Terrin headed off to the medbay after Galen departed into the galley and quickly found Kartan, who was still floating between wakefulness and sleep, no doubt from the last bit of meds he had taken for pain. Feeling it wise not to draw the conversation out for too long, Terrin quickly filled Kartan in on his thoughts regarding Force communication with Shawn in order to help him out of the caves. "I don't really know alot about what a Jedi's capabilities are in this area," he then admitted, "But as Galen says, you above all of us would know that. So what do you think of this?"

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...and it would be simpler."

He shook his head a bit then. "It's too bad we can't simply transfer the map to him."

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...and keep getting some rest. We'll keep you updated on what's going on."

Without any further word than that, Terrin left Erik in the medbay and returned to the galley where Galen was finding some food for herself.

"Well," he opened with, "Kartan says he could link up with Shawn, but admits that this wouldn't be any more helpful than reading our schematic map over a commlink to him. I vote for giving those schematics a good looking into, as you suggested...

...or else this could take simply forever. Even with a guide on the other side reading the map to Shawn, the way out we have determined would still be somewhat a hunt and peck venture for Shawn, who won't actually see the map for himself."

Pursing his lips, Terrin took a seat at the galley table, rubbing his chin a bit. "Kartan said it was too bad we couldn't somehow get the readout of the schematics map to Shawn." He shrugged. "I don't see any way that would be possible...

...although we do have a computerized readout on the cave schematics, and Shawn does have a commlink."

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"I haven't a clue how to do what you are implying, Flyboy," I remarked, stabbing at another piece of food with my fork.

"That's all in the realms of computers and stuff; I'm just a simple pilot, after all. Besides, the schematics are visual data files and the commlink reads out audio ones; I have no idea whatsoever how to turn one kind into another, and besides...

"How could Shawn read a map by how it sounds? And besides, how can we even comm him to begin with? The only reason we could before was because Panthar and I were down in the system with more of a direct line for the waves to carry. Remember how the rock prevented the ship from contacting him?"

I shoved the food into my mouth and chewed, trying to think of something useful I could contribute. But try as I might, I seemed to keep coming to the same dead end.

[ 07-22-2007 10:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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He trailed then, frowning as an idea struck. "Hey, how good was your reception of Shawn down in that hole? I mean, if the rock is preventing us from comming Shawn from the ship, then there must have been less rock between you and Shawn in that hole, like you said. What if there is another doorway out of Shawn's location through that hole Panthar stumbled into after all?"

Standing then, Terrin motioned towards the cabin of the ship. "I'm gonna go get a print-out of those schematics," he then explained, "And get Jasyn and Matt and anyone else willing to get their heads in on this. There simply has to be a solution that we've missed...

...and some way to contact Shawn."

Saying nothing further, Terrin then headed towards the cabin for what he sought, asking for anyone available to head to the galley and help them brainstorm as he did so.

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"Allright," Terrin opened with, taking a seat himself and putting the datapadd on the table. "We have a few complications, to say the least, now that Lord Aelvedaar is out of the picture. First and foremost, we're probably going to need a way to communicate with Shawn. From where we are, unless we drill a hole or something into the rock that is blocking us from sending him comms, that doesn't see likely.

"Galen suggested looking for some more entry points that are perhaps closer to Shawn's location, ones that we could get to and essentially meet him halfway. Getting a better entry point might also clear up our communications problem as well. Now I'm not too knowledgeable about geology and geography and reading on these schematics, so any input anyone could give would be very helpful."

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Again.

That's what you get for trusting peoples you don't really know! a shoulder devil popped up and snorted. And aside from that being yet another irritating thing, the devil had a point.

A good one.

"Hey, Boss," Jasyn said, sitting forward. "Maybe we are approaching this the wrong way. I mean, we're centered on what we do have here, which is all well and good...

...but what if we don't have all the resources here we need to get Shawn out, and safely? What would we do then?"

He fell silent then, leaving the question hanging as if he expected at least one or more people could come up with the answer on their own.

"We are in the Outer Rim, and we know that the Hornett generally stays in this area of the galaxy as well," he pointed out. "The Hornett has bigger guns, better technology, and far more people and minds than we have to contend with here. Why not contact them and see where they are...

...and if they can help us. She is your ship, after all."

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"Yeah," I agreed, swallowing. "This ship doesn't have the biggest or newest of equipment aboard her; we're lucky to have sensed out the cave system at all, as a matter of fact."

I lifted the pink thing to my lips, eyed it speculatively, then tossed it on my plate. After taking a sip of the Rygellian sparkling water I had found -- ugh -- I pressed on.

"Hornett is big, bold and sassy, and if nothing else would have the simple manpower to investigate that system. I mean, good gravy, there's simply got to be more entrances, more passageways... in fact--"

I leaned over and eyed the datapadd Terrin was holding. Nodding, I jabbed a finger out.

"Look, here's a line bisecting the horizontal line of the surface... and here's another, and there another!" I smiled, pointing to the three tiny squiggles that managed to stand out amidst the womprat's nest of scrawls and lines representing the system itself.

"Now, I can't make hide nor hair of what else those three lines attach too, let alone if they would eventually lead to where Shawn is. The schematic is just too scrambled; there's overlay on top of overlay, not the best equipment on this ship, remember."

I paused, cocking my head to one side as I thought further.

"But if we get enough men in there, with commlinks and explosives or hand-drills or something, maybe we'd be able to at least get close enough to Shawn before he becomes old and gray, and cut him the hell outta there!

"Otherwise it's start hunting for a particular little nightbat..."

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Then he frowned a bit, "There is the ahhh...

... small issue that everyone on the Hornett and throughout Eagle Enterprises thinks I'm dead. I'm going to have to produce some pretty substantial evidence that I am who I say I am, and even with the code clearances I have...

...which I doubt anyone else has changed, that could be difficult. EE employees are blessedly suspicious, after all, and short of an EE bigwig, it's going to take the owner of that ship to move her."

He paused, eyeing Galen. "You are her sole inheritress, you know."

[ 07-25-2007 04:00 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Honest though, I think this is our best option; any further thought from anyone?"

I fell silent, waiting for all to input what they might have to say before heading back to the controls in order to take us away from this cursed planet.

"Meanwhile, if Kartan could somehow contact Shawn, or maybe if we went back to where we could communicate with him, I think it would be a good idea to let him in on what's going on, too. And who knows?

"Maybe he might think of something we're overlooking."

[ 07-25-2007 04:08 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"I think this is the best move too," he agreed. "As for communication..."

He trailed, pondering, "We could never get any contact with Petrolu from above, not even while you could down below," he told Galen. "Short of doing something totally insane, maybe we could move to one of those other entrances to get a signal connected to him."

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"I dunno," I said doubtfully, shaking my head a little.

"I mean, like I said I know there are three places where openings bisect the top of this mesa. However, we're looking at the system from a side view; to find the entrances we'd have to scout around the topside. Cave entrances aren't always bedecked with neon signs and automatic doors; in fact, most of the caves that Dad stumbled upon in his search for the ancient Sith he did so by exactly that: he stumbled upon them. Literally.

"That's a pretty big mesa we're sitting on top of; it's gonna take a lot of stumbling to find those openings, which could be awfully tiny ya know. However, we do know where we were, as well as we know for a fact that we could contact Shawn from there.

"I say return to that point, I crawl back down into the hole, initiate contact with Shawn, and let him know what's happening. Then you guys haul me back up, and we skedaddle back to Hornett. Once we get back here, with what she's got on her we'll be able to find those entrances much easier and faster than I ever could using the stuff this ancient crate has got."

[ 07-25-2007 04:37 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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...and we can pray to the Fates that she's not too far away. After that we can get moving back to where we were, shoot a comm off to Shawn to let him know what's going on and get his thoughts and..."

Terrin stopped midsentence, his frown turning concerned. "..wait, wasn't there some sort of... Thing down in that hole...?"

[ 07-25-2007 04:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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But no matter.

"Well, we'll just have to chance that they won't be nearby; it shouldn't take me long to send off a quick message to Shawn. I'm sure he's not going to drag his feet about a reply, either, and should those nasty canastas try anything funny, well...

"This time I'm gonna bring the big guns with me!"

I nodded emphatically, knowing the boys had uncovered a storage locker full of weaponry when they had been rummaging around this ship, way back when I was still down that hole with Panthar Dantares.

"I'm betting there's a blaster rifle around-abouts, am I right?"

I cast a solid look around the table, waggling my brows as I did so.

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And with that, he was off, and Terrin turned to Galen. "Allright, let's shoot a transmission off to the Hornett and mark her as urgent for the Captain. If Aaron doesn't pick it up, then his second Taylor Garrison should, pretty quickly. Besides, I have little doubt that anyone on the Hornett will dismiss a transmission from Degobah, of all places."

He smiled a bit at that. "Have fun explaining that to them."

With that, Terrin got to his feet. "When you're done here, we'll shoot off that transmission then get moving," he said to Galen. "Let's just hope the Hornett isn't too far away."

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"I'm with you, Flyboy; now if someone would just be so kind as to deal with that-"

I waved in the general direction of my plate, for I was already in the doorway and heading forward.

If there's anything I hate worse than helmet-hair, it's doing dishes!

Terrin slowed a step or two just long enough for me to catch up, and we entered the little bridge of the ship side-by-side.

"Ok, here we go," I said, quickly bringing up communications and keying in a message to Hornett:

"Hornett, this is Galen Danner aboard-- er--"

I paused, embarrassed.

"Terrin, what in the name of all the treasure on Roon did I christen this silly ship?" I burst out, annoyed to have forgotten this slight triviality.

Ahh well--

I shook my head, and continued.

"Galen Danner calling Hornett, Galen Danner calling Hornett; we are departing from Dagobah and requesting vector to return home soonest. Request assistance with freeing Jedi Knight Shawn Petrolu from cave system; also, am bringing home a surprise package."

I paused again, shooting a gentle smile Terrin's way before finishing.

"Please advise rendezvous point, time is of the essence as Jedi Petrolu has been in the cave for days without food or water.

"This is Galen Danner aboard-- ahh, Galen Danner, out."

Finished, I sat back and turned to Terrin.

"There, now you just plug in the directional frequency and we'll send 'er off!" I stated brightly.

[ 07-25-2007 07:57 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"You know," he said, typing between his words, "I haven't a kriffing clue what you named the ship either..."

He trailed, keying in a few more commands, and promptly squirting the transmission off to the Commander of the Hornett.

Then he suddenly rose a finger in the air "Ahh, she's the Rescue One. Quite fitting...

...but she's seen her day. Having ships with a bit more oomph to them at our fingertips will make this task easier alone."

(((OCC: Terrin's transmission will be received in In the Shadow of Doubt in the Empire and New Republic.)))

[ 07-25-2007 08:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"This is Commander Taylor Garrison, acting Captain of the Hornett. It is good to hear your voice and to know that you are safe. We are currently in orbit around Sullust after completing a business transaction. We should be able to reach your current location significantly quicker than you may be able to reach ours."

"Approximate travel time is 12 standard hours. Meet me in orbit around the system at that time; the cammand deck will notify you of our presence on your current frequency upon our arrival. Until that time, Commander Taylor Garrison, out."

I smiled, and whipped off a quick acknowledgement, confirming our rendezvous time.

"Now, let's go tell Shawn the good news!" I continued to chirp as now grasping the controls I sent a quick little burst to our belly thrusters. Soon the ship was hovering several tens of meters above the tabletop.

Grinning like three kinds of fool I whirled her about her z-axis and took off, heading back to the spot where indeed we had first discovered the craft. Since the vegetation there was already trampled by her weight, and now singed by her take-off thrusters, I planned on putting her down where we had found her.

"It's not too great of a walk to the edge of that swamp where we found the hole," I said by way of explanation as we hummed along. "If falling into it is how you define the term, found!"

The grin plastered across my face grew a touch more sober as my thoughts now turned to our former companion.

"I wonder how Panthar is?" I asked aloud. "Sheesh, now how is he going to get back with us? I mean, now that Aelvedaar has cut and run; is Panthar stuck on Khar Delba now, or do you think we can expect him to come popping in out of thin air at any given moment?"

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He frowned. "And there's another thing. JhinDarra is really frustrated with the power she has that she can't seem to control; extremely frustrated. You and I both know that no Jedi will be able to teach her how to use those powers...

...and she says she wants to learn how to use them to do good. There are only a couple of individuals who could help her do that and they all live in the Sith worlds."

[ 07-25-2007 09:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Yeah," I agreed wholeheartedly.

"Looks like we're destined to go there, if only we could just figure out how. I'm not thrilled with the aspect of crashing an Imperial blockade, especially when I don't have one of those lovely Sith fighters at my disposal."

My vision grew vague then as my thoughts flashed back to the two Jesters I had flown in the past.

Ahh, now those were ships. If only we had one now, getting Shawn out of his predicament would be like taking a stroll in the proverbial park!

A small beeping sound interrupted my reverie, and I refocused on the board in front of me. We were coming up on our eta; taking in a deep breath I gripped the controls with both hands and gently guided her to a feather-light landing exactly where she had started from.

There, she might not be a Sith fighter, but that doesn't mean I can't treat her like one! I thought as I powered her down to stand-by. I cast a quick glance at the chrono.

"Looks like we've got about ten and a half hours until Hornett's arrival. Should be plenty of time to contact Shawn, and then maybe get a little shut-eye before we get the hell out of this swamp."

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Really nice, in fact. When the hell has anyone slept around here?!?

Terrin pushed that thought to the side for the moment, and then began to head towards the hatch, where Jasyn met them with a nice looking blaster rifle, a glowstick, and the rope they had used previously to first lower Galen into the hole after Panthar. Jasyn gave the first two items to Galen, and the last one he hung onto.

"A commlink?" Terrin queried towards Jasyn then, quirking a brow.

Jasyn quickly removed his own wristcomm. "This one should be easier than anything aboardship," he then explained. "Hands free on the way down."

Terrin cringed inwardly at Jasyn's last words as he handed Galen the wristcomm. He said nothing of it, though, and popped the hatch. "Allright, let's get this show on the road and done."

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With no further ado I departed the ship, and led the others to the spot where Panthar had discovered the hidden hole in the ground. The vegetation on Dagobah is obviously pernicious; it had been covered over by grasses and various types of bladderworts, but one vicious shove of a foot and the opening was freed.

I raised my hands so Terrin could secure the rope around my waist, and checked to make certain the wristcomm was fastened and that the battery was charged and ready. No use struggling down that blasted hole to discover the thing wouldn't work!

"Here's looking at you, sweetie," I said, giving Terrin a long look that said, Hey. Don't worry, I'll be back!

Then I started scaling the crevasse, inching and sweating, and sidling and twisting about inside the narrow confines, thanking the gods that Actar had stuck me in that horrid mental box so long ago. For if ever there would be a good candidate to inspire claustrophobia, this crack in the ground was it!

That mental box had been worse, however; in no time I found myself standing on solid ground. Sneezing a bit from the dust and dirt my descent had loosened, I gazed upward toward the dim speck of light above me. Then, not wishing to waste the comm's juice, I simply gave the rope a couple of good tugs, and snapped on the glowstick.

I glanced around, finding the tracks we had made in this little underground dungeon. These I followed, until I came to where the largest of them came to an abrupt halt.

"This must be the place," I told myself, then quickly dialed the wristcomm to Petrolu's frequency.

"Shawn, this is Galen. Do you copy?" I asked.

[ 07-25-2007 10:26 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"Nope, better yet," I replied. "We've found Hornett, and she's due here in about, oh, ten hours or so. We've got a somewhat scrambled map of the system you're stuck in; with the technology Hornett's got we'll find you in no time.

"They've got the manpower and the simple power to boot to get you outta there, so hang tight!"

As if he really had any other place to go...

[ 07-25-2007 10:43 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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