And with nothing further than that, Taylor made the arrangements via comm for Manth's ship to receive the Level Three diagnostic she had requested along with fuel and food...

...and plenty of the blue liquor which she had so eagerly requested.

"While this is completed, you are more than welcome to visit our dining hall or request quarters where you may rest before you depart to continue your part of our...contract. What is your preference?" he queried, falling silent then even as the ominious tone of his commlink almost immediately followed his words once more.

For the moment, he ignored it. But inside his mind was doing anything but as he awaited Minna's reply.

She remained silent, quietly assessing the situation. She was, after all, a spy, and a good one; in her opinion it didn't take a rocket scientist to logically deduce that there was something seriously wrong aboard this massive ship.

Fleeting pity flickered in her eyes. Then she finally spoke.

"Thank you, Mr. Taylor," she said softly, nodding her head to the acting commander.

"I believe I shall go directly to my ship, and make certain the diagnostic progresses smoothly."

As well as according to my own specifications; I hope I can sneak a couple of them in....

"I will leave you to your business. I believe I can find my way to the docking bay...."

With that she nodded once more then departed, and soon found herself hurrying through the corridors she had so recently traversed. They were yet filled with crewmen, but crewmen whose very demeanor had somehow changed.

For the worse, she noted to herself as a particularly worried looking individual strode by.

Something has happened aboard this ship. Something definitely not good.

Minna ol girl, I believe this is your cue to leave.

Going quickly to where technicians were crawling over Heaven's Forbiddance, she cast her ownership's eye upon them. Things seemed to be progressing well; she went aboard, smiling a little to see that the tech in front of her was wheeling aboard a crate filled with blue bottles.

I have that at least....

Going then to the command area, she ran a few confirmatory diagnostics of her own devising. All seemed well; she was fully fueled, her hold filled with food items both perishable and non, and much to her surprise loaded a bit more for bear than she was when she first arrived.

Ion cannon, how nice.

Nodding in approval, she opened ship-wide communication and made her thank you's, thank you's liberally and quite skillfully interspersed with gentle suggestions that all was well and assistance was no longer necessary and could she please be on her way?

Thank you.

The hatch closed with a definite sound as the final tech departed. Its echoing clang was soon replaced with the familiar chirps and hums as Forbiddance awoke and brought herself up to launching speed.

Then all techs within the great bay scattered for shelter as the forcefield at the far end flicked off, and the paralyzing shimmer was quickly replaced with the steady and fearfully indomitable glow of the cold and distant stars.

Seconds later, she was among them.

[ 08-17-2004 05:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Minna Manth ]

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

He flicked the kryte dragon hide cloak he wore. "I am going to kill you all. Try and stop me!"

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

Believing in safety before anything, he determined the next best course of action would be to power up and thus reheat the small pod.. as Loban had ingested a fair share of the condesation that had obscured the windows.

Need was irrelavant, he thought to himself..

A beam passed through his vision, one that seemed very familiar.. something that resembled a shooting star in the deep of space streaked by right to left.

Something close..

Perhaps it was the ship this pod belonged to.. in any event it was gone now.

Perhaps, once Loban regains control of the pod, his journey can begin in that direction..

Perhaps was a window into the future, something that could be pushed back further and further if one wished.. time is a tiger which hunts us.. hunts the future..

And now time and future were running down on Loban Kenobi.

The escape pod was now adrift, powerless after shut down and cooled off for 14 hours.. condensation soaked and frozen through to the spine of the vessel.

An oversight, a death sentence.

[ 08-18-2004 11:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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

...and remembering.

Nefrai Kesh...the Undaunted...

Shawn had heard of him. And he now knew what to do to deal with him.

Stretching out with his Force-senses, Shawn reached up a napkin holder near a cooking burner in the dining room's kitchen, all the while keeping his eyes trained on Kesh. Force-pulling a pile of napkins from the holder, Shawn simultaneously flipped the burner's switch, igniting the napkins which were now hovering above the burner.

The fire wasn't big, but if it continued to burn it would quickly become bigger. And Shawn hoped that perhaps it would be enough to accomplish his goals as he then moved the burning napkins with the Force to a table nearby Kesh. He let them drop and land on the booth, causing it to then begin to burn.

"I've never believed the stories that you kill and destroy just for entertainment. Why are you here, Kesh?"

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

"Fool, even I who have lived through the course of time recognize a blatant distraction! We're you hopping to believe in that myth of my weakness to fire?"

He grinned devilishly, then a thought occured. I've never given them an advantage, why not try? It's not like they can defeat or get rid of me.

"I disappeared on that occurence because I was called back to my home. I have no control over where or when I come, but I come with an unknown purpose. When it's time I appear, I arrive. When my time is past, I leave. And why do I kill and destroy? You could call it similar to the existance of the fabled vampires of old, not wanting to at first, but once tasting the blood of others, it becomes an obbession more than a need."

He reached under his cloak and retrieved his sword, made to resemble the maw of a kryte dragon. "Come jedi, let me renew my purpose!"

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

Not in the least. There was too much to ponder upon, and too much to prepare for in advance. For when she finally came into orbit around Onderon's "Demon Moon," Dxun, she knew that from that moment on her life would be placed in the gravest of danger.

Well... maybe not as far as the Grand Scheme of Things goes, but far from moseying along Easy Street, she thought to herself as she sipped a small glass of the blue liquor. The fiery liquid seared down her throat and into her stomach, where it rebounded up to the top of her head. From there it cascaded gently down through her body in a gentle waterfall of what couldn't be described as anything other than "warm fuzzies."

Except for her mind. That was somehow completely bypassed, and left totally unaffected. One of the reasons she was so smitten by the stuff. Her concentration upon the notes in her hand was scarcely touched as she took another sip.

Dxun... called the Demon Moon, and for good reason. Way back in the yesteryears, around 4,000 years ago, in fact, it was the hidey-hole of Mandalore himself.

It was where he and his warriors hid, and from whence they sprung out like oil-blots to rage and rampage and ruin and do whatever the hell else it was they so liked to do.

Assisted along the way with their infamous armor, and secret weaponry.

Of which the Temblor toxin was but a small part.

Now the little Bothan spy sighed a bit, and flipped a page. That didn't help; the information she was reading grew even more horrendous.

Most people avoided Dxun, for it was populated by wild and ferocious beasts. It was rumored to yet harbor the descendants of Mandalore and his warriors, although nothing had come from the moon since his death but rumors and whispers... at least up until about a hundred years prior to the Battle of Yavin, when they up and burst out from hiding long enough to totally exterminate the Ithullan race. Undefeatable they were, until a group of jedi killed off the last remnants of their tribe, just before the start of the Clone Wars....

Or at least everyone thought that was the end of it. Actually no one really quite knew....

And all Minna knew was that the toxin had been created by the Mandalorians, and they hid out on Dxun, filled with an overabundance of lethal life.

Toxins are made from plants... and antidotes are made by their creators, if they are wise.

Minna didn't doubt for a moment that the Mandalorians hadn't been wise. So she continued to devour every bit of information she could glean about the ancient Mandalorians, whether it came from her own data banks or from something as antiquated as the book she was holding.

Somewhere on Dxun is the key, the antidote. I know it. I'll find it.

I have to....

She let the book close quietly and merely sat, a vacant expression coming into her eyes, and stared off into the smears of stars that outlined her viewports, looking for all the world like horizontal bars to a cage. Her blue funk was abruptly interrupted as a long-range sensor bleeped for attention.

Quickly, she sat up, and let her fingers dance upon her control panel. The monitors promptly obliged her by showing her an incredible sight:

Behind her and fast disappearing among the starstreaks was... an escapepod?

She quickly slowed to sublight, and hailed the pod.

"Heaven's Forbiddance here; do you need assistance?"

Leaving the connection open for reply, she settled down for a short wait.

I'll help if they need it, but I sure can't hang around here forever, she thought to herself as the seconds began lengthening into minutes.

((OOC: Minna Manth continues her quest, in Tigers Walk by Night in the "Empire/New Republic" forums, thank you.))

[ 08-25-2004 05:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Minna Manth ]

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

Instinctively, Shawn yelled to the crewmen behind him as the fire continued to spread. ”Move out!”

Without any hesitation, the crewmen responded, and Shawn backed out of the now-blazing room after everyone else had cleared. As the dining hall doors slid to a close, Shawn reached for the commlink Garrision had given to him. He barely looked at it as he punched a button which would connect him directly with the Hornett’s maintanence staff.

“This is Shawn Petrolu. I need you to reverse the ship’s ventilation system and direct it into a single cargo hold which has its Force-field lifted, then send a request to engineering to plot a hyperspace jump out of here and then wait for Commander GArrison's mark to implement it; I will speak with him. This is imperative and must be done immediately since is it the key to getting rid of the menace which has been so wrecklessly harming the Hornett and those aboard. There is no time to explain further...but is this plausible?”

[ 08-28-2004 08:56 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shawn Petrolu ]

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

Working quickly then, he sent the order to his crewmen, who immediately acted upon it. As a gust of wind swept through the Hornett, the head of maintenance held down any paperwork which had been laying atop his work console...

...and contacted engineering, requesting the hyperspace jump to be calculated for when the Jedi said the word go. Whatever the Jedi had in mind, it must involved sucking something out of that dining hall and into the vast vaccuum of space. And after all the devestation which had been so suddenly created on the Hornett, the head of security sure hoped it worked...

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

...then reached for his commlink once more. “Commander Garrison, this is Jedi Petrolu. Engineering has prepared a hyperspace jump at my request. Please clear the mark immediately, we must get out of here if we are to get rid of our menance, and now. I will explain in due time, you have my word.”

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

...but he dismissed it as the seeming urgency of the situation slammed home. He thumbed the frequency for engineering on his commlink.

"Engineering, this is Commander Garrison. Are hyperspace coordinates plotted?"

A pause. "Yes sir."

"Jump on my mark. 3, 2, 1, mark."

Almost immediately, the Hornett slid gracefully into hyperspace, leaving the gaseous Nefrai Kesh behind, frozen in the vaccum of space. Only then did Taylor punch in Shawn's comm frequency once more.

"Petrolu--what the Hell has been going on?"

But why was he not being drawn back into his home? What had occured and changed this.

Suddenly, he felt himself gripped by the cold of space, and immediately began to counter act. He reshaped slightly, and soon found himself comfortable again. But what is it that I do now? The ship is gone, and-

His thought was cut short by a strange heat. He turned, and was nearly horrified to notice that he was beginning to experience a burning sensation.

He turned, and saw two craft, one looked like an escape pod, the other was a craft. It's my only hope.

He reached out and grabbed onto the escapepod as it was pulled forwards. I can't risk confrontationt this time... He thought as it drew closer.

(((Nefrai Kesh latches onto, Tigers walk by Night....)))

[ 09-01-2004 09:06 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Nefrai Kesh ]

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

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

Who the heck was this guy anyway? And what was he doing on the Hornett?

"I'll meet you in your office and let you know all that's been going on," Shawn finally replied to Taylor, "But the long and the short of it is that the creature which has been plaguing the Hornett--Nefrai Kesh--is gone for at least the moment. Anyway, I'll be at your office in about five standard minutes, if this is acceptable."

"Yes it is," replied Taylor. "Garrison out."

Hearing this, Shawn replaced the commlink on his belt and turned to Dashawn, his greeny-blues meeting the other man's eyes directly.

"My meeting with the Commander will be a private one," he started out with, "But I would also like a word with you, as I sense you would also like to speak with me," he continued, immediately sensing the other's disappointment at the possibility of being left behind. "I'd very much like to know who you are, and where you came from. After all," Shawn observed, "There are a very small few aside from Jedi who have lightsabers...

...let alone are there those who can actually use one."

Quieting for a moment at that, Shawn let this statement hang in the air, allowing the weight of it to fall as well. Then, "I will be in the Green Level dining hall as soon as I finish speaking with the Commander...meet me there. But for now I must be on my way."

Nodding politely to the other man at that, Shawn then departed to meet with Taylor, all the while wondering just who in fact it was that he had left behind.

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

So, as he had come to develop as a habit, he sat down, crossing his legs and readied himself for meditation. He had learned this back during his training to become a Stormtrooper when he had run into one of Darth Vaders closest underlings. At the time Dashawn didn't understand the powers of the man, but the Force-wielder had held some understanding of the Jedi and their teachings from what Darth Vader had taught him so the man passed it on to Dashawn.

At the time, he wasn't clear why, but as the years passed he learned the truth about the person. It was clear that this man understand the Force in Dashawn, but also that he wanted to past the legacy of his understanding of it to another, for the man was sick. The thought of the man on his death bed was a sickening sight to see and it came back everytime he tried to meditate.

Yet, he came back for more when he wanted to calm his nerves, for that what was told to him by the man. Even through he tried to pierce through the exterior of the blocking thoughts of the Force-wielders death as he sat there, like many times before, he was still puzzled about what had escaped during the combat back there.

However, this all seemed to slither away into another realm like a snake under a rock as he washed himself of the troubles. He slowly, instead of piercing, let the painful thoughts of the once mentor's death go away and new encountering become just a fragment of the numerous memories he held in his somewhat short lifetime.

Nothingness stood within him and a calmness he had rarely arrived at appeared once again on his exterior, while his lightsaber floated ahead of him. It twirled and twisted as his mind strained to keep its focus on nothing. The whole idea of it was mind-boggling to even truly grasp, but he had managed through training to reach some height of it. However, it rarely last and like all the previous times, moments passed and it went away.

He waited there though, still in his meditative seating with his eyes closed and now focused on the Force and the times ahead.

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

"Hornett, this is Heaven's Forbiddance. I have encountered an escapepod, not far from your position; I have taken it with me to my first destination.

"It refuses to respond to hails, and there seems to be a weird coating on it. So if you respond to this, and come for it, please be careful.

"I don't know where the hell it came from to begin with-- but I am squirting coordinates to you.

"Heaven's Forbiddance, out."

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

As the first message played, Taylor received the report concerning Loban Kenobi and the stolen escape pod. Taylor made a note to himself to have his crewmen try and recover the escape pod as the second message decrypted. When it did, Minna Manth's comm played, Taylor could only sit back wondering if the coordinates she had just transferred belonged to the missing escape pod which Loban Kenobi had taken. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but...

Reaching for his comm unit, Taylor sent a brief reply to Manth.

Forbiddance this is Hornett. Your message has been recieved, and will be acted upon shortly. I will send a crew out to check on and retreive it, but your warning is also noted and will be taken into utmost consideration.

He paused at this, frowning. Wonder what the hell is wrong with the pod...

Then, to Minna once more. I am also sending you new coordinates for the Hornett. Circumstances have forced us to jump to hyperspace, however our new location should be well within your reach in the allotted time span which you have. This is Commander Garrison, Hornett out.

Knowing that the message was recorded and ready to be sent, Taylor pressed another comm switch. "Communications, when we revert to realspace within the hour, see to it that the message I am transferring to you is encrypted and sent to this comm frequency along with the coordinates to our current destination," he ordered, giving them the frequency for the Forbiddance.

"Yes sir," came a crisp reply over the comm frequency.

"Thank you...and Garrison out."

Transferring the message then, Taylor closed out the comm frequency and sat back, still waiting for Shawn Petrolu's arrival...

...and wondering just how he should have his crewmen approach the mysterious escape pod which Manth had found.

...including the specific details as to how he was eventually removed from the Hornett. Taylor took this all in with the deepest interest...

...but Shawn wasn't through with just the information concerning Kesh.

"It has also come to my attention," he continued over a cup of Alderaanian hot tea, "That you seem to have a Force user within your janitorial staff. Were you aware of this?"

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

...after all, why would a force user be lurking in our maintainence staff. I'm assuming you are going to follow-up on this person in the Captain's absence?"

The Jedi nodded.

"Very good," he said. Then, "And speaking of Force-users, a certain Loban Kenobi, who has been comatose in our medwing for around a year, has awoken and broken free of the medwing in a rage, injuring several security staff and stealing an escape pod. Only a little time after this particular incident, the bounty hunter who is out looking for our antidote for Captain Barnes recovered an escape pod not far from our position...

...but he was even more troubled with the news concerning the strange coating on the outside of the pod he was possibly in. He made no outward show of this concern, however...

...at least, not initially.

"A strange coating?" he repeated. "I'll tell you what it sounds like. Remember I told you of my theory that Kesh, once turned into a gas and pumped off the Hornett, would remain in a frozen gaseous state within the vacuum of space?"

The Commander nodded, seeming both intrigued and somewhat more concerned.

"If that pod was out there when he was dumped off this ship, perhaps he somehow adhered to it, hoping to save himself. I could be wrong about this, but I have to wonder about it, and even more, I have to admit I'm highly concerned about the welfare of Kenobi. After all, if Kesh is somehow on that pod of his, who knows what might happen. We're going to have to take a look at that pod for ourselves, and we best do it with the greatest of cautions. I know you probably intended to send only a team out for the pod, as would be costumary...

but Commander, I have to ask you this now. How willing are you to take my suggestion to change courses at the risk of dealing with the senseless destruction of Nefrai Kesh once again?"

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

Taylor sighed then firmed. "I suppose this was inevitable from the time I listened to the hunter's message about the pod."

With that, he reached for his communit. "Engineering, I am now sending you coordinates which I want you to add ten degrees to in each direction then immediately plot as our new destination." Even as Taylor said the words he reached for the console on his desk, typing in the coordinates Manth had given him and sending them off to his engineering team.

"Yes sir," came engineering's reply, even as Taylor felt the Hornett drop into realspace once more. "Coordinates received into the navcomputer. Change in course upcoming in thirty seconds."

"Thank you, engineering. I will notify you if there is any further change. Garrison out."

Closing this connection, Taylor then keyed in another frequency, connecting with Minna Manth.

Forbiddance, this is Hornett. I have decided to bring my entire ship out to the site where you have left the escape pod, but we will be ten degrees out on both the x and y axis from the pod's actual location for our safety. Just wanted to keep you updated, and I will continue to do so if there is any further change. Hornett out.

Then he looked to Shawn once more. "So you trapped Kesh by making him turn to a gas then pumping him into the vacuum of space?" he queried, pondering. "This is risky, but I think I just might have something to keep him in his place..."

Even as these words came from Taylor's lips, he could feel the smooth glide of the Hornett from realspace to hyperspace once more...