He shook his head, that was an understatment, pay or no pay he was begining to regret accepting Barnes's offer.
Ya shoulda bargained harder he growled at himself, cause from here the potential gain is pretty skimpy compared to the potential loss.

He looked back at his co-pilot, a couple months ago he would have turned this guy in on the spot. Life certainly had changed since then, and for a moment Rathal wanted it to stop. Still, he might as well go all the way, he had come this far after all.

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My Characters: Rathal, Narcolm, Freedon Naad

He simply couldn't.

He closed his eyes once more, still holding Galen's locket in his one hand as something that might have been logic or possibly only wishful thinking and utter denial niggled to gain attention. He listened to what it had to say, weighing the logic on a mental scale of sorts. He directed somewhat dulled blue eyes in Jasyn's general direction, pursing his lips, for the first time speaking a word regarding what had been so cruelly revealed to him hours or eons ago.

"I don't believe it," he whispered. Then his eyes defocused once more to stray to images that could only be seen through the eyes of Terrin's mind.

[ 11-02-2002 10:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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There was always more than one way to skin a cat...

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"Castaway, more information is required about the knowledge you have if you wish to gain an audience with an Officer. You can tell that information to me..."

All the while, scanning the ships for lifeforms.....just two.

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"The information is of a sensitive nature. I prefer not to discuss it over a comlink, and I prefer to speak to an officer. No offense." He winced, wondering if he just blew their chances of getting clearance to land. "When we land, you'll have our ship and any cargo as bond."

Muting the comm and turning back to Rathal, Finn asked, "By the way, do we have any cargo right now?"

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"Thank you, General," the co-pilot replied. "My information concerns the Unknown Regions. I've spent time there and have access to nav charts not available on the open market. I'm interested in finding a suitable buyer, and thought perhaps one of your Admirals would be interested."

While they waited for the General's response, Finn gave Rathal a if they don't buy this we're screwed look.

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My Characters: Rathal, Narcolm, Freedon Naad

Why didn't you take Galen and Darra and head for the hills when the Sith had been cold enough to suggest manipulating Darra's age? Why did you let her go with Tarnus like that?

The answer was simple really. Because he knew that she loved him. But for them to parade off to Coruscant, into the very stomping grounds of Admiral Actar...

Terrin wasn't seeing the outside world again. He wasn't seeing anything really; just a gaping hole in that thing that had once been his heart. He would always love them both, but would he ever get the chance to show either how very much he did? Would he ever be able to atone for how he had failed them? He should have gone with Galen on more than one occasion...

...back in Prinn'chatka after Graysith had taken JhinDarra to the Valley of the Dark Lords...

But he'd let her go to find her own way. Love lets go after all...doesn't it?

Perhaps sometimes love also guides? Terrin didn't know anymore. At the time he'd thought he was doing the best thing, but now...

He didn't know much of anything aside from the fact that he was stuck here for gods knew how long; stuck here with himself and his failures and with the horrible possibility that Galen and JhinDarra were dead.

The Universe was so very, very cold and uncertain...

[ 11-07-2002 11:21 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Mara1Jade ]

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Rathal seemed even more on edge than before, fingering his blaster. Not that Finn liked the idea of trying to strike a deal with an Imp Admiral either, especially since he would surely have a price on his head after skipping out on his end of the bargain.

Finn let Rathal in on the rest of his plan. "Now to get to the planet, I have to tell the good Admiral that my map information is somewhere down there. Right now that's a lie, and you said Actar can sniff out a traitor with ease." Finn cracked his knuckles. "But I've got that covered once we get down there. I'll have some of it downloaded to a good friend of mine who happens to live on Coruscant."

Finn pulled his sleeve up to access his wristcom, which the Marauders generously agreed to give back to him upon his release. He punched and sent a digital code that sent a cryptic message to Coruscant. The message itself had no meaning and would look like regular nav-noise to anyone scanning transmissions from the Castaway. Upon receiving the code, Finn's friend was instructed to begin the download procedure and retrieve half the map data. Only accessing half was Finn's safety valve. If Actar did manage to get hold of the information, Finn would still have another secret to sell and some insurance to keep him alive.

"The catch is," Finn continued calmly, "I have to retrieve it in person. The information will be downloaded into a droid who will give the file only to someone alive with my retinal scan. Not too many people with eyes like mine, eh?"

He rubbed a hand through his hair. "When we get escorted to where the droid is dropped, we make a run for it and look for Mr. Danner. I've got no plan for that part... I'll leave that to you," he smiled.

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Tossing her head, fire in her eyes, she did not look back but stepped through the portal through the All she had opened....

...and into a tiny windowless and for all intents and purposes doorless cell. Upon entry she paused a moment, her lip curling in disgust to see how Admiral Actar treated his prisoners, then with great effort calmed herself and forced the fire from her eyes. The Glyph on her forehead quieted, bathing the two bedraggled and fitfully sleeping men on the floor before her in its soft glow; now she coughed lightly, and announced her sudden arrival.

"The Oath of the Blood is a lifelong one, my friend," her voice broke the silence of the cell, resonating musically against the durasteel walls before fading into echoes. She did not let the ensuing silence linger long.

"Please forgive my tardiness in coming to your assistance, Captain Danner; I have only just learned of your distress."

She then stood quietly, waiting for them to rouse themselves and acknowledge her.

[ 11-16-2002 12:29 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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That possibility was immediately discarded when something that seemed to be words came wafting into his ears. Terrin focused on them, trying to clear his mind enough to hear what whomever was saying. The voice was familar, but it somehow didn't seem to belong here.

Finally, the words started making sense. The last line spoken came in clear as day.

"Please forgive my tardiness in coming to your assistance, Captain Danner; I have only just learned of your distress."

At that Terrin's memory jogged. He forced two very unwilling eyelids open, sitting up on his elbows to ascertain if what he was hearing was really real. As the final lingerings of sleep faded from his eyes the image of Graysith swam into focus, along with an image of Jasyn to the side of him sitting up in a similar fashion. For a long moment all he could do was simply sit there in stunned silence, fiddling with something he was still holding in his hand. Then he remembered what that something was.

Galen's locket.

His blue eyes grew vague and distant. HIS assistance...?

She had to know the truth. Furthermore, he needed to know it, or else he was simply going to go crazy. But Terrin wouldn't dare to ask about such things here in Actar's prison ward. He simply had to get he and Jasyn out of this hellhole, and his ticket to do just that was standing right in front of him. So he simply got to his feet, Jasyn standing up in tandem with him, and directed his blue eyes in Graysith's direction, waiting to see what she might do next, somehow eeriely aware that she could sense his every thought and concern.

[ 11-16-2002 01:07 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"Please," she said softly, the Glyph beginning to brighten. "We must go before any guards should decide to come check on your--" Here she paused a moment, her nostrils flaring as she sniffed disdainfully.

"Welfare."

At that she fell silent and stood quietly, waiting for Danner to take his own first steps back into freedom.

[ 11-16-2002 01:24 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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And what the kriffing hell was on the other side anyway? Where were they going?

Terrin decided that wherever it was, it couldn't be much worse than here. Turning to glance at Jasyn a moment, he took the lead and stepped forward, only momentarily wondering just how long it would take Admiral Actar to even realize his prisoners were missing.

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...and stopped.

A slow smile crept across her features.

Let him know....

It was the work of moments to send an electric energy burst ravening out against the wall across from the tiny food-slot. It splashed there in hissing and staticky splendor, weaving and writhing about the cold surface for a moment before finally subsiding and then dying completely away. In its place, inscribed in Sith glyphs, was a single word.

Curling her lips in dark humor, the Chosen Daughter of the Sith nodded to herself in satisfaction.

Step one complete. Now onward...

...which she proceeded to do, stepping gracefully through the portal, and in going reaching out behind her to take it along with her.

All that was left behind was an empty cell, void of ornamentation of any type save for that one word written in the tongue of the Ancient Sith:

Graysith.

((OOC: Follow us back to Dwelling Where Others Once Forgot in the "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

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A pleasantly muted chiming in the key of B-minor enticed me quietly from the depths of slumber. I jerked my head up from the table in my ready room, wincing and then uttering a little grunt as I rolled it around to unkink my neck. Then I took a quick glance at my chronometer.

Maybe that was Ms. Manth reporting back already, I mused, reaching to open up the channel which was discreetly calling for my attention. We were fairly close to Corellia when we released her, and fates know Bothans are usually pretty speedy....

However it was merely the Officer On Deck, informing me that we were coming into Coruscant space, and that shuttles were being readied and provided with landing coordinates.

"The prisoners are already aboard, and en route to the surface," the young officer finished with a snappy salute that I answered only half-heartedly. Before he could begin to wonder if my lack of finesse was perhaps due to anything other than a touch of fatigue, I flipped the link closed and rose to my feet.

Well now, there's a pity, I thought to myself as I made my way to where my ship was docked. I was so hoping to get affairs underway before actually arriving back at headquarters. As it was Actar had ordered the immediate execution of the impersonator; I had to pull all the strings I could just to keep her alive. No matter how I looked at things, there was more to deal with here than just someone dressed up like a major in the Imperial Forces and traipsing about on a backwater world thus attired; this lady had some connection with what had occurred on Tatooine, I just felt it, and dammit but I was going to use her to get to the bottom of things.

But not without first obtaining certain...

Assurances.

I shook my head and entered the docking bay, and was soon aboard Cutthroat. It didn't take long to slip her out of the belly of the destroyer Actar assigned to me, and make an uneventful arrival outside Imperial HQ.

I wasted not one minute but left for the Detention Center the moment I arrived. I wanted to ascertain for myself not only the physical arrival of Mr. Arakeen and Ms. Corona... but the fact that the latter was still alive and hadn't suffered any untoward accidents along the way. Khaandon knows Actar gets a streak in him at times....

But no. There they were, safely installed within the same heavily reinforced and totally sealed durasteel and concrete cells which once held Captain Danner and his crewman.

Once held? Now that boded no good, that's for certain. I wonder what happened to them; had Actar finally tired of feeding them and ordered their execution? Perhaps; but it was something else to check into, just for my own... edification.

I peeped throught the tiny slit at Paul Arakeen, who was sitting rather morosely upon his cement bunk, still imprisoned in the force-cage.

Good; he's quiet enough....

Then I moved into an adjoining corridor, down another, and into yet a third. I paused at the head of the somewhat lengthy cell-lined passageway: halfway down I found the sole inhabitant, likewise ensconced in a force cage.

I stood just outside her cell for a moment, debating whether to say anything or not.

Oh what the hell.

"You'd better not even squeak a word about wanting to speak with Admiral Actar," I said at length. "He wanted you spaced long ago; you have me to thank that you're alive at all.

"Maybe we'll have an opportunity to have a little... chat, sometime."

I nodded my head to her politely, then turned and went on my way. The esteemed Admiral mustn't be kept waiting, after all.

[ 12-08-2002 03:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Sorben Tarnus ]

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Something I know they don't and want to get to the bottom of... but what? I told them about Grakko stealing ID... didn't he check on that? Perhaps he is just curious what my connection to Arrakeen is. Not much, not as much as I'd originally wanted.

She shrugged and rubbed her bare forearms. The cell was cold.

The spice shipment... he wouldn't know we were planning to take it, or did he? Maybe he did talk to the Hutt. Or maybe Paul is involved in much more than I know. I didn't have my equipment accessible to check on him after discovering his name. I only had what the Hutt told me.

Is Paul alive or dead? I may never know. I may be next after Tarnus has his "chat" with me. She shuddered a bit. A man with his power surely has everything he wants, besides the information he thinks I have. What else could I give that might keep me alive? Pleading for mercy won't get me anywhere with Imps.

She stopped thinking on that vein.

I'll just have to wait until I know more about what he wants from me.

[ 12-05-2002 01:12 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jazelle Corona ]

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That being the summary execution of our impersonator, Jazelle Corona.

My frowned deepened.

Admiral, I know you've been a bit... "twitchy" with the ladies lately, but perhaps this one would have been of more use to us alive than dead....

I shook my head to myself. I had tried; Khaandon knows how I had tried. I had been bold enough -- or stupid enough -- to open my mouth and actually dare to disagree with Actar on his decision to end the prisoner's life, pointing out that she had gotten that uniform and id from the Hutt Grakko, and that not only was he the one we should be after, but that with her connections with him she would be the best choice of personnel to lead us to him and catch him with his fingers in the cookie jar, so to speak.

Actar, on the other hand, always favored the frontal approach over stealth, and had flat-out refused to even consider my suggestion. And thus, no matter how much I quietly protested, he had reniged on his earlier agreement with me and had ordered that Jazelle Corona would die. And he dumped that rather dubious honor squarely in my lap.

Joy.

Biting back a little sigh, I hit a comm switch in my helmet, connecting with the gaoler's post, and proceeded to pass on Actar's order. Then I paused in my tracks, thinking.

All right... Ms. Corona might have been forced out of play, but there were other gamepieces in our holding. Perhaps that ex-Jedi who we captured with her, who had mentioned something about his own connections with that Hutt....

Thus it was that I found myself in the guarded quarters given to my "old nursemaid," Shawn Petrolu. The Jedi Knight looked up from where he was sitting as I strode into his room without so much as a by your leave, pinning his quiet yet penetrating gaze on me as I did so. I ignored the purposefully unexpressive look he was carefully maintaining, and came to a halt in front of him.

For a moment I just stood there, letting the enigma of my helmet match his look, nuance for nuance.

"So," I finally spoke. "You're a jedi. Tell me what you know about this other one, this 'Paul Arakeen.'"

[ 12-08-2002 03:18 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Sorben Tarnus ]

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That's how good Actar was, and how far-reaching were his fingers.

Pike sat back with a little snort of disgust. Then he flicked off his monitor, and casually opened a link to the brig section.

"We have with us a bounty hunter, and a Republic soldier and spy," he said with an authoritative ring to his voice. "See the Lieutenant is spaced -- immediately -- but let the hunter and his ship go...

"...after, of course, implanting him with a remote-controlled destruct device and tracking beacon," he finished smoothly, closing the link with a decisive snick. He nodded to himself with satisfation.... the slavers on Tatooine were helpful upon occasion, and the assimilation of their little slave holders was just one small way the Empire had gained in strength when the new blockade had arrived there.

Pike waited a few moments before contacting the brig once again. He was answered by a snapping young Colonel, who saluted smartly and informed him that both orders had just not only been implemented, but successfully carried out. Pike didn't say anything, but nodded and closed the connection again. He sat back in his comfortable chair, wondering at first about the bounty hunter.

Then he smiled.

With Actar rubbing elbows with Sorben Tarnus these days, it just wouldn't do to execute any of the Lieutenant General's old guild-folk now, would it?

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"I don't know much of Arrakeen, honestly. Shawn admitted. "However I knew his apprentice, Jakob Renard, at least as an acquantaince. Jakob was beginning to go off on missions about the time I neared the time for my trials, so I lost contact. Not long after I achieved Knighthood--about 4 years ago--rumor spread that, on some mission, Arrakeen killed his own apprentice. The Council acted quickly and took away his title as Master, and last I heard he headed off to live as a recluse on the planet Hoth, which didn't much help substantiate his claims that he didn't kill Jakob, running as he did.

"I have no idea what brought him to Tatooine nor how he got involved with this Hutt, he's been pretty... careful... in not disclosing that information as well. I don't think he much trusts Jedi, but...

...perhaps I can speak with him and get him to clear some things up, considering his current situation. Also, I'd really like to know the status of the two female bystanders that were brought along with us," he ended calmly, simply quieting then and waiting.

[ 12-08-2002 04:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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...which hadn't really told me anything I didn't already know. At first I thought of taking him up on his offer of speaking with the prisoner. Then I thought better of it.

Whether or not he had indeed nursed me back to health after I took that godawful hit on Kamino, it was just a better thing to keep these two altogether separated.

I merely nodded.

"Thank you for your help, Petrolu," I said succinctly. "I'll be seeing to your release... as well as to that of the young lad with you. And as for the ladies...

"...why, there is absolutely no reason you need to worry about them at all."

With that I turned to depart, still debating a great many things to myself as I did.

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[ 12-08-2002 04:38 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Mara1Jade ]

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...just the slightest, and for even a tinier moment actually considered answering the man.

But I was a careful kind of guy, and this was the kind of thing a bounty hunter doesn't go around applauding himself with... not if he wants to keep on being happy and healthy and sane.

Well... two out of three at least.

I quickly gathered myself together and just continued on, not even bothering to turn around or even send a glance askance over my shoulder.

What was done, was done. Now there were a great many things to do.

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Jamel swung his legs back and forth, attempting to activated his body from the dull position that he was in. Their was silence in the room since the rustling of the Bothan had exited with her leave, and he was the only being within his settlements other then the men who were settled firmly outside the door. Rubbing is back against the couch seat, he threw his head to the ceiling, falling into a state of unrealistical placement.

Jamel kneeled before a small orb. It was beckoning him to venture closer to it, inching toward it-to simply touch. The feel of the energy that had radiated from the levitating orb had drained the colorization of the room, other then the boy himself. The place was a void of purity, it was the brightest of white. The only source of light colorization was the orb, which shined bright. The orb held more then one color, every moment their was a flavor of green, then it marveled the boy as it manifested into a sudden light blue. Then suddenly a strike touched the orb, and it fell upon the color of dark navy blue. The light radiated much brighter then previous colors. It was a hiss that came from the blare of light, but then it suddenly stopped...

Abruptly the light cascaded the void, and then sunk back quickly. It grasped the being of Jamel and swiftly drew him into the orb which the light orginated from. Sinking into the marble shaped light sphere, he vanished into oblivion and was only to return..

He awoke suddenly, the boy's eyes wide with sweat running slowly down his face. Taking his eyes to the side where the building door was placed he watched as the Jedi had returned. Jamel's eyes narrowed downard, focusing on the being as the sudden heat that glowed within Jamel had lowered his vision as well as the opening of his eyes in such a bright place. Forming the being, and his description after a moment of a blank stare, his expression drew into a form of happiness. Rolling of the couch onto his feet, he welcome the Jedi with a cheerful hug. Throwing him off balance only a bit, Jamel jumped back with glee written on his face.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, jumping onto the couch, creating a face-to-face position between the two. Leaping down, he fell on his bottom, placing his legs in meditating state.

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