"Hey now, wait a minute," I finally said, placing my elbow on the bar and leaning forward to look past Aaron at the big red guy.

"Are you tellimg me that in either case you're going to be leaving Aaron and me alone in these so-called Darker Realms, whether for a couple seconds if we go on foot, or an entire minute if we're in Devil?

"That we'd have to wait while you catch your breath to retrieve us?"

I cut an incredulous glance toward Aaron, then returned my attention to Thoran. This was beginning to sound like a no-win situation if ever I saw one; I was beginning to kick myself for even thinking we could use means beyond our ken to sneak into the Sith world.

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We entered te establishment and almost instantly I saw Yaoksi and Aaron talking to a being I had never met. That must be their new sith friend.

"Hey Aaron, does this place have any wookie food."

Without waiting for him to respond I turned and shouted to the closest waiter.

"Hey waiter Caff, extra strong."

Turning back to the group and waiting for my drink I aksed.

"So whas going on?"

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“Hello there, Thea,” he said, bemused and taking her hand. “The best thing they serve here is, of course, me. Ha! Seriously, though, try the roasted… um, whatever it is I’m eating. It’s good.”

He let go of the little hand and regarded Yaoksi.

“And no, I won’t leave you alone at all. I wouldn’t do that to anyone, believe me. I’ll be with you the whole time, preferably inside the ship, but the effort to open a hole that big will take a little bit to recover from. I’ll try again as soon as I can afterwards to open the hole back out. It’s sort of like an air lock, if you can think of it that way. We open the door, go in, shut the door, then open the next door. But it’s hard work and I’ll need a minute to get the focus back.”

His eyes opened wide in realization, and he turned back to the girl.

“How rude of me, I never told you my name! I’m Thoran, of the Sith.”

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...and something happens?"

Aaron wasn't liking this idea the more they talked about it. Not until he had more specifics and more definitive plans. "And regarding your need some recovery time...

...exactly where will that recovery time occur? With us? Elsewhere?"

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“All right, let me explain exactly what will happen if we take the ship. First, we all climb inside and take off into space. Then from inside the ship, I do my voo-hoo thing and open a portal in front of the ship. We fly through into the Darker Realms, I close the portal behind us. This is all done while we are inside the ship, because I’m just that good. Then we fend off anything that might see us while I get the strength back to open another portal in front of us, this time out of the Darker Realms and into Sith space. That make sense?”

He winked at Yaoksi.

“By the way, cute kids. They yours?”

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"Whats going on... Darker realms, a ship, Thoran of the Sith?"

Apparently it seems I've been left out of the loop on whats been going on lately.

"Aaron, Yaoksi whats going on."

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...not to mention the sudden insertion of the kids into said affairs.

When my hands came back down it was to grab my drink and knock back a healthy shot. Then I slammed my glass on the table and turned back to Thea and Cel. My immediate reaction, of course, was to let them know in no uncertain terms that there was simply no place for kids where we were going, when I paused to reflect on the look I was getting from the little gal.

Those eyes, shining so bright with open curiosity... and something else. A deeper disappointment, ready to flare out once more; hadn't she already shown a tendency to go trotting off with whoever might just up and come down the pike, offering her candy and dangling a carrot in front of her nose? While I knew this would never happen aboard the Hornett, whose to say that she wouldn't turn away again, seeking something, someone else, if she felt betrayed again?

Gods knew she'd already been derailed from her life's goal too many times already.

I rubbed my face again, agonizing. Then I gave a short, definitive nod.

"Only the one, so far," I began as an aside to Thoran before I looked Thea straight in the eye and set out to be totally honest with her. The kids deserved that at least, I thought.

"Thea honey, yeah, I was going to leave you in safe hands here on Hornett, because we--"

I indicated Aaron and Thoran with a wave of my hand.

"--are going off on a little trip that might, in fact probably will, be very dangerous. We have two routes open to us: one involves confronting the Imperials, the other..."

I fumbled to a halt again, shaking my head at myself. How in the world does an adult tell a child that the Boogeyman is real?

"The other is a shortcut through a very dangerous place, one filled with terrible creatures and no light, and one whose people don't care if you're a kid or grown up.

"If they catch you, you're dead, and that's the simple truth."

I paused yet another moment, letting this sink in.

"Our eventual goal is to go to another world, Thoran's world, the Sith world, honey; Galen and Terrin and all our other friend are there and we want to bring them back here. We don't know if they're in danger there or not, but it could simply be that they can't leave because of the Imperials there blockading the planet.

"We're going to sneak in, find them, and get them out of there. I'm afraid it's going to be awfully dangerous, with a very low probability of success; do you honestly believe you are up to what might happen?

"Can't you understand why I would rather you two remain aboard Hornett, where you'd be out of danger? I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you."

((OOC: Thread continues in Suffer Thou Not in the "Empire/Republic" forums, thank you.))

[ 12-04-2006 12:00 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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