And a feeling rushed to him that was like a breath of fresh air after being smothered for an all-too-long time.

Shayla.

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

No. Not just a new presence. A distinctly FAMILIAR presence.

She smiled. Feeling her connection with this newcomer, she kept careful tabs on him until his escapepod had landed in front of the Temple. Then, closing her eyes, she reached out and grabbed his essence with the All.

In a moment, he appeared before her, his black pilotsuit making him look extremely handsome, the grin on his face one that pulled her in.

"Missed me?" he asked jokingly.

She smiled and pulled him to her, pulling his lips down to hers in a long and soft kiss. He in turn wrapped his own arms about her small frame. After a long moment she pulled back. "Does that answer your question?"

He just grinned in response, and she returned that look. Then, his look turned serious, and he began to say something, but she put her finger to his lips. "You don't have to say a word, I already know."

He looked at her inquisitively, and she grinned for a moment more. "You think I kiss you that long just for the thrill of it?"

"Ouch, sweetie," he said with mirth.

"You know me," she replied.

She then turned to her gaping companions in the Dining Hall. "I'll be back. Lord Narcolm, I think I'll be needing your assistance again shortly."

Narcolm nodded, and Shayla released Erik from her grasp, taking his hand in one of hers instead. Then they departed the Dining Hall altogether, leaving everyone else to wonder exactly what was going on.

[ 08-01-2002 03:17 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Suddenly, he was jarred from his thoughts when a familiar short figure opened the bedroom door, pulling along with her another very familiar figure.

One Terrin Danner didn't expect to see in the least.

He was sure he was probably gaping, but he couldn't help it.

Slowly, he managed to get enough control over his jaw muscles to say something. He knew that look in Shayla's eyes meant business. He knew something was about to take place. He hoped this was a good thing. "Hello, Erik...glad to see you in one piece," he said. "I take it this means we have a plan of action..."

As he waited to hear the reply to this, a stray thought managed to niggle its way upward into Terrin's psyche. If Erik was here...was Darra now alone with that one Sith now...?

[ 08-01-2002 03:30 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Yes, we have a plan of action. Graysith is waiting for Erik to bring Galen back to a ship above the planet," she explained, raising a premptory hand to ward of the words she knew Terrin would have in reply to this. "She also has given her permission for you to follow Erik to the ship in one of the fighters here--I'm certain she can fill you in on details once we are underway. I shall be taking the Retribution after everyone is safely on board Graysith's ship myself. But only after your wife is safely aboard Graysith's ship are any of us going to follow. You copy?"

Terrin nodded, resigning himself to Shayla's wishes. Not that it'd have done him a lick of good to argue with her.

"Allright then," Shayla said, motioning Erik to scoop up Galen's listless form. "Let's make haste."

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

I'll see you soon, my love, she said through the link she yet maintained with him.

He smiled back, situating Galen as comfortably as he could in the little escape pod.

I never can wait, he replied.

Wait for my reply while we all get ready, she said, then closing the link.

He nodded, then returned his attentions to getting the pod ready for departure, his senses keenly attuned to the preparations everyone else was making to leave the surface.

Then, in only a few minutes, his link with Shayla niggled again, Everyone's set, she said.

Stretching his sphere of influence out, Erik found Terrin's familiar Force-signature not too far away, in a TIE-interceptor, and Shayla's presence, along with two other Force-signatures in her own ship.

Here goes, sweetheart, he said at last along the link, then diverting all attention to getting himself and Galen safely back to Graysith's ship.

His fingers playing across the navboard of the pod, he deftly flew it back through the opening in the chronotic shield, to the Sith ship. Only when he was safely aboard did he stretch out to find the presence that was Terrin Danner right behind him. Further out, Shayla's presence--which had momentarily blinked out while he crossed the chronotic shield--resurfaced and then blinked out behind him.

Mission successful.

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

Graysith frowned to see the fetal position in which the young woman was curled. She took another step forward, only to be brought to a sudden halt by a wave of power and outrage which flowed out of seeming nowhere to encompass the entirety of the bay. She quickly erected a shield about herself and Erik... only to find the power had now become even stronger, as do energy waves when they become coherent with each other. Her violet eyes blinked in surprise with the realization that the strength she was feeling was coming from the baby in her arms, and was bouncing back upon herself from the very shield she had erected in unconscious self-defense.

She turned her eyes to Erik.

"This one knows her mother," she stated calmly, then held JhinDarra out toward him. The baby responded by starting to kick and squirm with far more vigor than one would expect a tiny newborn to possess. The strength she blasted out with so blindly, yet with such eerie recognition, all but sent the Chosen Daughter to her knees. She kept a grim hold of the child, still holding it out toward Erik.

"We must place these two together," she said at length; then with greater effort than the movement showed she turned and headed toward the shipboard medical facility. There she found a medical table covered with shape-adjusting foam, where she directed that Erik lay her charge. As soon as the unconscious Galen was placed there, she laid the babe atop the still figure of its mother.

The waves of anger and power abruptly halted, replaced now with ones denoting questions and something akin to pity on the most primitive of scales. Graysith carefully backed away, leaving the child to its mother, lowering her protective shield bit by bit until it disappeared altogether. Then she turned once again to Erik.

"I shall bring the father here as well; perhaps the primitive emotions of this little one may be assuaged with both its parents present," she announced. "Then I must remain here, ever by the sides of these two, and try to determine just what it is that has such a great hold over this woman's... over my sister's mind."

A quick wave of her hand opened a portal through the All, through which a startled Terrin Danner came stumbling through. Closing the portal, she now sent out a tractor beam to the interceptor he had been piloting moments before, making certain it would follow well back in their wake, yet not too far back that their shielding would not encompass it.

This accomplished, she turned her attentions to the others, and waited to see what would follow.

As she waited as well for the arrival of her Sister and Adept.

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

Terrin's deep blue eyes locked on the small little form next to Galen, as if to determine if the image he was seeing was really real. There, beside his beloved, lay the most beautiful blue-eyed baby he'd ever seen in his life.

Little JhinDarra.

The image now blurred before him with the impact of what it stood for. Little Darra, reunited with her mother...

...he just hoped somehow, somehow Galen knew...

He couldn't stand it anymore. He felt drawn to her--drawn to console his daughter. Somehow, he knew that she knew Galen wasn't well...

Without any further hesitation he stepped in next to the medtable and extended a shaking hand. Managing to steady it with some effort, he ran a finger along the soft skin of Darra's face. Let it slide further down her arm, to her little hand, to run across her perfect little fingers. Darra instinctively wrapped those beautiful little fingers around his. He stooped down to look into his daughter's wide-eyed and inquistive blue eyes, while she continued to hold his finger in her hand.
"We're gonna help your Momma out, sweetheart, he said in a whisper. Then he struggled with his next words, so fragile was the moment. "And Daddy's gonna take care of you..."

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

Shayla didn't waste any time; she didn't want to be floating around here in Khar Delban space too long. Through her link with Graysith, she sent the message, I'm going to berth in your main hanger bay.

With that, she immediately set course for the bay of the larger greeny-gold ship. Suddenly, as if the smaller Sith ship and the larger one recognized each other through some strange unity, Shayla felt the lock of a tractor beam on her ship. At the same time, a sigil lit up on her navboard.

It was as though, when she had set course for the hanger bay of the larger ship, it had identified the Retribution as a companion and become one with her.

In moments, the Retribution was securely berthed in the larger ship. Taking only a moment to shut down her engines, Shayla stood and, motioning Lord Narcolm to follow, exited the little ship altogether to find her Sister, Al'iya right on her heels.

[ 08-01-2002 11:46 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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"All are safely aboard, Mr. Kartan," she announced smoothly. "Please see to our departure for Korriban, and with all due haste. The coordinates are in the logbooks; please contact me if you need any further assistance. I shall be in the medbay with our party."

With those words she flicked off the unit, then returned her attention to the touching scene of Terrin Danner's reunion with his family. For a long moment she merely stood by, a silent shade in rune-encrypted smoke. Then she approached him in silence and laid a quiet hand on his shoulder.

"Every effort shall be made to expedite the healing of your wife, Mr. Danner," she said softly, her eyes looking down upon the still form of Galen, but seeing only the image of tuk'ata claws and teeth looming into her personal space. The image came closer and closer...

...only to suddenly disappear in a cloud of black smoke which spread itself out against the panoply of fading memory and was gone.

She blinked, stepping back a bit, letting her hand drop from the man's shoulder as though suddenly realizing she too was entering into the personal space of another. Folding her hands together inside their sleeves, she fell silent, and quietly awaited Shayla's arrival which, by the increasingly anxious whines M'wonBo'o was emitting, she presumed was soon to occur.

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

Stars faded to starlines to the blur that was hyperspace. And although Erik Kartan would have loved nothing more than to head off and meet his love yet again, he decided to wait and keep an eye on controls for a while.

He was sure the wait would pay off later...

[ 08-02-2002 01:55 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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He had been walking for hours... searching for his ship... he had a locator, all he had to do was find it, and dig...
Will this journey ever end!

Lo-Ban was begining to become a little impatient, but that was the least on his mind at the moment... He hardly had any clothing to resemble winter-ware, only the basic padawan attire...
COLD, SO VERY VERY COLD...

Someone was out there in the blistering cold. And not doing a very good job of handling it...

He looked over to his companions with concern in his eyes. "There's someone out there," he said simply.

Matt looked back at him, confusion on his face. "Huh?"

"There's someone outside of the Temple...struggling." He quieted a moment, searching inward, seeking further. A Force user...? Then, "I have to go out there."

Jasyn looked at him in amusement. "Buddy, if you go out there, you know you are stuck." Here he waved his hand expansively, indicating the Sith Temple in which they were now residing. "Unless you'd like me to stand at the door and try to hold it open for you," he added.

Shawn made a face. "Jasyn, I just gotta do it. And I'll be fine out there," he said, standing up. "I am a Jedi after all."

Jasyn grimaced. Then he mouthed "I am a Jedi after all," in slight mockery.

Shawn rolled his eyes. "You guys go find yourself a ship to play around with. Or look for some wine cellars. This calls for my attention, cold or no. I'll see you later."

As he turned to leave, Jasyn hollered behind him, "Will that be here, or in Hell?"

**********

Shawn didn't have to travel too far to find the source of the Force disturbance he'd been feeling. Holding his blue Jedi robes close to his body to preserve a modicum of warmth, he quietly approached the struggling young man, who appeared to be looking for something.

What in the Universe was this guy doing on this planet?

Shawn got the feeling he didn't want to know. All he did know is that the young man, Force-ability or no, was really struggling to keep his mind on whatever task due to the extreme cold. He did, however, recognize the new Force-signature coming up behind him and whirled to face Shawn, a small blaster in his hand, ready to shoot if necessary.

Shawn raised a hand and telekentically pulled the blaster to it, grinning as he did so. Then he said, rather cooly, "Seems you could use some help here, my friend," he stated, his grin spreading, "Or do you like to get yourself into trouble like this?"

[ 08-02-2002 11:47 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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Lo-Ban continued,"I am not used to this cold... I have only been off my home planet of Tattooine for a couple months... is your shelter near by..."

But--" he said, pausing a moment as he stretched out, finding what he desired, "I think there might be some equipment nearby we can use for shelter. While we look, why don't you tell me just who you are, and why you've come here..."

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

But to no avail. I couldn't draw breath deep enough to whisper, let alone scream....

Suddenly, something hinted of its existence. I tried to crane my neck, but found I still could not move. Beads of sweat boiled up on my brow with the effort I continued to make. Somehow it was oh so very important that I was able to see this strange new entry into my personal brand of hell.

Or perhaps it wasn't so strange. Not at all; perhaps it was in fact something very familiar that was drawing my attention...

I gasped as a tiny form suddenly materialized alongside my curled body. Though I couldn't turn my head, I could feel the warm presence of the little being who insinuated herself closely against me, her body a tiny sun full of warmth and light.

JhinDarra...!

I didn't know how. I didn't care. I just knew she was here with me, in this impossibly cramped place, the furnace heat of her blasting forth and sending soothing warmth into my quivering body. And likewise sending sanity flooding back into my very being.

I sobbed with relief, aching to hold her in my arms. I could only with the very greatest of efforts wiggle my left elbow until it made physical contact with my little daughter.

The daughter who had come to the aid of her mother once before, and who was now repeating that act.

Resigning myself with the uncanny knowledge that all I had to do was hang on and wait, I managed to relax just a fraction, the movement bringing yet more warmth cascading over me from Darra's tiny essence. She seemed to let out an inaudible coo, and I could feel her nestling even more closely against me.

I let out a sigh, and for the first time in eons let myself slip away into the healing embrace of slumber....

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

Darra's look was strangely...determined. She turned those big blues of hers on the unconscious form of her Momma, and if she could have, Terrin suspected she would have frowned.

He frowned for her. Talk about a rough entrance into the Unverse. Taken from her mother when she was only 3 months from conception, born away from her, reunited with her only to find her unconscious.

As he was thinking all this, Darra broke the quiet with a series of contented little coos. He wondered if she was trying to calm herself...

...or was she somehow trying to talk to her Momma...?

Terrin smiled at that.

Keep at it, Darra. Keep at it...

[ 08-03-2002 10:27 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Wide-eyed, he glanced over to Graysith, then pushed the accept button.

Aaron's voice came through. "Terrin, if you are getting this comm, I've got some news I think you'll really be interested in."

He pushed the send button. "This is Terrin. You've got me curious. I'm listening."

"Well," Aaron started out hesitantly, "I've been assisting some well-paying allies of ours in acting against a certain Imperial takeover. Well, a certain Imperial Admiral contacted me and made me an offer--one that would refund us for the damage EE sustained due to his bounties...AND garantee me Galen's current condition would be reversed."

At that, Aaron paused, waiting for a return comment.

Terrin wasn't quite sure he was hearing what he thought he might be hearing. "You're speaking in riddle, my friend. Speak plain."

"Terrin, I made a deal with Admiral Actar to cease our attacks against him and tell him the names of our allies in exchange for our being paid for damages and for Galen being "cured" of her current condition."

Terrin's jaw dropped. "You made a deal with Admiral who? Aaron, have you lost your mind?"

"You heard me. He's asking alot, but sometimes the best choices we make don't come cheaply. And no, last time I checked my mind was fully in tact."

Terrin's jaw dropped even further. This just couldn't be true. There had to be a catch, somewhere. "What are his conditions for curing Galen?"

"He wants either you or me to bring her to a specified ship on the perimeter of Coruscant's blockade. From there the ship will go to the surface. He said there can only be one of the two of us with Galen. At that time we would provide him the names of our allies in exchange for her healing. I've already agreed, but ultimately this is your decision, since you've been at the head of our...public relations platform lately. So what do you think?"

Terrin was too shocked to say anything about this just yet. He didn't know if he could trust Actar; but he DID know that if he COULDN'T trust Actar the Sith would be backing him.

The Sith would be backing him?

Well, gosh darnit, they WOULD be!

Of course, if Actar DID prove to live up to his word, this would mean bringing another person in on their little Alliance, possibly. But then again, it all depended. And if Actar didn't live up to his word, such an action would most definitely not behoove him politically.

Turning to look at Graysith in question, knowing she knew his thoughts, he waited to see just what she might have to say in regards to this...

[ 08-03-2002 11:17 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Now he restated his question from earlier. "Would you mind explaining to me just why you are here, Lo-ban Kenobi?"

[ 08-03-2002 11:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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She was surprised now that he hadn't attacked her for her seeming impertinence. Then again, perhaps that restraint on his part showed that he possessed a modicum of honor within him, and thus could now truly be trusted in his unexpected offer. While on one hand she would rather have strengthened the fragile bond of trust she was currently developing with Danner, to be honest she didn't know if she would have been able to release this powerful man's strange curse upon Galen's mind. The child showed great strength, strength which had nearly brought Graysith to her knees... and yet even she could not totally destroy that hold upon her mother's mind.

Whether or not the augmentation of the Valley of the Dark Lords would have been able to achieve that was another question. She was learning to trust Terrin Danner, yet even at the strong suggestion of her Sire she still was hesitant to divulge the secret of the Valley's position to one other than Sith....

All these thoughts flashed like wildfire through her head in the seconds following the transmission, seconds which she realized with a start were lengthening into minutes. Terrin's intense blue eyes were pinned upon her, bidding her to speak.

She pursed her lips.

"Very well, Mr. Danner," she said succinctly. "This would be the most assured means of reviving your wife. Well it is known in the field of sorcery that curses may be completely removed by their progenitors; we may have had a modicum of success, but I was given no guarantees.

"We shall take this Admiral up on his word. But! The child is now linked with her mother; there is no means I know of whereby I may remove her from her mind. The child must travel along as well...

"And to assure her utmost protection, so must I.

"Relay this message to the Admiral. Either I meet with him again... or we refuse his generous offer with our regrets."

[ 08-04-2002 11:49 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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No way would he split Darra from Galen. Force-sense or no, he just KNEW they were making some sort of connection. And Graysith's word's confirmed that.

The logical thing would be for Graysith to travel with them then, since Darra was involved.

He pushed the send button on his commlink once again. "Aaron, I want you to have Admiral Actar contact me via this comm. There are arrangements I wish to make directly with him. Can you do that for me?"

Aaron hesitated only a moment. "Consider it done."

[ 08-04-2002 12:14 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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[ 08-04-2002 12:00 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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"Mr. Danner, this is Admiral Actar, what do you need?"

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