

Cracking an eye open at this realization, Terrin initially didn't notice anything different about himself. Not until he realized that scratches and brusies that had been there only moments before were suddenly fading, rapidly.

His blue eyes opened and widened as reality dawned on him.

"Don't worry, my child," Graysith had purred, her eyes warm with promise.

"The day shall come when you will discover using that within you to be as natural as taking a breath; when this day comes, so shall come the salvation of your family."

She had wondered at the time exactly what the Dark Lady had meant by those somewhat cryptic words; now, remembering, it only brought back how frustrated she had been at the time--

Which only made her grow a bit frustrated now, for although she couldn't really tell for a fact, she somehow knew that the Thing within her had abruptly left, to creep back into hiding once more.

She frowned, knowing now that she was no longer healing her adoptive father, even though she hadn't a clue how she had to begin with. Blinking a little, she bowed her head.

"I-- I don't know how I did that," she murmured to the floor. "But now it's gone."

Raising her head, she tilted her head, giving him a quick if somewhat naive appraisal.

...and don't be surprised if you have sudden company. If Jasyn hears anything about Sith and drink in the same sentence, he'll be eager to join in partaking."
"Did someone say Sith drink?" came a query via a familiar voice, almost on cue.

Terrin couldn't help but smile slightly at that. Turning more serious then, Terrin continued with, "As for your abilities...

...I'm certain the control will come in time, though I honestly have little understanding of the hows."

He paused, pursing his lips. "Seems you come upon it when you aren't even really thinking about it though."

"Here," she began, then paused in whatever she had been going to say. Terrin's final words came floating back to her, causing a slight frown to wrinkle her forehead.

"I do not believe the Sith can help me with what is inside me," she said abruptly. "Only mother; for I well recall her explaining that what I bear is something of which most of my people have no knowledge. Mother has it too, and commands it well; I suppose she would be the only one to teach--"

All Galen had EVER wanted was to be with her daughter, and she had literally been stolen from her, multiple times. And in horrid ways.

With some effort, Terrin jerked himself from these thoughts, accepting the bottle Darra had offered and taking a sip. "It's allright," he opened with, trying to reassure. "But I hate that you were deceived like that," he admitted. "We looked for you for so long, and you were taken from Galen--your mother--so many times..."

He trailed for a few moments, memories playing across his mind's eye. Memories of the Sullustan springs, of Galen's labor on the ZZ'Shq, of their final reunion with Darra as an infant after Actar had nearly killed Galen. And finally of their most recent reunion, after once more searching for her. "But you are correct. Your aunt holds significant control of that which is within you--it's called the All. A few of the Sith--Lord Aelvedaar and Aeylmaar-- have it as well.

But there are those who have these abilities who use them for dark purposes too."

He grew a bit distant once more, but ccontinued to speak. "I don't know if your aunt told you that she was your Mother for your protection, or for some other reason. But I don't understand it..."

"I know now that she's not my mother," she said almost in a whisper. "I'm sorry for what I said. But--"

Now she raised her face, fixed wide, innocent eyes on Terrin.

"If she isn't my mother, how did I come to be with her? She never did anything but love me, try to teach me things; why would she take me from you?

"Well, the Sith took you from us a couple of times, but not Graysith specifically," he admitted. "But I don't know who took you from your Mother the last time. I was de--"

"Well, I hope whatever hard feelings that might exist between my aunt and my mother and you will finally die, for I would like us to all be family," she finally said, raising a naive face to Terrin once again.

"I would like that; there weren't many like ourselves on K'eel Doba, just my aunt and my sister-- only I suppose now that she's not my sister, either? ShaRhylla?"

She paused again, but before Terrin could reply she continued on.

"Anyway, I would like us to all be family. I want Aunt Graysith to keep teaching me how to use this mysterious All that I seem to have; it's so frustrating to know I have some kind of power that could have been beneficial to us so many times, and I couldn't use so much as a dropful of it anytime when it was so direly needed."

She frowned.

"I don't like that; I want to help people," she said at last, staring Terrin straight in the eye once again.

To have a family.

"We will have family," Terrin responded, softly but with conviction. "And as for your abilities...

...we will work on making certain you continue learning how to use them whenever we make it away from this place," Terrin said. "I honestly don't know how things will be with your Aunt; some things have happened and last we saw her she was very...

...distant with us, and quickly departed. And your cousin ShaRhylla..."

Then she utterly dismissed the whispering ghosts that strove to press in upon her, and straightened her back, nodding once as if to verify something with herself.

"ShaRhylla always was a little bit gruff with me." This was the closest she could come to admitting that the young halfling might possibly, at some future date, do harm to her or those she was growing to love. She pursed her lips briefly, then relaxed.

"I think I'll go to the medical bay, and inquire if anyone needs any help there. I enjoyed talking with you...

"Father."

With that she sent Terrin a shy little smile. Then before he knew it, she was gone.

...and strangely enough, the saber fizzled out, and then disappeared from her hand entirely. The disdainful look she held for the lightsaber then shifted to him. She stretched out her hand, fingers extended, and something blasted forth from her, and impacted him....

"Shayla, no...!" he screamed out, intiially oblivious to the fact that the words he was dreaming about had also exploded from his lips. His brown eyes flew open as pain shot through his person, both mental and physical. He groaned, agonizing.

Darra's eyes widened in sympathy and horror and she flew to him, reaching out and grasping up one of those flailing hands to draw it to her cheek.

"Shush now, you are safe," she murmured, closing her eyes and waiting for the strange sensation to present itself that preceded the onset of her innate abilities when she had healed her adoptive father.

Nothing.

Her eyes popped open, concern flooding them. Frowning slightly, she strove to quiet herself, so as to give that unknown power within her free rein to erupt and heal this man as well.

Again, nothing.

Now tears came to her eyes, and she grasped his hand more tightly.

"I-- I don't know what to do," she choked in a soft whisper.

"Please, please calm yourself; you are safe and we are trying to make you better. But you won't get better if you keep tossing about so."

She drew quiet then, Erik's hand still held to her cheek, doing all she could physically do at the moment to assuage his unknown terrors that he might lie still once more, and thus begin to heal, or at the very least cease in aggravating whatever internal injuries he might have.

"Shayla...?" he whispered at first, not knowing just who was with him when the instinctive word came from his lips. Then, as his sight finally drew outward instead of the inward, Darra's concern-filled blue eyes sparked recognition. "JhinDarra?" he queried. "I had a had a vision...about..."

He trailed, his brown eyes growing somewhat vague. "...about her."

"We're aboard our ship, on Dagobah. We rescued you from a-- something; my father will explain it to you. But we have lost another of our rescue party, and are now waiting for Lord Aelvedaar to emerge from meditation that we might rescue him as well."

"Sounds like you're in some pain," he observed non-astutely. "Hopefully things will get better for you if and when we ever get off this kriffing swamp-rock," he then growled.

He quieted then, at a loss for a moment as he gazed at his other hand, which held a half-empty bottle of Sith wine. "Ummm...

...guess you'll need something to get this down?" he queried, cocking a brow at first Kartan and then JhinDarra, truthfully at a loss as to how to deliver a drink to a man who was lying down and fairly incapacitated. "Guess we should get a glass or something."

He paused, frowning. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good with these things. I'm usually the patient watchdog, and not the deliverer of services..."

True, so is Father... but he wasn't suffering from internal injuries...

Still shaking her head Darra moved to a small dispenser, where she poured a glass of fresh water which she took back to Erik.

"Here," she said as she held it out to him. "Take the pain reliever with this; that is, I assume that is a pain reliever?"

She smiled at Jasyn.

"Thank you for bringing him this," she said softly, nodding slightly toward Erik.

"I trust in the judgment of your companion; he must be correct, as no one seems to be ill after taking these."

Giving Jasyn a little nod, she turned back to Erik. It was evident that the pill, whatever in fact it was, was taking effect; he had quieted enormously, and his eyes, although a touch glassy by now, at least were no longer filled with the sparkling over-brightness that pain oftentimes can bring.

"Is there anything else you would like that I can fetch for you?" she inquired as she moved up to stand close beside him. Unthinking, she reached out now and straightened the tangled covers, smoothing them over his lithe form and tucking back the top edge.

...most...of what happened," he then said. Though glassy, his eyes still radiated a discernable amount of emotional pain with his next words. "Shayla...left me here...

...to die. Something has happened...

...to her."

"Just rest now, and don't worry," she finally replied to Erik, although it was toward Jasyn that her gaze was directed.

"I'm sure everything that happened was for a reason, and things will turn out all right..."

A gentle kind of mumble was the only reply; a quick glance downward verified the suspicion that Erik was soon to be commended into the Realms of Oblivion. She let a small smile grace her face and finished moving quietly away, until she was perhaps one and a half meters from him. She then let the look she was transfixing Jasyn with segue into one of utter perplexity.

He paused, pursing his lips. "She, on the other hand, has been gone for some time as well. In the past Shayla was kidnapped by Graysith, and we were all assisting him to look for her while we were doing some searching of our own.

She sighed.

"Well, I hope things turn out ok for him," she said, keeping her voice low so as not to disturb Erik.

"He apparently has been through a lot, and even though I do not know him, no one deserves to be filled with pain, whatever the reason."

She smiled again and moved past Jasyn, heading for the door.

"Words such as you have now spoken," she said solemnly, "from what I have learned from my teachers, fall into the realm of speculation. As such, they do no good other than to bring uncaused worry and fret to one.

"Best it is to be patient, and to see what shall be brought to one, and then prepare one's path with such as that as foundation."

She blinked, the look she now gave the man growing into one uncharacteristically wise; then with another blink she resumed her former, quiet demeanor.

"Such have I been taught by my Teachers," she ended, before turning back to the door and exiting the tiny medical unit. Once in the corridor without she paused, as if reflecting on what her next course of action should be.

"I'm afraid I am something of a fifth wheel here," she said softly as the door whooshed closed in her wake.

"I can go back to where Lord Aelvedaar is, and alert everyone when he arouses from his meditation. For we must wait for him; not being Sith proper or having Sith magick within me, and even though K'eel Doba's warriors are not as steeped in it as are those on Khar Delba, from what I have been told, I do know that one should never disrupt one in a meditative state.

"Far more is coming to their bodies at that time than mere rest from exertions."

She blinked at Jasyn who, bottle in hand, had trailed her from the medical bay.

"Or so I have been told by those who taught me in the Great Temple," she finished.

And for the life of him not being able to figure out a damn thing to do to either. Somewhat absently, he half-glanced at the bottle still poised in his hand...

...and suddenly scowled at it. "I hate long waits," he then growled softly, still unmoving. "And I hate not being able to do anything to change them," he admitted. "I suppose I should be used to it by now, but..."

He trailed, his scowl deepening. "I'm not."

Finally taking a small swig of the contents of the bottle, Jasyn took a seat, bottle in hand but lowered, the look in his eye growing almost introspective.

"Perhaps when we are finished here, Lord Aelvedaar could be prevailed upon to teach you some of the lessons such as I have learned in the Temple," she suggested genuinely.

"It is good to learn of such things as I have spoken, for in being patient and alert one keeps one's wits about him, and therefore stands a greater chance of acting correctly when a situation to do so presents itself."

Long story short, we were back to where we had been diverted from in less time than it takes to tell of it... and still nothing but proverbial cricket noises from our resident Sith sorcerer.

Gads, I grumbled darkly to myself as I carefully banked our little ship, now zooming along the face of the scarp for several tens of kilometers.

We're gonna run out of fuel if he doesn't show his big red hiney pretty soon!

I hadn't a clue what the guy was doing so long; for all I knew he was knitting mittens to his Aunt Petunia. But from what I had heard from the few louder discussions that wafted my way from aft, Darra was pretty adamant about anyone bothering him. I sighed to myself as I banked again, circling tightly around to head back alongside the scarp but now in the opposite direction.

Fact is, this was getting not only tiresome, but as boring as all get out. I decided on the fly to do something about it; Fates only knew when I'd had a break, or even a nibble of anything to eat, the fact of which was suddenly brought home to my by a grumble louder than my thoughts emanating from deep inside me.

That's it. I'm landing this baby!

Nodding to myself, I now banked upward and outward, then circled back in a broad spiral, heading for the top of the huge rock scarp. After several moments of this I finally came up over the lip, and flipped on the hull cams.

To my great relief, a fairly flat landscape greeted my eyes, one looking somewhat on the tundra-ish side.

Ok, more "ish" than tundra, it's Dagobah after all... but at least there was a place to park!

Without bothering to announce my intentions to the others I feathered the ship downward, and soon felt the bone-deep whummp! as she settled on her landing skids. Powering down a bit, I locked up the controls and rose creakily from my seat.

"Hey!" I announced as I moved aft, stretching out the kinks as I went.

"We're on top of the mesa to conserve fuel. Anything to eat on board this buggy?"

I do not know, I cannot know, but somehow I sense through the crying of the All that She is a Nexus, she and the Stargazer. Before their twinned Promise of Change all else pales; I clear my throat, causing Galen to come to a halt. The beginning smile on her face disappears as I speak.

"I cannot stay; there is danger, danger you cannot comprehend. I cannot comprehend it; I do not know it. I only know it is, and my magicks must be directed toward a better use than allowing humans to become used to having them solve what small problems they might have here and there."

I pause, cursing myself for the harshness in my voice, for the eager look on her face is replaced by a totally crestfallen one. But I speak the truth; the Magicks of my kind are not to be bandied about lightly, especially when there is a much Greater Evil to which they must be lent.

"I must go," I state; then before she can open her mouth to reply I reach out, rip open a Portal through the All, and return to my Temple and my Son, that together we might work to determine exactly the threat I have so horribly felt to be rising.

((OOC: Lord Aelvedaar returns to Silence of the Lambs in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

Had been-- for suddenly I was alone in the companionway, my query echoing loudly off the bulkhead, my fingers closing upon thin air. I stood there a moment, blinking in something bordering upon shock for the suddenness of the sorcerer's act, trying to force away the hard little stone now beginning to grow in the pit of my stomach.

Suddenly I wasn't in the least bit hungry.

...and came to a halt behind her. She was staring at the dead air in front of her as though she had just seen a ghost.

Or perhaps something worse.

I turned eyes almost as blank upon Terrin, then focused with a self-reproving shake of my head.

"He's gone; I mean, Lord Aelvedaar. He came out of his hidey-hole, said something about his magicks being needed elsewhere, something about a danger too great to comprehend or something. Then he opened up one of those doorways like he does, and just--"

I waved a hand about in vague description.

Pausing at that, Terrin's look turned a bit vague, his mind trying to process the newest in their never-ending curses. At least they had found Kartan on their own, before he became Degobahan dinner for some creature. He wasn' so sure if it would be the same for...

"Hey wait a minute," he then spoke up suddenly. "I know he's injured, but I wonder...

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "That's all Jedi stuff, and I don't know diddly-squat about what they're capable of. It's all mumbo-jumbo to me."

Deep down inside myself something wriggled a bit at that, as if protesting, but I ignored it and proceeded on.

"Well, we knew it wasn't going to be easy anyway," I commented as I continued heading toward the galley.

"We still have a plan of sorts, and ya know? If for some reason Erik can't communicate with Shawn well enough that we can guide him out, well... we still have the schematics of that cave system. I mean, it's not like there's only one way out; there's got to be more than a single entry point! It's like trying to unlock a door, all we have to do is find the right key."

By this time we had reached the entrance to the little galley. I nodded toward it, my stomach rumbling once more in anticipation.

"I'm going to catch a bite to eat; why don't you go feel out Erik, and see just how much Force-whoosis he's got. Maybe your idea will work, maybe not. Personally, like I said, I have no idea; I'm not certain of what jedi are capable of, but I've traveled around this ol' galaxy a bit, you know, and seriously I've never heard of them being able to do much more than communicate with each other over distance by any other means than through simple emotions."

With that I ducked into the galley, and was soon rummaging about for something to appease my cranky stomach, which was beginning to roil and grumble at a rising rate.

(((OCC: Wow this thread is LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG! I think it's time for a new one! Continue on in our saga and see if Shawn ever gets out of the caves in Out of the Unknown in this same forum, thanks!