The thin slit in the door of the cell was opened, and the Admiral spoke, "You want to negotiate? Go ahead."

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...in exchange for nothing more than the sole freedom of my employee and I from this planet. My only request is that you take the department into the Empire and seperate it entirely from Eagle Enterprises so that I may continue to buy and sell ships as I always have; I'm a salesperson, nothing more and nothing less. Aside from that, I think it's only fair that my employees know they are now priveleged to be working for you."

The words were very sincere. Terrin waited to see what the Admiral might reply.

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Again he quieted, waiting.

[ 10-27-2002 08:50 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Mr. Danner, would you be willing to throw in your flag ship? The Hornett?" Actar said, grinning. Thus far, the deal didn't seem quite up to par.

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Jasyn, meanwhile, shot a totally incredulous look in Terrin's direction as he spoke. But Terrin knew he had to do this if they were ever going to get out of here in one piece.

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The next thing the men in the cell saw was the small slit in the door rise, and a food tray slide in. There was no food on it though, just the locket Actar had recieved from Sorben.

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The officer quickly left the Admiral, and issued the orders prescribed.

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He gulped, blinking as if to clear the object from his line of sight, hoping like hell that it wasn't what he thought it was. He reached a suddenly shakey hand out to grasp the locket, still clearly recognizing it and suddenly simply not wanting to admit that it in fact was what it was. For a long moment he simply held the the locket in his hand, knowing that there had to be some purpose for its sudden appearance in the cell.

Galen's locket. Why did Actar have Galen's locket...?

The room was dead silent...not that it would be anything other than that in the barracks of a prison ward, but the silence was deafening. Suddenly wanting more than anything to look upon the two faces of those two people that he loved so very much, Terrin struggled with an unsteady hand to open the locket.

Something in him literally snapped when his eyes fell on the image inside...

... of those two people he'd been so longing to see, now covered with a black X.

This WAS Galen’s locket. That WAS their picture inside...

The Universe was suddenly spinning totally out of control, and all he wanted to do was crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

No, no, no. It couldn’t be. He’d know if this had happened, wouldn’t he...?

Try to deny it as he might, the probable reality was beginning to become more and more painful with each passing moment. To the side, Jasyn was looking rather concerned, but seemed to be struggling to determine the best response to the obvious implication as his own eyes dropped to the image. Terrin didn’t struggle to respond for any length of time, however. He closed his eyes, fighting an onslaught of tears as unrelenting despair began to well up inside of him, needing some sort of release.

”Noooooo...” he moaned, leaning into the prison wall for support as his legs suddenly went limp beneath him. He slid to the floor, holding that locket tightly in one hand, tears of grief and agony beginning to fall from his eyes. ”Noooo...”

[ 10-27-2002 10:05 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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...but why had it come to this?

He kept his eyes closed, not ready to face the look Jasyn might be directing his way at the moment. He swallowed then forced out the words that were coming to his head. "Tell the prison ward to inform Admiral Actar that he can have Eagle Enterprises...

...all of it."

All Terrin wanted, for the moment, was for life to simply go away...

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Rathal leaned back in his seat as the frieghter that had been commisioned to he and Finn cruised through hyperspace. His gaze was fixated on the stretched lines of light that they shot passed, Rathal never grew weary of this sight no matter how many times he saw it, still this was not the time to loose himself in pretty vistas, now was the time for planning.

"Alright, Finn," he said, turning to his co-pilot, "Once we hit Coruscant how would you suggest we got through the blockade. There is no way we can just announce that we work for Eagle Enterprises and would like to know the whereabouts of Terrin Danner. We don't know what kind of trouble he is in and for all we know he could be on Actar's most wanted list. We could get locked up for just mentioning his name... or we could not, either way its best not to take risks. But we will definatly need some kind of cover story if we are gonna get through to the planet. Any ideas?"
Jonovar awaited his compatriot's response.

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My Characters: Rathal, Narcolm, Freedon Naad

Anticipating Rathal's request to explain who Dal'mah was, Finn expounded. "Dal'mah was a Bothan Admiral who disappeared a few years back into the Unknown Regions. He's rumored to posess a map and information regarding the systems in the UR. No one knows if he's alive or dead or if he still has this map. Truth is he's dead, and his spy failed to actually acquire the map and info for him from those who colonized the area as separatists and refugees, but the Imps don't know that. Hearing his name again should generate enough interest to hear us out."

Proud of himself for being able to come up with a good cover story, Finn sat back in his seat and hoped Rathal would find it suitable. He better... it's based on more fact than he realizes.

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"It is a very good idea pal, unfortunately lieing to Actar is not a good idea he has... abilities that would allow him to catch us, however if there is any legitimate information we could broker then that is certainly worth a shot."

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My Characters: Rathal, Narcolm, Freedon Naad

The images were so very real, as if they were happening even now. All he could see was Galen in that Kandolorian dress of midnight blue, her big brown eyes meeting his, her hand gently touching his face.

"I-- I think that I love you, Terrin."

Over that image was that of his adoptive daughter...no, of his daughter, her big blue eyes radiating with life and innocence, the light red hair atop her head glistening as her mother played with her in a Sith park. Of the day when he'd first laid eyes on her, laying atop her mother aboard the Sith warship.

Image over image played itself out, and Terrin simply let it. He wasn't ready to face reality; didn't think he could handle the thought of them both being dead. It hurt too much...

So instead, the images and memories just simply played on.

[ 10-30-2002 03:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"OK, you've trumped me," Finn replied. He never thought it would come to this. His one thing of value... the ONLY thing, and he was giving it up to a bounty hunter and an Imp Admiral... for what? To attempt (stress attempt) to rescue a guy he didn't even know, who was in trouble over some personal issue...

Taking the chance and trusting people on the fly was all too common for Finn in the past, why should he stop now? Haven't I learned anything over the past ten years?, he pondered for a brief instant. Guess not, or else I'm just a sucker for a mission impossible.

Looking Rathal straight in the eyes, eyes that were true blue again, he spilled it.

"I'm not going to lie to Actar. That is, there WAS a spy sent to get that map of the UR and it DOES exist. And I know where it is. Hell, I helped modify the damn thing, based on three years spent out there with a clan of runaway Jedi hiding from Peace Brigade. You think that's something we can bargain with?"

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Cartina went straight for the cockpit, being as quite as possible in doing so...

The course did not need changing, but Aaron needed to be left to his thoughts...

A few hours later...

The Otana's Rival came back into real space, on the outskirt of the Coruscant system...

Perhaps there might still be a price on Aaron's head, looks like that might be my only way back in... Cartina thought to herself, as she noticed the heightened security of the blockade...

She sent out a general message:

"I'm here concerning the bounty once on Aaron Barnes' head, co-owner of Eagle Enterprises... I have him in my possession... waiting for clearance to land..."

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"I have been informed Terrin Danner was last known to be on planet... do you happen to know his whereabouts? I have a few... questions for him... concerning a current bounty... call it professional courtesy..."

She quieted, and waited for a response...

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She quieted at that, waiting for any lead to follow...

[ 10-31-2002 10:24 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Cartina ]

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Terrin Danner... left on YT-2200?!

That was all Aaron could make out, but he sure knew one thing and that was that something was fishy here.

"Terrin doesn't OWN a 2200," Aaron yelled from his awkward position on the floor. It was a good thing his hearing was more acute than his ability to move at the moment...

[ 11-01-2002 01:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin's Crew ]

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As I said before, I can't tell you much else. His ship apparently broke down and he was traded this one. We don't know his destination.

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And, it doesn't take a bounty hunter to realize they should have known the direction he was headed...

Cartina tried once more,"Yes, I apologize... but, you must know which direction he was headed?"

She stopped at that, this would be the last question she asked concerning Mr. Terrin Danner...

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My Characters: Rathal, Narcolm, Freedon Naad

Then he spoke into the comm, trying to sound official, "This is the crew of the Castaway requesting audience with his excellency, Admiral Actar. We bring news from the Unknown Regions that should interest him. Request permission to land on Coruscant."

Awaiting a response, Finn turned back to Rathal. "I sure hope you have a plan to look for Mr. Danner if they do let us land. Valuable info or not, I have a bad feeling about this..."

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