Cella was happy to have the chance to clean up a little and get some rest. This whole search for Shayla was wearing her out, and she'd been ignoring the exhaustion that was creeping up on her.

She spent about fifteen minutes in the refresher, then laid on the bed for a short nap. As she fell asleep, dreams began to come.

Shayla, and her lost memories of recent events crept into the mind of Cella Polaini.

A woman slowly circled Shayla, her fingers trailing down her cheek, now her chin, now around her neck to finger her hair in a gesture that was almost a caress. Suddenly she leaned forward from behind Shayla, her breath soft and warm in the young woman's ear. "You have been misled, deceived... your abilities are being held in abeyance. You have strength you do not realize... power untapped and untappable.

"I can show you your potential. You would have some use to that which is to come. You think of freedom as the only life there is; I can give you ever so much more.

"There is more than what you know, and Fear leads the way to true freedom. Dark and Light, Fear and Joy, Evil and Good... all two sides of the same coin, all two halves of a Whole.

"I can show you this whole, make you whole..."

"Evil never made anyone whole," Shayla replied, her voice sounding a little strange and strained.

The other woman seemed to be waiting for more of an explanation than this. Or maybe she was merely waiting for Shayla to give into her.

"I am training to be a Jedi. I know the danger of using the Dark Side. Whether you use Light, Dark, or both, if you are using the Dark Side that's crossing the line regardless. I'll not be a part of whatever plan you have, and I'll not be your puppet."

The temptations from the older woman and the refusals of Shayla continued a little bit longer, but Cella, though she was dreaming, could feel the tension building between them even still.

"My yard stick is my own senses. I am not lead by what I am told alone. You present calm, but yet I know nothing about you. I don't even know your name." Shayla finally said.

"The line between the Light and the Dark may be blurry," Shayla continued, "but I decide for myself where that line exists. The Force guides me, and it is ultimately my choice how to use the Force ability I have been given and how much of it to use, just as it is your choice to use both. I have drawn the line at the Dark Side, and I have chosen not abuse the gift I have been given. I will not use the gift for my benefit alone, nor will I use it to aid you in whatever it is that you seek to do, for I sense evil in your motives. That is my final answer."

Cella could feel the anger building in the other woman...

Oh Shayla...

"Do not flatter yourself in the belief that is was to offer you this that I took you from your 'bed,' the woman announced suddenly. "Indeed, I had... other... plans at the time, but had to unexpectedly alter them. Indeed, adaptability is one of my better characteristics!

"But in that alteration, I felt what I thought to be strength in you. I see that I erred in this, for you adhere to your pitiful tunnel vision as a child adheres to it's mother's breast. There is no strength therein... merely fear, to cling to such minimalistic beliefs so tightly.

"I truly desired no death regarding you, no killing, no action of the sort you automatically categorize into 'Evil.' Neither against you nor by you."

With each word she uttered, the woman came closer and closer to the Shayla, until she was close enough to caress her once again. This time, however, she did not.

"But now my dear, I fear I must once more alter my plans."

As sure and swift as a stooping falcon, the other woman's hand darted out and placed itself upon Shayla's forehead. Before Shayla could begin to attempt raising whatever little mind shields she had learned, the woman was in her brain. POOF!! all thoughts were erased from Shayla's mind, utterly destroying all thought, all inner pictographs, everything, gone...

Cella woke up with a start, sweating. She felt like she had been asleep for hours, when in fact it had only been a few minutes.

Oh Shayla, what terrible things you have been facing! Cella thought. But even in the face of a temptation, Shayla had remained solid. And now she was paying for it...

They HAD to find her, soon. Cella took a deep breath, and decided she would contact Jeroc and Logan. She needed to tell them of this dream, and she needed to know what progress they were making.

Shayla needed them now more than ever...

[ 06-21-2001 11:22 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Mara1Jade ]

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This time Shayla was packing, rummaging through her things and Shawn had disappeared, only to return, busting through the door.

"Shayla! What are you doing?!"

She turned to look at him, sadness filling her eyes. "I'm leaving"

He shook his head. "No...don't do that. Please Shayla..."

"Shawn, I can't stay. I've got to face the fact that I'm not cut out for this."

About this time, a short man with clear blue eyes entered the room where the children were.

"Shawn," he said calmly. "Let me talk to your sister."

"Yes, Master Skywalker," the young boy replied. "I'll...be in my room."

He glanced over at Shayla momentarily, then left.

"Shayla," Skywalker said, sitting on the bed in front of her, "Leaving here won't help you rid yourself of your troubles. You'll still have to deal with them someday, whether here or somewhere else. You might be able to delay it, but you can't stop it."

"Master, I can't stay here. I've trained for years, and I have all the skills, you've told me that yourself. I'm just not Jedi material."

"Yes, Shayla Petrolu, you are. And someday you'll have to choose whether to trust what you know or whether to step over into the Dark Side. You have every skill down to the letter."

"Nothing you can say will stop me from going," Shayla insisted, frowning at him.

"I have no intentions of trying to stop you. The Force will guide you to what's best for you. But I want you to know that you have been an excellent student, and that I'd prefer you stay here. But sometimes it takes leaving here to realize your true potential..."

POTENTIAL...TRUE POTENTIAL...

As if time were nothing more than a vapor, the scenes before the young woman began to move at such a fast rate that she didn't know what to make of it...

[i]Shayla with a man named Terrin Danner, who had believed in her talent as an information smuggler then backed out on her...

Shayla struggling to start her business, working diligently, yet alone, to pursue her goals...

Shayla, with a man named Erik: One who cared for her greatly but whom she continued to only be friends with...fearing what she might have to deal with if she trusted herself not to hurt him...she even saw him stay by her side during a crisis in which she was nearly killed...

And in that crisis, Shayla had made the drastic decision to return to the Praxeum, and to hone the Jedi skills she once had, and still did...

POTENTIAL...TRUE POTENTIAL...

Then the young woman, not knowing what she was viewing or what to make of it, saw a woman standing before Shayla on a shuttle just outside of Yavin IV, but somehow undetectable...

"I can show you your potential," she told the older Shayla.

Then the woman watching the vision realized what, or rather whom it was she had been watching all this time.

The young woman before her, in the vision, was not just Shayla Petrolu...the woman before her was HER, Shayla Stargazer Petrolu...

She didn't feel fear at what was happening, and she didn't even feel reminiscent. She didn't understand that what she was seeing and what she was now connected with was very dangerous.

What Shayla did understand was that she had made a choice not to give in to the other woman's temptations. Shayla knew that she had passed the test, at least the first test, and she had resisted...

Therin...her true potential lay...

If only she'd continue to trust in herself...

[ 06-21-2001 01:41 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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The "adder" uncoiled, regurgitating a carefully hoarded treasure. The emotional core yanked so brutally from that hidden spot deep within the young human. Task accomplished, it withdrew, back into the black nest which had spawned it deep within Graysith's heart.

The Chosen Daughter took in a deep breath, her violet eyes opening. About her, her sanctum was awash with the brilliance of the energies spewing forth from the Rune upon her forehead. She got unsteadily to her feet; then firmed.

There were more weapons, and those far more deadly, to be utilized than mere physical or electromagnetic armaments. Psychological terror was the greatest weapon of all.

Let it now grow in the mind of this young one, taking firm root and bursting out in blackened lushness. Graysith smiled, knowing the terror would indeed be spread, and to her favor, once she brought the young woman back...

Her thoughts now turned in another direction. Galen....

Still smiling, she departed for the bridge of her little ship, M'wonBo'o padding faithfully alongside her.

Ambria... so that was where the lead ship had wound up. An interesting world....

Still hidden in that little bit of elseness between one second and the next, the Chosen Daughter of the Sith hovered in orbit...

...watching.

[ 06-21-2001 01:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Her emotions. Every one, in such horrid vivid detail that it almost made Shayla sick to her stomach...

The scenes before her transformed themselves into darkness, and she felt as though she were hanging in nothingness, able to feel herself and no one else.

Where were they all, and why couldn't she touch their minds with hers? And where was she?

Then she remembered the horned creature, and the woman...

And she knew that they had done this evil and horrible thing to her.

She knew she should probably resist it, but after not being able to feel for a time, one does not remember how to manage their emotions. Terror so sickeningly strong invaded every fiber of her being, and the nausea returned.

She was beginning to feel so overcome with sickness and fear that the world...or whatever it was before her, began to go black...

She needed rest...she needed rest and time to sort all of this out...

If there were somewhere to lay, she would have. But she couldn't. Instead she doubled over, the power of her returning emotions pulling her in...and driving her to unconciousness...

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

She opened her eyes, momentarily closing the link into Shayla's mind and being. A serene smile spread across her features as she delicately timed her next move.

[ 06-21-2001 04:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Upon inquiring what they had found, Logan told her that they were getting nowhere, and that Jeroc was unable to even get a track on Shayla at all. [i]She was just...missing from the Force. She was out there somewhere, just missing...

And the sense that Jeroc was getting from Shayla, according to Logan, was the same as the one he was getting from Thea, who was still in a sort of sleep that no one could seem to wake her from.

Logan promised Cella that they'd keep contact with her, and that if something didn't turn out soon they'd turn around and follow Cella and Yaoksi.

Cella just hoped that everything would come together in time...

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

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

"Can't you hear my motored heart? Your the one that started it!"

-Foo Fighters "Generator"

Cogito ergo sum

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Images flashed before her, so quickly that it was all she could do to keep from screaming aloud.

As the terror grew, something else dawned on her. How much did this woman know of what she did? Did she know of the others...did she know of Logan? And ERIK?

Shayla knew Erik would not rest til he found her, even though he might not even know yet that she was in fact missing from the universe.

The universe...WHY CAN'T I TOUCH IT, DAMN IT! Shayla's terror shifted to anger, like a child's, as she realized she was trapped in a vacum where no one else seemed to exist. It was as though she was a prisoner in her own mind, and that greatly horrified her.

And she was back to the terror. Her mind wandered back to thoughts of Erik, the one whom she loved. Whom she loved?

She wished he knew just how much she did care about him...she wished she'd told him...And I may never get that chance to tell him again, she thought mournfully.

Reaching for SOMETHING of comfort, Shayla hung on even more to thoughts of Erik, and lingered there for as long as she could...

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

She took a few steps towards the door, then froze.

Cella! Help me! wrung in the ears of her mind...and the voice sounded alot like Thea's.

Cella struggled to reach out and touch her, but either because of the distance or because of the forces that held Thea in sleep, she couldn't.

Cella wondered how she had ever heard Thea's silent plea at all.

Someone is playing some really nasty games, Cella thought angrily.

This whole thing was getting out of control. Jeroc and Logan were across the galaxy somewhere searching for a Sith Temple that didn't seem to exist, and had a child with them who seemed to be locked in the sleep state and pining to get out...and child that only days before probably hadn't been a few meters from her parents, now to be somehow forced into a demension not even her own.

And Shayla...she had just come to the Praxeum once more after a long hiatus. Cella regretted that she hadn't been with the young woman enough to get to know her well, but judging from the strength she showed in the dream, Cella knew she'd like her.

Besides, Cella thought, a grinning pulling up the corners of her lips, Anyone who can gain Logan's friendship must be pretty likeable.

Cella turned somber again. Whatever evil force this was, tearing apart the Jedi Praxeum, it had to be stopped. And it had to be stopped soon, or Cella feared that something even more awful would happen...

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Years might have passed in the "normal" spacetime continuum as the Chosen Daughter hunkered in her hidden orbit above Ambria, idly waiting for the correct moment to either reach out into that eerie less than void, or travel out into the real one. Or- perhaps only fleeting seconds had ensued since she had hidden herself thus. Even with all the Powers she carried and commanded, Graysith really had no clear sense of the passage of time outside the sphere of elseness in which she had hidden her ship.

What she was fully aware of, however, was the fact that no matter how "timeless" she felt in the elseness in which she lingered, the being named Shayla was experiencing something far worse. For that being had no idea there was even a possibility of the existence of the the strange non-space between seconds, much less that it was able to be penetrated by living flesh.

The null-ness of it must have been terrifying.

Graysith smiled as she contemplated the juicy picture that thought conjured in her mind. She yawned and stretched; then, idly giving M'wonBo'o's muscular neck a playful tweak, she sent forth a tendril of her mind once again, following the path she had broken there, seeking the mind she planned likewise to break.

Her smile deepened to blackened evil as she encountered the depth of the terror Shayla was battling with. As insidious as a Stennes shifter, the tendril easily breached what feeble mental barriers Shayla still managed to maintain, and wormed icily into the deepest recesses of her being. It's camoflague blended seamlessly with the growing terrors and inner demons which danced in Shayla's mind as, probing with almost gentle persistence, it sought even more fuel for the fire Graysith intended to ignite.

That fuel was found with ease. Erik....

The Chosen Daughter inspected the sudden flare of warmth associated with this deeply hidden image, uncomfortably aware of the likeness this bore to a turquoise-eyed image she once had hidden away deeply within her own psyche, and as jealously guarded.

For a moment longer she stopped there, a small part of her own being showing a surprising gentleness in wanting to back away from that hoarded image, to leave it alone to the woman who hoarded it, recalling the welcomed warmth of a similar kernel once hoarded within her own soul.

Then the fading turquoise was overwhelmed by onrushing crimson, the lingering warmth she yet might have been holding yielded to flames more intense than coronal plasmas. Filled with fire and fury, she reached into Shayla's mind with all the care of a stampeding ronto, grasped the image of the one called Erik, and played with it.

Twisted it into pure grief, and with that image implanted securely into Shayla's mind the certainty that her love knew she was dead, and sought her no longer.

A vaccuum is not a dense enough medium to carry sound, but Graysith clearly heard the despairing moan suddenly emanating from Shayla with the clarity of a bell.

They seek you not... she whispered quietly into Shayla's trembling mind. HE seeks you no longer. To them you are dead; they have other tasks with which to occupy themselves.

And look.... An image of Erik with another woman crept into Shayla's mind with silent certainty, someone known to Shayla, one named... Cella....

...look. Already he has found another, you are forgotten as a fleeting thought on the wind.

I, however, I do not forget you, nor do I forsake you. I can give you surcease of the pain you feel. I can end your terrors.

Feel, my... sister....

With masterful timing, Graysith sent a flash of warmth and comfort flooding into Shayla, offerring a lifeline for her to grasp. Her own image floated to the front of Shayla's mind, her violet eyes calm and beckoning, her smile genuine, her hand offered in comradely sistership. Something close to but not quite akin to love likewise flooded Shayla, attempting to fill the little void beginning to grow around that image of Erik.

The choice is yours to make. I will not force you.

Aboard her ship, Graysith shifted her weight in her navseat, lounging more deeply and comfortably therein, as she waited to feel how the young woman would respond.

[ 07-19-2001 01:07 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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No Erik! I'm here! I'm here and you cannot reach me...cannot find me...

"I, however, I do not forget you, nor do I forsake you. I can give you surcease of the pain you feel. I can end your terrors," the woman from what seemed so long ago said to her...the woman who was in her head...

Shayla almost succumbed to her terror again, longing for his touch, and longing to be away from this awful nothingness. Then logic began to seep through.

If I can see things from the past in this void, things that have already happened and cannot possibly be happening again, then what is to say that what I'm seeing now, in my head, is no more than a vision of what COULD come, and not absolute truth?

And how she longed to be back to reality. More than anyone could possibly know, except one....

POTENTIAL...TRUE POTENTIAL... If only she'd trust in herself...

Time to face reality, Shayla, she thought to herself. You are stuck here so long as you continue with these ridiculous emotional battles. These emotions, the ones you have been so desperately seeking, are doing you little good unless you learn to control them. And that will take time, time you don't have to be sitting here in absolute nothingness fighting a battle you cannot win.

POTENTIAL, TRUE POTENTIAL...

Shayla's mind was made up. She had to trust herself on this one, and she needed reality now more than ever. All she had to do was surrender and accept the hand this woman had offered. That was all...

Although the possible outcomes of this move could prove disastrous, there was no reason to worry about what might happen in the future just yet, for it was all in motion. For the present, Shayla knew she needed this woman's help, and if she wanted out of the void, accept it she would.

And at last, with only a moment's hesitatation, she reached out to the link that had been opened between her and the woman, and accepted the hand...

[ 07-19-2001 11:24 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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[ 07-19-2001 11:41 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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For a second...no, less than even a second, she swore she could feel Shayla in the Force. It was as though Shayla was being pulled from nothingness momentarily and then was pushed back into it.

That feeling was odd enough, but Cella also felt something else when Shayla had briefly flickered. Something very eveil, reminiscent of what Cella had felt back at the Praxeum.

Whatever it was, it came and went from her Force-detection just as Shayla did. this confirmed Cella's suspicion that the two of them were together, and that she and Yaoksi were on the right track.

Thinking of Yaoksi, Cella wondered where he was. And she was curious as to how much further they would have to travel to reach their destination. She decided she'd find him, and figured he was probably at the controls of the ship.

So, collecting herself, she made her way to find him.

[ 07-20-2001 11:29 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Mara1Jade ]

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"Hi there," she said, trying to be friendly. She had, after all been a little cold torwards him in all her worry for the others--Jeroc, and Logan, and Shayla...

Shayla...

Cella had the sinking suspicion that something very evil was going on with her. Although she hadn't felt the young woman in the Force since her momentary flicker just a while ago, Cella knew she was out there, under the influence of something very powerful.

And something very evil.

She realized she was daydreaming, and had missed Yaoksi saying hello to her. Now he was just looking at her quizzically, probably wondering why the heck she had come to say hello to him if she weren't going to talk to him.

"Sorry," she said, feeling stupid. "I was just wondering, how much longer til we reach our destination?"

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

Maybe she should warn him, too. Cella didn't exactly feel right about bringing a non-Jedi into the situation. She was pretty sure he was capable enough with flesh-and-blood enemies--his worn blaster was proof--but she needed to tell him about what they might be facing.

He was still bent over the console when Cella cleared her throat, and unexpectedly started to blush. Skies, what was wrong with her? Level-headed Jedi did not act like this. It must be just her hormones getting the best of her.

"Yaoksi, I need to be honest with you about what you--we might be--en---running into--" Dammit, she was stammering like an adolescent! He turned to face her, and she looked him in the eye, regained her composure.

"I know you've seen plenty of action in your day--but I don't think you've ever seen anything like what we're about to face. I don't know--how much you know of the Force. But I want you to know one thing, right off. I have a very strong feeling that blasters and laser cannons are going to be helpless against--" She breathed deeply, remembering the horrifying vision of the red, horned creature. "Against this enemy. Maybe you wouldn't have taken me on, if you'd been fully aware." Fully aware? What am I, an adjucator?

Our eyes met, and froze together. I was suddenly keenly aware of the blush which still warmed her face... as well as of the equally warm one that was striving to rise in mine.

What gives here? I wondered to myself. First she seeks me out for hire, then treats me like space-slug detritus, and now she's suddenly so all-fired concerned about my well-being?

And what really does give with that blush, anyway?

I blinked that thought away, and rose quickly to my feet, flipping a final nav-button in the process. When I cleared my throat to speak, it sounded louder than a gravel storm on Tattooine.

"Look... Cella," I began a bit hesitantly. My hand flew to my head, seeming of it's own accord, and I scratched my hair. I lowered it a bit, and stared at it as though I had never seen it before.

I was suddenly and quite acutely aware of the ridiculous picture we probably presented should an outside observer somehow be watching, both of us standing and staring at each other with steadily reddening faces. The thought flashed through the rising heat I was feeling, cutting through it like a vibro-blade.

I suddenly found myself back to myself, my gleaming teeth bared in a wide and honest smile. I spread my hands out to the side.

"Look," I tried again. "I know you're a Jedi and all that, and I really do appreciate your concern. But I don't back down once I have accepted a contract, be it written or verbal. I said I would take you to the Yappyh sector and help you find whoever it is that has this 'Shayla' you are hunting for, and I'm sticking to my word. I may not have this 'Force,' or whatever it is you Jedi seem to have at your beck and call, but I do have this-"

I patted the blaster at my side, taking comfort in the feel of the well-worn stock and grip that so coolly lay against my fingertips. My smile widened into a grin.

"...as well as this-" My free hand waved expansively, taking in the Devil-May-Care in all her hyperdriven glory.

"...and I'm not backing out now. I'm pretty good when push comes to shove, and lady, you have my curiosity up now. No way are you ridding yourself of me before I finish what I set out to do.

"Besides," I finished, turning to my navboard and flicking a final switch. "We're here. There's a planet we're homing in on; I think it's called Ambria.

"Welcome to the Yappyh sector. Shall continue in stealth mode, or speak loudly and carry even a bigger stick?"

I grinned more broadly yet, waiting for her reply. And then all hell broke loose, as my proximity sensors began bleeping and wailing and flagging and making a general nuisance of themselves.

"SHEESH!" The thought barely had time to form as I flung myself back into my seat, my fingers playing a desperate tune upon the console. In less time than it takes a rancor to turn something living into something edible, we were back in hyperdrive, swooping out and away from the systems little stellar, seeking haven several parsecs away where I finally brought my corvette to a sliding halt about a rogue moon wandering idly along.

I studied what the console was waving it's figurative arms so wildly about, then turned to my comely passenger.

"Imperials." The word dropped from my mouth like a rock. I leaned back in my nav-seat, and crossed my arms.

"Jedi, Dark Users, and now Impys. You wanna tell me what in the name of Hell's Depths is going on here?"

I tried to get angry, but I couldn't. I could only just sit and wait to hear what she had to say.

[ 07-31-2001 07:19 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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"Nope, Yaoksi, this wasn't in my plan. Looks like somebody just threw a skifter into our deck..." She sighed, turned from Yaoksi to look into the blackness of space, shuddering slightly. She wondered briefly if this had something to do with those threats to Yavin IV slightly before she'd left, then pushed those thoughts aside.

"Okay, the presence of the Imps means we need some new strategy. Why don't we pitch camp on this moon for a day or so, give ourselves some time to regroup?" She quirked an eyebrow at him, put on her best endearing look to try and make up for nearly leading him into the jaws of the Imps. Try and make up for? What kind of thought is that? Okay, I'm just going to forget this facade of dignity and ignore these weird reactions.

"And possibly have some time to get to know each other better." What am I thinking? Okay, Cella, forget everything you've ever learned and just go with your instincts here. But you can't forget Shayla. She's why you're here. A pang of pain twisted along Cella's spine. She didn't know whether it was Shayla's or hers. You have to find her at any cost.

There was so much pain seeping through her forced collectivity I simply could not react to her as I usually do to those of the feminine persuasion.

At least I think that's what prompted me to hold my tongue.

I uncrossed my arms and, searching once more into the shimmering pools of her eyes- Damn it, man, focus! -I turned back to my console.

"Damn Skippy, that's the best suggestion I've heard yet on this trip!" I smiled, playing the sensors with practiced ease. I studied the results quickly but intently.

There, on the far side of the little moon over which we were skating, a highly magnetic outcrop waved it's silicon arms, no doubt blasted into relief from the myriad meteoric impacts this planetary body had received over the course of its eon-long history. That would do nicely.

I turned my gaze back to Cella's, and favored her with a flash of my teeth. "Looks like I've found us a hidey-hole," I announced with that smile, then turned back to the nav-console. Soon the Devil-May-Care was homing in on the outcrop, which was huddled safely amidst others of its own ilk. With masterful ease I brought my corvette in for a landing, hunkering between the sensor-blinding magnetized rock like a womp-rat seeks to hide in its Tattooine den.

A few final flicks of levers and switches, and the Devil-May-Care lost herself to outventing and general shutting down of the majority of systems. Soon we were encased in the relative quiet of a space ship at rest...

...a quiet which suddenly seemed to stretch before me like an eternity.

I moved about a bit uncomfortably in my seat, then leapt to my feet.

"Look, Cella," I began. "I, ahh- er, I know I didn't quite start this trip on the right footing with you, and I'd kinda like to make up for that."

Yaoksi, you ol' pirate, what ARE you doing?!? I pushed that shoulder-devil off into obscurity, and bestowed my brightest and most sincere smile I could upon the Jedi.

"Why don't we go into the galley? I'm a pretty fair cook; let me rustle us up something to eat, and we can recoup ourselves and rest a little and decide where the heck we're going to go from here.

"And don't you even think of trying to talk me out of continuing to help you, either," I called out, now over my shoulder as I began leading the way from the bridge. A moment's hesitation... and the soft sound of booted footsteps echoed behind me.

Yeah, I'd kinda like to get to know you better too, Cella.... the thought pushed its way to the forefront of my focus, toying with me. Usually that conditioned little thought continued on into... well, an arena which in turn had resulted in a string of abandoned peeps of the feminine persuasion, scattered hither an yon on one planet or another.

Strangely enough, not this time.

I shook my head, jerking my errant thoughts back to the matters at hand. We needed food, we needed a plan...

...and I needed some hard answers before deciding- helping to decide -the best course of action from hereon.

I still couldn't quite totally remove the goofy grin from my face which I knew was firmly planted there, as I led her onward. Gods were with me in that she couldn't see it, behind me as she was....

Soon we were in my little galley, where I showed her to a seat and provided her with a cool beverage. Then I busied myself amidst my gleaming counters and utensils, chopping and slicing and otherwise converting general foodstuffs into something both attractive and edible. Cella watched me in silence, which strangely enough, was a comfortable one.

At length I approached the table where she sat, and with a flourish presented her with her meal. "I'm sorry I don't have any mynock milk for you. I can't stomach the stuff, and I don't keep in on board."

After a slight hesitation, I sat down to join her, carefully keeping my distance across the table. I took a bite of my food; now, I'm a really good cook, but for some reason everything tasted like rancor-droppings.

Hope her's wasn't awful. I studied her; nope she was digging in heartily. Must be me then....

I suddenly put my eating utensil down, and steepled my hands together, elbows carelessly on the edge of the table as I searched into her eyes.

"Maybe now's the time to tell me something about this Dark User you keep mentioning," I began as an opener. "Since I kinda have a feeling we're gonna cross paths, and probably sooner than we think from what my history has taught me."

My eyes never leaving hers, I went back to my food, which still tasted like the dredges of Dagoban swamp-water....

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

At first sight, he'd seemed to be one of those men that didn't like a woman who was better than him at anything. Perhaps he was, but Cella was getting the definite feeling that he was behaving himself better than usual around her. Good man, very solicitous...but not Jeroc. She suddenly found herself missing him from the very core of her person. Well, her inexplicable longing to speak to him could wait until they formulated a plan to get past these Imperials. Cella was sick to her stomach when she realized how long that might be.

Cella was jerked out of her reverie by a query from Yaoksi, who was looking into her eyes with that disconcerting ease he had.

"Maybe now's the time to tell me something about this Dark User you keep mentioning, since I kinda have a feeling we're gonna cross paths, and probably sooner than we think from what my history has taught me."

Cella gulped down the last bite of her food hurriedly, felt her stomach lurch. And it wasn't just from indigestion. She remembered the unspeakable pain from Shayla, the absolute malevolence of this...this thing.

"Well," she began uncertainly, "I don't know much about this Sith, except that he, or she, is one of the most Force-powerful beings I've ever felt in my life. Luke Skywalker himself was one of my masters...yet I've never sensed such raw strength." She paused and took a deep breath. "Like the strength of...of a ravenous wild beast, except a thousand times more intense and intelligent."

"I first felt her--" Cella had decided to use the feminine pronoun, out of a gut feeling. "--shortly before Shayla was kidnapped. And this kidnapping wasn't like anything I've seen before. She didn't even have to come out of orbit--Shayla was simply snatched out of thin air." Cella tried to swallow the lump of fear threatening to choke her.

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hatred. Hatred leads to suffering...

"Anyhow," Cella continued with difficulty, "my partner Jeroc, his student Logan, and I decided to launch a rescue mission to find her...Make a long story short, we split up, and I'm not surprised that I found this Dark User first, since I seem to have a...a heightened sense of her."

I was a pretty good sabaac player to boot.

For a long moment I merely stared at Cella over the tips of my steepled fingers, my eyes searching into hers.

She's really scared, I suddenly thought to myself. Practically terrified. It's boiling off of her like lava from a volcano; I might not have the- the "Force-sense" she commands, but even I can sense that.

The little chilled knot doubled in size at this realization. What in Hell's Depths could provoke such fear in a Jedi? Who in Blazes was this Dark User, anyway? And why did the trail lead us to this backwater little hole-in-the-galaxy, swarming with Impys as it was?

I fought down a sudden flash of near-terror, as an image of the Old Empire struck me. An Empire run by Sith, enforced by Imperials... and with a collective and heavily used blade upon the necks of sentients everywhere. Smuggler though I might be, somewhat removed from such machinations, even I knew this was still a politically rocky time for the galaxy. Although years had passed since the destruction of Palptine and the death of his monkey, Vader, it would take years more to finish recovering from the disaster of its former life. Years of cementing new bonds, delineating new ideals and developing new democracies.

But years which represented a time of extreme vulnerability, a vulnerability unbeknownst to the general populace.

A slight frown creased my face, temporarily squelching that cold knot and turning it into a merely dull ache. Something here wasn't quite right....

I sat back, raising my head with a jerk, lowering my hands to the table top, my eyes still glued to the huge pair before me.

They narrowed a bit as I tilted my head to the side a little.

"Ok," I announced suddenly. "Now you might want to tell me a little more about this Shayla, who she is, where she came from, what does she know. About- I don't know; anything I suppose.

"But there has to be some reason why she was kidnapped by this-, this Dark User..." I stumbled momentarily, searching for the correct moniker "...and I think that reason might come in handy in our finding her."

Then another thought struck me, and the cold little knot homesteaded once more in my gut. I hesitated a little, considering.

How much do you really know about these Jedi, Yaoksi ol pirate? I thought to myself. And what of that which you do know is fact, and what is mere rumor?

I shook off that disconcerting thought, and pursed my lips. Before me Cella waited, her eyes moist and slightly reddened, other than that completely calm to all outward appearances...

...with the exception of her hand, which trembled slightly.

She caught me glancing at it, and quickly moved it to her lap. The knot doubled in size in my gut.

Well, Yaoksi, it's now or never. You have to find out exactly what's going on, or you just might not be walking away from all this....

My mouth opened, hung there as I tried to figure out how to word my concerns. I finally decided the best approach was a direct and frontal one. I leaned toward her, my gaze darkening a bit as I pinned it to her eyes even more fiercely.

"You talk of this Force-sense, and how yours is heightened, and how you've been following this Dark User with it, kinda like a homing beacon. All well and good.

"But from what I have heard, as little as I know, I do know that this 'Force' is supposed to connect everyone together. You're supposed to be able to read everybody alive."

Now my voice lowered to a whisper, and my hand unconsciously dropped to my blaster, my thumb flicking the safety strap which held it holstered on my hip. I didn't quite grasp it, just let it settle there quietly.

"All you mention is this Dark User," I continued, following up with: "But what I want to know is why you haven't been tracking Shayla. Why aren't you following her sense instead?

"I also know you Jedi are not supposed to be aggressive or something. Yet here we are, searching for someone you say exists yet whose, um... well, being, for lack of a better word, you don't sense, or at least haven't told me about it. All you talk about is this Dark User, not Shayla.

"That means she might be dead. And what I wanna know is what in Hell's Depths we're doing here, should that be the case?"

I stopped at that, my heart leaping inexplicably into my throat, my eyes boring into hers, and my hand cool and steady on my blaster.

Somehow, something about this entire scenario still wasn't quite right, but I wasn't gonna take the time now to study it. A successful sabaac player might hold his cards close, but when he has 'em, he plays 'em.

I waited for an answer, still unexplainably chilled to the very core of my being.

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

"Shayla was a former student at the academy. She left when she was a young girl, as far as I know, because she didn't think she was fit to be a Jedi, didn't think she had the Force strongly enough. I believe she became a freelancer, much like yourself, until the day she returned to continue her training. I have no idea why this Dark User would want her. She can be Jedi, yes, but she is otherwise unexceptional."

She took a deep breath. Something malevolent was at play here. Much more was at stake than just a simple answer to a simple question.

"And I can't find Shayla because of what this Dark User did to her. Took her, wiped her mind clean like a schoolgirl's slate. Destroyed her very self, Yaoksi. And somehow, made it impossible for me to find her."

Moved by long instinct and Jedi reflexes, she stood quickly, reached across the table, and grabbed Yaoksi's hand.

As cold metal brushed against her skin, she realized it had been resting on his blaster.

Trust me, she tried to say with her eyes. I don't need this from somebody who's supposed to be an ally. Please. He tried to move, but something seemed to be holding him back.

She laid his lean hand on the table, placed both of hers on top of it. "And if Shayla is dead? I still have to confront this Dark User. I have to face my destiny. I can't let such evil continue to exist. I am one small Jedi...but it only takes a cup of water to lessen the flame. If I give my life, it would not be too much."

Her lips felt cold as ice, heavy as stone. "Please," was all she could think to say. "Yaoksi, you have to be with me on this. I'll do whatever I have to...but I want you as an ally. I need you as an ally."

In the nanoseconds which followed, I tensed automatically, then quickly forced myself to loosen up in preparation for the impact I knew would soon follow. I gritted my teeth...

...and promptly fell to the deck with an embarrassing whump as my loosened muscles obligingly let gravity win the fight against my body and my legs, which up until that very moment had been doing a superlative job in keeping me upright.

"OH, HELL'S RAMPANT ELEMENTS!!!" I burst out with, scrambling to regain a modicum of dignity, as I likewise scrambled back to my feet again. I turned a near-frantic grin in Cella's direction, which crashed head-on into the frozen compilation of near terror and desperation and anger still planted on her beautiful face.

She blinked as I quickly sobered. "Wh-was that the 'Dark User' you had been telling me about?" I whispered as, suddenly shaky, I fell back into the chair I had been sitting in, seeming a sudden lifetime ago, when Cella and I had been simply sharing a meal together.

I looked at my plate. The food looked so... inconsequential for some reason.