We were sitting in what appeared to be some kind of alpine tundra, in the dead of night. Above our heads a maze of brilliant stars twinkled, stars whose patterns I'd never seen before in my life. I blinked, fighting back the gibbering insanity which strove so hard to overwhelm me, and hugged Link so hard it was a wonder I didn't break a rib.

"Where the hell are we?" I whispered into the uncaring dark, trying to swallow but finding my mouth far, far to dry to do so.

I had hardly prepared to travel in weather such as this but I at least had the advantage of a fur coat that Yaoksi did not. Just then I heard a faint beep emanate from one of my pockets, I pulled out a small comm unit and remembered that on the other place I had set it to monitor and track signals. It was a very weak signal so weak I couldn't get an exact location but at least a line to follow.

That blue glow. It must have been some kind of doorway.

Stories and myths that I'd heard whispered along the spaceways now came creeping into my head, stories of people and ships who had simply flown... away.

Doorways, it was said. There were supposedly doorways, possibly wormholes to far-off reaches of the universe, perhaps into other time periods. Personally, up until this point I hadn't given these stories much credence, putting them down to too much Whyrene's in combination with too much loneliness on the part of the teller. But now I had to wonder if those stories hadn't a kernel of truth to them after all, and if we had just passed through one such doorway.

I said as much to Link as I released her from my death-grip and clambered to my feet.

"If it is a doorway, maybe the others will follow. But you're right; if we stay here we'll freeze to death. Lemme leave a marker of sorts in case the others go into the blue light too; then let's skedaddle away and hopefully to somewhere that it's warm."

The fact that Link's sensor was picking up on something gave me further solace; chances were very good that if those stories were indeed true, we at least hadn't traveled backward in time to where space travel and higher technologies didn't exist.

As quickly as I could manage in the star-struck dark, I felt my way around until I had found and gathered a fair amount of hand-to-head-sized rocks. These I lay on the ground in the shape of an arrow, which pointed in the direction that Link had indicated.

Wiping my hands on my thighs, I straightened up from placing the final stone.

"Lead on, MacDuff," I said with as much light-heartedness as I could muster, considering it had just struck me that I didn't have my blaster to protect us with.

"I think its about twenty mete..." That was all I got out before the ground suddenly disappeared from beneath my feet and I was tumbling down a the side of something. My reflexes took over and I managed to roll with it until I was stopped by some large immovable object that let out a dull clanging sound when I hit it. Wait nothing in nature makes a clanging sound. I reached out to fell this object and discovered something smooth, very large, and metal.

The words had scarcely left my mouth when I too discovered to my great dismay that the ground I had been shuffling carefully along upon suddenly took a turn for downhill. Before I could compensate, I found myself half sliding, half falling down the slope of an apparent hill of whose size I hadn't the slightest idea. Well, perhaps a tiny bit of an idea, since Link's words weren't that distant from me. And they became louder by the second, as she continued to comment on what she had seemed to find.

Moments later I too impacted against something, which reverberated with a strange clang. My hands went out as if to embrace it; actually, I couldn't help this as I had stumble/slid face-first into whatever it was. After another few seconds had passed in which I allowed my ringing senses to return to normal, I began investigating by feel as to just what this thing was, for it was yet very dark out, and there was no moon of any sort visible.

It was metal... sort of. In fact, the more I investigated, now shuffling sideways and always maintaining a touch upon the mysterious object, the more I began to realize what it just might possibly be.

There ARE gods in the universe; it's a ship!

But-- one very strange to me indeed. It seemed to be made, as are all ships that I knew of, of metal... but in a weird way, not quite. It felt cold and slippery to the touch, yet at the same time strangely incoporeal. Letting my hands now slide, and brother did they seeme to slide easily against the strange surface, I touched ground before I had come to the widest dimension of this unknown thing.

Which told me immediately that unless it was shaped with one side being exactly flat, it was partially buried.

I pursed my lips, intrigued and full of rising hope and annoyed as hell all at the same time.

"Damn, but if I had some sort of light we could actually see this thing; as it is, I guess we'll have to wait until the sun rises.

"Assuming of course that it will, that is."

"Another failed attempt to find anything" Kyan muttered to himself.

It had been a week since I crashed on who knows where this place is, why does the navcomputer always die at inconvenient times. I had obtained passage on a small vessel to make my way back to more populated areas of the galaxy when the ship I was on was pulled from hyperspace and crashed here, by some miracle or nightmare of the force only I survived the impact. In three days of exploration I had found the only other significant object on this planet besides my crashed ship... another crashed ship. I couldn't operate it but for all appearances it was better off then mine. Slowly I had been transferring supplies that I could salvage and using the ship as a shelter in hope that I might find a way out of here. However my crashed vessel has all been picked clean by myself and unknown creatures I never see leaving the only option left the new vessel.

I was returning to the ship when I saw for the first time signs of something... tracks leading back to my discovery. I followed them and from below the crater the ship rested in I could hear two voices, perhaps these are those unknown creatures. I drew my shoto and jumped down behind the two and activated the blade which casted its light on the pair, a man and a short furry thing.

Weird.

Flashes of bits and pieces of the equally weird ships that little gal Galen had told me she had flown marched across my thoughts, which I then refocused on the fact that the newcomer had come into sight, being eerily lit by the red light coming from something he carried.

I blinked, wishing heartily again that I had a blaster, and drew Link closer to me.

"Ahh-- the name's Yaoksi Joao, and I don't want any trouble here, pal."

Then I noticed the pile of items at his feet, as if he had just dropped them there, and in the light of the red thing he carried I saw the top half of an open hatch protruding from the ground. The surrounding hull looked... hurtful to gaze upon, sending creepy-crawlies racing up and down my spine.

Sure as shootin' this had to be one of those weird ships Galen had told me about. And here was someone who had figured out how to open it.

But how to fly it, now that probably was a different matter. Hell, I knew with all my flying experience I'd more than likely be lost too, but maybe if the three of us put our collective heads together...

I forced a smile to cross my face, hoping to put this stranger at ease, and spoke up again.

"Ahh, do you know where we are?" I asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Buddy, I've been all around this ol' galaxy, and I've never seen those constellations before in my life."

I pointed upward, and waited.

"Sorry to startle you, I am Kyan Jetiis'ad, you may call me Kyan."

I deactivated my lightsaber and reached down to activate of of the glow lamps I had acquired from the wreckage which illuminated far better then my lightsaber would. Taking off my jedi robe I offered it to the pair.

Will of the Force...

True I had lost my ability to touch the force but I am still a Jedi, just as a Mandalorian without his armor is still mando in spirit.

There was something odd about his question not his surprise that I was a Jedi, but his surprise that there was a Jedi. A matter for later perhapses. I opened a small tin and pulled out three strips of meat and tossed two strips to the pair.

"Haili cetare" I said to them. I took a bite of the meat then notice they the pair just looked at me with faces full of confusion, I almost laughed at myself when I realized that these two probably didn't speak mando'a.

I pulled out from among the things that I salvaged a small holo disc that I had recovered and placed it down next to my helmet. At least the force was still with me enough it let me find it.

He wants to know what's been happening for the past twenty-five years?!? Brother, we must be out in the hinterlands of the unexplored sections of the galaxy, if he doesn't have a clue of what's been going on!

Unless, of course, this was a trap to see where my loyalties lay. Hence the Holocron; was this to record my reply? After all, in spite of the New Empire's "best efforts," there were still a lot of loose ends floating around in the aftermath of their military coup, and who know where this guy was coming from.

I shrugged to myself, then laid the meat carefully to one side. Shooting a glance at Link, I could read my own disbelief mirrored in her eyes.

"Well, there's been a military coup," I began slowly. "A personage -- who has since gone into hiding, one supposes, as one doesn't hear hide nor hair of him anymore -- by the name of Admiral Actar enacted a military take-over of the Galaxy. During said take-over, the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin, and the members of the Senate on Coruscant were unfortunately destroyed. Ever since he's been making his strength known with blockades around planets, but as time goes on it seems to me that these are there merely to maintain order. I mean, personal freedoms don't seem to be impacted any--" Here I paused, momentarily flashing back to the ruckus on Sullust. "--and from what I heard he's entirely squelched the illegal Hutt spice trade right in the bud.

"There are other factions I've heard rumors he's been out after, pirating factions; like I said, while I don't really condone his methods in getting where he is, at least now that he's there nothing on the order of old Palpatine of old has occurred.

"At least not to my knowledge."

I took another bite of meat, deciding now was not the time to fill him in on any of the stranger parts of what had been going on, figuring he wouldn't believe me anyway.

"The academy was attacked, when did this happen, did any jedi survive, are there even any jedi left?" I was almost yelling with a barely controlled rage, firing off question after question.

I picked up the holopad from before and activated it scrolling through the images until I came to the one I wanted. I handed the pad to Yaoksi the image showed a younger version of myself in Mandalorian armor, a short blue female Twilek in jedi robes, and a male Barabel in jedi robes.

Ye gods, Yaoksi, he probably really has been out in the boonies for as long as he said; this information would be enough to make anyone react as he just did, if not worse!

I forced myself to hunker down more quietly again, now wincing at the image of the Twi'lek.

Ahh, Nassy...

"Look, my friend, I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but the fact is that in my line of business I don't mingle much with Jedi. It's only been during this recent, ahh-- unrest that I've crossed paths with any at all, Cella Poliani and Jerod Mahoy and Shawn Petrolu, to be specific."

I shook my head. "Of those three, Cella is dead, I don't know about Jerod, and Shawn is running about the galaxy somewhere..."

I sighed, a little worried now about this entire little confrontation. He certainly seemed to have a hot temper for a Jedi, and in that regard I wondered that if push ever came to shove we'd be able to work together without constantly butting our heads.

I willed myself to control my breathing and with that the rest of my body relaxed as well.

What kind of Jedi is this guy, anyway? I wondered to myself as I chewed. I mean, even I could tell by feel that this ship is probably more than half-buried in rock, and he thinks we can just up and fly it out of here?

Of course, if it is what I think it is, going by what that lil gal said, it will have no problem whatsoever...

I shot a furtive glance around, even though darkness was all I could make out beyond the soft glow of the lights Kyad had ignited. Well I remembered Galen saying how many kilometers of the surrounding area had been destroyed when she made her bid for freedom in the little Sith fighter she had found...

"I think that we should wait until daylight. Then a proper assessment can be made, and we can see if this ship is space-worthy or not."

With that I stretched and laid down beside the strange hull, proposing to try and get a little rest if even that was possible after all Link and I had just been through.

This Kyan, whoever he was, seemed to be the biggest mystery I've ever seen. He claims to be a jedi but acts different from the stories of the jedi I've heard about. And his claim about being a Mandalorian, I thought those where heartless mercenaries.

I waited until Kyan went to sleep then crept over to Yaoksi.

I blinked as an even more unsettling thought coalesced.

"I don't know, kid," I whispered back, keeping my voice as low as I could. "It's all strange to me, too. I mean, I don't know much about jedi and such, other than I thought Actar crunched 'em all, for the most part.

"But a jedi who wears armor? And gets so emotional, with complete strangers? I dunno-- maybe he's not a jedi at all.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe he is a bounty hunter..."

I paused, swallowing uncomfortably. Bounty hunters were not the best of associates in my book, after all.

"If you two are going to talk about me behind my back at least do it quieter like pass notes or something." I replied. "Not all Mandalorians are bounty hunters or mercenariness; many are farmers, ship builders, engineers, and many other things. But all of us are trained as warriors."

I sat up to look at them, they might not believe my story but what did I have to loose.

"I was born 62 years ago along with my twin brother, at the age of 5 a jedi traveling through Mandalorian space found us to be force sensitive. My brother left with him to become a jedi while I stayed with my parents until I became a Mandalorian warrior. At the age of 13 I attended the jedi academy and was assigned the same master as my brother and we both became jedi knights at the age of 18."

"Even though we where trained by the same master we both became very different jedi, my brother embraced the view that there is no light or dark side of the force only how we use it. I believed differently and trained for combat constantly which labeled my a grey jedi among my peers. Eventually my brother and I drifted apart and we no longer even spoke. Some years later I got married and had a child, she was a beautiful child and would be a strong mandalorian warrior. When she was about 11 that is when everything changed."

I stared down at the ground for a few moments trying to piece together how I was going to say what happened.

"My brother turned to the dark side of the force and became a dark jedi, he tried to turn me as well but when I would not, he killed my wife and daughter right in front of my eyes. I fought my brother and instead of turning like my brother wanted I stayed true to the path of the living force. Eventually I dealt him a mortal blow, but before he died he used the force somehow to sever my connection with it. In one day I lost my brother, my wife, my daughter, and the force. I spent the next 25 years trying to regain my connection with the force which now leads me here."

Damn, but this guy had ears on him like a hunting nek! And there was something about that little fact that made me even more uncomfortable then the beans he was so unexpectedly spilling all over the ground.

I opened my mouth, thought better of it, closed it.

I slowly creped over to him until I was about a meter away and just stopped to look at him. He didn't look like a bounty hunter or a mercenary, he looked more like an old story teller, or protector for some reason abound him I felt safe like I did with Yaoksi.

I knelt down then dug out a small trench to about half a meter deep, the ground here was soft and easy to move. Satisfied I dug a hole big enough I withdrew my vibroblade to have it ready in case I needed it, I stared at it quietly for a few moments then returned it to its sheath hidden in my vest. I don't need this... no one here will harm me.

Funny, but for a guy who was supposedly out of touch with the Force, or whatever, he sure as hell sensed a lot about me, and perhaps Link as well...

I didn't say any of this aloud. After a moment had passed, all I replied was, "I don't know much about Link, actually. I met her awhile back, she had some skills I found handy to have around, she's kinda lonely, I think, although she puts up a 'tough guy' exterior...

"That's about it."

It was late and in the morning we had work to do. I have to see for myself the about what these two have said about the jedi. I felt safe enough with these two and confident that they wouldn't do anything during the night, even if they aren't convinced I'm a jedi they should be convinced I'm a Mandalorian Warrior.

I got out of my 'nest' and looked at the two men on either side of me, both where asleep and Yaoksi I knew needed it. I took this opportunity to have a closer examination of the vessel we had found. From the part of the ship that was visible it appeared to be one solid piece of metal, like someone took a block of metal and carved the entire hull out of it making it one piece. I couldn't find any panels, doors, view ports, or controls of any kind on it, although they might be buried.

Seeing as how I could do nothing further until the other where awake I abandoned that project for now. I moved over to Kyan to get a closer view of him, even after all the stories I had heard about the great Boba Fett and the blood thirsty Mandalorians I came to question those notions ever since meeting Kyan. He was like the one honest store owner that you knew as a kid, or in my case the bartender who didn't water down your drinks the drunker you got because you wouldn't notice. Something made me feel at ease around him, like I am with Yaoksi or Thea.

"I have a friend, actually its Yaoksi's friend as well," I began. "She was a jedi at the academy before the imperials destroyed it and now doesn't have anyone to teach her. I don't understand this force stuff you use and I'm not even sure If I believe in it."

I could see that my mind was wandering off because Link looked at me like one stares at a statue.

"Sorry, I was thinking about things," I replied. "I don't know whether or not I can teach your friend the ways of the force or not, its hard to teach someone how to teach someone an ability when one has lost that ability themselves, but when we get out of here I will come with you and see what I can do."

"For now though lets see if we can fix this ship."

I walked over to the place Yaoksi was sleeping and placed my hand on his shoulder gently nudging him.

"Wha--?" For a moment I flailed about mentally, trying to put a name to a locale, to remember where I was, how I had come to be there, what had happened. Not to mention who in blazes was making physical contact with me. Then reality descended as I pulled out of that weird not-quite-awake state I had been in, and looked up into the face of a Mandalorian helmet.

"AAUUGGHHH!!"

Before I knew it, I was up on my feet, half crouched, my eyes darting all around me. Then the rest of reality descended, and I remembered everything.

"AAUUGGHHH--ahhh, good morning!" I smiled broadly, segueing the involuntary yell into what I hoped would pass as a sigh of greeting. I sniffed, cut a look around again, found Link, who was sitting there preening her fur, and returned full circle to Mr. Not-Quite-a-Jedi. My focus didn't remain on him long, though; damned if that armor he kept wearing didn't give me a case of the willies.

I puffed out my cheeks, turned away and began studying the ship which hulked over us. Now that the ambient light was brightening, I could see that it was unlike any kind of ship I had ever seen. Tentatively, I reached out a hand to touch it... only to yank back. For the durned thing was not only strangely difficult to look upon, it somehow felt weirdly--

Alive.

I put my hands on my hips, and started circling the thing.

"I dunno about this," I called out as I moved along. "I've not seen anything like this before; if the controls are as alien as the ship itself appears to be, I don't know if I'll be able to fly her.

"And I've flown plenty in my lifetime, believe me, pal."

With that I stopped, having come fully round the ship to where I had started. I sidled closer to Link and stood by her, waiting to see what the mystery man would say or do next.

I had suspected that the ship was different from most, I was hoping that the strangeness was just 25 years of technological breakthroughs not something different all together.

"Lets not give up until we see what these controls look like, at the very least once we find a way inside we can use it for shelter."

No hatch, view port, engine, or any typical ship component was visible which lead me to three different theories. One, she ship was very big, which I immediately dismissed because the crater would have been larger. Two, the hatch or the engine where still buried and we didn't have further to dig in any direction to find them. Or three, this ship doesn't follow standard starship principals.

Probably why he's not a jedi, among other things, I reasoned to myself. I squinted at him briefly, determined to keep a close watch on him, but an even closer one on Link and my own back.

"I never suggested that you did question my piloting skills," I finally replied, keeping my voice even.

"All I was saying was that this vessel is utterly alien to me, which makes me speculate that I probably won't be able to pilot it. I mean, if we can't even figure out how to get inside it, how do you think we can figure out anything really tough?

"And no, I don't think we should cut into the hull either."

For the love of--!!!

"I haven't a clue what this ship is made of, so it follows naturally that we won't be able to repair any damage we make. Besides--"

I waved a hand around.

"I don't see any handy-dandy shipyards around here, do you?"

I waited a moment, then scanned the area around us. It was similar to tundra, the kind of environment one would find at high latitudes as well as elevation. While we appeared to be in a kind of depression, undoubtedly made by the impact of this strange ship, there did seem to be rocks and relief in the immediate vicinity. I could only believe we were at somewhat high elevation, wherever in all the universe we were, and was willing to bet that if we would scramble back up the slope we'd fallen down we'd see mountains.

"I suggest we just leave here, and see if we can find anything in the way of civilization. Once we get out of this mountain range we're probably in, who knows what we will find?"

"Is he always like this?" I asked.

I didn't give either a chance to respond because the question was more posed to diffuse the tension of our situation.

"I haven't explored much of the surrounding area, so I don't know what we will find. There is sentient life here, however I've never seen them. They managed to pick the ship I traveled on clean while I transfered what I could from it to here. For some reason they avoided this place, and they leave no tracks that I could find."

I looked over what supplies we had, between the three of us we could at least carry all the food, all the other supplies I managed to salvage would hinder us on a hike or was to damaged to be of any use. Yaoksi and Link didn't carry much with them, just their cloths and I knew at least Link had a vibroblade while Yaoksi appeared unarmed.

I shook my head.

"Sorry, but if it's not a blaster I don't want anything to do with it. Too archaic, in my book, not to mention a questionable way to protect oneself. Too close for comfort, if you ask me."

I cast a look around, now lifting my brow.

"What do you have in the way of supplies? At the very least we're going to need water, or something to carry it in should we find some en route."

I couldn't help but cringe inwardly at my use of the pronoun we; it was making me more and more uncomfortable that, lacking a reasonable excuse for Link and I to go on alone, it seemed we were somehow being "forced" into bringing Mr. Almost-a-Jedi along with us. For to tell the truth I really didn't like the idea of linking up with him anyway.

Not at all.

I pulled from the supplies I had a canteen and tossed it over to Yaoksi. If he had been expecting a full canteen he quickly realized it wasn't one.

"We have only half a canteen of water between the three of us. There are maybe one or two watertight containers that could be used for carrying water if we find any."

She sure is hanging onto every word and move he makes! I grumbled to myself, for that's the way it appeared to me. Then I sighed, realizing further that my fledgling paternal instincts for Thea had simply transferred themselves to the little Ryn, which in turn was maybe making me look at this entire situation in from a somewhat slanted point of view.

Which wasn't going to do much in the way of helping to assure that we ever got out of it.

I sighed, and shook my head.

"I'm better off in the understories on Coruscant," I finally admitted. "And even then, only with a blaster. I'm not a real fighter, but I've managed to survive the places I've happened into which weren't so nice. But now--"

I waved the hand that was holding the canteen, wincing to hear how hollow it sounded.

"A little guidance is in order, I suppose," I finally muttered before affixing the loop on the canteen to my belt. Then I shot another look around.

"Maybe we can find water here, ya think? I mean, yeah there's no trees here, but we seem to be up kinda high. If we go down we have to come to some kind of growth, which would mean water, right?"

I pushed back the horrible possibility that we could be in the Upper Highlands on Tatooine, or on some other completely desert planet and that there just wouldn't be any water.

We've got to find some, and then find somebody to assist us. We just have to...

"There are many kinds of worlds some have water many do not, but even if this is one of those worlds that lack water I do not believe that the force would bring the three of us here to die in such a meaningless manner. The force has already helped us thus far, none of us are injured, we have food, supplies..."

I was drawn the ship before us, for some reason it gleamed in the sunlight differently then before. Approaching the ship I ran my hand across the surface it moved across like the ship was covered in oil, no wait not oil. I brought my had to my face and confirmed my suspicion's.

Well, then--!!

"Dew?" I inquired, taking a step closer to investigate this unexpected event.

Yup, sure as shootin' looks like dew to me, which means...

"Ok, that's a good sign," I went on, now drawing back and taking another quick look about myself. "Dew means there's moisture in the atmosphere, and that means there's surface water somewhere around here, if I remember my geography right."

My glance around didn't find anything liquid, however, other than the film which slicked the strange little ship. I drew in a breath, gave my vest a yank.

"Well then, I guess we need to set out and find it, unless you plan on licking that ship." I nodded curtly toward the eerily glistening hull protruding from the rock. Then I took up the few odds and ends that had been tossed my way.

"We are in some sort of crater or depression heading down further into it isn't the best course of action, we might be wandering for hours maybe even days before realizing we ran into an impassable situation. Instead we must climb higher to a high point so we can get a good view of our surroundings and gather some reference points."

The crater we climbed out of was blasted into the side of a mountain about halfway up from appearances. I could only see 200 meters up the mountain before clouds obscured the rest of it from my view. The other direction was an entirely different story. I couldn't tell exactly how high up we where on the mountain if I had to guess it would be be 1km to 2km. From the base of the mountain to about 7km away was nothing but rocky waste land but right after that it drastically changed. There where what appeared to be plants, probably some kind of grass. I had a feeling if I could still had my force connection I would feel something very wrong or weird with this place.

I was so lost in thought that I failed to notice when the two arrived behind me, but when I did they appeared to have the same shock and awe that I had.

"No different than Hoth, just higher," I snorted. Then before he or the silent Ryn could respond, I stepped boldly forth to negotiate my alpine descent through the altogether too deep snow.

Making sure everything was good to go I followed after the others, They didn't get far from where we emerged from the crater and the snow impeding their progress a little so catching up took little time.

"Good," I managed to gasp, wincing with each breath. Damn but the air was cold up here; at least I ought to be grateful that it was at all breathable.

Ahead of me the figure of Kyan marched blithely on, snugly impervious to the elements by virtue of his Mandalorian armor. I cast a briefly envious glance his way, then tugged on my entirely too-thin shirt. Then I motioned for Cel, who looked snug as a bug in her white fur, to continue onward.

"I think we'd better get to lower elevation and somewhere warm before we start worrying about any backup," I replied as I continued the grueling descent.

"Its not much, but ryn fur has to be warmer then nothing," I said. "When we get out of here whats our next move, we don't exactly have the best of luck."

Not to mention just WARMING me--!

--and for the merest of seconds I paused, smiling like a sap. She of course didn't stop, and the tightening of her tail as she drew ahead reminded me to get my feet working again. As did the cold, which crept rapidly deep into my bones during that short period of time.

"I dunno, kiddo," I repeated as I began slogging ahead once more. My tail-wrapped arm hugged against my side, sharing the warmth of the fur with at least a portion of my body, while my other arm pumped in an effort to keep the blood flowing rapidly. I knew this was just expending calories I didn't have to spare, but I'd think about that later. Right now--

"It doesn't look like there's any signs of civilization on this rock, does it? But appearances can be deceiving; I remember this time on Talus Fourteen--"

Off I went into a wild and woolly story involving an emergency landing on one of a gas giant's thirty-six moons, one involving a waterfall, a six-legged furry worm, and a voluptuous native woman--

Ok. So let's leave out the part about the woman...

--and what it took to find my way out of those particular straits.

"And the radio was out, and my blaster needed recharging..."

On and on I went, embellishing as I did, letting the words eat up the time and the passing time eat up the meters, bit by bit encroaching upon the terrain below, which a deeper part of my brain was still pondering as to the probability of its offer of any sort of reasonable escape from our plight.

Taking this as a sign that a break was in order I removed my helmet to get a breath of unrecycled air while waiting for the others to catch up. We almost reached the base of the mountain from here the terrain changed from snow covered inclines to fields of boulders. Seeing that the other two had caught up to me I sat on one of the large rocks nearby and motioned for them to join me.

I was paying so much attention that I lost track of Kyan, when the next time I noticed him he was resting at the base of the mountain waiting for us, how he moved so fast with that armor and a pack was a mystery unto itself. It took only a few minutes to reach the spot where he was waiting. Instantly we where greeted with his input of the situation.

I was so beat that the durned rock felt like a pillow.

But not so much so that it would lull me to sleep; although it felt good to take a load off and rest awhile, hopefully for a good LONG while, I wasn't any too anxious to stay where we were. Boulder fields are far better than snow, but--

"That doesn't surprise me, kiddo," I said as I leaned back, grimacing when a fresh pain shot through my side.

Sure showing your age, Yaoksi you ol pirate...

"But then we can't judge an entire world from just one spot. I mean, how far of a range do you have? Maybe there's civilization somewhere beyond; we'll just have to hike out of here. For all we know, it's like we are hiking out of the Sand Wastelands on Tatooine; there's not much for lifeforms there, but it doesn't mean that there's not life elsewhere."

A sudden thought crossed my mind, and I turned to Kyan.

"What does the Force tell you, jedi? I mean, aren't you supposed to be able to sense these things?"

"Sad to say I cannot." I replied "I was striped of the force 25 years ago during a fight with a dark jedi, I now can no longer use the force or be felt through it. But this is ancient history."

I had just settled back in my seat in the attempt to relax, when the board in front of me yanked me back to attention with suddenly insistent clamors for attention.

"What now?" I wondered aloud as I reached out to receive the incoming message. I listened to it twice, committing the frequency of 789.231 to memory before storing it safely in the ship's computer. Then I flipped to "send":

"Harrier this is Eagle II. I copy that frequency of 789.231; will commence search planet-wide for locator signal concurrent to search for human and Ryn life sigs. Tell the Big Guy not to worry; if that's the planet he's hunting for, and the stuff he's talking about is there, I'll find it.

"I've had a little bit of experience in this kind of thing, you know.

"Eagle II, out."

I flopped back in my seat and shook my discouragingly empty cup.

"I don't suppose there's a pot of caf anywhere aboardship, is there?" I asked Terrin before lifting the cup to my lips to lick out every last remaining drop that might still be lurking within.

Pausing then, Terrin got to his feet, and reached out to take the empty cuppa caf from Galen's hand, cocking a brow then, "How long of a trip are we in for anyway?" he asked then.

"Lemme yank up the galactic map--" I began, then stopped short with a frown.

"Hey, this is weird," I said as I turned round in my seat. All I saw was Terrin's back as he departed in search of caf; huffing a little snort, I returned to the map and tapped it again.

"Wild Space is clear to hell and gone out by Mon Calamari," I said more loudly. "That's in the complete opposite end of the galaxy from Khar Delba.

"But... the coordinates Shayla sent me are close to the Sith worlds; what the-?"

I turned round again, chewing my cheek in thought.

"Does Wild Space extend farther around than I thought? I mean, yeah, I've gadded about here and there, but I'll admit I don't have all four quadrants entirely memorized. But then--"

I chewed my cheek some more.

"I wonder if Shayla read her star systems correctly? Or--"

I stopped in mid-track as another thought widened my eyes.

"Is there something other at play here?"

He trailed, disturbed by the strangeness of it all. "I hate to say that I've got a bad feeling about this," he then continued, "But could we be stepping in to something set up by Ole' Googly again? Or what if there is some sort of...

...space/time rift there or something, that links wild space with that point in the Sith worlds."

Quieting for a moment then, he frowned. "What about the other two sets of coordinates Shayla gave us, for Belkadan and Dantooine? Anything peculiar about them?"

Chewing his lip then, another ugly thought came to Terrin's mind, one that he couldn't ignore or keep quiet about. "What if this link between the Sith and the Vong that we keep hearing about has something to do with this? Vector Prime ultimately lead to Belkadan, which was the first planet invaded by the Vong back in the day...

...what if the Vong are somehow able to manipulate space and their entry point into our galaxy, via Vector Prime, to open up into Sith space?"

He furrowed his brows thoughtfully. "Is there any way we can examine the pull of gravity and so forth at those coordinates before we get there...

Now it was my turn to furrow my brow as I turned my thoughts back to the early teachings I gleaned at Daddy's astronomer's knee.

"Well.." I began slowly. "I suppose I could drop us out of hyperspace before we're on top of the system, but close enough to do a spectral scan on it. Then I could upload earlier specs of it and compare the two for gravitational lensing."

Terrin only blinked at me in what had to be utter loss. I smiled a little and went on.

"I can check to see if the star's position has altered in relationship to background stars. Massive bodies will bend light; this will make a star seem to have moved a little bit. If something is gravitationally fishy with this unknown planet's star, that's the only way we're going to be able to get a clue about it.

"But if this is real, how it came to be is, well--"

Chewing his lip a bit then, Terrin's blue eyes turned a bit distant as he slipped off into a whole line of how and what ifs. With a sudden start, he realized that, at the moment, all the speculation wasn't going to do alot of good.

"I guess the only thing we can really deal with is the here and now," he then commented, his blue eyes snapping alert once more and focusing on Galen. "And I'm not sure that there is really anything else we can do for now except plan to drop out of hyperdrive and check the star's postionn like you've just mentioned."

Pausing again then, Terrin sat back a bit, noting for the first time since they had departed the Hornett that he and Galen were on their own, for the first time in a long time, if ever. After all, the guys were usually along with them...

...and back in the day when he should have gone off to assist Galen in looking for JhinDarra from K'eel Doba, he hadn't. The barest hints of guilt momentarily clouded Terrin's eyes.

"You know, it'll be kinda quiet here without our resident drinker," he commented. "So are we going to continue to man the navboard, or put'er in auto and check out our supplies and the new ship."

"There," I said in a self-satisfied tone of voice which completely belied the turmoil which raged within me. I couldn't help it; I had piloted Daddy's ship since I could first reach the console, it seemed, and had been in charge of one ship or another ever since. And a few of those ships were, well... to use the term uncanny would be to highly underestimate what I really felt about those miraculous Sith fighters I had grown to love.

In a nutshell, I was a pilot. I could fly. Had done so forever it seemed, and probably would continue on until the rontos came home or I dropped dead, whichever came first. And so to find such a glaring navigational discrepency such as I had not only didn't set well with me, I just couldn't shake the impossibility of it. Secretly, I highly doubted the Vong had managed to achieve the capability of creating what essentially amounted to a gigantic wormhole, not with their culture's strict aversion to technology. And if that was the case, then--?

I tried to hide my racing thoughts by widening my grin.

"You're right. There's time enough to go over this in greater detail after a little break," I said as I rose to my feet and reached out a hand to Terrin.

Khaandon only knows that all work and no play make for a dull mind, and even duller reflexes.

"So, you gonna give me the Grand Tour or what, Flyboy?" I grinned genuinely with that, and for that brief instant finally managed to completely banish my trepidation and worry about what was out there, what was not...

And what was more than likely incoming, no matter how I might try to disbelieve it.

Not that any of this is going to help you get to Yaoksi if there is something peculiar about those coordinates, as Galen suspects, snorted the returning shoulder demon. Furthermore, if there is something really strange as far as spacetime going on there...

Terrin turned to Galen, stating his thoughts out loud, knowing that he was by admission doing the very thing he had just a few minutes before said wouldn't help them much: speculating. "Of course, if we pop out of hyperspace and find something strange upon scanning, we could leave a buoy at that spot and head on to the coordinates Stargazer gave us. Then we could follow on to the coordinates with at least something to lock on to on our return trip if needed...

...and hopefully find Yaoksi in the process. Wouldn't be a bad thing if we found that Sith ship that Panthar said they saw when they asked where Yaoksi was in the Octahedron, that is if it is even functional. I wonder how it got there, anyway..."

He paused then, frowning a bit, "And what happened to its pilot?"

"I dunno," I replied honestly, remembering back to the secreted little horde of Sith fighters Dad had uncovered on his last, fateful dig. "Those ships are pretty weird; Jester simply had to be thousands of years old, considering where it was uncovered, but it looked brand spanking fresh off the shipyards.

"Whose to say if the one by Yaoksi is ancient, or a new one someone has just recently flown to whatever in Hell's Seven Circles the planet is where he's lost.."

I trailed a moment then to consider Terrin's other suggestion.

"And as for the buoy, well... under normal circumstances I'd go with that. But if someone is monkeying around with space and time, whose to say whether or not that buoy will truly stay where I place it?"

I shook my head.

He frowned a bit at this. "Still, we used to manage without them," he reminded himself aloud, "No matter how difficult times were, we made it through one way or another. Of course, we knew exactly who and what we were fighting."

Falling siletnt for a few moments then, Terrin's eyes turned a bit distant. At length however, they grew alert, and he took Galen's hand once more. "We were better at stopping and smelling the roses then too," he said then. "Maybe we ought to finish our Grand Tour now?" he queried, the first hints of michief in a long time beginning to creep into his eyes. "How long to reversion do we have?"

"There is something wrong with this place, at first it was a suspicion but now I can't shake it off," I said. Clutching my lightsaber even tighter to my body I gazed around at the land scape and returned my view to the others.

"It is as if this place is tainted some how by the force, but not in a way I have ever seen or heard of, usually when a places is tainted by the darkside of the force there is still life to speak of, though usually dark and twisted but never an utter lack of it. We need to get away from this mountain soon."

I got up and approached the spot where Yaoksi was laid out upon the rock and offered him my armored had to help him up.

"Oh, at least a couple hours," I said breezily as I took Terrin's proffered hand. Then I grew a bit more serious.

"Y'know, you're right," I said then. "I mean, about getting too used to powers. Hell's Seven Circles, not only did we used to get by just dandy without them, as you said, but there was a time when Sorben and I did just that, and in fights against peeps who had some at their disposal."

I paused a moment as memories of our struggles against Darth Wicked and Desolist and that heebee-jeebie instigator Gravin Dark popped into my head. With a little shudder and a bit more effort, I managed to place those images out of mind.

"And y'know, maybe that is why all this happened. I mean, yeah, evidence is circumstantial, but it's still fairly strong. Ol' Google-Eyes makes an appearance, and boom --! Everyone with anything in the way of preternatural abilities is left helpless as a baby womprat.

"Maybe somebody somewhere is trying to tell us something... but it's not something I want to hear. Not if the Vong really are in-coming, and you know how anti-technology, anti-magick they are."

I paused a moment to rub a weary hand down my face.

We were having the most marvelous time...

"Ugh," I grunted as the Jedi's soft words interrupted my fugue state, and brought harsher reality back into focus. "Dark--"

I sat up with a groan of protest, and blinked at my surroundings. No pretty little park, but rock and dirt and patches of snow against a slate-gray sky assailed my vision; I sighed and rubbed my face as the last vestiges of my dream utterly vanished. The Jedi's words finally sank in then, and I turned a worried look his way.

"What do you mean, tainted? Like in evil dark stuff, or what?"

Oh what I wouldn't give to have my dear ship at hand once again. Then this guy would see that I could be useful, instead of the bag of yesterday's laundry I was beginning to feel like. I clambered to my feet and stretched, wishing I could offer at least a modicum of help. The most I could do was keep a stiff upper lip, and make certain the little Ryn stayed safe.

"I'm all about getting off this rock," I said then as, reaching a hand out to Link, I indicated my readiness to continue on.

Onward and downward...

He paused then, chewing his lip a bit. "Funny that whatever-it-is that is playing what seems to be a game keeps knocking out not only everyone's powers, but any device we might have to play against he, she, or it with. Remember the Claw was destroyed?"

He trailed again, his frown growing into more of a scowl. "And now this possible loss of Sith technology to add to the fray...

...sorta makes me long for the days when we at least thought we could find one device or another to even our playing field with the nasties, like back when we were looking for the Nar Khelba. I mean, seems at the moment that 'Ole Googly, or whoever or whatever is behind him, is more than happy to make us give up our powers without giving up its own."

"It's almost as if we'd been given a warning, isn't it?" I asked, turning to shoot a questioning look into Terrin's baby blues. "I mean, first ol' Googly pops up from nowhere, slaps us on our collective wrists, and takes off with that little toy of Sissy's. But did anyone pay any attention?

"No."

I paused again, thinking.

"Everyone kept right on popping into this dimension, and scuttling through that portal; I mean, what the hell do we know about how all that kind of thing works? Maybe each time something like that happened, it weakened the fabric of spacetime or something; hell, I dunno."

I paused a moment, chewing on my lip as I let my thoughts march on to their seemingly preordained conclusion.

"But I don't think that the powers whatever the hell It possesses are in any way, shape or form to be considered a weakness. It's obvious that when it depleted everyone else of theirs, as we suspect, it sure didn't bother to take away it's own."

I stopped with that and yawned, bending backwards with both hands on the small of my back to try and ease out a crick that had suddenly developed there. The sudden release of muscular tension did not lessen the growing emotional strain that was building up inside me, however, but only seemed to make it more prominent.

I sighed again.

"I wish I knew what would make that damned thing happy," I finally muttered. "I mean, we did what It asked regarding Koris'sian, and as far as I know no one has..."

I ground to a halt.

"You don't suppose someone has tried to get into the Elseness and mess around on that planet, do you? And that's what's gotten It all in a wad, to where It came popping from nowhere to whammy us again?"

Like a kid lashing out in anger, or a parent reprimanding a kid...

He trailed, frowhing even more. "How the hell did they all wind up there? I mean, I don't remember anyone saying how, and I didn't think Stargazer had those sorts of abilities. At any rate, if someone was there mucking around with Vong villips, then I'd say you might be on the right track. But then..."

He trailed once more, suddenly feeling very, very, suspicious, "...that leads us back to the question of just who or what this Googly really is. Of course we might not ever know, but it's worth considering that someone, at some point in time, left a Vong villip there, one which conveniently responded to a Shayla, despite the Elseness."

He shook his head. "I wonder if the planet was truly moved to Elseness to protect it from being misused...

...or to hide it for someone or something's own personal use?"

"Not quite dark but similar," I started. "When a powerful force user dies or a powerful event echos throughout the force it can sometimes leave an impression. It can be felt by force users, but in some rare cases the force presence left behind can actually affect the physical plane. Plants growing gnarled and twisted, animals becoming bigger and more aggressive. I've never seen it, but my master did once."

"I've been without the ability to sense the force for so long that I have come to rely on other means of seeing it, like how animals, people interact to unseen events or sights. Whatever happened here must have been so strong that even now the impression left here by the force make all life want to avoid it. As far as i can tell this area of land is as fertile as any other so as to why I can't think of any other reason then my theory."

"Umm... you mean just this area, right?" I finally ventured, even as I cast an uneasy glance around. I don't know if it was just a response to the gloomy words Kyan spoke or what, but suddenly I felt like unseen eyes were ominously upon us.

"There's got to be life somewhere on this rock, right? I mean, how in all the known universe are we going to survive if there's no life?"

The thought of no food, nothing much in the way of trees with which to make a fire, and who knew if we'd even find water... well, it was enough to make my heart sink in my chest. I drew in a deep breath and puffed it back out again.

"I remember something I learned back in science class, something called Occam's Razor. Basically, the simplest answer is often the correct answer. Now, I might not be anything but a lowly pilot, but it seems to me that the odds of a world having no life at all would be incredibly complex. Wouldn't they? I mean--"

I hastened up to jog along at the jedi's side.

"Don't you think so too? For this to be planetwide, I mean?"

Oh please tell me you think my convoluted attempt at logic is probably correct, for if it wasn't and something happened here dire enough to sterilize an entire world, then how was I going to adhere to my self-imposed promise to keep Link safe?

Not to mention finding a means of departing the premises.

I sighed again, and hastened along, feeling like I was dragging Link along with me as I went.

I took off my helmet and handed it to Yaoksi.

"Back on the mountain I saw off in the distance some sort of plant off in the distance that grows here and there across much of the surface." I started. "At first it looked like some sort of grass or tree-like brush, but as we get closer it looks like 3 or four flexible vines that come out of a mound or rock. My helmet has macro-binoculars built-in so take a look for yourself. Also you might notice that they seem to be swinging in the wind, but there is no wind meaning it must move under its own power."

I didn't wait for Yaoksi to use the helmet to see for himself what was ahead, for now I was almost certain of what I saw.

"Amphistaff--?" I replied, blinking in surprise. I looked down at Link, but found no answer in her dark and limpid eyes.

"What is that... and why does something tell me that I'm not really going to like the answer?"

I put the helmet over my head and peered off in the direction Kyan indicated, but the view there did nothing much toward explaining this little mystery to me. Indeed, all I saw was what looked like a bed of thick vines, writhing before a gusty wind. Only... true to what the jedi said, there didn't appear to be any wind in the vicinity; at least there wasn't any here, and if those things were close enough to view, even with macrobinocs, then all I could assume was that there was no wind there either.

I gave my head a little shake before removing the helmet and handing it back to Kyan.

"Ok, so they're wiggly vines," I said as he took it from me.

"But they're stuck in the ground, right? So even if they are dangerous, all we have to do is avoid them, and go around them or off in another direction, right? I mean, one way is as good as another; hey Link, have you picked up anything yet out there that might indicate something that might remotely resemble civilization as we know it?"

I stopped a moment and put a hand to my eyes, squinting off toward the now greatly diminished patch of whatever-it-was.

Not that I wasn't grateful, after all, but...

"Y'know," I mused further as I headed aft toward Eagle II's tiny galley, the thought of hot caff in mind. "Maybe this Googly-whatsis just doesn't like whatever power it is that Sissypoops and Lord Aelvedaar have; what was it they call it? The All?"

Reaching the galley, I headed straight for the pot Terrin had put on, bless his heart. I poured myself a cup, then sat down at the even tinier table the galley afforded.

"Maybe that's it. Maybe it just doesn't like anyone having that power. Maybe that's the power that It has..."

I ground to a halt then, my eyes widening as another thought struck me.

"Hey, if that's the case, maybe It didn't think anyone would be able to really utilize it. But seems like Lord Aelvedaar sure as hell did, contacting Sissypoops from centuries in the past, using it to somehow make the stuff on Koris'sian so you could be brought back to me--"

I shot out a quick smile, then sobered.

"And even Sissy was getting pretty damned good at using it. Hell's Seven Circles, even I used it, and I didn't even know what the hell I was doing either! So, what I'm trying to get at is this: if this is the power that ol Google-Face uses, and It used it to prevent us from using it further... well...

"Maybe there's a way to get around this somehow. Aelvedaar and Sissy know what it's all about; maybe knowing is half the battle, and they'll be able to figure out a way to get in contact with it again? Only--"

I ground to a stop as another thought struck.

"This wouldn't explain why the jedi all lost their powers, too. Unless there's some kind of general blanketing effect in play that was meant to knock out the powerhouses and did likewise to the lesser strength of the Force just as an after-effect?"

"Well, Shayla is a Force-user, who has also used this All-stuff, so maybe there is some sort of link between the two powers, like you said."

He shrugged then, frowning, still trying to put his finger on the something that was eating at him. And then it finally registered. "You know, when we were hiding on K'eel Doba, and trying to find Graysith after the Vong got her, Aelvedaar got angry with Shayla and somehow took her powers from her, or blocked her from using them or something."

He paused, his blue eyes growing a bit distant as he tried to put together exactly what he was thinking. "Not that I'm trying to say that Aelvedaar is behind this, but it sorta supports your suggestion...

...and it makes it possible for Googly to be more than meets the eye. I mean, it seems peoplewe've seen that those who have better control of the All can dominate those who have less control of it, and even lesser abilities. Aelvedaar is incredibly powerful, then there's the Master...

...and remember that Rean guy and his ability to shield the ZZ'Shzq?"

He shook his head. "It's funny we never encountered Googly until we went to Kor'isan, and I was...

...brought back." He frowned again. "Strange things had been happening well before then, after all. The whole bringing of the Sith to the future, Lord Recinis's appearance, the whole Phalomir thing...

...so why did Googly's reaction to the broken Game take so long? It's almost like our actions on Kori'san were close enough to something's home base that we finally were in range to get his, her, orits attention. The 'Place of Places,' after all."

His blue eyes darkened a shade, concern clouding them. "What if my reanimation was the event that somehow awakened Googly? We certainly never saw it before then as far as I know."

“You’re not going to like the answer,” I began. “And its much worse those amphistaffs are just the start of our problems. Every Mandolorian child is taught about a large variety of weapons incase we ever had to fight someone who carries one of them. An amphistaff is an eel like creature at is the primary weapon of the Vong. This must be their equivalent of a weapons factory.”

The force must have a very good reason to send me here, but what reason did it have to send these other two as well.

"I wasn't suggesting that Aelvedaar was behind all this," I replied, a bit slowly. "Nor was I suggesting there was any connection between whatever power it is that he uses, and that which Ol' Googly does."

I paused and stared him straight in the eye, assessing the subtle body language radiating from him to determine if I had been clear enough this time.

"What I was toying with was the idea that, if Ol' Googly is the Big Nek as far as powers go, maybe he just doesn't like anyone else having any that would come close to his... or her... or it's abilities. As you just said, Aelvey blocked Shayla from using what she had learned; one can only surmise that if indeed it is this power that Ol' Googly has, there are levels of it, or it's use, like you said. He who has the highest power can whammy the others; sheesh, you'd think the Sith would have whammied each other to death years ago with it, wouldn't ya?"

I paused again, my eyes widening further.

"Hey, maybe that's what it's about. Google doesn't want to lose his game players before they're meant to be lost; maybe that's why all powers have been blocked and why It was so ticked when you were brought back to life. Both might not have gone according to whatever little gameplan it's got. If it all is some kind of big cosmic game.

"And if so, back to square one: who is the other gameplayer involved?"

I shook my head.

He shrugged then. "Like you said, it's still all speculation...

...and we need to take everything one step at a time. Which means that we'd really better take a break..."

He paused one final time, eyeballing his mug of caf. "...and get some warm caf. Although we never did finish that grand tour of the ship, and we still have some time."

He trailed then, standing, extending a hand. "Shall we?"

"The Vong?" I repeated, gulping. "Here? I mean, that is what they grow?" I pointed to the distant cluster.

"Does this mean that they might still be hanging around? I mean, you know about these things; maybe those are kinda leftover from when they were first here, and have been forgotten."

Or are here because nobody in the galaxy knows about them, I couldn't help but think gloomily to myself. Which goes a long way toward letting me know the planet we were traipsing about upon. Perhaps not by name or system, exactly...

But sure as there are womprats on Tatooine we had to be about the as far as we could get from anything resembling civilization. Otherwise someone would have found and disposed of these amphi-things.

Right?

I sighed and stared dully at the amphistaffs, which only appeared to writhe mockingly in turn. Suddenly our chances of being found seemed to have plummeted even below what odds my own past luck would have provided us.

Then I perked up a little.

"Well... maybe we can use these ourselves, do you think? Are they dangerous?--" Now, that was a stupid question, wasn't it, ya ol' pirate... "I mean, could we make use of them? And hey, maybe there might be other Vong stuff growing here that we could use to help us get off this rock. They had to communicate with each other somehow, right?"

It really had been far, far too long, with entirely too many interruptions in our life...

"Sure, Flyboy," I said as I stood up and grasped his hand. Thoughts of our brief idyllic moments on K'eel Doba flashed through my mind then as together we headed out of the tiny galley...

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

Once again, an idyllic moment between us was shattered. This time, however, it wasn't because of someone being inexplicably yanked away, or torn to shreds, or otherwise attacked by unknown and unseen forces. The steady bleep, bleep, bleep of the ship's proximity detector filled the little ship with its announcement that we were soon to arrive at our destination.

"Up and at 'em, Flyboy," I grinned, leaning over to place a kiss on Terrin's nose. I rose from the little bunk where we had been recalling some of what being married was all about, reclaimed my scattered apparel, and headed into the gangway.

"I'm going to check and see if there are any gravitational anomalies hanging about. Then it's on to..."

I ground to a halt.

On to something ELSE wanting to further disrupt any future idyllic moments we would have together, sure as there's Treasure on Roon!

I shook my head, and found my seat. There I waited patiently the few moments until we reverted into realspace; once that was accomplished, I took a quick scan of the unknown into which our faithful engines had placed us. Another, more serious scan provided me with...

"Nada," I announced with not a little relief. I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding, then performed one more scan.

"Well... we're certainly out in the boondocks," I announced cheerfully, happy that there at least wasn't anything untoward hanging about as an immediate threat. "And," I continued, "there's a planet up ahead."

I leaned forward, letting my gaze run quickly over the readouts I was getting.

"Hmmm... few oceans, lots of fairly young mountain ranges -- tall ones, too -- hey, this place is gonna be cold and dry, so while I start a scan for lifeforms why don't you go see what we have in the way of gear."

After blowing Terrin a kiss I turned my attention back to the work ahead of me, which was to implement a planet-wide scan that would search for and isolate the life signatures of a particular combination: one male human, and one female Ryn.

Not a combination one would expect to just find by happenstance alone, not this far away from the rest of the known galaxy. If that combo was discovered, the odds were pretty good that they would belong to our missing Captain Joao and his little companion.

I leaned back in my seat and tried to enjoy what I suspected would be the last quiet moments I would get for some time, should this scan prove fruitful. Not that I really thought anything terrible was going to happen, but gads it sure seemed that all through the most recent years of my life, whenever I thought things were bright and rosy something dark and sinister reared up out of nowhere to burst my little balloon.

At least this time I'm gonna be mentally prepared! I vowed to myself as I settled more comfortably in my seat to wait.

Damn, but he sure hoped they wouldn't need the latter...

"Besides what could we do with them. As you yourself have said you probably couldn't handle a lightsaber to be effective so a eel sword that can bite out your own throat would be easier?"

I should have paid more attention to my history classes at the academy, my brother would know all about the Vong and if they had anything we could use.

"I don't know much about the Vong other then their weapons and tactics," I admitted. "After the war we had with them the Jedi where convinced that they would no longer be a threat again. The technology was so different and alien that at that time no one bothered to study it and how it worked so the knowledge was lost over the years. My people where devastated by them during their attack on Mandalore, but for all these years my people have been taught and trained in case they ever came back. And to me this looks like it could supply thousands of warriors and if the rest of the planet is like this then we are in for a fight."

Looking over the field of amphistaffs it was almost as if I could see the fight before us all.

"Hey!"

A blinking orange light snatched at the corner of my eye and dragged my attention back to the panel. Quickly I began letting my fingers do a spirited salsa on the controls, isolating and zooming in on what the scanners were telling me they had discovered.

"I'm getting life-readings of a human and Ryn... but it seems the human readings are magnified. If it's Captain Joao, he's with another person!"

I turned to Terrin, letting the expression in my eyes speak volumes. Someone might be holding him captive... or not. But this planet was pretty far away from anything remotely resembling civilization, which was why the Vong had entered into our galaxy via this quadrant.

I knew the Vong had taken an occasional prisoner, whom they hadn't killed. What they did with said prisoners, however, was something about which I was clueless, but I bet it hadn't been pretty.

They had been pure geniuses when it came to cross-species hybridization and splicing techniques...

"I don't have any of Captain Joao's biological data in order to try a DNA verification, but who else would be here with a Ryn?" I went on, trying to banish the latter image from my too-active imagination.

"Should I send a general broadcast out, do you think?"

I turned back to the board to quadruple the scan-range, so as to see if there were any other mysteries this remote rock might be holding. But other than the human/Ryn discovery and myriad patches of the weird life-readings I had found earlier, the planet appeared to be barren of anything other than microbial life.

"Well," I snorted again in false bravado. "They're not here yet. And maybe they're not coming; maybe these things seed out or something, and this is just a patch run wild that's left over from when they were here before."

I tightened my grip on my little Ryn companion and gave her a reassuring squeeze. For although there was no obvious evidence of Vong habitation in the vicinity, other than the amphistaffs, on the other hand there wasn't any way to determine if they might possibly be orbiting this planet in a ship. Having little to no knowledge of the Vong, I hadn't a clue as to their past logistics; I only knew that they came, they attacked, they killed, and had been conquered.

And conquered enemies quite often come back for revenge. The thought popped into my head, rejuvenating the chills that had been subsiding within me. I tried my best to shake them off.

...but what about those higher lifeform readings? Anything in our databanks at least remotely match the readings?"

"Amphistaffs??" I said, arching a brow as I turned to Terrin. "What the--"

I needn't have asked anything further. With an prescience that was almost scary, the computer obligingly filled me in on exactly what it was it was finding in patches here and there on every continent this planet possessed. The description was brief, but disheartening for the myriad questions it provoked in me.

"Those are Vong weapons!" I exclaimed, tapping the screen with one finger. "What in Hell's Seven Circles are they doing here--?"

I trailed off, finishing my question by shooting Terrin an incredulous look, my head now buzzing with an incredible array of ifs and maybes and oh god nos that struggled like demons for expression.

"If there are Vong weapons down there, maybe the Master was right. Maybe they really are coming; maybe they've sent an advance scout, maybe one of them captured--"

I couldn't finish aloud, but turned back to the monitor and stared at the scrolling data. Then my look hardened.

"Y'know, I'm sick and tired of one thing after another just up and coming, time and time again, always, we never get a break, never get time to rest..." Gulping, I drew myself upright, and after letting a single, immense shudder ripple through me managed to regain a semblance of composure.

"We've got to know whether or not it's Captain Joao down there," I finally said. "No more wondering what's right, no more but ifs or perhaps maybes.

"I'm broadcasting... now... and devil take 'em all if it's the damned Vong down there. At least if it is them, and-- and even if they hurt Captain Joao--"

Oh please, no-!

"--well, then at least we're up here out of harm's way. At least we'll have proof, and we'll have a chance to hot-foot it outta here and tell somebody!"

With that I turned back to the controls and sent out a general hail on all frequencies. Hopefully, if one of the two human readings did indeed belong to Captain Joao, he'd respond, and we could take it from there.

Wherever "there" would lead us.

"If you won't honestly answer me who you are you expect me to believe you would tell an unknown signal instead?" I asked. "I have no problem reveling myself to them, a word of a Jedi is still worth something I believe."

The ryn hesitated at first but reluctantly handed or tailed the comm link over to me. It was more sophisticated then most comm links I have used before, but I could still identify the controls I needed.

"Unknown persons, This is Master Kyan Jetiis'ad of the Jedi Order. The vessel I had been traveling on had crashed here a few days ago I am the only survivor but have met two others who arrived here somehow as well. We are in need of assistance, over."

"Master Jetiis'ad, we are Terrin and Galen Danner aboard Eagle II,," I opened in reply, then paused a moment and shot Terrin a thoughtful look. Yeah, the guy could say he was a jedi, he could say he was the reincarnation of ol' Palpatine himself; the major point was that from our end we simply didn't have a clue as to his real identity. I thought I was well justified to be following in Terrin's suspicious footsteps, particularly since we had only just discovered the living Vong weapons that were growing on this planet.

I chewed my lip a little, then leaned forward once again.

"May I ask as to the other members in your party?" I asked politely. "Not to mention the coordinates of your crashed ship."

Now there were words for a spacer's sore ears! Hastily I disentangled Link from me, letting her go with an apologetic smile as I then reached toward Kyan and snatched up the comm as if it was solid gold.

"Galen, hey lil gal!" I burst out joyously. "Am I ever glad to hear you guys! It's me, Yaoksi; I've got Link with me too."

I paused a moment and raised a brow to Kyan before continuing buoyantly on.

"Oh yeah, the jedi? I suppose he is one, but I've never met one to gad about in Mandalorian armor. But be that as it may, we'd sure appreciate it if you guys would drop in for a spell... a short spell...

"One just long enough to get us off this blasted rock, which..."

I paused a moment to reflect, and could not keep ensuing tone of disbelief from my voice as I then continued.

...kriffing hell, years...???

...the voice was unmistakable.

Terrin shot a relieved look then Galen's way, although the idea of a Jedi in Mandolorian armor was a bit unusual, to say the least.

"As we are to hear from you," Terrin responded then to Yaoksi. "After all, I do believe we stil owe you a ship..."

Trailing then, Terrin looked at Galen again, leaving the final call as to their next move in her capable piloting hands, certain now that he trusted at least one of the individuals below with everything that he held important to him.

I quirked a brow at Terrin's seeming reticence, wondering why he wasn't saying much to our lost comrade. I mean, yeah, it might be that Yaoksi was actually a captive of this Mandalorian-clad "jedi," but I didn't think so. The relief in the voice that crackled over the comm just sounded too real, too unfettered, too...

"Yaoksi, we'll be there asap. We're rounding the edge of what is your local horizon; give us time to complete this orbit and get down to you. It won't be long; our scanners show an empty field about a kilomter from where you are--"

One filled with those writhing things; maybe we'd be lucky and our landing thrusters would crisp them!

"We should be down in about twenty standard minutes or so.

"See you then; Eagle II out."

With that I let my fingers race across the control panel, typing in a spiraling landing orbit that would terminate in the field I had just mentioned. Then I sat back, emitting a little sigh of mingled relief and happiness that we had solved the mystery of Captain Joao's whereabouts so quickly and easily.

Even though that solution appeared to have raised two other, bigger mysteries.

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

Twenty minutes later, our little craft was settling happily into place, clinking and pinging as she vented gases and extraneous heat generated in landing her. I put all systems on standby, popped on external cams, and settled as well into my seat.

"Don't forget, Terrin; they might only be a kilometer away, but that's still a kilometer of unknown territory, with a patch of amphistaffs between you and where scanners position Captain Joao and his party. Take a blaster along with that med-kit and supplies. Yaoksi's been here awhile, and he might be hurt or hungry or both.

"And take a blaster," I finished with as with the flip of a control I opened the hatch.

"I'll keep tabs on you with scanners, videocams and communicator. Don't be long, Flyboy; I'll be waiting for you here."

"That must be your friend's vessel, we need to cross that small patch of amphistaffs so there is some things you need to know first and you might want to relay this to you friends as well. The immature amphistaffs attached to the polyps are easy to avoid so can be written off as less dangerous. The mature ones however will prove much more dangerous they can shred through durasteel, are resistant to lightsabers, and can spray a paralytic poison about 20 meters. Short of a suit of mandalorian armor there is little that can protect you from them."

Removing my helmet I tossed it over to the Ryn, and my shoto over to Yaoksi.

"The helmet is somewhat heavy but it should protect you from the poison." I said. "We need to move fast keep behind me I'll take care of anything in front of us if anything comes from the side after the two of you use either my shoto or your vibro dagger to hold it off until I can deal with it."

I saw the look of uncertainty on the Ryn's face. So I knelt down and calmly looked her in the eye.

"Ke'baatir, don't worry about it." I stated. "We will make it, we must make it."

Rising I turned to the ship and brought my lightsaber out igniting it letting its white light shine against my armor.

...and particularly the patch of writhing things. Terrin took the blaster from his belt and clutched the trigger, calculating his approach to the others, unable to see them for the distance and the creatures. Although the patch was densely packed, there did seem to be a particular growth pattern. Terrin figured that the patches that were lower to the ground may be less of a threat, so he began working his way in that particular direction, making certain not to get too close. Still, he paused long enough to get a good look at them before going too much further along. The evil creatures seeemd to be growing from a single "stalk" in groups of three. As he began to move once more, the nearby amphistaffs seemed to stretch towards him.

As he continued to move along and look ahead, Terrin became increasingly aware of something else as well. Every so often, in the distance and particularly in the patches of larger amphistaffs, he saw movements of something he couldn't quite make out...

...but at any rate he was almost positive what he was seeing was nothing attached to one of the stalks. He raised his commlink to his lips, opening a general frequecy, feeling the need to warn the others.

"Hey everyone, I'm more than mid-way through the amphistaff patch...

...and I keep seeing movement on the ground here. I haven't seen anything specific yet, but I've got a funny feeling that some of these things are detached from whatever-it-is they're growing from. Be careful."

He arranged them into a line with him at the front, Link in the middle, and Yaoksi in the rear. They didn't to have any trouble maneuvering through the field occasionally Kyan would stop and wave his lightsaber at something, by the time Link looked over she could barely see something slither away. Just about to the a quarter of the way through she heard Terrin's message come in over the comm. Link was about to answer it but remembered that Yaoksi should still have it. I turned to face him when she saw something start flying through the air at him.

Link stabbed at it with her vibro dagger but it looked like it altered its trajectory in mid air and before she knew it she felt a sharp pain coming from my wrist. Looking down at her hands Link saw from her left arm just below her hand was an amphistaff latched to her wrist. Link felt her entire hand go numb but every pain receptor erupted like her hand was on fire.

Hadn't Kyan said something about poison?

Operating on little else than pure adrenalin and my gut, I grabbed the tail of the flailing horror, dug my feet into the rocky ground, and pulled with all my might. It merely writhed in response, the scales which covered its sinuous body slicing into my hands like tiny razors, sending fresh blood flowing down upon its glistening body. I only tightened my grip, and pulled again as Link's rising crescendo of screams tore through my head, adding impetus to urgency which somehow provided me with just that last little bit of strength I needed. With something approaching a subliminal wail the thing finally loosened its hold, now snapping back toward my face as though trying to rid itself of the thing which had the effrontery to remove it from its prey.

I didn't give it a chance to latch onto victim number two, but let momentum carry me a full one hundred eighty degrees. Still whirling en route to completing a full three-sixty I let go of the amphistaff, and sent it flying into what I hoped would be the oblivion produced by my companion's weaponry. I didn't bother to make sure Kyan finished the job I so poorly started, but completed the pirhouette and fell heavily to my knees at Link's side.

"Oh my god," I could only whisper, for she didn't look good. What skin that I could see through her silky fur had gone a sickly grayish-white, and greenish smudges now encircled her eyes, making them enormously bright. The place on her arm where the amphistaff had latched itself was already swollen to twice its normal size, and the swelling didn't appear to be stopping anytime soon.

I didn't know what to do. I had no med-kit, no real training. All I could think of was to simply lay my hands on her, shushing her like a mother would a crying baby, trying to keep her as calm as possible so the poison now coursing through her frame would move more slowly.

"Ssh, ssh, Link. It's ok, you're going to be okay..."

She didn't seem to hear me; I cast a desperate glance up to Kyan.

"You used to be a jedi, or were going to be one; surely you can do something!"

Then the thought struck me that there was indeed something I could do. Somehow, throughout those frantic seconds following the unexpected attack I had managed to regain my grasp on the comm-link. I now raised it to my lips.

"This is Yaoksi, Link's been attacked by one of these amphistaffs, and we don't have any medical supplies to speak of and I think she's been poisoned; Terrin, Galen, whoever is coming get yer hiney here asap!

"Yaoksi, out."

"Yaoksi, this is Galen still on Eagle II. I don't know if Terrin got that, but I'll make sure he does. He's en route to you now, and he has some medical supplies. We have..."

I trailed for a moment, gulping with dismay as the image of our tiny medical facility leaped before my eyes. Khaandon alone knew if we had anything to combat amphistaff poison; I pushed that worry aside, however, and continued as memories coming from my days on remote planets with Dad leaped to my defense.

"We have a small med-bay here; hopefully we'll be able to tend to Link when you get aboard. In the meantime, keep her calm and keep the injured part lower than her heart. Whatever you do, do not go cutting her to remove any poison, and don't try to be fancy with a tourniquet. She is going to need all her body parts when she's well! Just get somewhere safer if you can. Terrin should be with you soon; oh, he reports that something seems either to have removed itself from where it's growing, or else there's something else in that patch you're in, and it's not attached to the ground. Keep an eye open, and be careful guys; you'll be aboardship and off this rock in less than half a standard hour.

"I'm relaying to Terrin now; hang in there. "Galen, out."

With that I opened an immediately channel to Terrin, and squirted Yaoksi's message to him.

"Hurry up, Flyboy, and for all the Treasure on Roon be careful. Those things bite, and they're poisonous; Link is down, but Yaoksi is with her. They need medical supplies asap, so double-time it, love. We have to get them out of here.

"Galen, out."

"I am a Jedi, but I can't use the force." I answered. "I'll explain later, right now she mostly appears to be in shock. The poison should act very slowly, at least it does on humans. The vongese made it slow so they could watch you suffer."

When was that med kit going to get here.

"From what was taught to me about those things poison was don't get bit. We need to find a way to stop the poison from spreading past her arm, I just can't think of how..."

I cut myself off when I caught the glint of my shoto lying on the ground next to Yaoksi, I picked it up and looked at it a few moments before holding it out in front of Yaoksi.

I shut my eyes against the terrible sight of what seemed to be so innocent an object as an untriggered shoto, unwilling to even contemplate the horror Kyan was now suggesting. But I couldn't keep further images, other, more horrible images, from playing vividly against my inner lids.

Images of Terrin Danner laying pale and white in entirely too large a puddle of his own blood, one arm torn excruciatingly from its socket... a follow-up image of him laying faint and wan beneath the capable appendages of my med-bot as the unit determined the feasibility of prosthetic attachment... yet one more of my own knees, now turning redder by the minute as I scrubbed and scrubbed the deck, trying with all my might to utterly eliminate every last drop of blood from them as though by the act of their erasure the entire, hideous event would miraculously never have happened at all.

Would there be blood this time, too?

I shook my head, dragging my gaze from the shoto and up into Kyan's face. The expression I found there was no less grim.

"Does it have to happen this way?" The words barely made it from my mouth. I cut a glance down at the young Ryn, knowing that in this day and age a prosthetic looked and felt every bit as natural as the missing member.

What it would do to her emotional state, though; now that was an entirely different matter. I knew she was a tough little cookie... but whether her fortitude went all the way to the bone or not I had yet to determine. I simply hadn't known her long enough yet.

Hurriedly, I went on. "I mean, are you sure there's no other option? No antidote? No anti-venin? The Vong were here quite some time ago; surely something had been developed. If we only just keep her calm and quiet, like Galen said, and keep her arm lower than her heart..."

I trailed, letting my glance slide away from the dark look I saw flit across Kyan's face and back onto Link. She was awake and alert, but seemed somewhat feverish. Her arm was now grotesquely swollen from just below the elbow all the way to her fingertips. Here and there blackish skin peeped through fur gone suddenly dull and lusterless; I gulped, not liking the look of that at all.

I looked her square in the eyes, and to my surprise thought I saw something close to understanding shining there.

...and was promptly latched onto by one of the trios of amphistaffs. Terrin didn't take the time to find out what it was, but instead kept moving again, just in time to hear both Yaoksi's panicked message and Galen's. "I should be close," he responded to both, concern in his voice. He let that concern move his feet, and keep his body on the alert. By the grace of the fates, as he continued to move, Terrin could hear voices...

...at least one of which was familiar. Very cautiously, he approached. "Captain Joao?" he called then, already knowing from the desolate area that he was probably approaching those he sought but not wanting to approach and alarm anyone. He kept moving, and in short order reached the three only to see Yaoksi on the ground with a very pale little Ryn, her arm looking swollen and painful. Yaoksi had blood and cuts all over as well, but for the moment only had attention for the little Ryn.

Terrin nodded to the third unknown party with Yaoksi, assuming from the fact he was carrying a lightsaber that he was the Jedi, and then promptly dropped to the ground and unstrapped the medkit from his shoulder, looking more closely at the Ryn's injuries and hurting for her. "We're going to get you somewhere safe and try to get you better," he said to her then, trying to reassure.

Then he looked towards Yaoski. "I have some antivenin, but I don't know if it'll help," he said softly, concern etched in his voice. "I do have some pain killers and sedative that might at least alleviate the pain though. And you have injuries that need to be looked at, asap. But most importantly--"

He trailed a moment, looking about their surroundings for emphasis, "I think we need to get out of here."

It was hard to speak Link was short of breath, but she didn't know if it was the poison like Kyan said or if it was her own fear of the possibility of dying.

"I think I can feel it rising through my arm," Link continued. "It's paralyzing my arm but... I can still feel the pain."

Link reached out with her other hand and latched on to Yaoksi's arm. She tried to look at him but her vision was blurry from her tears.

"Are- are your med-droids as good as I remember them?" I stumbled, screaming at myself that this was going to happen again, that once again someone in my care was going to lose an arm. But rant and rave though I might, deep down I knew if Link's arm wasn't removed, and removed fast, she would probably die.

I refused to let that happen, especially when she was laying right there beside me, being all big and brave...

I swallowed thickly, and waited for Terrin to reply, knowing his answer would be the final straw laid upon the opee's back...

He turned then to the jedi. "I'm afraid we don't have time to get her back to the ship," he observed then worriedly, a lump now growing in his own throat. While he hadn't a clue about Ryn physiology, by all looks she was still quite young. To have to face a thing like this so early in life...

"You won't feel a thing, I promise hon," I said softly, knowing that part at least to be true what with the sedative Terrin was even then injecting into her veins in combination of what I presumed to be the finesse of Kyan.

I didn't even bother to motion to anyone. I merely laid her wounded arm out to one side, handling the injured member as gently as I could, and trying not to jostle her any further. For a moment I wavered, trying to keep my composure--

Her arm felt so horribly, horribly squishy...

Then I regained my self-control and gave her a big smile.

"Atiniir, gedet'ye," Kyan softly whispered.

Kyan brought the tip of his saber into the ground right below her elbow and held it there for a moment while he drew in a quick breath. Then with a quick jerk of his arms he brought his saber up and clear through her arm right at her shoulder cleaving off her arm.

He could see her wince even through the sedative she was on, but it did the job she probably wasn't feeling most of the pain of her arm being cut off and the lightsaber cauterizing the flesh as well.

"We'll get you fixed up good as new," I whispered a promise. "Better, even."

Then I carefully scooped her into my arms, taking care not to place any undue pressure on the fresh wound. After I had a firm grip upon her I rose to my feet, raised my head and firmed my shoulders. They shook a moment or two, however, when I saw the nearest group of amphistaffs which appeared to be trying to reach out for fresh prey.

I took an involuntary step away from them, tightening my grip upon Link as I did.

He trailed, looking back at the wounded Ryn in Yaoksi's arms. "...but Yaoksi's little friend has been seriously wounded. Her arm had to be taken in order to prevent any of the amphistaff poison from spreading."

He paused then, just long enough to strap the medkit back on his shoulder. "We'll be there as soon as we can; we need to get out of here and get to the Hornett's medical facilities."

Sending the message off, he turned back to the others a final time. "We'd better keep an eye out for more than just the amphistaffs, I'm afraid. Something csame flying out of nowhere at me a few minues ago, and I didn't get a good look at it after I blasted it because an amphistaff group latched onto it. I'm not sure if it was something predatory or not, but the way it came sailing at me and the fact it's out here in an amphistaff field..."

He trailed one final time, shaking his head. "You know what I mean."

"Get back as fast as you can, but not so fast as to be rash about it. I'm reading lifesigns on the prowl in that field you're in the middle of; what in Hell's Seven Circles can wander with impunity in a field of Vong living weaponry is beyond me, but it just can't be good. So keep your wits about you; I'll leave the porch light on.

"Galen, out."

Much louder.

Terrin froze, and unholstered his blaster once more, staring at the sky. "I heard this before the thing came flying at me," he commented quietly, warily. Disturbingly enough, the sound was getting impossibly louder, as though it were moving towards them. Terrin actually took a protective step back, shielding the wounded Ryn and Yaoksi from whatever might be coming their way.

And then it happened. A flock of the flying things began swarming over them frantically.

"Get down!" Terrin yelled over his shoulder as he did just that, debating over whether or not he should fire his blaster with the amount of creatures flying overhead, still uncertain as to whether or not they were predatory or not for the fact that they really hadn't attacked.

They where flying by so fast that Kyan couldn't get a good look at them but he was fairly certain it was one of the two species.

"I'm thinking their either thud bugs or razor bugs." Kyan yelled to the others. "Vongese ranged weapons. I can't be sure but with the amphistaffs here it would make sense. We are fine as long as they don't hit us."

As suddenly as they came they where gone and the loud rustling sound they made quickly faded as well. Kyan cautiously stood up to take a quick look around using the binocs built into his helmet but couldn't find them a trace of whatever it was anywhere.

"I think their gone," he announced. "And they don't seem to be tracking us, they probably stay above the amphistaffs and so they don't get caught by one. At least I hope they do, last thing we need is a flying creature that can eat amphistaffs."

"The sooner we're in hyperspace, the better I'll like it. And Link needs medical care; can we step up the pace a bit?"

Too quiet.

After some length of time in which they all heard little else aside from their own footfalls, Terrin could stand the silence no longer. "We're getting close," he said over his shoulder, unconciously stepping up the pace just a bit more. "It's too quiet here," he then stated, voicing his concerns aloud.

As if on cue to that voiced thought, an eerie, shrill cry rang from some distance away, its origin unknown. Terrin stepped it up a bit more, Eagle II now visible. "I don't know what that is," he then commented under his breath, "But I don't want to find out. Eagle II is just up ahead."

"Don't look at me," Kyan answered. "I only know what half this stuff from the old war holos my parents made me watch and the combat lessons from my mother. I don't know what every piece of vongese tech is."

I shuddered again, trying to put my eyes everywhere at once.

"Hey guys, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling about--"

And that was when it burst in upon us like something out of a nightmare. Big and leathery, it didn't seem to have any features, no parts; it was as if it was nothing more than a huge living kite. And as it descended upon us from out of nowhere, it was preceded by an overwhelming and nearly physical sense of doom, of evil, of helplessness and pain, which descended upon us like some kind of horrible, noisome cloud...

That overbearing shrill abruptly blasted over our position, seeming to come from the entirety of whatever this thing was, almost as if it was too powerful a thing to be emitted by merely a mouth. I crumpled to my knees without realizing it, bowing over Link's still body and cradling her upon my thighs with my chest, my freed arms now being busy trying to protect my head. For, again inexplicably, I had a certain foreknowledge that the thing, whatever it was, was aiming straight for my brain. I hunkered lower, squinting my eyes tightly shut against the onslaught, trembling and sweating and dimly wondering how the others were faring...

"Ke'gyce, k'uur," Kyan shouted as he continued to drop. At once all audio went silent as his helmet cut off all outside noises. For once Kyan was relieved that not listening to the jedi counsel about not wearing his armor or even removing features that jedi wouldn't need was a good call on his part. Slowly as if the sound emanating from the creature was still incapacitating him he reached for his lightsabers at his waist unclipping them, then getting on the balls of his feet ready to pounce.

Kyan waited for his moment, studying the creature. He had no idea what it was it was just a huge flying thing, seeing what he thought where eyes or at least something he hoped was important. Aiming for that spot he waited until the creature drew closer until it was only 2 meters above them, close enough to strike.

Shooting off from the ground like a rocket Kyan light both his sabers as he flew. His first strike was with the shoto a shallow cut along the surface of the creature, it wasn't designed to do much more then distract it from his true objective. Kyan had his other saber in a reverse grip, continuing to follow through with his initial strike he let his body spin. Snapping his arm with his full lenght saber he plunged the blade straight through the spot he picked earlier all the way to the hilt and hopefully out through the other side.

Almost the instant after his attack as if a reflex the entire creatures body slammed against Kyan like getting his by a shuttle straight into the ground. Landing on his back Kyan felt as if the wind got knocked out of him, he opened his eyes and saw nothing but static.
Kriffin thing must have busted my helmets visuals.

Kyan rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up so he could remove his helmet when he was greeted by a sharp pain in his chest, probably cracked a few ribs he thought to himself if he wasn't wearing that armor it might have crushed him on impact. Reaching up Kyan removed his helmet and was reminded of the assault on his hearing but now it was an inconsistent shrill as he saw the creature writhing in what he hoped was agony. The noise was still very loud but at least now he could withstand it without the aid of his helmet and he hoped the other could do.

"What are you two waiting for?" Kyan shouted in between his wheezing and coughing. "Shoot that thing already."

And Terrin had been around Jasyn Lancaster long enough to know that when you fire a blaster to incapacitate and kill, you aim for something that either looks important or looks damaged. Or both. First he aimed for the now purplish streaks on the creature's underside and "eyes," where Kyan had thrust his sabers through. Then he aimed more steadily for the the thing's middle, hoping to hit an important organ or something.

He fired again. And again and again. At length the already slowly-moving creature fell to the ground, its writhing slowing significantly. Terrin got to his feet and trained his blaster on the creature, calling back to the others but not removing his eyes from it. "Hurry to the ship!" he said, hearing movement behind him even as he did so. He took another step closer to what he assumed was a dying creature...

...and was assaulted by one final, debilitating shrill. He gripped his blaster and tried his best to stay upright...

...and the thing made one final attempt to fly and knock him to the ground. It never quite made it very high, however. It did, nevertheless, knock Terrin off his feet. Still, its injuries were significant, and it was apparently making its last effort to catch any prey at all. The shrill ceased, and the creature fell to the ground with Terrin's leg underneath...

...and Terrin fired his blaster two more times. It writhed and gripped his leg for a brief moment, and then let go entirely and fell limp. Terrin worked his leg out from underneath its body and got to his feet, ignoring the minor pain in his leg knowing that others had suffered far worse injury. Taking the lead once more, seeing Eagle II clearly, he lead them on, keeping a firm grip on his blaster...

But my imagination was only too eager to supply the rest. More than once I instinctively began leaping to my feet, hand flying to the blaster yet snugged against my hip, the other going to the central control of my Sith flightsuit which had stood in good stead more than once during my colorful past. But each time I forced myself to settle back, hovering over the readouts like a mother hen, one hand ready to slap open the hatch should the returning party need entrance in all due haste.

Which they actually did.

It seemed I had transported from my seat directly to the hatch I had just opened, I moved with such alacrity. But to my relief I only saw Terrin, coughing and waving a blaster as he led his comanions up the gangway: a worried looking Captain Joao, who clutched a small furry form closely to his chest, and a stranger clad in--

Sorben.

I couldn't help it; our relationship had been too strong, we had been tempered for too lengthy a time by the forge of all we had gone through together. Not everyone in the galaxy gadded about in Mandalorian armor, after all..

I swayed against the bulkhead before firming. Of course this wasn't Sorben, he was head of the Imperials now or something, wasn't he? And Mandalorian armor or no although this stranger carried himself with something of the same elan as did Sorben, his structure was far different from his. I shook off the visceral shock and rushed forward to take the Ryn from Captain Joao's arms.

"I've been monitoring you; get in there and get us at least into orbit before something else wants to eat you. I've got med-bay prepared, so if you'll excuse me..."

So with the the thought in mind of checking up on my little charge at the first opportunity -- like whenever Galen returned! -- I took a moment to regain my composure and take a look around. The craft I found myself in was sleek, roomy, yet efficient in size. A central gangway led forward to what I assumed to be the control center, and aft to the medical facilities and who knew what else, perhaps a small galley.

The thought of a galley broadened into a mental image of the biggest eleven course meal I could possibly imagine; my stomach answered with a not-so-polite grumble, voicing itself loud enough to shush my trembling muscles, which in turn were crying insistently for rest. But this wasn't my ship, I was a rescue victim. Memories of the time I came to the aid of Captain Danner and his fiery little wife rushed into my head; maybe they'd return the favor? But in the meantime, I could only offer a heartfelt, "Thank you."

Then, still wondering what exactly to do with myself, I turned to Kyan and held out his shoto, for surprisingly enough I had managed to hang onto it throughout the entirety of our recent ruckus.

"You too, pal," I said simply, then let myself fall back against the bulkhead and just stood there, propped at an angle like some kind of beat-up and thoroughly worn out mop.

He paused then, nodding towards the Eagle II's control center where there were enough seats for the entire group. "Come'n, let's strap in and head out."

Saying nothing further, Terrin headed for the control center, knowing the others were going to follow him as he took a seat at the pilot's station. Taking systems off standby and into full gear, Terrin pushed the ship-wide comm channel. "Galen, just a head's up. We're heading off into orbit."

Then he turned to the nav controls, his fingers playing about them like it was mere child's play, smoothly moving Eagle II from its resting position on the unknown planet's surface, into sky, into atmosphere, and then to space beyond, establishing a low orbit around the planet.

Only then did he pause to key in another comm signal, one which was dually encoded and totally secure. "Hornett, this is Captain Danner. Requesting med preparations for an injured Ryn. Prosthetics required. Make sure the best we've got is ready and waiting." He paused. "The best. ETA will be sent shortly."

Sending the message off, Terrin turned a meaningful look back Yaoksi's way, his gaze growing then to include both passengers with him, concern evident. "You guys should both get checked out for injuries...

...and get you something to eat and drink. Still, I'd love to put quite a bit more distance between us and this planet."

"I'm surprised you carried her all this way with you hands like that without so much as a complaint." Commented Kyan. Was either of your parents Mandalorian?"

Before Yaoksi could answer Kyan put an armored hand on Yaoksi's shoulder ignoring his own pain from what he surmised where a few cracked ribs and led them both to the med bay. Kyan had Yaoksi's sit down in one of the chairs in the medbay across from where Link was immersed in a tank of bacta. Kyan quickly located what he needed some bandages and some bacta gauze. Pulling up another chair he sat down across from Yaoksi letting out a slight wince of pain and proceeded to apply the bacta gauze to both of Yaoksi's hands and bandage his hands. While still bandaging Yaoksi's hands he briefly turned his head towards Galen to see her at the monitors of the bacta tank that contained Link.

"She- she's going to be all right," I said when I finally got myself under control. I turned back to the little Ryn to make certain nothing about her condition had somehow changed. The readouts remained true, indicating that she was in a healing slumber, and that her lifesigns had stabilized. In fact, if it hadn't been for the terrible vacancy along her one side, one would think that at any moment she would wake up and go about her business.

I returned my attention to the stranger, who was engaged in bandaging up Captain Joao's hands. A surge of guilt immediately washed throughout me; I should be attending to those we had rescued, after all. But this man seemed adept in what he was doing, like he was used to such things, and healing others came second nature to him.

I cocked my head a little, noticing the little wince that escaped him which in turn suggested that he himself was not operating at one hundred percent.

"Are you a doctor?" I finally asked. Everyone in the galaxy knew that doctors were among the worst patients; if they got hurt they tended to either whine like baby nerfs or ignore the injury altogether. Well, those doctors who still existed; I know they were still working out in the far reaches of the galaxy, where med-droids didn't exactly abound. And after all, we'd found this guy in exactly such a place.

I nodded fractionally.

"Physician, heal thyself," I said, indicating his torso which he seemed to be trying to prevent from moving too much.

"Looks like you're hurt yourself; is there anything I can do for ya, since Captain Joao is a little incapacitated at the moment?"

I turned a smile Yaoksi's way, more to acknowledge his presence here than anything --

Sheesh, we sure owed the guy, didn't we?

--before turning back once more to the armor-clad stranger.

"No not a doctor, Ori'ramikade Mandalorian commando and Jedi," Kyan answered while continuing to remove the armor plates from his body. "My Buir or father is basic was a sort of combat medic I learned basic battlefield medicine from him before he was killed when I was around seven. My Buir or mother, Mando'a has the same word for mother and father, was a death commando for Mandalore himself so after my father died I never learned anymore. They had basic first aid at the Jedi Accademy as well, but I learned more from my Buir then I did from them."

Kyan had finished removing his armor plates from the upper half of his armor leaving the sealed flight suit. Unsealing the upper half of his flight suit from the lower half he removed it like it was merely a sweater setting it with the rest of his armor. Underneath that however was a set of Jedi robes that he wore under his armor minus the identifiable outer cloak. Pulling back his Jedi robes it reveled the scars that covered his body from all his past battles. Looking down he could see a massive bruise on his right side, running his hand along his rib cage in that area he found that none of his ribs felt broken but that didn't mean they where not fractured or cracked.

"I think it's just a few cracked ribs," Kyan commented. He reached out and grabbed a scanner and some compression wrap and handed it to Galen.

"Umm, er--" I fumbled, taken somewhat aback not only by this but by the information he let flow out from him.

"Ahh- sure, yeah."

Now didn't that sound intelligent? I couldn't help seeing the little smirk, quickly stifled, which crossed Captain Joao's features as I moved to take the materials this almost-a-Jedi was handing out to me. My brows lowered at this, and I grabbed the bandaging and scanner a bit more brusquely than I actually intended.

"Hold up your arms," I ordered in turn, and began running the scanner up and down his lithe frame. It immediately set up a noisy medical chattering, informing me that he had suffered two cracked ribs, a deep contusion, several strained muscles, and various and sundry scratches, pulled ligaments and bruises.

"Wow, did you tangle with a rancor or something?" I muttered as after turning off the scanner I turned my attention to binding him up. Now taking up the bandage material he had given me, I placed one end of the long, soft strip just beneath his left armpit.

"Here, hold this."

With no further ado I began wrapping him up, keeping the bandage taut yet not suffocatingly tight, stopping every so often to slip a couple fingers between it and his body. When it covered the injured area to my satisfaction -- and hopefully his as well -- I expertly wove the loose end off into the bandaging and stood back to scrutinize my handiwork. Then I lifted my eyes up to meet his.

"So, you have a name or what?" I chuffed, still a little put out at being seemingly ordered about in my own ship. Off to the side, Captain Joao's smirk only appeared once more, and began to slide wider. I only ignored it again and quickly whirled away, going now to the cupboard and returning with some pain-killer which I offered out to both men.

Captain Joao's amusement notwithstanding.

"My apologies," Kyan answered. "I am Jedi Master Kyan Jetiis'ad, thank you for the rescue."

Rising to a standing position Kyan, removed the rest of his armor and stacked it neatly with the rest he removed a few minutes prior, leaving only his Jedi robes and his armored boots. Picking up his lightsabers he clipped them to his belt. Minus the black armored boots he wore, without all the Mandalorian armor Kyan looked like any other typical Jedi.

An obviously intentional cough echoed into my ears from Captain Joao's direction; I ignored it completely.

"That is something not up to me alone," I returned, allowing a small smile to flick about my lips. It faded then, however, as thoughts of what might lie ahead flashed upon its heels.

"If you're up to it, we can go to the galley and get a cuppa caff or something; I'm sure Terrin--"

I trailed, my eyes widening.

Dang, if Terrin hadn't appeared injured himself coming aboard. And I was so caught offguard by Kyan's choice of garb that I hadn't even really considered that until just this moment.

"I'm sure my husband would love us to all have a little chat; I'll show you guys the galley, or a place where you can rest if you want, while I go talk to him and get his input on--"

I paused a moment, fumbling.

...but it was minor, and not nearly worth worrying about while he still was taking care of the responsibility of getting them all the kriffing hell away from this place.
Wherever this place was.

Tagging it in the ship's navcomputer as the coordinates from the Hornett came streaming in across the same secure frequency as before, Terrin again turned to the ship-wide comm unit. "Hey, guys, I have coordinates from the Hornett. Hate to be momentarily anti-social but I figured you'd like to get out of here first."

He paused, keying the coordinates into the Eagle II's hyperdrive. "Presuming of course that no one is going to have any objections, we're headed for hyperspace in..."

He trailed a moment, "...15 standard seconds. After that I'll be back to join you."

Saying nothing further then, Terrin turned his attentions completely to the navboard as the hyperspace counter ran to zero...

...and the space before him exploded into starlines. Secure in the knowledge that they were headed to safety, only then did Terrin place the ship in autopilot and wince...

...ever the slightest as an annoyance of a pain shot through his leg. still, he managed to get to his feet and began to head aft where the others were most certainly getting the medical treatment and food they needed.

It seemed the little Ryn was coming back to life after all!

"Hey, outta my way!" I exclaimed as, in response to the little one's apparent distress I bullied my way between Yaoksi and Kyan and rushed to the bacta tank. There I fumbled as fast as I could with the controls, and soon the steady and deep bass thrummm of pumps filled the little med-bay. It was only then, as the thick liquid was dissipating to release the Ryn from it's care that I stepped back and cast somewhat sheepish glances toward the two men.

"She's going to be all right, I think," I offered by way of apology. "At least physically; I'll get her freed from the bacta, and you guys can take over since she knows you better than me. A familiar face is probably going to do her more good than this tank, anyway."

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. No sooner had I finished my comment than a gentle chime announced the tank was cleared. I popped it open, and avoiding the Ryn's thrashings managed to remove the mask from her face.

"Hey, easy there, it's okay, you're going to be all right. You're safe, and there's a couple people here waiting to see you."

The loss of her arm hadn't hit her until that moment when she was completely helpless and couldn't even climb out of a small tank. She couldn't help but to curl up into a tight little ball on the bottom of the tank and start crying.

"Why is this happening?" Link demanded. "I never asked to be abandoned, a slave, a cripple, a Ryn."

Link looked up and through her blurry vision she saw Kyan standing there looking more Jedi then ever.

"Where is you all mighty Force now Jedi," Link screamed. "Where is you so called justice and fairness you fight for. Your a lie and so is your all powerful Force you believe in. If you Jedi did your job there would be no slavers, no evil, no one to hate me because I'm a worthless Ryn. And now you took my arm, I hate you Jedi."

But that same mother's instinct told me with assurety that those words had been born from fear and shock; shushing her, I swooped her into my arms and held her as best I could. It was a tight fit, for the tank was a miniature model designed for a smaller ship, but I managed to squeeze enough of me in to put my arms around her.

"Hey, hey," was all I could say at the moment. Actually, there wasn't too much more I really could say, for she didn't know me, I didn't know her, and I knew she really wasn't listening. At least not with her ears.

Not yet. But I knew that would come.

Holding her, I let her cry herself out until at length she came to a halt and drew in a shuddery, snuffly breath. We remained there a little longer, squashed together in the confines of the bacta tank, and then I slowly drew her out. Putting an arm around her to support her, I led her to a med-bed and helped her climb between the antiseptic sheets.

"You're going to be all right, trust me, I promise it. In fact, to prove it, there's someone you need to talk to..."

I gave her a little hug and a quick kiss on top of her furry head. Then I tucked her in and pulled a nearby cord from where it was attached to the bulkhead. It was a medical comm-link; I placed it into her one hand with a smile.

"Just you yell if you need anything; I'll be right back."

With that I turned to the two men and instructed them to remain nearby, in case she decided to do anything crazy. Then I headed forward, and who should I run into en route but the object of my search.

"Terrin!" I cried as I ran up to him and gave him a welcoming hug. I stepped back and looked up into his baby blues.

"I'm glad to see you're heading to med-bay, right?" I couldn't help but nudge, for knowing him he would carry his pain and injuries far too long before seeking help. Before he could reply I raised a hand and continued.

"There's a little visitor in there who's mad as hell, not to mention frightened to death and otherwise feeling mighty low and worthless. Perhaps you might want to show her that life, and most importantly self doesn't end with the mere loss of an easily replaceable limb."

Smiling gently, I reached out and took hold of his quite natural feeling prosthetic hand.

Images which the little Ryn no doubt needed to have for herself, of those who cared about her, sticking by her, regardless of her lost limb.

Terrin smiled back to Galen in response, returning her hug before moving back slightly to look into her wonderful big brown eyes. "And more importantly, show her that the people who care about her are going to stick by regardless of the injury to her person. Something which can be done with far more than just words."

With that, Terrin allowed Galen to lead on as he limped slightly back to the small and cramped medbay. His mind spiraled back years as he entered and stepped up to the med-bed occupied by the Ryn. He knelt beside the bed then to be on eye level with her, favoring one leg obviously over the other but ignoring that fact once again feeling that something more important was at stake.

"We're all going to help you through this," he opened with kindly, looking her straight in the eye. "We care about you that much, Link, regardless of what injuries you have sustained. You've got got two of the best people you'll ever find in the galaxy in the department of sticking around right here," he then continued, motioning back to indicate Galen and Captain Joao. "I know this on personal experience."

He paused a moment then, letting his words sink in before saying anything else. "I'd like to show you something," he said then, rolling one sleeve up to expose what at least appeared to be a natural arm. Knowing just the spot only for the fact he'd been instructed on its use in case of a malfunction, Terrin tapped a spot on his anterior forearm. A small port popped open, revealing a control panel and more deeply running wires. He left it exposed for a few moments before closing the control panel and rolling his sleeve back down. His blue eyes fell back into those of he Ryn's.

"We're going to stick around, and get you whatever medical care you need to get you back up and going like usual," he again reassured. Terrin then reached out to gently lay a hand on the shoulder of Link's obviously misshapen side, taking a care to put only a reassuring amount of pressure there without causing unintentional pain. So vividly he recalled how very much the act of Galen laying a hand anywhere near his own injury had reinforced that, as she so delicately had said, the change in his appearance mattered not.

And in the end, with the wonders of technology, his appearance hadn't really changed at all. Removing his hand from her shoulder after a long moment, Terrin got to his feet with a slight wince and backed up, casting a side-long glance at Yaoksi as if to say "now would be a good time to step in..."

But damnitall, she could have died back there...

"Thank you," I said then, as Terrin backed away, and I meant it from the bottom of my heart. Nice of him to break the ice; something told me now that Link needed more. So I approached her bed and hunkered down on my heels beside her, reaching out to put a hand on her arm.

"Whatever you need, you're going to get, kiddo," I said, nodding my head sideways toward Danner. "He's got the bucks, and he owes me, after all."

Memories of our brief but horrific experience in the Darker Realms jumped into my head; with a slight shudder I pushed them back and went on.

"I hope you didn't mean those words you said, about the Jedi being worthless. They do what they can, and have done pretty damned well in the past. It's just that--"

I paused a moment to let the idea we had been tiptoeing around actually sink into my head, that being something about the Vong being en route to our galaxy again. Finding a planet with their living weaponry didn't do much toward debunking the apparent fact; memories even more vague crawled in on top of them, reminding me of how their first warriors had nearly decimated us, and that it took all the powers of the Jedi to stop them.

But now, with their own numbers being practically nil...

"It's just that the galaxy is so damned, big, and they can't be everywhere. So we've got to rely on each other, you see.

"I hope you know that you can rely on me. And you might have been a slave once, but you're not now. And you're far from being a cripple, kid; you only lost an arm, and we're gonna fix that."

I fumbled to an awkward halt, not knowing what else to say. I never thought of myself as being the eloquent type, after all.

Link stared at Yaoksi with her eyes full of rage, then it hit her what she had just done. She was pushing away those who would try to help her, suddenly she grew ashamed at what she had done and couldn't face them. Rolling on her side she now stared at the far wall away from everyone else. She knew they didn't understand but she wanted them to. Still feeling Yaoksi's reassuring hand on her arm Link wrapped her tail around it holding it tight.

"I have pretty much reached the pinnacle of what a Ryn can amount to in life," Link started. "Have you ever seen how other Ryn live, they are fortune tellers, con artists, drifters, cheap bar entertainment. Living with all their stupid superstitions and rituals content to be ignored and despised as long as they can follow their ridiculous beliefs. The first time I enter a room I'm instantly compared to them, either ignored or chased out by torch wielding mobs. Imagine what its like to walk down the streets of even the core worlds and for mothers to pull their kids away from me because I might put a Ryn curse on them. Because of the way my people chose to live I have to lie about who I am to get jobs even as a slicer, do you know what its like to lie about what you are because your ashamed of it. A droid, a kriffing droid gets more respect then a Ryn."

"If I was born as a human, and even still abandoned on Correllia I still would have had more help then I did. Why do Ryns even exists, so everyone else can feel better about themselves and know they are something of worth? Because that is all we Ryn are good for, the jobs even droids won't take or to be hunted down and shot to make a nice rug on the wall if we are lucky. I sold to little girls as a pet, beaten for even speaking forced to eat food from a bowl on her floor and make a cute purring sound when she petted me with the grace of a hutt."

Link craned her head to look back at Yaoksi not sure if he understood what it was for her to be what she was, but sincerely hoping he did and have an answer.

"Just because your race is viewed like this doesn't make it right," I said, relishing the feel of her tail against my arm. I tightened my own touch upon hers.

"I say it's about time someone does something about this, too. You're good, Link, you have skills and a brain and lordy lordy I wish I could do half of what you're capable of doing. I think if anyone is going to affect a change about the Ryn, perhaps you're the one to do it."

I stopped again, as a great overwhelming HOW rushed up into my thoughts. Followed instantly by other, more ominous factors.

"Look, they say the Vong are coming. You've got a lot of skills which will come in mighty handy against them, even if they don't use technology. WE DO, and believe me we're gonna need what you know if push really does come to shove.

"You're with us, and we're not going to let you down, kiddo. I don't think you're 'just a Ryn,' but a useful member of our party, and-- and I really care for you, kid."

I fumbled a moment longer, before finishing up.

"The Ryn will never change, they don't care." Link wept. "And I don't care anymore either I don't want to be a Ryn anymore, all they care about is their backwards system of rules. I want to be Link, the 'person' not the Ryn."

"Hey, hey, c'mon now, it's ok," I murmured. "Trust me, it will, I promise. But--"

I paused to loosen her grip upon me and to hold her away a little so I could stare her directly in the eye.

"There's one thing you have to do, kiddo," I said with mock sternness. "You are Ryn, no matter how much you rail and weep about it. That cannot change, at least not naturally. But what can change is how you view the universe. Be proud of yourself, of who you are.

"I am."

I hauled her furry body back to me to allow her the dignity of hiding her face from me, since I wasn't certain if those were the words she wanted to hear, or even believed to be coming from me.

"We're going to get you a new arm, better than ever. Then we're all going to get together and meet with people and decide just what in the known universe we're going to do about all that's supposed to be happening.

"You don't understand completely," Link replied. "But no one will ever will. You are trying and thats more then anyone else has ever done for me."

Link's began to loose her focus with all the hiking, running, and yelling she had done recently with little to no rest had finally caught up to her and her body demanded it now. Her grip on Yaoksi loosened as she started to drift off.

"No, I'll be ok, I'm fine," I lied despite the fact that both of my hands were bulky with bandages and that myriad scratches and bruises were waging a small battle of their own upon my flesh.

"Don't worry about me, go make sure the Jedi is ok, and then you'd better check on Captain Danner. I think he had a time of it too, in that last bid for freedom we put out down there."

"Ok," I whispered and backed quietly away to tend to Terrin's thankfully non-life-threatening injuries. After he had been poked and examined, prodded and wrapped, bacta'd and dosed with this antibiotic and that, I waved a hand toward the med-bay door.

"Some food would be most appreciated," whispered Kyan in reply. "One moment however."

Kyan reached into his Jedi robes and pulled out a small holodisc, pressing a button on its side a holo of his family materialized. His wife, daughter, brother, and himself all standing proud clad in Mandalorian Armor; except for his brother who wore Jedi robes instead. The holo was taken 26 years ago, one year before his brothers fall to the darkside. Amazed that even when he took the holo into battle it somehow managed to survive, it reminded him that in some way the force was still with him. Deactivating the holo he returned it to its place inside his jedi robes and returned his attention to Galen.

The modest credit sum surviving Kal Tane covered a meal and provisional real estate onboard a thrifty short-range Honoghr transport.

Loban of Tattooine…

I remember taking the Kenobi surname in tribute to war hero Obi-Wan Kenobi, rumored to be native to Tattooine. I’m too old for worship and superstition. How old? What’s happened, and why, and for how long?

I can sense the Force, but cannot wield it. My mother, I remember my mother. Shawn. My hand; I remember the irrational events that led to losing my hand. Are the rest of my memories lucid dreams? They lack cohesiveness. The fog persists; and my stomach has ached since that meal at the bar.

Loban sat in quiet contemplation as the spacecraft departed Wayland orbit. Attentive of further ominous circumstances, Loban’s instinct was brought to the foreground. Logic concluded elsewhere was preferred to that planet, or more directly, the people responsible for his resurrection.

I thought wrong.

"Umm... yeah," I blundered a little before composing myself. I jerked a thumb in the general direction of aft.

"If you go that-a-way, you'll find a small galley," I put forth. "Go on back and make yourself at home; I'm going to make certain Terrin is ok, then we'll join you. I'm a little gnarly myself."

With that I turned to Terrin, medical scanner in hand, and gave him a thorough once-over. Other than some lovely bruises and a sprain here or there, he was pronounced alive and otherwise well. I switched off the handheld device and went to get some salve with which to annoint some of his deeper scratches. Once he was well-greased I nodded in satisfaction, and we departed to the galley. There we found the stranger, sitting at a little table.

I indicated that Terrin join him, and moved to the sideboard to pour us some caf.

"Here's this for starters, unless you want something stronger," I said as I returned to the men and set the cups down in front of them. Then I returned to my chefly duties, and rustled up something fast and hot and good.

"So, Kyan," I said as I sat down and picked up my knife and fork. "You'll have to excuse my manners; I'm Galen Jhin'Dar Danner, and this is my husband Terrin. You're aboard our ship Eagle II, currently en route to--"

I paused a moment to shoot a glance Terrin's way, then clammed up. If anything other than our names were to be divulged to this man, let Terrin be the one to decide it. I went smoothly on.

"--somewhere away from this neck of the woods. Which brings the question to mind:

"How in Hell's Seven Circles did you manage to get way out here, and how did you happen to run into Captain Joao?"

I fell quiet with that, cuz my mouth was too busy chewing the hunk of nerf I had just cut off and placed into it.

"Thanks for the food," Kyan commented in between bites. "I'm not entirely sure how I got there myself, I managed to arrange transport on a freelance cargo vessel heading towards the core. Show how we where pulled out of hyperspace and crashed on that planet, the rest of the crew died on impact. After the first day I found the other crashed ship, it had been their longer then mine and looked more functional so I set up camp there."

"I happened to be on one of my transportation runs, moving supplies from my crash site to the other. When I came back to my camp I found those two, they never even told me how they got there. In short the Force led me to that planet and led me to them."

Cutting off another piece of meat Kyan savored the flavor reminding himself how in the future to make sure to carry better tasting emergency rations. He watched the two while giving his story, he couldn't tell if they believed him.

"While on the planet Yaoksi told me that while I have been gone that the Jedi where attacked and wiped out, I have to know it it true do you know if anyone survived."

Kyan reached into his robe and removed his holopad again, activating it he scrolled through the images until he stopped on one of a younger version of himself and a blue female twi'lek both clad in Mandalorian armor and a jedi cloak. Turning the holopad around he handed it to Galen and Terrin.

Maybe it's Mandalorian, I thought as I scrutinized the image it was showing us. The face was pretty enough, its features serene and well-composed. I stared at it a moment or two, then handed it over to Terrin.

"I'm sorry, but I've not seen her," I said in apology. "And yes, I'm afraid what you heard is true. There's been some, ahhh.. activity of a most untoward nature in the Galaxy, one result of which being the complete annihilation of the old Jedi Praxeum. As far as I know most of the Jedi there, as well as the Senatorial Council on Coruscant, were either wiped out or scattered, and while hopefully the latter, logic leads me to deduce the more likely probablility of the former.

"At least I've not run into that many Jedi lately, and not nary a Senator."

I clammed up then, as visions of Sorben swam up from my memory to taunt me.

Oh Khaandon, Sorben, what have you gotten yourself into...

The Praxeum had been destroyed some time ago...and this guy didn't seem to even know about it. And he said he'd only been on his mission...

...a week?

Terrin wondered if maybe he was just misunderstanding something. But, rather than being brutally honest about what appearesd to be a major discrepancy, Terrin decided upon a more delicate approach. He looked up from the device to Kyan.

"I'm sorry, I've never seen her either," he then said. "We do know a Jedi who might be able to be of more help to you, however."

"More like three or four days." Answered Kyan. "Although I didn't have a chrono so I can't give you and exact measurement, but it could have been a week depending on the rotation speed of the planet."

Kyan had failed to see the reasoning behind Terrin's question, but answered it anyway seeing no harm in it. Kyan put his hand on the holopad and was about to deactivate it when he stopped for a moment to bow his head.

...only he said he'd only been gone for 3 days to a week.

"Kyan, Actar had the Jedi and the Senators wiped out quite some time ago...

...well over a week."

He paused, hating to be the bearer of bad news, particularly considering he couldn't explain the apparent time mystery. "Maybe you've just been disconnected with the Jedi and didn't know about this? Sorry if this line of questioning seems a bit unusual...

Kyan sighed this was going to take some explaining and he hoped his basic was up to the test.

Dammit, Flyboy, you don't have to go spilling everything to this guy. What do we know about him, anyway?

I didn't know if he caught the look or not, but he just better have. I mean, yeah, we might be all nonchalant and blase about time anomalies and portal hopping, and interdimensional traveling and all the other weirdness we'd undergone since we first got ourselves wrapped up in all things Sithly--

But the rest of the galaxy didn't have a clue.

As far as I knew, it would be best it remained oblivious, too. But here Terrin went, blatting on about how we're no strangers to time anomalies as if what everyone in the kriffing universe thought to be physically impossible wasn't.

I aimed a kick at him under the table, then planted my elbows on top of it, laced my fingers beneath my chin, and hunkered closer to Kyan. Hopefully what I was about to tell him would yank whatever attention he might have been giving Terrin away, and he'd put down Terrin's little comment as being said in all silliness, due to stress and injury and whatnot.

"I don't know if you're going to ever get back in touch with the Force," I said abruptly. "We've got a couple Jedi friends who managed to escape the annihilation, and they told us that the Force seems to have disappeared. At least they can't do diddly poo with it, and one of them is I believe a Master."

"Non of the Jedi can use the Force?" Question Kyan. "But how is that possible to strip someone of the Force is a very unknown ability I only know of 3 cases of its occurrence. The last time it happened was 25 years ago and I killed that dark Jedi."
It took me months to retrain myself not to rely on the Force, and I had the benefit of my experience before becoming a Jedi and not over relying on it when I could still use it. The rest of the Jedi would have an even tougher time then I did making an adjustment.

He was just so damned suspicious with Kynan's lack of knowledge of current goings-on that he wasn't quite thinking about what he was inadvertantly saying.

Kriffing hell.

Terrin took a few bites of the nerf that Galen had prepared and stayed quiet for a few minutes to hopefully draw enough attention away from him and what he had been saying. But when Kyan inquired as to the name of the Jedi they knew, he felt it was safe to rejoin the conversation.

"Our Jedi Master friend is named Shawn Petrolu," Terrin then replied, debating on just what to say regarding the time they hadn't been able to use the Force. "As to the length of time they have been unable to use the Force and how it is possible...

“Must be a strong Jedi to become a Master in 25 years,” Kyan commented.

Kyan looked down at his plate and saw he had finished off his meat and drank his cup of caf dry. His body ached from the past week of the vong planet and longed for a Jedi healing trance. A Jedi healing trance like all Force techniques required some mental component, so even without the Force as long as Kyan utilized the mental component he could make his body heal faster.

"I'm afraid it's not much more than a few bunks, but it'll do, I suppose," he then commented, getting to his feet and motioning aft. "We should be arriving on my ship in approximately eight standard hours, give or take a few minutes."

Pausing then, he motioned aft once more. "I think I'll head back that way with you and check on Captain Joao and Link."

Who am I, Eagle II's galley slave?

Then I thought of Terrin's culinary abilities... and it made perfect sense. However, great at throwing things together as I was, this was not the time for me to do so.

"They were out like lights when I left the med-bay," I commented as I stood up and began to clear the empty plates from the table.

"I think it's best to leave them be; seems sleep is better than food at the moment. I mean, if they're able to sleep, they can't be all that hurt or hungry, right? And if it's the sleep of utter exhaustion, well... like I said, they need that more than food right now."

Schlepping the dishes into an auto-cleaner, I turned around and headed to the corridor.

"You go get Kyan settled; I'll go forward and check on our status."

"Vor entye, it is plenty," answered Kyan.

...but then that smile faded into a contemplative frown. "I tagged that planet back there before we headed out," he then said. "I don't know if it'd be worth the time to see if the planet matches any in Holonet databases. With Vong weapons growing there, I'm betting there's not much, if anything, or else someone or other would have their eyes on the planet."

"Assuming, of course, that what the Master kept going on about is indeed true, and the Vong are coming. Although--"

I paused and looked up at Terrin.

He trailed, pursing his lips. "...we're going to need the Empire in on this, if they'll believe the possibility that the Vong are incoming, that is."

He trailed, shaking his head a bit. "Without any Force or other powers at our disposal, we're really going to have to consider ways we can combat the Vong. And the sooner, the better."

Far from it, in fact, because it was awhirl with visions of the escapades I'd shared with Sorben. My brows bunched as I strained those ol' memory cells then, trying to recall what I learned of the Vong attack during those horrible history classes at school.

"You know," I said at length. "Doesn't it seem that when the Vong first attacked, everyone was relying on the Jedi and their powers to overcome them? I mean, like maybe too much?"

I paused to shift my position, the better to look up at Terrin.

"I mean, back when- when I was with Sorben, we found ourselves fighting against this Force-user or that, or others who wielded... other weird powers."

Like Sissypoops...

"And we managed.. Maybe that's what will win this battle, if it ever does come: good ol' ingenuity. And if there's ever a person I'd call a Master in that kind of thing, it's Sorben Tarnus."

A little voice popped up in my inner ear: Hey, kiddo; don't sell yourself short. You pulled some pretty miraculous escapes of your own now, didn't you...?

I kept my mouth shut about that, though.

He paused a moment then, recalling their initial trek through Khar Delba to retrive the Nar Kelba, what seemed like ages ago. Although even then Darra had a hand in helping them get out of that one, although not to her knowledge. Still, they had for the most part handled things without any powers to speak of.

"I agree, we're going to need a Master at tis sort of thing, someone who can think outside of the box and has the advantage of never really having any extrodinary powers to rely upon."

Falling silent for another moment, Terrin locked eyes on Galen. "Do you think Tarnus would help...

"I'm sure he will listen to us," I said, nestling more closely to Terrin.

"Believe me, I know Sorben. He didn't get to be Top Nek of the Bounty Hunter's Guild--"

Nor elevated to his position in the Empire, for the love of Khaandon-!

"--by dismissing allegations out of hand. He's too wily for that.

"I just hope he doesn't throw us in the brig while he decides what the Empire is going to do about it!"

Upon arriving at the furthest-most reaches of Honoghr space, Loban set to amend his past with the recent mysterious circumstances and ultimately move on. He secured passage out of the system through offering his services as a genuine, honest-to-goodness Jedi.

The starship featured 32 living quarters to accommodate a crew of 48, most of which indigenous to their destination. Loban, the only human, fixed himself to the modest room. Basic was the preferred language aboard, however, Loban was intently focused on finding the force in the nature he once took as granted.

Present time

Stars reverted to normality. Transportation to the Outer Rim and the uncharted, Wild Space was their point of reference. No sooner than leaving hyperspace, an unidentifiable mass struck the ship. If the precise hit suggested intent, the second confirmed it. The third and fourth part of a volley, only four crew members had the sense to evacuate. Retaliation was futile. The aggressors either found the escape pods irrelevant, or the destruction of their main target did enough to mask ion trails.

Loban activated the general distress beacon when he was satisfied the prospect of rescue outweighed the risk of undesired detection.

..after he had gone to Corusant to find Galen after he'd stood around and let her walk out of his life without doing diddly himself. "Yeah, been to the brig, don't think I'd like going back again. Actar is probably madder than hell that Jasyn and I were sprung from there, not to mention you," he commented then, frowning darkly.

"Our time out of his scopes hasn't been long enough," he growled. "Although I haven't heard anything of him for a long time. And I sincerely hope it stays that way, for two reasons in particular."

"Terrin, Galen, this is Matt. We've reached Khar Delba and gotten in contact with Lord Aeylmaar, but Graysith and Phalomir have not returned. Furthermore, the status of Shayla's premature infant is critical and we were considering getting some medical supplies to help from Hornett along with a possible visit to Kamino for assistance. We also are considering a trip to K'eel Doba to check o the status of Lord Phalomir and Graysith...

...and to search for a Kaminoan who once helped us before and may be able to help here with the baby along withother things. We were wondering how your search is proceeding and if all is well. Please respond ASAP."

And then the transmission from Matt came in from nowhere, and sent me leaping upright in my seat as though launched by lightning. I fumbled with communications, then opened 'er up to reply.

"Hey Matt, this is Galen," I replied. "We've accomplished our mission, and are en route back to Hornett.

"Here's Terrin..."

It wasn't that I was passing the buck. It was just that I really thought Terrin should be the one to be answering this one. Besides, my own attention was distracted by a tiny little orange light which began blinking steadily off to one corner of the boards.

A distress signal? Now who in Hell's Seven Circles could that be?

I scooched over to allow Terrin access to the mike, nodding to the little blinking light as I did so.

Blinking orange light. And no less, one indicating a distress signal. Kriffing hell, way out here? This COULDN'T be good...

The look he shot Galen's way read as much. Then he tended to the comm unit.

Matt, we are enroute to the Hornett and can confer with the medics there regarding equipment that may be helpful for the premature baby and bring it to save you a trip. If you need to take a trip to K'eel Doba, go ahead and do so. We had an...

...interesting experience on the planet we found Captain Joao and his companions on so we really need to ALL be together to discuss...including Tarnus. We will fill you in on details once we arrive there on K'eel Doba, but for the moment we are receiving a distress signal out here in the boonies...

...and I've got a bad feeling about it. Please stay in touch, and I'll keep you updated on our status once we deal with this little snag, which I hope doesn't take too long. Until then, Captain Danner, out."

With that, Loban centered himself. Slowing his life signs, he called on the training he once must have relied upon.

Accepting death as reality, the probability no ships were within several hundred parsecs to respond, Loban always knew he'd die alone.

I chewed my lip.

"Now, I don't know much about Vong modus operandi, but from what little I remember from school it didn't seem like they were much for employing stealth tactics. I mean, weren't they more akin to using a frontal approach? Like show up, wreak havoc and whatnot, and take over what they had just annihilated? A distress beacon would seem to be something they'd look down their noses upon, don't you think?

"Unless it's someone else, like an advance scout or something-- but sheesh, let's be realistic here. This could all just be entirely circumstantial. Look at what we have."

I held up a hand and began ticking off on my fingers.

"One, we have an initial avowal that the Vong are coming, said avowal from a nasty-canasta we never really cared much for, aka: Lord Phalomir's dear ol Daddykins.

"Two, we have an affirmation from said Lord Phalomir... but how in Hell's Seven Circles would he know about this??? He's the son of the Master, and that guy in turn was never anything but trouble to us.

"Three, we have a distress signal coming in from our vicinity... which yeah, while being sorta close to the world where we found the amphistaffs -- and remember, it was just one field of them that we found; we can't assume they'd be widespread across that entire world without actively looking -- we're really not near that space any longer. We have been traveling a spell, you know."

I paused a moment and looked back at the blinking light. Every red flag hunch I possessed should have been up and waving for attention, but strangely enough they weren't. Just one or two of 'em, and those somewhat inconclusively.

"Those amphistaffs could just have been overlooked by time. I mean, it's not like that world is one on everyone's hot vacation list, right? This might be a leftover from the Vong days; maybe the field had been eradicated at the close of the war, but who knows. Perhaps some spores or seeds or whatever they grow from remained behind, and regrew. Hell, I don't know about those things.

"But it seems logical to me that if the Vong were here now, and if that was one of their intentional, active weapons fields, they'd be on the planet and more than likely would have found and killed Captain Joao and the kid and the jedi.

"Right?"

I looked up into Terrin's baby blues, returning the worried look I found therein.

He sighed a bit, looking at Galen. "Might be nice though if we knew who or what is sending the signal, assuming someone can respond. If not...

...then we'll just have to revert on guard I suppose, just in case something peculiar is going on."

"Air mixture..30 percent. Compl- -ife support fail- anticip- -imately 20 -rs from this-.

"Plea- -ond."

"Oh, great Khaandon's Ghost!" I hollered as I scrambled from my position of comfort into one that was all business. The message we were receiving, while choppy and true and yaeh, kinda suspicious for it popping up way out here in the backend of nowhere, still boded nothing good for its originator.

Assuming this is the real deal, Galen ol' gal, but sheesh, what idiot would send out fake distress calls?

I popped us back into realspace, and slapped open a return channel.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Eagle II outbound from Wild Space. We receive your message, but it is weak and breaking up. Can you boost your gain, and give us an approximation of your location?

"Over."

...but no response to Galen's message ever came. Terrin frowned, keeping an eye on the comm unit, still expecting something to come from it.

But nothing.

Geez, wherever this guy was, it was clear to hell and gone out in the boonies! I thought to myself as the invisible eyes and ears of our ship repeatedly brought back a singularly discouraging lack of data.

Then an infinitesimal blip popped up on my screen, and disappeared.

"I've got-- well, something!" I exclaimed as, the general area of our invisible target now being pinpointed, I could now concentrate all sensors there, and not Outer Space as a whole. The latter being a tad wee large...

"Terrin..." I trailed, stared at information now scrolling across the boards. "I have it, at least I think I do. It appears to be an escape pod--

"Only it's clear back in Honoghr space! It's a miracle that we managed to pick it up at all; what are your recommendations? I estimate a return there to take us, oh--"

I returned to the console, and after a bit of manipulation drew up the appropriate star charts so we could see where the hell we were.

"Umm... we're about ten parsecs from Tattooine space; damnit anyway. It would take us another two hours to get back to where this signal originated."

I cast a worried look into his eyes before leaning back into the mike again.

"Unidentified vessel in distress, we copy your life support failure as being 20 minutes. We are beyond that in travel time to your location; suggest you shut down whatever systems you can... please respond..."

I fiddled with the board again, and the stars without Eagle II immediately smeared into the chromatic trails of hyperspace.

"I'm heading back anyway," I then said as, destination entered into the ship's navicomputer I now had a little time to relax.

"There's a slim chance that whoever this is, he might have miscalculated and may have a little more time than he thought. Plus, if anything happens to him, there is an even slimmer possibility that he can be revived. I don't know who this is, but I'd sure hate it if this was me, and someone else just ran off and left me to die, without even trying."

Pausing then, he pursed his lips in thought. "But then, what are we going to do once we get there? We can't transport whoever this is from an escape pod onto Eagle II."

He quieted for a few moments, his blue eyes turning dark and concerned. "If only the Hornett was closer...

"All I can do is get us to the site of the signal asap, and hope and pray that in the meantime someone responds... and that a miracle occurs."

With that I got to my feet, sighing a little.

"She's on auto right now," I said, nodding toward the controls. "I think we should head on aft and check on our passengers. If anyone is awake, they probably should be told that we're going to Dagobah the long way around."

...then froze in his tracks. "Hey, wait a minute," he said as something finally dawned on him. "Maybe there is a slim chance someone can get to that escape pod before we can...

...and we can be certain of it."

He paused as Galen turned and arched a brow at him. "I don't know what's near Honoghr, but I do know it's way out near Hutt space...

...and EE does have a few posts out that way."

He pursed his lips in thought. "I think I'm gonna go make a quick set of calls," he then announced. "If there's some sellers or a client from EE out that way, there just might be a chance that someone has a ship nearby that can tractor the pod in."

========================

After making several comms and pulling some strings, Terrin had contacted one of his sellers who was marketing a little cargo ship on Nar Hutta, approximately one standard hour from the distress signal's point of origin. Sending off the signal's coordinates to the seller so that he could head out that way and tractor the Pod, all that was left to do was to wait and see if whoever was in the pod would be found alive or not...

...so Terrin headed aft to the med bay to fill everyone in on what was happening.

Quite a nice little piece of work.

Willyam was so busy inspecting the ship's systems that only the proximity indicators gained his attention. Scanning the area, he located the drifting escape pod and registered a very faint life sign. He manuevered towards the pod, activating the ship's tractor beam which would in turn draw the pod into the ship's airlock. Fortunately for whomever was inside the pod, the assualt drones which once were a part of the IG-2000's arsenal had been replaced instead by a trio of maintenance droids. These droids, instead of cutting open the entering escape pod and annihilate any resistance, would only do what was requested of them by the pilot of the ship.

Willyam opened communications with the droids as he got a lock on the escape pod.

"Open the Pod and assess the condition of the occupant," he instructed, keying in another comm frequency to alert Captain Danner as to his progress.

"I have found and am currently tractoring the escape pod," he reported. "Lifesign is faint but present. I'll send you further updates later."

After squirting the message off, Willyam again turned to attend to the ship's controls even as the droids in the airlock carried out his commands and opened the escape pod....

The droids reported as much to Willyam.

"Transfer him to the medbay, sounds like he might need nutrients, water, and air. I'll meet you there shortly," said, turning his attentions to the navboard once more.

Sitting up Link noticed the room started to spin, holding her head in her hand Link willed the room to stop spinning. Looking back at the woman Link tried to figure out the emotions displayed across her face.
Is that shock, from my missing arm... or guilt... no or pity...

Link stared at the floor out of embarrassment of how much of a burden she must be to everyone including Yaoksi, in any place with technology Link could do almost anything. But in the past few situations she had done little to contribute and just managed to get in the way. Yaoksi was right about her, she acted tough but was scared as anyone else when faced with death. Link decided to try to live for more then herself and running from her past, accepting help from others starting now.

Looking back at the woman straight at her face, streaks had formed from her eyes down to her chin where the tears had stained her fur from earlier. Reaching over with her remaining arm Link held her shoulder where her arm use to be.

Not just "a" look. It was... that look.

I remembered it only too well, for I'd dealt with it before. It was a look that was just shy of pain and sorrow, laced with a touch of anger and even defiance... and topped of with a smidge of utter dejection and hopelessness. Yeah, I'd seen it... on Terrin's face that fateful day when he awoke in the medical bay of Captain Joao's ship to the realization he had no arm. And now it was planted on this brave little gal's face, probably because she thought I was here in pity.

Who could blame her, actually; I'm sure my expression wasn't anything too radiant a few minutes ago. But it was most definitely not meant to be pity, not by a long shot. I knew she needed to hear that, just as Terrin had.

I blinked, and let my lips widen in a genuine smile. Coming up to her bedside I stopped; she looked at me and garbled out, of all things, a surprising thank you.

I nearly laughed.

"For what, kid?" I said airily. "For coming to the rescue of someone who needs it? Hey, all in a day's work, don't think anything of it..."

I trailed to a halt, but kept smiling. The last thing I wanted her to think was that I was being glib. Reaching out to her, I gently traced a finger down the matted fur which streaked down her face, let it wander across her lips...

And then bipped her on her nose.

She blinked, startled. I let out a little chuckle.

"Hey, it's not the end of the world you know," I said, grunting a little as I now hunkered down beside the bed to get at the same eye level. "But, what I think is worse, is what's probably going through your head right now. I want you to believe this: you're way, way wrong."

She blinked again, and that edge of defiance seemed to creep about the corners of her mouth. I just smiled again, and went on.

"Look, I know you're feeling like the whole galaxy is either gonna pity you now, and think you're useless, or recoil from you like you're some kind of monster. Well, when this happened to Terrin, he found out he wasn't a monster, and neither are you. What you guys both are, is a victim of terrible circumstances.

"I for one think you're one incredibly brave person."

Tears began to threaten, and I knew I'd touched upon something.

Time to back off a bit, Galen...

"Hey, I don't think we've been introduced. My name's Galen, Galen Danner. Terrin is my husband, and this little beauty--"

I swiped a hand about myself.

"--is Eagle II, one of our ships. We've got more, you know; in fact, I do believe we owe Captain Joao a new one. Maybe when we get back to our headquarters on Hornett, you'll help me pick out a good one for him? After all, we gotta do something to pass the time while our droids fix you up a new arm."

She seemed to relax a bit; I sighed inwardly with relief and went on.

"Hey now, this isn't fair. I told you a little bit about me; now, how about you telling me something of yourself. Like how in Hel-- how in all the known universe you got partnered up with Sleeping Beauty there?"

I nodded toward Captain Joao, who only garbled something intelligible and resumed his loud, ratchety snoring.

"I met him on Sullest," answered Link. "I had some clients there who needed my skills for a job. While in the process of making certain less then legal technical enhancements to their ships, my clients had a very intimate meeting... with a bomb. Somehow the Empire must have found out I was there, they have multiple bounties and warrants out for me, and the next thing I know the planet goes into lock down and stormtroopers are looking for me. While in the process of running away I met up with a girl named Thea who knew Yaoksi, we eventual met up with him and a group of revolutionaries or hippies. They wanted us to join them and managed to trick Thea into their group, Yaoksi offered me a job on his ship if I helped him rescue Thea. We ended up saving her and since them I've been with Yaoksi."

Looking back up at Galen Link saw a smile across her face. Link couldn't help but to smile as well because she was offering information about her life and wasn't ashamed of what she had done or what had been done to her. Over in the corner Yaoksi was snoring away which Link was glad for because she didn't know how he would react to this.

"Galen, there is something you need to know, so does Yaoksi but I don't know how he will take it."

Reaching up with her remaining hand, Link gather her hair together and pulled it away from the back of her neck. She then turned her back to Galen to let her see for herself.

"When Ryns are used as slaves its common for the slavers to use a brand to differentiate which are Ryn slaves, and those who are not Ryn slaves yet. It wasn't until I escaped that I found out why they only did this with Ryns, no one bothers to make synthskin for us. My biology is close enough that human synthskin is compatible, but it doesn't grow fur like the my actual skin would and it was to late for bacta to repair the damage."

Link let her hair fall back into place covering the brand and looked back at Galen betraying a look of horror which she quickly stifled.

"I could have undergone expensive surgery to graft some skin from one part of my body to cover the scars but it would have been painful, plus I would have to spend days in a bacta tank."

"You medics will already know or should find out as soon as they do some research. there are replacement they could fit me with, none of them will look like a natural arm like Terrin's though."

Link didn't know how Yaoksi would react when he found out she would look like a cyborg for the rest of her life. She didn't know what it would do to him after all he went through to save her.
Maybe Galen will know something that will soften the blow...

She sure was worried about her physical appearance, and that just didn't jive with her personality, for some reason...

How did I "know" that? Call it another one of my famous hunches, but something about the clear, if troubled, look she was giving me, something about her, if physically marred, body language, was just screaming at me that this was one tough little Ryn. She had to be, having gone through slavery in her young life, for Khaandon's sake!!

I bristled briefly at that, flaring inwardly at whatever cruel Fates had decided to exploit this particular race. That was something the jedi of old fought so hard to prevent from happening, wasn't it? Wasn't that what our New Republic was about, freedom and a safe life for everybody? Shaking my head a little, I thrust that thought away. I didn't need to be wandering off-track now, of all times.

And then it hit me.

Going by what few clues this little gal had let slip about herself, all she's ever really had has probably been just that: herself. No wonder she was so upset; the only thing she could ever count on in her life has been altered, changed, and now a piece of it has been entirely taken away, and she's worried about how she'd look to; no, be accepted by others. No, that didn't seem right, not with this little toughie.

She was worried as to whether or not she'd still be accepted by Captain Joao?

It made sense. I took the gamble that he was more than just a "port in a storm" to her.

"I wouldn't worry, kid," I said , reaching out and giving her shoulder a little squeeze before plunging on. "I haven't known Captain Joao all that long, but it's been long enough to know he's not a shallow kinda guy."

A brief flash back to Sullust, where I almost lost my own self to pity and self-loathing after being attacked so "intimately" by Dark Lord Roan. I too thought I was worthless, of no use to anybody; and who had it been to follow me as I most stupidly and dangerously persisted in my little self-healing treks onto the planet's surface, to make certain nothing had happened to me? Yet had wisely kept his distance, to allow me the time I needed to come to my wits again?

Captain Yaoksi Joao.

"Yeah," I repeated, nodding as the image faded away. "If there's anyone I know who accepts you as who and not what you are, it's him. And you've still got that, here--" I tapped her forehead gently. "And here." I repeated the gesture on her chest, over her heart.

"And as for that nasty brand, and your arm--"

I frowned in thought; then a lightbulb literally blew itself into brilliance above my head.

Sissypoops. If there's anyone in this entire universe who could make this little gal physically right again, it's her. That weird power she's got; she's done all sorts of stuff with it; I'm positive she'd fix Link up good as new if I asked her nicely enough.

Khaandon knows she owed me...

I refocused on Link, now reaching out and taking her by the chin to turn her face so her eyes met mine directly.

"Don't worry about this; I'm going to make certain that you're put back to normal. Trust me," I said with as much emphasis as I could put into the words. I didn't want to go into specifics at the time, for I figured Link would think I was utterly mad if I started in with describing all the miracles I'd witnessed Sissy perform.

Best to just let her experience it for herself when the time came.

"You are aboard my ship, the Shadowbird, he said, stepping up to the young man so that he could see who was speaking to him. "I'm Captain Willyam Stern. And you are...?"

He paused, arching an eyebrow a bit. "Risky business to be travelling way out here in the boonies."

"You can't get rid of them," Link continued in a more controlled voice. "There is not a day that goes by that I wish none of that had ever happened to me, but it did. Removing them changes nothing except denying what happened, I..."
I can't even explain it to myself, why did I carry that mark for all this time. Money was never an issue, and compared to being a slave the pain of the procedure to restore my appearance would've been nothing. I always hated that mark, but kept making excuses to avoid removing it. Now that there might be an easy way to rid myself of it I can't.

"Would the survivors of Alderaan want all traces of their world removed, as if it never existed never to be mentioned again."

Link knew it was a poor analogy to compare her life to the destruction of an entire world but it was the only thing that came to mind.

"I can't explain it for some reason it feels wrong to remove the mark, I never could bring myself to do it.

Link released Galen's hand and swung her legs over the side of the bed letting her legs hang down over the side.

Doesn't want the brand removed? I wondered briefly to myself for a moment. Then something began trying to make itself known, something I felt was really important, so I kept quiet and gave it time to flower.

Yeah, that brand is a horrible thing... but it does serve a purpose. It's kind of a reminder of not-so-good times left behind... like a bad memory...

Once again an image of Roan's attack on me in the hot spring on Sullust flew into my mind. But this time, for the first time, there seemed to be something of an edge taken off of it. It didn't seem to hurt as much, I didn't seem to want to shy away from it as quickly. I let it linger a moment, letting it drift now as from somewhere deep inside me a flash of insight rose up.

Khaandon, that was terrible, horrible... something I thought I'd want to forget, something which persisted in making the mere mention of Lord Roan's name a thing to involuntarily shrink away from, flinching, forgetting oneself in mindless, unthinking, reactionary terror. And yeah, self-loathing, too. But--

But now I could look at his menacing form in my mind's eye, I could say his name to myself. All of a sudden, I could face this, head-on. And I realized that it was one of those things in my life that, like any other thing, contributed its part in making me who I was, what I was. In enduring the horror that I had, I could easily have stuttered away into a shadow of my former self, letting it overwhelm me forever, ballooning and inflating in my mind to gargantuan proportions.

But I hadn't. It had taken time, far longer than I ever thought it would, but it had finally receded into a lesser category, compartmentalized under "things that were bad, but which made me tougher and better than I was."

And this more than likely is exactly what that brand represents to Link, I finished to myself, nodding to myself as the realization finished coalescing. My estimation of Link rose again, for this little gal was suddenly showing a glimpse of a side more mature than I would expect to exist in one so young.

Right now she recognizes it's importance, if only on an unconscious level. Well, one day she won't need it anymore, and when that day comes, if she's still with us, I'm gonna make certain it's wiped out of existence. But now...

With a start, I realized she was still sitting quietly on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs, waiting for an answer. I shook myself and answered her smoothly, as if something approaching a personal epiphany hadn't just exploded in my head.

"Well," I said. "Terrin owns Eagle Enterprises," which is a ship selling and building company. We-" I stumbled for a nanosecond, then went smoothly on. "We manage to get around the galaxy, here and there, buying and selling, or manufacturing ships for whoever needs one. As for me--"

I trailed as the enormity of that simple statement rolled over me like a tsunami. What did I do?

Oh, for the last seven years or so I've been pretty much busy with escaping from one majorly evil personage or another, dealing with a race newly resurrected from the past, hopping from one dimension to another, helping to hide planetary systems, dealing with demons from hell...

Yeah. Like she's gonna believe that.

"I assist Terrin," I finished simply. "Anything else you want to know? Or do you want to get away from here and let Sleeping Beauty sleep, and go to the galley for some ice cream?"

"I'll have some ice cream," Link answered gleefully. "And some caf too, no wait... caf flavored ice cream."

"It's right this way."

Heading out of the medbay with the bouncy Link happily trotting alongside, who did we come upon but Terrin. He was coming down the corridor from the bridge, a somewhat satisfied look on his face. I heaved another inward sigh of relief at that.

Looks like he got everything with that distress signal taken care of, I interpreted. Then I let my smile broaden.

"Hey Terrin, you're just in time to join us. We're going to the galley for something to eat... like maybe the biggest nerfburger we can rustle up?" I directed a questioning look at Link, then hurried on.

"But for certain some caf flavored ice cream; lucky kid, we just happen to keep a stock of this onboard, cuz it just happens to be my favorite!"

Moments later found us in the galley, Link sitting at a table, legs swinging as she happily scarfed down spoonful after spoonful of ice cream from what was probably the largest helping of it she had ever seen in her life.

"So, it's desert before dinner, eh?" Terrin quipped, opening the frozen storage and rummaging through until he found some handily available nerfburgers. Popping them out, Terrin prepped everything to heat a few up.

At least it was something that he could manage to cook without burning!

In just a few minutes he'd managed to actually get the burgers all done and carried them over to the table, placing them in the center before returning to the cold storage.

Link was having a problem with the nerf burgers; first assembling, then eating. She wasn't giving up with it and with one hand was sure she looked like an idiot. Something Terrin said though caught her attention.

"Distress signal," inquired Link. "Are we going to Nar Hutta then?"

He paused, working with the caf packaging a bit. "Now that someone is there and taking care of the Pod and whoever is inside, there's not much else we can do except check in with him and see that everything is in order."

"Here, let me cut that into something a bit more manageable for ya..."

I waited for her to put the burger down on her plate before quickly cutting it in two. I then did the same to my own.

"I'm a two-fisted eater/drinker," I said simply as I took up a half-burger in one hand, and snagged my drink with the other. I raised the latter up to the table in general.

"Here's to us all," I said in a spur of the moment toast, took a drink, and followed that with a bite of burger. Chewing, I turned to Terrin.

"So, Link here says she's a slicer," I remarked, swallowing. "Sounds like a useful commodity, huh."

Terrin paused, nodding Galen's direction. Damn, didn't he know that!

"And some good techies, strategists, and ship-builders, but as for slicers...

...not one in the bunch that is of very high caliber. But then, maybe you are working with Captain Joao...

...although at the moment, we could really use him too."

Gods knew how good he was in a fight...

...and the caliber his character.

Terrin quieted, not wanting to speak too much about what was lingering ahead just yet but knowing that, if they were going to try to put a team together to deal with the risk of the incoming Vong, they were going to have to perhaps sooner than later. But then a final thought came to his mind.

"And since it's been mentioned," he then said, turning to Galen, "Now that our client has tractored the escape pod, do you think we should resume course back to Hornett?"

"Yeah, I can't see a reason to continue on toward Nar Hutta. I never really liked the place much, anyway. If whoever sent out that distress signal has been duly rescued, then we're no longer needed, and unless we hear otherwise I will assume our unsung hero client has the situation well in hand.

"I'll change course after we eat; we have a bit of time anyway."

I took a moment to take another bite of food before turning in my seat to address Link again.

"So, if we can persuade Captain Joao to sign on with us, do you think you'd be interested in a permanent berth with Eagle Enterprises?"

"If Yaoksi joined up with you I can stick around, but what do you need a slicer for. More importantly is it good for your business to harbor around a criminal wanted by both the Empire and the New Republic. I can't imagine why a ship building company would need a slicer who can break into New Republic Intelligence for, unless you want me to steal the competitions blueprints or classified information."

Link took a few more bites of her burger before continuing on.

"Most of my jobs I broke into some of the most secure systems available, stole their information, and sold it to the highest bidder. Not to say I don't do the simpler stuff like hot wire computers, open doors, bypass local security systems, but I mainly do the bigger harder jobs. I won't need any special equipment, most of my stuff I build me. Just wondering what did you have in mind for me to do?"
If Yaoksi takes their offer it wouldn't hurt to work for Terrin and Galen on the side, they where nice... and besides they saved my life, for once I owe someone and actually want to pay them back.

Having Link around at any of those times would have made extricating us a far easier chore than it had been... in those cases where we'd managed to get sprung, that is.

I thought of the lesser of the two on-coming, head-on collisions we were faced with: not only did we have the threat of the Vong, if we believed Phal's dear ol' daddykins, but we also had to face the Imperials... and Sorben.

Seems he and I didn't really part under the best of circumstances, but then, it just seems we never did anymore. Something about him actually once taking up the assignment with me as the hit just kept rubbing me the wrong way...

Who knew how he was going to react if and when we managed to sit down with him and get him to listen. Tell truth, deep in my gut I was certain that at least one of us was going to be slammed in the pokey just on general principles; having Link around would be a very good thing. There was more to what computers run than just storage systems...

Yes indeedy.

With a start I realized I was just sitting there, a single bite of burger held motionless en route to my mouth. Covering that little gaffe with a quick grin, I stuffed the remnant into my mouth.

"Well," I said, waggling my brows at Terrin for help. "To be honest I don't have anything exactly in particular at this very moment--"

But almost...

"--but skill such as yours can always be utilized in one mannor or another."

I paused again, this time to assess the rest of Link's little speech. I don't know where this little gal had been hiding herself for the past few years, but it must have been out in the boonies, sure as there's Treasure on Roon! I mean, not to realize the extent of Imperial take-over? The fact that the Senate was long-gone, its members assassinated by Actar when he swooped in with his big military coup?

Leaning forward, I slid a hand, palm-down, across the table to Link. Halfway to her, it flipped over. Not in the hopes that she would snag onto it, but as a simple gesture of friendship, and connection.

"I wouldn't worry too much about the New Republic if I were you," I said, letting it go at that. "And as for the Imperials... well, aren't we all kinda in the same boat?"

I cut my eyes sidewards to Terrin, and waggled my brows again.

...but then, it was everything that was going on that made him think Link would be a good asset to their little team. And judging from what Galen had already said, he was fairly certain she was thinking along the same lines as well.

"Yeah," Terrin finally managed, still mulling over what he should say. "And truth be told, EE has shifted from one side of the fence to the other based on who needs the big ships and has the money to pay for them."

Wasn't THAT the truth!!!

"And all in all, having you join up with us is going to place you in a position to be working with more than just EE computers and technology."

He paused, still debating on how much he should say. But then he came to the sudden realization that, if they were going to offer Link a position as part of their team, they were going to have to trust her.

"You see, some people feel the Vong might be coming back, and the planet we found you, Yaoksi, and Kyan on doesn't do any more towards negating that possibility. We need to try and get everyone on the same page regarding this...

...and doing so might not be so easy. We need a good group of people with a wide range of skills if we are going to have any chance of success. And if it's all just suspicion and coincidence then, well...

...like I said, EE has been known to walk on the political fence, and your skills will still come in very handy."

"If Yaoksi signs on then I'm game," Link answered "I never did anything so open ended usually someone pitches and idea and I develop it into a working plan."

Link finished off the rest of her burger leaving an empty plate.

"How long is it till we get to the Hornett?" Link asked. "And where is Dagobah, I've never heard of that place, is it in the core or something?"

"Degobah is a swamp world," he paused a moment, frowning, "With some less-well known mountain ranges too, based on our recent experiences there. Jedi Master Yoda exiled himself many, many years ago during the times of the Old Republic and Old Empire, according to history."

"Which--" I wiped my lips and rose to my feet. "I should be attending to."

Nodding to Terrin and Link I headed to the door, but paused.

Following in Galen's wake they arrived on the bridge where Galen took her station and Link watched her go to work at her station. Galen's hand flew artfully across the controls mezmorising Link with the control she had. Link was able to slice almost anything and could read a map but the skill Galen had at manipulating the vessel was almost if not instinctual.

So this is must what it looks like when I slice something... Is like an extension of her own body.

"Tell him what?" I replied innocently before returning to the control panel. After a few more minutes of manipulation I hit a final switch, and sat back.

"There we go, seven point two standard hours to Dagobah, with nothing in between but time to relax."

Now I patted the co-pilot's seat, and shifted a little sideways.

Who was half-propped on the bulkhead and half-crumpled on the small stool he was sitting on, snoring away although still managing to maintain a protective enough looking aura, his hands all bandaged. Terrin winced a bit at the totally uncomfortable position he was in.

He was already going to be sore enough from his injuries without adding a stiff neck and strained body from a strange sleeping position when he woke up, Terrin thought, shaking his head a bit. Stepping into the medbay then, Terrin approached the sleeping man.

"Hey pal, I'm gonna try and make you a bit more comfortable than that," he said softly before carefully sliding Yaoksi onto the medbed recently vacated by Link.

Yaoksi garbled something or other as Terrin got him settled and then took a seat in the stool himself, hoping he hadn't disturbed Yaoksi's sleep too much. Folding one arm across his chest to then support elbow so he could put his chin in his other hand, Terrin leansed against the bulkhead, his look turning thoughtful. He couldn't get the planet they had just left out of his head.

Slightly embarrassed at the idea of appearing to be a homeless beggar Link looked down and away from Galen. Then slowly faced her and for one did not see the expression of condemnation or disgust.

"All I really know how to do is slicing," answered Link. "And lie, and steal, and I can handle a blaster, right now I can't do any of those things like this."

Link stared down at the space her arm use to occupied then refocused on Galen.

The ship around me immediately disappeared, segueing into an image of home, me and Jharmeen and Dad, all outside while he pointed out this star or that system to our wondering eyes. Or, to be more precise, to my wondering eyes; admittedly Sissypoops wasn't that much into learning, but was more of the "dying swan" type.

Me, I gobbled up everything our astronomer and professor father could toss at me.

When I was 14...

I was learning about the stars. I was already piloting our family yacht, taking Dad hither and yon about the galaxy on this sabbatical or that, as he endlessly hunted for everything and anything remotely having to do with the Sith. During planetfalls Dad would enroll me in whatever martial arts school happened to be in whatever city we found ourselves, offering me the chance to strengthen my body along with my wits and my mind.

Jharmeen just sighed along, like some kind of long-lost ghost hunting for its past.
When I was 14...

I blinked, and shifted in my seat.

"When I was fourteen I was learning about the stars, and taking self-defense lessons, and piloting my dad's yacht," I said honestly. "I was all about getting out and about, you know, eager as could be to go with dad and discover new things. He was an astronomer and a professor," I finished before settling back in my seat. I raised a knee, propping my foot on the edge of the seat, and hugged my leg to my chest.

"If there's one thing that he taught me, it's that one never stops learning. The more I know, the more I realize the less that I know."

I laid my cheek against the upraised knee, and stared at the little Ryn. Suddenly her bedraggled appearance and her brief explanation clicked in my head; I pursed my lips.

What a life this one has led. So unfair, and simply because she's a Ryn.

"So you're 14," I finally said, nodding a little. "Well, even when I was busy learning how to break an opponent's knee or maneuver a ship through an asteroid field, I never let this turn me into a tomboy. Hell's Seven Circles no; far more impressive to let others know a fem can run circles around most males!"

I leaned toward Link, my eyes now twinkling.

"Don't let Terrin know I said that, 'kay?" Then I sobered.

"Speaking of all things fem, you look like you could use the 'fresher yourself. I mean, as I said, just because you and I have our special talents that run circles around the guys, doesn't mean we can't keep ourselves all primped and purty, right? I bet we can dig up something for the both of us to knock the socks off the guys; you'd be surprised what I always manage to have on hand."

Like a particular dress of midnight velvet, chased with silver Krayt dragon pearls, that I last had aboard Eagle I. While nothing of such elegance was on this ship, I was certain there was something other than a standard flightsuit hanging about that Link and I might indulge ourselves in.

I rose to my feet and headed back aft.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

The words mumbled from my mouth before segueing into a yawn, one accompanied by arm and leg stretching, and ending in an involuntary yelp. Even though I had awakened to find myself laying on my back, my body was strenuously reminding me that I hadn't spent most of my time sleeping in that position. I grimaced and managed to sit up, twisting from side to side at the waist trying to get the kinks out.

You're getting old, ya ol' pirate--!

Then I sat up.

"I was in some kind of weird place that Phalomir called the Elseness. Lady Graysith had sent us there from K'eel Doba, ummm, maybe by mistake? I dunno... Anyway, I got there with that Sith Lord Thoran; I met him onboard Hornett in the Red Level lounge... we were going to K'eel Doba but it was blockaded, so Lord Thoran said he could get us there through some place called the 'Darker Realms,' which we did eventually, but at the cost of my poor ship--"

I stopped, a lump in my throat as the image of my poor baby swam up before my eyes.

"--Anyway, like I said Lady Graysith was sending us to Dagobah to help find the Jedi, Shawn; yeah, we went to her for help, but she must have mistaken what we said or something because we ended up in that weird place with Phalomir's temple. So we were heading toward that temple there, and I had Link with me, and we were riding those tostada thingys, and then we were walking through dark, empty corridors, and there was this blue light, and-- and--"

I stopped again, grimacing again as I scratched the back of my neck. This time the expression wasn't a product of muscular malaise, but the realization that Terrin was probably finding all this somewhat on the unbelievable side.

"Anyway, I touched the light, and the next thing I knew was that Link and I were sitting on what looked to be tundra, close to an ancient crashed ship."

Falling silent for a moment then, his blue eyes defocused for the barest of moments before snapping alert again. "As for the Jedi--Shawn--he's safe now, as is Erik Kartan, Stargazer's husband. We rescued them off Degobah. And as for the tostada things...

...I think you mean a tuk'ata. I haven't had..." He trailed a moment, his eyes growing vague for a moment again, "...the best of experience with them. And I'm very well aquainted with the place known as the Darker Realms. And trust me, you wouldn't believe me on how that is, either."

Falling silent, Terrin's baby blues grew deep and distant for a few long moments before they finally snapped alert once more.

"You said something about some sort of ancient ship back on that world?" he queried then, at first seeminglky changing the subject. "What sort of ship? And maybe, while we talk a bit more about this, a good stretch towards the galley for some drink and grub will get out some of your kinks," he added then. "Galen and Link are in the cabin, getting aquantained."

Terrin stood, motioning towards the galley then. "I'm assuming you're hungry, of course...

Like food.

"Sounds good to me," I agreed, swinging my legs around and managing to hop off the bunk without pulling anything important. After placing a hand in the small of my back and arching backward, successfully removing a small crick in the process, I shook out my shoulders and headed for the door. As we moved along the gangway my mind whirled with what Terrin had just disclosed.

So... I'm not the only one who's experienced the unbelievable, I thought, chewing on my lip. Not knowing how to broach this subject, though, I merely replied with something a bit "safer" in context.

As they entered the galley, Terrin motioned for Yaoksi to have a seat. "So you encountered Graysith, Phalomir, and Thoran...

...and apparently also met my partner Aaron Barnes in the process, which is how we came to know you were lost to begin with. Of course, we only found you once Shayla read some star charts from Khar Delba and found three potential locations for you..."

The words flowed from my lips like the liquor I looked forward to.

"And as for the ship... ask the guy you found with us. I think he was on it; at least he said his ship crashed on that rock you found us on. Although where all the other passengers were, or at least their remains is beyond my guess."

I stopped a moment as another discrepency I'd not noticed before made itself known.

"As is that ship, actually. It sure was buried deep in the rock, not like it had crashed but more like what soil there was had developed around it. Unless I'm mistaken about what ship he was talking about."

I let any further conversation die as anticipation began to swell within me. For now that I'd gotten blessed sleep of rejuvenation, I was hungry as the proverbial ronto, and food and something strong to drink was just the ticket to suit me.

He took a sip then, frowning. "I can't say I'm too thrilled with the discrepancies...

...or the fact that planet was back there at all, with Vong wweapons growing on it no less," he admitted, not wanting to go further along that line of thought yet in order to give Yaoksi some time to sit back and relax.

Somehow I always knew there was no future for me there so I learned all about slicing so I could leave and start a life for myself. That didn't end to well.

"Then for 4 years or so I..." Link hesitantly continued. "I was stuck in a nightmare, it has only been for the past two years I have been able to do what I wanted."

The average girl my age must still be in school worried about her grades, not how to quick draw a blaster or run from cops. Come to think of it outside of my slicing I don't even know who I am or what I want to do.

And wasn't scornful of trying, either.

"Hmm..." I replied, cocking my head to one side. "I think we can do something here."

With that I led my little companion to the small but private quarters which Terrin and I shared. Once there I headed to the far bulkhead, into which was built several drawers. An inset portion above the top drawer served somewhat as a dresser top, and hanging above this was a small mirror. I directed Link to our private 'fresher -- one with real running water, mind you, and didn't even bother to suggest she be frugal.

Hell's Seven Circles, we'll be back on Hornett soon enough; let her use my rationed shower water!

As for me, I drew out a container of waterless cleaner, and after removing everything but what I was born with proceeded to cleanse myself thoroughly. Once finished, I rummaged about the few items the drawers held, finally deciding upon a pair of softly flowing, gold-laced deep green trousers, am equally flowing matching sleeveless tunic, and a wide gold sash. I finished my ensemble with the only thing I had handy: a pair of gold nerfhide slippers. No heels for me!

A dab of color on my cheeks and lips, a touch of perfume to my throat, and I turned back to the drawers. Now my perusal wasn't as casual as before; I wanted to find just the right thing for Link to don. At length I settled on another flowing sleeveless tunic, this one a rich midnight blue dotted with an occasional moonstone, and sashed with a slender, silver cord. On me it would reach mid-thigh; on Link, it would make a charming dress, especially considering that the cord was long enough to not only wrap about her waist several times, but criss-cross up in front to tie behind her neck.

I didn't have any shoes to fit her, but thought to myself that going bare-footed would lend an air of the fey about her, once she was cleaned and brushed and combed properly. Laying the tunic and cord on my bunk, and making sure all the toiletries she would need were obviously handy for her use, I moved to the tiny viewport in the adjoining bulkhead and stared mistily out at the blaze of hyper-driven stars.

I took a sip of my drink, leaned back, let my head fall back against the top of my chair and studied the ceiling as if seeking words of explanation written there.

Oh, just gadded about through Hell and back, popped into this portal and that, slipped into some other weird dimension, watched something akin to what some cultures called "a vampire" as he and two other weirdoes paraded around on the hull of my ship, said ship then being damaged in an explosion at the port she was berthed in on Sullust before finally being wrecked in the aforementioned Hell, crept through stange corridors in ancient ruins, rode upon the back of fearsome tomatoes, and through it all tried my best to take care of Thea but only succeeded in getting her into deeper waters than she had ever tread...

I sighed, pinched my lips together a moment. Then after taking a fortifying, if rather generous, drink, I proceeded to relate the strange adventures I'd been through since departing from Hornett so long ago...

"...and that's how Link came to join me," I finished as I raised my empty glass to my lips. I stared back with reproach; ignoring it I held it out silently for a refill.

Far from it, actually.

"Believe me, helping you out of this situation doesn't even go far enough in repaying all that I feel we owe you," he admitted then. "You were there in a very rough patch."

Pausing then, he took another drink, frowning a bit in thought. "When we get to the Hornett, I'll be glad to make sure you get all that you need and make certain little Thea gets the best care."

He trailed for a moment then. "What is with all these big and baddies, hurting kids like they do?" Quieting again, his eyes defoucused for a moment, then he shook himself from his thoughts, turning his blue eyes to Yaoksi. "Look, I know the timing isn't the best, and you probably want to scram as far from us as possible after all the things that have happened to you...

And do what with yourself, ya ol' pirate... not to mention, how?

I gave Captain Danner a studied look. Yeah, I knew him... but really, more as an acquaintance. You know, like one of the Big Boys hanging in the background of some immense corporation one would deal with for whatever purpose. On the see-saw of "who owed who what," I didn't know where I stood... but I did know that until I ran into this particular group, I had a life of my own.

Not to mention Devil-May-Care.

A stab of pain flicked across my features, which I quickly hid by taking another long drink. Then I set my glass down on the table again.

"I'm fairly good with a blaster, yeah," I began cautiously. "But I'm hotter n' the Dune Sea with a ship. Which I happen not to have anymore. So in exchange for one, perhaps--"

I let the statement drag into silence, quirked a brow toward the Captain, and slowly lifted my glass to my lips. There was also Link to consider, but I had a feeling that little gal would more than likely go with the flow more flexibly than it seemed I was capable of doing right at the moment. I kept my big yap shut regarding her, and shot down another drink instead.

Satisfied that she thoroughly cleaned all of her fur Link deactivated the fresher and proceeded to dry every inch of fur she had. Finished with the task of drying her fur she noted to herself how she couldn't remember the last time her fur had appeared so white, like freshly polished stormtrooper armor. Usually it was some off shade of white that had a gray or brown tint to it, but now it was pure white. Finding the cloths left out for her Link slipped into the tunic but upon trying to don the sash left out for her she had extreme difficulty with it and some how managed to tangle herself in it. The design of the dress hindered her from using her tail, which not only could be used as an appendage but also facilitated in helping Link keep her balance.

Being tangled in the silver sash and with an impaired sense of balance Link lost her footing and tumbled to the ground a few feet behind where Galen was staring out the view port. Out of the corner of her eye Link caught a slight chuckle escape Galen, about to protest Link stopped herself when she thought about the mental image as well. A one armed ryn wearing a dress tangled up in a sash sprawled out on the floor. Link laughed to herself at the image and using her remaining arm manage to push herself off the ground and up to a standing position.

"With the same natural grace you're born with, silly," I replied, then heading to my drawers once again. A quick poke about, and I turned back to her, a pair of nail scissors in hand. I approached Link, assisted her from the deck and gently untangled her from the cord. When she was clear, I set the cord aside, directed her to turn around, and then proceeded to cut a slit up the back side of the tunic so her tail would be freed--

Dammitall anyway! HOW could I have forgotten she had a tail? Because I was quite naturally saw her as who she was inside, as a person, and not simply what she was, perhaps?

--which luckily did not cut through any moonstones. Those adorned the front of the tunic, not the back. Finished, I laid the scissors down and took up the silver cord once more. A few deft turns about her waist, a criss-cross coming up her torso, a quick tie into a casually bowed knot, and she was attired. Then I guided her to the little mirror.

"Can you see it? I do," I said as I presented her to herself. Then I stepped back, just to see what her reaction would be.

He paused, motioning a bit about himself to indicate Eagle II. "This ship and her predecessor don't hold a candle to the Zz'Shq, either."

Trailing, Terrin scowled a bit, recalling just how he had lost that particular ship and mentally kicking himself for it. He wondered what Actar had done with her, although her rather unique Force shield wouldn't do a lick of good at the moment.

And sitting here and mulling over business when you've actually got time to do something else isn't going to do a lick of good, either! a shoulder devil suddeny snorted.

With a start, Terrin realized that's precisely what he'd been doing. "You know," he said then, looking at Yaoksi, "Maybe we ought to leave the rest of this for when we get to Hornett," he said shrugging. "It's a good time to sit back and relax, and Fates know that if Matt and Jasyn were around they'd already have found a deck of sabaac cards and played at least a dozen rounds." Terrin paused, chuckling a bit. "Not to mention we'd probably be completely out of drink by now."

He cocked a brow Yaoksi's way. "I don't suppose you'd be up for a hand or two?"

"Is that me?" Link asked. "I never thought a ryn could ever look like this."

Link turned around and ran to Galen embracing her with with her arm and tail.

"Thank you."

Releasing her hold on Galen, Link took a few steps back.

"You clean up nice, kiddo!" I then said brightly, just so the moment wouldn't entirely dissolve into mush.

"Shall we?"

With that I turned and departed, Link moving right alongside of me. First stop was the medical bay, which showed us... nothing. I turned to the query I saw rising in my companion's eyes and said,

"There can only be one place..."

Grinning, I placed a light hand on Link's back, just a simple kind of sharing contact, not intended to be pushy or guiding or anything of the sort. The touch remaining like a feather I moved on down the corridor, then came to a pause at the hatch leading to the galley.

"Like a lady, kiddo; watch me. Remember, this isn't really me either; if I can do it, so can you!"

I gave her a wink, opened the door, and reaching up a casual hand to brush aside a particular strand of hair from my face, in just as casual a manner, mind you, I sashayed into the galley to find Terrin absorbed in a friendly game of sabaac with Captain Joao.

Well, at least mostly.

The apparent non sequiteur from Terrin yanked my attention from my cards. But explanation was clearly provided when I saw the moony look that was smeared all over his face.

I turned in my seat, then dropped my cards. Before me was his wife, looking the absolute farthest from anything I expected, and standing beside her was--

"Link?" I said stupidly. For a moment time stood still; I broke it with a whistle.

"You both truly do belong among the stars."

A kick connecting with my ankle under the table reminded me just how corny that line really sounded. But I couldn't help it.

Link smiled at the state of shock Yaoksi and Terrin where in, she now understood why people wore things like this. Link walked right up to Yaoksi placing her one hand on her hip and softly ran her tail down the side of his face.

"Don't expect this to be a daily routine." Link playfully answered.

Yaoksi almost took an involentary jump back in his chair in what Link thought was in shock and hopefully not repulsion. Link let out a slight laugh fully enjoying the effect her appearence was having on Yaoksi.

I'll have to do this more often, I can see why my masters enjoyed this so much.

Before Yaoksi could object Link continued on.

"I'm only having a bit of fun," Link explained. "My other cloths took a turn for the worse so Galen provided me with these..."

Link then noticed the bandages covering Yaoksi's hands, she took a step foward and grabbed onto his wrist so she could bring it closer for investigation.

"My hands?" I said stupidly, and raised them up in front of my face. They hung there like two white blobs; immediately, images of writhing things filled my sight, overshadowing Link's worried features. I blinked again, and reality returned.

"Oh, I got a few slices here and there when we were getting away," I said vaguely, not wanting to say anything more which might remind her of her own horrific experience at the vicarious hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.

"There is something you should know," Link started. "There are no prosthetic for Ryns, at least not like Terrin's. Don't ask me how I know just trust me on this and let it be."

Link saw some doubt in Yaoksi about accepting her statement, but she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to reveal to him all that happened to her as a slave especially the brand. Without realizing how deep in thought she was Link suddenly caught herself rubbing the brand on the back of her neck. Quickly she withdrew her hand from the spot only to now see a suspicious glance from Yaoksi.

Something is bothering her, I thought. Something more than the arm...

Suddenly I realized that she had just brought up what I swore would be an extremely touchy subject for her, one I was trying to avoid altogether to spare her pain. I peered more deeply into her eyes, and for a moment thought I saw something, a pain far greater than what the loss of her arm had produced.

She's hiding something...

Maybe I shouldn't hide anything either. I leaned forward, and clumsily took up her one hand between my bandaged ones.

"My hands got a little messed up from that thing that attacked you," I began. "But I'd wrestle with an army of the blasted critters if it would mean keeping you alive, kid."

I chewed my lip, suddenly feeling lost, stupid, like I wasn't qute able to get across what I was trying to say, or that maybe I was, sorta, only it wasn't connecting. I tried again.

"Look, don't worry about your arm. I mean, yeah, it's going to be different for you now. But it happened, it's over, and it doesn't mean a womprat's hiney to me that you only have one natural arm. That isn't you, kid. But I think this--"

I offerred a shakey grin, and fumbled to pat the material of the dress Galen had provided for her.

"--kinda is, in a way. You're always going to look beautiful to me; I hope this won't be bothering you."

I help up my bandaged hands, and for the first time wondered how badly they had been injured. The scales of a thing with a poison as fast-acting as what cost Link her arm had to have properties to them other than simple slice n' dice.

"Your hands... they don't bother me," Link answered.

Link was lying, Yaoksi's hands did bother her. Not the injury, but the method of how he got them. She still didn't understand why people like Yaoksi did what they did, but in some way it made sense if people like her former masters existed. Link put on a smile mostly for Yaoksi's benefit.

"And thank you for calling me beautiful," Link continued. "Don't expect me to do this all the time, this is just until I can get some new clothes."

She replaced her smile with a sly grin which she wasn't faking.

"Hey, we'll get you an entire wardrobe of your own design, kiddo!" I said brightly, then reached out with clumsy hands to try and get myself a drink. Dang bandages weren't the easiest things to operate with, ya know.

After managing to replace my drink I next attended to the nearly impossible task of picking up my cards. Such a simple act demanded more finesse than I could manage; tell the truth, I was lucky getting hold of the first hand I was dealt.

"Aww, I don't need to gamble away anything else anyway," I said as with a sour grapes gesture I let the cards loose. They fluttered back around the table and at my feet like so many falling leaves; I leaned back in my seat and contemplated the bandages.

Great Galloping Ghosts, but I hoped they would heal up! I couldn't help frowning. That's all I need, to be handicapped myself; how in all the known universe am I supposed to handle a blaster, let alone pilot a ship, if my hands don't work?

I pushed the nasty thought aside as best I could, and turned back to Terrin's earlier comments about the Vong. While at first I had inwardly scoffed about this, now I wasn't so certain. I mean, it had been their amphistaffs that had caused Link's injury, as well as my own.

"So what's the scoop on this invasion thing again?" I threw out as I settled back in my chair again and fumbled with my glass for another sip.

He had to take another moment or two to allow Yaoksi's question to actually register, along with some semblance of an intelligent response. Suddenly thinking about how stupid he probably looked, he worked his jaw a bit, mostly to cover the fact it had quite nearly hit the table when Galen and Link had entered all primped.

"Ahhh," he began, pausing and shaking his head a bit to clear a remaining fuzz which had developed there, "Well, it's a long story. The Sith--both ones we trust and ones we don't trust so much--have different reasons for believing they are incoming. And we have some reason to believe, via something we were told happened to Shayla on Kor'isan when she was possessed by Darkness, that there may be a connection between the Vong and the Darker Realms you went through with Thoran. Apparently she, or rather the Darkness within her, lead her to a villip on Kori'san and she spoke with some Vong about...

...something. This also seems to imply that there may be some link between the Sith and the Vong too, since she found a villip on a Sith world," Terrin said, then pausing. "At any rate, we need to brace ourselves because, at least at the moment, no one with Force-powers or any other powers or special gifts seems to be able to use them."

"So-oo," I started in a slow drawl. "There's some kind of connection to-- to--" I trailed off with a momentary shudder, which was rapidly chased by an inner groan of misery.

My poor, poor Devil!

"To those things? Well... it seems to me that they would be kinda stuck there, right? I mean, yeah, we traveled through there to get to, well, where we got to..."

Another place of sheer impossibility!

"...ummm, yeah, by said powers which aren't working right now. Seems to me that whatever doors existed which could open from our world into theirs should be closed, and if they open, well, then wouldn't that be a sign of powers returning?"

I paused again, and shook my head. This was all so weird, all this talk about demons and other-wordly dimensions and things-that-go-bump-in-the-night. Unfortunately though, things which were entirely too real. I shuddered again, and went on in a more mundane vein.

"Anyway, didn't they come here once before? How did we stop 'em then? I don't recall anything about the Sith... er, at least not, umm... our kind of Sith. So couldn't they be stopped again this time by whatever worked then? Of course we might have to tweak things a little..."

I trailed again, for I hadn't a clue how they had in fact been stopped. I never was one into history; I'd learned something as a kid in school about a Vong invasion and that it was repressed, but how that happened was beyond my knowledge.

Maybe Terrin paid more attention in school. I threw that out as a final question, then settled back in my chair again, sending a smile Link's way to let her know that we weren't going to let anything happen to her again.

Not on my watch!

He paused chewing his lip a bit. "There was some Jedi-thing about all of it, as I recall. Something about one of Han Solo's kids whammying the Vong World Brain with some super-duper Force connection or soething? Maybe Kyan would know."

Taking another moment to shuffle through his memory, Terrin tried to remember something, anything, that might be useful. After all, unless they got some powers back somehow, it wasn't going to amount to a hill of bantha poodoo whether or not the Jedi were able to stop the Vong.

And that was when he remembered it.

"Hey!" he perked up suddenly, suprising everyone. "The New Republic used some sort of living ships against the Vong, I do remember that." He paused once more as another thought unavoidably followed. Terrin turned and looked at Galen, quirking a brow. "Don't Sith ships have some sort of bionic technology, or something?"

Damn...

But this was too important. I straightened up, came fully into the room and took a seat, indicating to Link that she take one as well. I had a feeling she was going to be a part of this too, whatever "this" turned out to be. Logic therefore dictated she join into the fray right from the start.

I leaned forward, my vision momentarily clouded with memories of my little herd of Jesters I'd "appropriated" over the years, memories sprinkled liberally with this madman or that, with Sorben, with Terrin...

With the damned Sith!

But I couldn't really damn them, no. For they had their ships... their beautiful, wonderful ships... and their ability to step easily through dimensions... and to meddle with Time...

I gulped, my head whirling. Suddenly I was at a complete loss as how to put the myriad images in my head into comprehensible speech. But I knew there was a connection, right down to the marrow of my bones I just knew.

Call it another one of my famous hunches...

"Yeah," I finally managed, my voice low and tight with something akin to wonderment.

"They are. They're part computer, part living something...

"...and I wonder if they've been used before, before the Sith race ever came back... Or--"

I paused a moment, my head really spinning now.

"Or sent back after they did return, or maybe sent from somewhere ahead of us yet, from a time that we haven't yet come to..."

I fumbled to a halt, my head still spinning with impossible possibilities.

Damn but I hate paradoxes!

His blue eyes defocused a bit as he continued to think. And that was when what Galen seemed to be saying, or at least implying registered. "They do seem to have technology that is well advanced far beyond even what the Sith are capable of with all their magicks."

He quieted a moment, suddenly really wanting some answers to something that he'd been wondering for some time. "We really need to find out if those ships are still working even after all that has happened with this power loss, or blockage, or whatever. I mean, what if they are somehow part of an avenue to defeat the Vong...

...and the technologies which make them operate are just that, and nothing related to any power or magick at all? If so then, well...

...they should still work, completely."

"Yeah, I'd like to know that as well. I mean, I assumed it was Sith magicks which sort of connected the computer to the living parts of those ships. But maybe it's not that at--"

I stopped short, my eyes widening as, cliche or not, one hand flew instinctively up to my lips as if to block what I simply could not stop from spurting out.

"Terrin! What if those ships aren't Sith ships at all?

"Where in all the Galaxy could they have come from?"

Images of the Master, and things made of black tar, and immense purple and chrome eyes danced in my head...

...but there was a grain of truth in it. "Well, we know there are beings in other Galaxies," he said then. "We've already learned as much from the arrival of the vong. And there has always been interest in such things. I mean, we've got the Outbound Flight Mission, and I think the same Solo kid that whammied the Vong went off to seek other beings in the universe as well."

Terrin paused, trying to figure out just how they might be able to use this newly budding vein of speculation. "Still, the fighters have Sith sigils in them...

...but perhaps the Sith derived the technology to create them from somewhere else. As far as I know, the Sith worlds are the only place the fighters have been found..."

He trailed,arching a brow at Galen, recalling her mentioning having found a place where the fighters were buried when they had first met. He'd always assumed she meant K'eel Doba, however. "...right?"

Quieting then, another errant thought came to the forefront of Terrin's mind. "Hey, didn't we find some sort of strange log book on that Sith warship?" he asked then. "What if the Jedi weren't the only ones who were inquisitive about life outside this galaxy? Shayla encountered Vong technology on Kori'san which may or may not have been there before...

...and regardless of whether they are truly Sith in origin or not, the fighters are on Sith worlds." He paused, chewing his lip again. "I'm not sure how to explain just what I'm thinking," he admitted then, his eyes still vague as something just beyond his ability to explain kept persisting.

"There is something wrong about all this," Link interrupted. All conversation stopped as all eyes in the room came to focus on Link.

"If the Vong are coming then they are behaving different then the ones I heard so much about. They are suppose to be blood thirsty religious Zealots with such a fanatical belief in their cause that it puts Imperials to shame right?"

"Our views could never coexist with theirs so it would have meant that one of us would have to accept the others or be destroyed, since both of us are around and we still have technology something had to change with the vong ideology or the Imperials and the New Republic would have wiped them out a long time ago."

"Somehow between then and now something has caused them to change back or come up with a new ideology. I only bring this up because they might not behave like they did the last time what worked then might not work now."

Link looked around the table and was met with blank stares in her direction.

I'll be damned, but she could be right, I thought to myself as, brow cocked I patted a nearby seat, inviting her to really join into our conversation of speculations.

"She's making a good point," I directed to the others as she took that seat. "Not to mention providing us with other information, that proving how useful she can be. I mean, Hell's Seven Circles, I've been all around the galaxy and had what some might consider rather improbable adventures. But I'll admit what I know about the Vong could fit on the tip of my pinky; Link's statement implies she's far more knowledgeable on the subject. At least she knows more than I do."

Now I turned to her, letting a ghost of a smile flicker through my serious demeanor, in the attempt to make her feel more comfortable.

"What else do you know about these guys, kiddo?" I asked, all the while wondering what in all the galaxy could have happened to the Vong to alter their former modus operandi.

Or joined with them...

"I'm just basing my statement of the vong on what I've heard about them and what I do know about Imperials. Its a information gathering technique I use while preparing for a slicing job, why do heir guards only patrol 3 sides of their perimeter fence or why do young girls always go to the Moff's quarters in the garrison every 4th day in the afternoon. When I find out why it can lead to potential security exploits that I can use for later, like the section of the perimeter fence was unpatrolled because it was protected by a mine field."

It was a lot more complicated then that but after doing it for so long it just came naturally to her.

Smiling, I set the magnet on the back of the data-padd; it adhered with a satisfying click. Then I returned to the galley, and affixed the padd to the table in front of Link.

"Here ya go, kiddo," I said brightly as I held out the stylus.

The datapad was a lot more complex then what Link was use to dealing with. More complex in the sense it had a lot more code to make it more user friendly for the average person to operate. By comparison Links old datapad had a command line and required the user to memorize many commands, normally something most people don't like to do, but Link being use to it could preform the same task much faster due to the ability of never having to navigate around a user system designed to do most of the work for you.

...coupled with Link's very legitimate observation that something or someone had stirred up the Vong to make them decide to come back into this time after once being driven out. They had reason to believe that the Vong and the Darker Realms had somehow joined forces...

...but that evidence had come to them via Shayla's experiences on Korisan. On a Sith world.

Terrin's mouth went dry as he then came to a startling theory. "Speaking of things which may have prompted the Vong to try to take over our galaxy after being driven out solidly..."

He trailed, frowning, trying to put his thoughts into words. "After what Shayla experienced talking to the Vong via the villip on Kori'san, I have to wonder more and more how a Vong villip that was activated by the Darkness within Shayla ended up on a Sith world."

He paused again, shaking his head, his eyes growing a bit more vague. "Seems to me the Vong aren't just in league with the Darker Realms. What if the change that Link suggests must have happened was an alliance with some Sith or another..."

"Yeah, there sure does seem to be a connection, doesn't there?" I finally said. "And remember, there's not just Roan.."

Pause for the tiniest of reflexive shivers...

"...skulking around in the Darker Realms, there's the Master, too. And a bajillion... things."

I stopped a moment, tapping a finger against a tooth.

"I wonder if they're all manifestations of the same thing, and not separate entities at all?" I mused aloud, sending a glance Link's way and nodding minimally in approval to see her studiously marking down my freely flowing thoughts.

"I mean, what if they are the Darker Realms? Kinda like the weird power Sissy has, what is it she calls it? All or something? Anyway, what if those powers, and stuff like the Jedi's Force, and all the other supernatural stuff we come across in this dimension actually are this dimension, and we're just... just.."

Another pause, another shiver, only a bigger one this time as a pair of immense eyes came floating in front of my mind's eye, accompanied by a thunderous voice which spoke of something about a game. A game over whose design I very well remember engaging in a rather heated debate, finally quieting on the subject but never relinquishing my thoughts about it.

A Game, in which we're just tiny pawns. A Game of... Reality? Of.. what; something as mundane as Good vs. Evil? But what was it Sissy would occasionally blather, something about a Greater Good?

Is there something which transcends even this? If reality is a game, and it really is "good" vs "evil," what then is that "Greater Good." The trophy?

And where do we all stand in this?

I shook my head, debating whether or not I should re-open that particular kettle of worms. But then I decided that any bit of speculation might prove useful in the long-run, no matter how improbable or personally offensive.

I repeated my thoughts aloud, and silently gave Link credit. The lil gal just sat there, making sure she got it all down, and didn't so much as bat an eye about it even though I was positive her head was whirling with questions.

"Yeah," I finally finished. "What if all that is factual. It would certainly make this connection to the Sith a frightening possibility. I mean--" I fumbled, trying to express myself clearly.

"That villip more than likely existed on Koris'ian for Khaandon knows how long, which means it was placed there before we sent the system into the wherever-it-is that we sent it. And that means that a physical connection between dimensions had been successfully created, doesn't it? I mean, it's not like one of those damned Portals opening or closing at the whim of Sissy, for example, but a solid link. If 'they,' whoever 'they' are, managed to maintain a corporeal villip open for communicating back and forth through the Darker Realms, whose to say they hadn't been able to make an actual doorway someplace else, and are just biding their time in using it?"

I fell into a well of silence, and a rather deep one at that. There I dog-paddled gloomily for a moment as the impact of my own words hit me. For only too well did I remember the imps; magicks begone or no, they at times turned corporeal, which meant they turned real. Along with the horrible poison carried in their stingers.

And there were untold millions, if not billions of them...

"A cosmic Game of Good vs Evil, with events happening throughout the lives of everyone in that cosmos that would induce them into following a path of good, or a path which is evil. Winner is declared when a certain proportion is reached, or everyone follows one path alone... whatever 'good' or 'evil' might truly mean. Maybe it's to discover if there is some truly inherent quality to good or evil, and they're not just simply mutually opposing factors, one existing due to the existence of the other.

"Or maybe the definition of the concepts varies with each game played..."

I trailed, not even realizing I had spoken my final, crazy thoughts aloud. That I had was proven by Link, who after giving me a rather strange look calmly noted them down on her data-padd.

Game played with our lives, every choice we make is actually made by some thing out their trying to better this score? If this is true when I find whoever had my piece I'm going to shove a thermal detonator down his throat.

Casting her anger aside for the moment Link resumed her work and arranged her data into four different groups.

"I think I got something," Link answered.

Suddenly all eyes where on Link and nervousness crept up on her.

This is a lot easier when I don't know the clients personally and all I want is their money.

"I got enough data to move onto the next phase of information gathering," Link continued. "So far our round table dissension has been a good starting point of providing us with what we know, what we don't know, and what we need to know more about. Continuing on the current method will just presume more assumptions about what we think we know and only interfere with our strategy later on."

"First off what we know; the vong may or may not be coming back, however the evidence points towards the former rather then the later. They are an advanced warlike people who invaded our galaxy before using biotechnology exclusively and annihilating all who did not follow their ways. Somehow we defeated them and drove them away. Finally Jedi and the sith have lost the ability to use their power. Beyond these facts everything else is just speculation that may be proven later."

"Second what we don't know; why the vong have returned after so long and what changed about them. What methods we used to defeat the vong the first time, technology, strategies, weapons. How did the Jedi and the Sith lose their powers."

"Third what we need to know; We need to acquire the knowledge of how we defeated the vong, why the vong are back, and why the Jedi and sith are powerless. For this I came up with several different tasks. One is gathering the information and technology on how we defeated them, the ideal place would be imperial intelligence archives but they are stored on starship for flag officers of the imperial military or at the central library on their capital. We can write that method off because flag vessels of the imperials will never let us near them, and they would never let a ryn anywhere near their central library. The less then ideal source would be from giant defense corporations themselves. They have noticeably less security and during a war like the one with the vong they would have freely collaborated information between each other to save themselves. Prime targets would be Kuat Drive Yards, or Incom."

He paused then, his mind trailing to Link's other suggestions and Galen's previous thoughts.

"Trouble is, if what if Galen's suggestions are true? I hate to say it, but they make a alot of sense," he then said, pausing the barest of moments. "Any strategy or mode of defense we ever had isn't going to do a kriffing lot of good, as Link has already said herself.

"To further that, all of us here now have been through the Darker Realms at one time or another, and have seen the abilities of the beings within that realm. A few of us are also altogether too familiar with the brand of havoc said entities can also perform in this demension," he said, his eyes growing a bit darker with his words. "So if there really is a solid, open link between one demension and the next somewhere..."

Terrin trailed then as a memory suddenly flashed in his mind's eye of another day and time, one not so pleasant, one that perhaps had occurred on the very day that he had died...

...and if not had occurred only a day or two before. He turned a pair of further darkening eyes Galen's way. "Galen, a link between demensions...

...you remember what happened to us when we entered that Temple on K'eel Doba? I mean, unless my memory is wrong, considering the time frame and all that happened back then, but I seem to recall us somehow slipping into the Darker Realms to face ShaRhylla...

...without a single person present to create a Portal of any sort."

I drew in a breath, letting that thought simmer on a mental back burner for a bit, then spoke up.

"I'd forgotten that, Terrin. But then, with all we've been through, everything does have a tendency to blur together. Be that as it may, what you speak of is indeed something to consider... and unfortunately it only seems to tighten up this invisible noose we seem to be creating."

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table.

"It's another link between the Sith worlds and the Darker Realms. Whether this is something one Sith in particular was fiddling about with, trying to prepare for a revolution of some sort, or whether it was initiated from the Darker Realms via... well, say the Master, is something of which we simply have nothing more but speculation at this point. But it ought to be more thoroughly investigated, don't you think?"

I closed my eyes briefly as images of that horrible place wafted up to taunt me. I sure as Khaandon made little green worrts had no desire whatsoever to go back there, but going back to the little temple to determine whether or not Terrin's idea was correct sure seemed to promise us a return visit. An open doorway between our reality and that simply had to be closed, somehow. Those imps made the Vong look like Pollyanna...

I opened my eyes and turned to Link.

"Ahh- umm..." I stammered a little, an involuntary blush warming my face. I didn't want Link to start thinking unseemly thoughts about me for what I was about to say, but this wasn't the time nor place to go into a lengthy explanation of my personal history.

"I might have a way for us to gain access to the Imperial central computer system," I forged on. "I have had a past with a particular Lt. General you know, and it was one not necessarily entirely at odds with each other. If I can get you aboard one of their ships, or maybe even into their headquarters on Coruscant, do you think you can find what we need pertaining to the Vong?

"At least pertaining to how we defeated them using normal procedures..."

I trailed at that, letting a brief bark of laughter erupt in my mind. Whoever considered the Jedis' Force abilities to be something generally considered as normal...

"Corascaunt won't work it has too much security," Link replied. "Even if he did manage to get us inside from what I've heard about the security setup from slicers who failed to get in there a guards everywhere. Not to mention all the Imperial officers, technicians, and annalists. I doubt even a General could arrange for them all to be elsewhere while I go to work."

"A better bet would be this Generals flagship, if I can get direct access to the computer core I should be able to slice right in and find what we need about the vong."

Link kept thinking that the more she thought about it the more viable it seemed that this idea would work.

"The only hard part I can think of is making it appear that I somehow bypassed all their security sliced into one of the most secure systems ever designed, then got out without being caught. Because the other Imperials will eventually found out that their system got sliced and once they found out it was under his watch that General will certainly have hell to pay."

A dark picture of an even darker, black-cloaked Admiral, who for reasons known only to himself but highly suspected by yours truly seemed to be making it his life's ambition to chase after said yours truly, capturing me time and again, testing my escape skills way too many times until suddenly, inexplicably disappearing from the Galaxy in general...

Another image, one of me hiding in a tree, staring out at what was supposed to be a haven... while a particular bounty hunter cleanly and without any apparent qualms assassinated the clones of myself and our then tiny daughter.

Yet a final image, one of said bounty hunter suddenly a Lt. General, commanding an Imperial flagship, someone of whom it had been mentioned somewhere who was higher up in the Imperial heirarchy than seeming possible...

Coincidence?

I didn't think so.

I blinked, and focused on Link's questioning, and somehow angry, face.

"Trust me, kiddo; I can get you aboard. If we can ever chase the flagship down; wasn't it in orbit around K'eel Doba or something?"

They don't know, or at least, some don't know everything... that is, the connections...

I snapped upright in my seat.

"Ahh-- that Lt. General; he wouldn't be Lt. General Sorben Tarnus, would he?"

There was a momentary pause, filled with silence. A heartbeat more filled the void before I went on.

"Last I knew, he was imprisoned by your lovely sister! I'm not certain why, but it might have had something to do with a blockade he had placed around the planet. Umm... the Sith one we fell into--" I winced, knowing how weird this sounded "--from Hell."

I pinned Galen with a hot glance, not directed at her, you understand. I simply couldn't help but get riled up after all the kids and I had been through during our brief visit to that Sith world. Once again the woeful picture of poor Devil-May-Care swam into my head, quickly followed by the others just as frightening, those dealing with our experience in that other place removed from space and time.

"We knew about Tarnus's imprisonment," Terrin began, his eyes defocusing a bit, "And others have been going to release him..."

He trailed for the slightest of moments, Nevermind at the moment that one of those people is Galen's sister,the one who imprisoned him to begin with...

"...but there's something else here as well. Forgive me for being obvious, but we're talking about at least some of the Sith being aligned with the Vong and forces in the Darker Realms which may in turn be the embodiment of all the powers in the Universe..."

He paused for another moment, "...and one of the leaders of the Empire, which may hold at least some strength against what may be incoming, has been imprisoned because he was blockading the Sith worlds?"

Terrin's look only darkened further. "Again, forgive me if I'm being too obvious, but that's a clear act of war. If the Sith, Vong, and Realms are truly aligned with one another and they think they have some sort of new advantage for when the Vong finally get here...

..why would they imprison Tarnus over a Sith world blockade now?"

"Well," I finally said, "Obviously it's because the right hand is unaware of what the left hand is doing.

"Or the two really aren't connected. Remember, we're just speculating here; maybe the Sith as a race really aren't allied with the Vong at all, but someone is going through a lot of trouble to make it appear that they are. I nodded to Link, agreeing with her earlier suggestion that if there was a connection, it was really against Vong character. At least as we knew them.

I shrugged, and shook my head slightly. Hell's Seven Circles if I had a clue; all I knew was that we could speculate until the dewbacks came home, and it wasn't going to get as anywhere until we got more hard fact under our collective belts.

I shifted my weight. "What facts we do have are these..."

I held up a hand and starting ticking off fingers. "According to Shayla, who is rather 'on again, off again' as far as trustworthiness goes, there is a strong Vong-Sith connection, in the form of a villip. Remember, we've not seen this thing ourselves, we only have her word to go by. Yeah we just tangled with a field of amphistaffs, but the Vong did attack us before, ya know. The planet we just left is out in the galactic boonies; odds are kinda good that they'd have seeded worlds they'd come upon en route to the Core, to make bases and weapons and so on. That field of amphistaffs might just be a natural left-over, unnoticed by everyone due to its remote position in the galaxy."

I drew in a breath, and held up another finger.

"Two, we know Sorben has been imprisoned by the Sith, quite possibly for what they perceive to be an act of war against them, as Terrin said. I mean, I know I'd kinda take a blockade as an act of war; remember the old Trade Federation and Naboo?

"And three: there's something weirder than hell going on in those Sith worlds. One moment they're sweet as pie to us, the next they're out to rip our lungs out our throats. Depending upon which Sith you happen to be with. Along with this, and from a Sith source, I might add, there is the assertation that the Vong are coming to invade us again. What facts do we have to support this rather grandiose statement?"

I paused and gave everyone a hard look.

"It seems the only facts of which we're positive are that my dear sister and her little blonde pal have switched their own behavior toward us so much I've gotten dizzy regarding it, and that Sorben is a prisoner on K'eel Doba. If only for the reason that he's human, I think it's our duty to try to, ahh... extradite him. And who knows; maybe they tossed him in the cooler because he managed to stumble on something that will corroborate some of the things we're bandying about, things which I want to remind you all again are at this moment really nothing other than pure speculation.

"Or maybe he knows something else...

"I think we have to talk to him, and to do that we've got to get back to K'eel Doba and, ummm... effect his release."

"Secondly, Phalomir and your sister are at least supposedly off releasing Tarnus right now. While I might be inclined to trust Phalomir somewhat, Graysith's sudden rather saintly shift to releasing the one she imprisoned is questionable considering, as pointed out, she seems to be our ally one moment and our foe the next."

Pausing then, Terrin frowned. "So I guess what I'm questioning is just how we are going to approach all this. We're supposed to meet up with everyone on Khar Delba for a big pow-wow, one concerning the incoming Vong. Do we go there as planned and see how things pan out? Or do we go directly to a Sith world where we might not be so welcomed and try to determine if Phalomir and Graysith have actually done what they said they were going to do?"

Terrin's frown turned to a scowl. "You know, as difficult as they could be at times, I miss the days when we weren't having to deal with who we could and couldn't trust. Granted we had the Empire trying to nab you and Darra one one hand," he continued, looking at Galen, "And the Sith on the other doing just the same..."

Some choices.

Link knew there was more to the situation then that for the choices to even had been offered, If they had to fight the vong they would need the strength of the empire to help them out. Right now the sith who may or may not be their allies with the vong, and the man who Galen has sway with may or may not be rotting in a sith cell.

Some choices.

It was then she thought of an idea.

One way or another.

Link's surprising suggestion came into play. I opened my eyes and turned to her.
For a long moment I just studied her, then wiped my hands on my suit, wishing it was my flightsuit.

"You had a-- wow," I managed before logic reared its red flag once more and began waving.

"Umm, I can drop us out of hyperspace anytime you need, but do you think they'd bother to reply to us?"

My brows bunched into a frown, then lightened.

"Of course we could pretend to be his flagship, what was it called again...?"

I trailed with the sudden realization that I didn't have a clue. I was aware of the flagship overseeing the blockade around Coruscant, but not the K'eel Doba one.

Hell's Seven Circles, I didn't even know what ship Sorben flew personally! When we were together it was in Jester.

I gave Link a studied look.

"We'd probably have to get within closer range, so the signal won't sound so weak," I finally said. "But that shouldn't be too long now.

"Here's a chance to show us how good you are, kiddo."

"All I need is a little specialize equipment and we can use the holonet to communicate with almost anyone in the galaxy instantly. Your Star Destroyer the Hornett it should have all the equipment I need to tap into the network."

If Link was remembering correctly the Hornett not only was an Eclipse Star Destroyer but a giant mobile market as well with restaurants and shops as well. The kind of shops that carry the specialized equipment she needed.

"I know the Hornett has a transciever, but it's may not be in working order," he commented, knowing that it had been out of use for some time.

"Back in the day I tangled with an Imperial Moff and acquired it from him so we could communicate back and forth," he then expained. "When it was all said and done, I kept the equipment. But it hasn't been used since."

I slid my eyes back over to Terrin's blue ones, but didn't say anything else. I just let the look I gave him impress upon him the simple fact that I wasn't about to give up on Sorben; nor was I going to hang about waiting for everyone to discuss it in committee. There are times that speedy in, speedy out, along with a good dollop of subterfuge were in order...

Truth be told while Link couldn't wait to get her new arm, even if the tranciever was in perfect working order there where still some modifications Link would need to make so she could use the holonet undetected by the Imperials. And she didn't trust anyone but herself for those modifications lest the mess up and broadcast their position to the Empire and let them in on how she knew to access their resources. At the same time she was afraid of what the arm would mean, she had failed.

Sure when she was a freelance slicer she was never really happy or satisfied, but she knew she could survive on her own and make at least a little something of herself. But she had counted on her own abilities and look where that got her not only alone, detached, almost dead. It wasn't this life that scared her where she knew her abilities and skills, where she could calculate her odds of success and failure was because of her alone and effected her alone. Now the abilities and skills of others had to be factored into her equations and no longer did the result only effect her. The loss of her arm would pale in comparison if they fail to stop the vong, if she failed them.

Link found herself staring down at the place her arm once occupied almost seeing her original in the vacant space. Shacking her head and casting away the images Link forced herself back into reality staring at the group.

Then again, you aren't entirely blind in this. You've been there before...

...and the Sith are missing the powers they tend to rely on so frequently. So count that as something in your favor.

He shifted to look at Link. "I'll make sure the techs get the transciever back to factory specifications myself," he responded. Then addressing Yaoksi, "And meanwhile set you up with a ship, something you'll feel comfortable with. There should be something of that variety on the Hornett."

Pausing then, he glanced at his chrono. "Speaking of which," he then asked, "When's our ETA? Seems we should be arriving shortly."

"Terrin and Galen, this is Jasyn. Shawn and I are still sitting here on Khar Delba, mood unfriendly. No sign of Graysith or Lord Phalomir...

"Ahh-- Hell's Seven Circles, but we should be reverting to realspace like-- now!"

With no more than a departing nod I fled to the little bridge area, arriving just in time to see the realspace conversion signal blinking an insistent green. Swooshing into my seat, I played with the controls until outside Eagle II the stars resumed their normal colors and shapes. Seeking outward with long-range sensors then, I found papa bear and squirted off a docking request.

"Hornett, this is Eagle II, requesting approach vector to dock."

It didn't take long for a return; moments later I had input the coordinates and had our vessel bee-lining in to bed down in the great belly of the SSD. It was as I was rising to inform the others of this that another message came in, one surprisingly from Jasyn.

I frowned when I heard it.

That didn't sound good; what in Hell's Seven Circles was going on now?

I paused a moment, waffling. Then I drew in a breath and took the responsibility for an immediate answer. I'm sure Terrin would agree with me on this one, just as I was sure Jasyn wouldn't want to hang around waiting until I'd cleared it with him before responding.

I reached for the verbal transmitter, but paused again. Call it another one of my hunches, but something said, keep it quiet. Thus I chose a seldom used text option to reply to him.

((OOC: Replying to Jasyn in Another Shade of All in the "Jedi/Sith" forums, thank you.))

"Jasyn, this is Galen. I am answering in lieu of Terrin, but will clear with him and send further information if there is any.

"Unless your life is under immediate threat, sit tight and play it cool, buddy. If the Sith are suddenly going predatory on ya, running might induce them to chase.

"I'll inform Terrin of your situation as stated; meanwhile, I'm sure he'd appreciate a bit more information than Aeylmaar 'turning sour.' If you possibly can, send a little more detail. Use personal comm-links; we're due to debark on Hornett in a few minutes, and won't be aboard Eagle II to receive your reply.

"Watch your back, and wait for further contact.

"Galen on Eagle II, out."

I sent the message winging along the spaceways with a touch of a finger, sighed, made one final check on our actual docking ETA, and rose from my seat. Looks like we had about twenty more minutes before being snagged by docking tractors; plenty of time to change and inform the others of this latest little possible snafu.

I hastened back to where the others were still sitting, and quickly informed them of what had happened.

"I told him to sit tight, and I sent it text mode in case there were big ears nearby," I finished, smoothing my hands on the front of my tunic to remind myself that, much as I relished the silky feel of its material, it was time to get back into warrior mode. Which meant my flightsuit.

I nodded to Link.

"Looks like we'll have you aboard and in surgery within the hour, kiddo," I took it upon myself to say, waggling my brows at Terrin to remind him that he could get on the horn and make the final preparations.

Me? I had a ship to land.

With that I headed back to our quarters, changed quickly, and returned to the bridge area. There I took my seat, ready and waiting to implement the final docking procedures only living flesh could provide in order to actually, and safely, touch down.

It didn't take long before I felt the solid whump of deck beneath our hull.

Fighting against a sudden constriction in my chest in regard to where we'd all eventually be going from here, I flipped open the inter-ship comm.

"Guys, we're here. Let's get this show on the road!"

With that I shut down Eagle II's systems, rising to my feet for a final time to the tune of whistle snd sizzles, as she vented the excess energy she had built up into the great docking bay where we had finally come to rest. My last command to her before she went to sleep for the duration was to ask her to open her hatch; I did this with a polite stab of a particular button.

Then I went to that hatch, watching while it slid upward, and waited there until the others arrived.