Shayla had gone missing from the Academy some time ago, and although the Jedi were after her, Erik got the feeling that they didn't have a clue what they were looking for or where Shayla was at all. In fact, if it were anyone else, Erik would have resigned himself to believing that they were dead.

But this was Shayla. Shayla didn't give up, she fought. Besides, if she were dead Erik would have felt it in the Force, for he was just short of being a full-fledged Jedi. He had chosen,for reasons of his own, not to face his trials and became an information smuggler with some really cool Force skills instead.

And he just knew Shayla was out there.

He couldn't explain what was going on, and Shayla had been unreachable to him even in the Force for quite a while. There was something else between he and Shayla, however, that made him believe he would know if she were dead regardless of her nonexistence in the Force.

Quite frankly, Erik loved Shayla. And somewhere deep inside, he knew she loved him too and just wasn't ready to deal with it.

He would find her if it was the last thing he did, but with no Force-trace on her, that would be difficult and take some time.

Deciding to take a break from his paperwork, Erik leaned his elbows on his desk and laid his head in his right hand. Before he even knew it, he dosed off.

And in that moment, it happened.

He saw her...and she was safe! He couldn't make out where she was, or who she was with, but he knew she was still out there somewhere...

And just as quickly as he had seen her in his mind's eye, he lost her.

He opened his eyes as he began to sort through the implications of what had just occurred.

Shayla was out there, and she was safe for the moment. But something still didn't feel right. Why was she there one moment in the Force, when the great majority of the time she wasn't there at all?

He didn't like it, and felt that something was distinctly wrong and very dark about the situation at hand.

Maybe it was time he had a talk with the Jedi again. Erik had a feeling they knew something they weren't telling him, and it was time that they came out with it all. He might not be a Jedi Knight, but he loved Shayla, and he would not sit by on the sidelines and watch while everyone else tried in vain to find her any longer...

[ 08-07-2001 11:15 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

A girl with short dark hair and dark eyes entered. The door closed behind her and she sat in front of Erik in a chair in front of his desk.

"I have news," she told Erik simply.

"What's up, Katrina," he questioned, taking his eyes off his paperwork.

"We've getting a major data feed from Izzy."

That's right, I forgot about Izzy! Erik thought to himself. "Where is she?"

"With some of the Jedi who are looking for some Sith Temple where they think Shayla is being held."

"So is that all Izzy jabbering about?"

"No. Apparently there is a little girl, Thea, who has some sort of connection with Shayla through the Force that none of the rest of the Jedi have. The little girl was suddenly taken into a deep sleep shortly after Shayla disappeared, and the Jedi seem to believe she was placed there to keep them from finding Shayla."

Erik nodded, still listening intently. "Makes sense. Alot of evil powers seem to be playing through all of this."

"Well, I haven't even gotten to the best part yet," Katrina explained. "Only a little while ago, Thea was released from this deep sleep. Izzy is babbling that they are on the wrong trail and says Thea is telling them Shayla's on a shuttle with a Sith somewhere in another sector. That shuttle is being followed by a Jedi named Cella Polliani who split away from the other two Jedi and hired a pilot at the Blue Asteroid."

"Interesting," Erik said, his dark brown eyes focusing on something that Katrina couldn't see. "Erik...what is it? Have you seen her too?"

"Yeah," he said quietly, still looking far-off.

Katrina wondered exactly what he had seen. She gave him a minute more to think through it, then broke the silence. "So, what are we going to do?"

"We aren't going to sit around and do nothing anymore, that's for sure," Erik said at last, finally snapping out of it. "Shayla and the Jedi need our help, I just know it. Make sure to keep the data feed open with Izzy, and tell her to give me the comm frequency for Cella Polliani. I think she and I need to have a talk."

[ 08-09-2001 03:36 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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"I think I got it--this is some sweet gear..." Just then, Jeroc walked into the hold and called Logan's attention from under a control panel.

"Logan, I need to talk to you."

Logan raised his head and immediately hit it on the panel above. "Sithspit!" He came up rubbing his head. "Is it that important, Old Man?"

Jeroc smiled thinly. "Yes, and it's light-years more important than tinkering with the weapons systems. The Pride already has the best guns money can buy."

"Well, there's always room for improvement..." Logan rose slowly to his feet, the blood rushing to his head. "What is it then? Don't let me die of suspense here."

Jeroc sighed. Sometimes it was hard to restrain himself and act the proper Master towards Logan. The kid was...well, an unadulterated smartass at times. However, the etiquette lesson could wait.

"Logan, I was inspecting the comm systems today, and the ship told me about several communications being sent from this ship in the past few days. However, I didn't recognize them as anything of ours. And Shayla's droid has been acting very strangely of late. I need you to talk to Izzy and figure out what's going on."

Logan folded his arms across his chest. "Why can't you?"

Jeroc almost caught himself saying, Because I told you to. "Because you have a better rapport with Izzy than I do. She talks to you a lot. And besides, I need to try to raise Cella on the comm again."

Logan reluctantly wiped his lube-streaked hands on a dirty rag. "Fine, fine, I'll go talk to the little rascal..."

He climbed up the hatch and went down the companionway to the living quarters, grumbling silently the whole way. He found Izzy standing next to the comm station, her I/O feed plugged into a jack. "Izzy, what do you think you're doing?"

Izzy spun her domed head with a start, bleebled with irritation at Logan.

"Yeah, yeah, don't give me any of that. Izzy, I need to know about these unauthorized communications you've been sending."

Izzy blew a raspberry and let out a string of beeps.

"You know just what I'm talking about. And I know it's you because it's not me or Jeroc, and Thea's too young to know how to use the comm for a big data dump like that."

The little astromech regarded Logan silently through her "eye". Logan wondered how the droid saw him. Was he as good looking to Izzy as he was to himself? Or was he just a bunch of 1's and 0's? Finally, Izzy spoke, and Logan was ready to listen.

"You've been talking to a friend of Shayla's? This Erik Kartan?" Izzy beeped affirmation, and Logan listened as she told him how she'd contacted Erik, told him the situation...and asked for his help.

Logan frowned slightly, and the sensitive droid backed away a few centimeters. "You sure that's a good idea, Izzy? We're pretty sure there's Sith involved, and it could get hairy for non-Jedi."

Izzy "spoke" again, and Logan caught the gist of her meaning. Erik loves Shayla. He will stop at nothing to save her. He has Force powers too. They own ships together, Stargazer Corporation. Erik is good, a powerful friend.

Logan nodded, hope filling his heart for the first time in days. More ships could mean a lot if the Sith Temple was well defended. And another Force-powerful ally was nothing to sneeze at either. He called for Jeroc. "Jeroc! Need you in the living quarters on the double." Then he turned back to Izzy. "And give me the comm frequency for this Erik Kartan. I have a feeling we'll need to talk to him."

[ 08-10-2001 03:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rogue Angel ]

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

There's a definite damping of the Force around her. Like she doesn't want me to find her. Or somebody else doesn't want me to find her...

Jeroc sighed and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. He hadn't realized how much he depended on Cella until she'd struck out on her own, leaving him to cope with a crochety droid, a stubborn apprentice, a little girl, and a seemingly unfindable Sith Temple. She was his second, and they'd always been inseparable--until now.

Right then and there Jeroc made a vow to himself that when he saw Cella again, he was going to be honest about how he felt about her. He had sensed deep feeling from her before...but had tried to ignore it, not wanting to deal with the whole romance thing. Not wanting to make himself vulnerable.

Well, that whole dignified Jedi Master thing goes, here and now. I should have done the right thing a long time ago, but I just didn't have the guts. I need her. There's just no way around that. And I'm going to tell her that...if I ever see her again.

Jeroc shuddered. He had the shadow of a premonition through the Force, the suggestion that Cella was in serious danger, and that the stakes were far higher than either of them knew.

Maybe it's not a premonition...

He was roused out of his morbid train of thought by the beeping of the comm unit. To his delight, it had a coded message from Cella, dated to some days before. Nothing personal...just the coordinates of a planet or moon in the Yappyh sector, and the words "Rendezvous here. I have found Shayla's captor and need your aid immediately." It was more than he could have hoped.

Just then, Jeroc heard Logan calling his name. He replied quickly, "I got news too, kid."

He went to the living quarters, where Logan told him what he'd gotten out of Izzy and about Erik Kartan. Jeroc in turn told him about the message from Cella, and the rendezvous point. The two men looked at each other, too serious now for clever banter.

Jeroc spoke first. "Raise me this Erik Kartan on the comm. I need to talk to him, and right away."

Izzy made the connection quickly, though the channel was fuzzed by distance. Jeroc leaned closer to the sound feed, tried to steady his voice. "This is Jedi Master Jeroc Mahoy. I need to speak with Erik Kartan immediately, concerning his partner Shayla Petrolu." He stood back and waited for a reply...

[ 08-10-2001 04:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Rogue Angel ]

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Erik had just begun working on trying to find out where he might contact this Cella Polliani when Izzy made contact via his comm...or rather someone ELSE made contact through Izzy via his comm.

Busted, you little womprat, Erik thought to himself. Although it had never been intentional for Izzy's modifications to go as a secret, they really hadn't been of any use during the search for the Sith Temple, and she had only made contact with The Stargazer when Thea had returned from her sleep.

Now, it appeared, the little droid had made one data dumps too many if she was planning to stay in stealth mode.

"This is Jedi Master Jeroc Mahoy. I need to speak with Erik Kartan immediately, concerning his partner Shayla Petrolu."

Woah, so much for needing to find them.

Erik cleared his throat. "This is Erik Kartan speaking," he answered. "I see you've discovered some of Izzy's many modifications. I apologize for your not knowing sooner, but Izzy likes to keep her talents to herself. She has informed me, however, that you have a lead on where Shayla is, and that one little padawan girl seems to have a connection with her that no one else has. Please, tell me what else you know of Shayla. And furthermore, tell me what I can do to help. Stargazer Corporation's fleet and services are at your disposal," he told them.

Erik wondered if he should tell them just yet of his Force skills, and that he had, on one very brief occasion, been able to see Shayla through the Force as well. He was also apprehensive about what Izzy might have blabbered to them already. She wasn't usually friendly with just anyone, but she had been with these people awhile, and their dedication to find Shayla had most certainly affected the loyal droid's trust in them.

But he'd wait and see just what this Jedi Master had to say and how much of his help he'd be willing to accept...

[ 08-11-2001 08:50 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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"My partner, Cella Poliani, has found the world where Shayla is being held--Ambria, in the Yappyh sector. She is currently on a small moon near the planet, waiting for reinforcements." You've got to hang on, Cella...

"She has sent me the coordinates of this world, and she wants to rendezvous within the next few days. We suspect that the Dark User holding Shayla is very powerful, and there may be Imperials in the area. If that's the case, we'll certainly need your aid. Can you have a few ships ready to rendezvous in about two standard days?"

Jeroc held his breath. He knew the odds were against them, but they had to try. He also hoped this Erik Kartan would be able to give them the naval might they would need...

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

I have to make a drop off in a day, but if you give me the coordinates to this moon, I'll be there in two days, even if I have to send one of my associates out on the delivery run."

He paused there. He needed to let the Jedi know he was more than willing to help, but that in aligning themselves with the Corporation, they were risking getting involved with people that some of the government officials, whether Imperial or NR, wouldn't like.

"I must alert you that we ARE information smugglers, and some members of the New Republic like us about as much as the Imperials do, which isn't very much at all. But with that in mind, we've pulled some favors for some Moffs and NR officials alike, and there are people out there that owe us at least one. If we play our cards right, we should be in the clear in Yappyh and anywhere else we go. But it's a factor you must be made aware of beforehand.

But that in mind, if you still are willing to put up with some information smugglers who are more than loyal to their Chief, I'd be glad to take the coordinates from you and be directly on my way, fleet and all."

[ 09-07-2001 02:04 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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She ran out of the room she had been in and frantically calling his name set of to find him on the ship somewhere.

---------------------------------------
OCC: Sorry I've been away so long - no internet at work - and I live there for the 7 weeks so I'm behind - also sorry this post is in so many places I wasn't sure where I was anymore.

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

And Jeroc could definitely tell that Erik loved Shayla. He was tempted to pour out the whole story of him and Cella and break into lonely tears. Now was neither the time or place, though.

"It's agreed then, Mr. Kartan. I'm sending you the coordinates over a shielded channel as we speak." Jeroc smiled thinly. "We shall meet again at the rendezvous point. Mahoy out."

Logan looked at him, eyes wide. "This is gonna be some undertaking, huh? Two days...and have you managed to get through to Cella?"

Jeroc shook his head. "I can't get a trace on the comm channel she's using...it's routed through three other channels and heavily shielded. I'm going to try to contact her through the Force once more, and when we arrive at the rendezvous point."

Just then, he felt a wave of startlement from Thea and gasped. "Thea!" He rushed to her quarters to comfort her...and try to find out something about Shayla. Logan followed on his heels.

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

Just maybe we'll find Shayla, he thought to himself. But he couldn't ignore the thoughts chewing at him. She's been with a Sith. How can I be sure she hasn't changed so much I don't even know her anymore?

He pushed the thought away. Shayla was good, and she was decisive. He trusted her completely.

Still half in thought, Erik opened his top desk drawer, pulled a long silver cylinder from it, and closed it again. He placed the cylinder in his right hand and looked at it a few moments. Then, with one flick of his right thumb, he activated the blue blade of his lightsaber with a snap-hiss.

As he gazed at the blade, he recalled what had gotten him to this point. Being born of the Corellian Jedi heritage, Erik's training had been different than that of many other Jedi. The Corellians were more practical, so they used their skills in everyday life.

Not that other Jedi didn't do the same, but the lifestyle application of Force ability was varied between the Corellians and the other Jedi. While Erik used his Force ability as a smuggler and to protect his friends, the Jedi from the Praxeum used their abilities to guide their lives. That made being a Jedi a more life-consuming task than in the Corellian theory, and although neither way was wrong, the two ways were just...different.

Erik hoped the Jedi would accept him and his Force abilities for what they were. He wouldn't change, and he hoped they wouldn't venture to try to change him.

Still, I could brush up on using this weapon before we reach Ambria. Who knows if I'll use it or not, with a Sith in the picture.

To everything, there is a season...

[ 08-13-2001 08:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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

"You will become a part of my All," she stated, fire raging in her eyes, "Or you, like anyone else who stands in the way, will be destroyed..."

Erik jolted up out of the bed, sweat pouring from his forehead. Then, as the dream and the horror of its implications faded, something else became apparent.

He could feel her presence.

It wasn't a blurb, or a flicker, as before. Shayla shone brightly in the Force like a beacon in the night. But darkness still surrounded her.

Still, she was there, and if he could sense her surely the Jedi could trace her. And Erik knew that if they didn't find Shayla fast something terrible would happen.

Something terrible might happen still. And Shayla, he feared, would be the only one who could stop it, whether she knew it or not...

[ 08-16-2001 03:43 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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"All the systems will be tested to ensure they are in proper running order, and communications between the shuttles has already begun to be inspected and fine tuned," the matainance guy was saying.

Erik was about to reply that this was good and inquire about hyperdrive sychronization when it hit him. He'd been able to feel Shayla ever since his dream, and the black cloud surrounding her had been growing more and more ominous. he worried that she was giving in to the Dark Side or that she was shunning him in order to avoid contact.

Suddenly, a piece was falling into place.

"Teach me your ways, my new-found sister." Erik didn't know how he was hearing the words across such a distance, but he knew they were Shayla's. In his mind, he reached out for her, hoping to squelch the darkness that would certainly engulf her, but he felt as though he were being mentally shoved away. His stomach began to churn, and he hurriedly exited his office without a word, not caring what everyone else was thinking. He stumbled into his quarters, where he locked the door behind him and the vision of what was continued to be driven into his brain.

Teach me your ways...

Once again, he reached out for her essence, this time managing to reach her soul. Erik was met with a light so blinding that he could literally see it in his field of vision, and was so awe-stricken by it that he fell to his knees.

"Shayla, please...don't..." he muttered pleadingly, his words coming in a labored fashion.

At first, there was only silence and light, but at last, in the sheer terror of the moment, she replied, "Trust me, Erik. I do this because it is what must be done."

"Shayla!" he moaned, reaching out for her both with his arms and with the Force. He fell prostrate to the floor, the light still encircling his line of sight and sweat rolling from his brow.

There is a fire that burns within her, he thought to himself.

Then he heard something else, although he was unsure of the source. "This is her true potential," it said. He struggled to make out the source of the words and to push himself up from the floor with both hands, but his strength was drained, and the vision was becoming too much to bear.

With staggered breath and a dry mouth he managed to force out the words in his head into the air, wondering if she could hear him at all. "Shayla, I...love...you..."

With that he closed his eyes, and the world went black...

[ 08-17-2001 09:28 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Erik Kartan ]

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"Erik?" he heard someone say. He jumped a little, but someone laid a hand on his shoulder to keep him down. "Relax, it's me, Katrina."

As his eyes began to gain better focus, he could see her standing there beside the cot with a very worried look on her face. He started to say something, but realized that his mouth had gone so dry nothing was coming out. He rolled over to his right side facing Katrina and slowly pushed his head up with his right arm.

She saw that he wanted to say something and couldn't get the words out, so she offered him a drink of water that had been sitting in a cup on a stand by the cot. He took a few sips, then she put it back on the stand.

"Now tell me what's going on, Erik. You had us all really worried."

He rolled back over on his back, his head still feeling quite heavy. "All I can say is that I can feel her in the Force now, and that something terrible is happening."

"Oh?" Katrina said, hoping he'd say a little more.

"She's surrounded by darkness...but yet there is still light," he explained. "I...I don't understand it. I have...a bad feeling about it..." he said, his words trailing off.

Katrina frowned at him. "Shayla is smart, and she's good. You know she'll not give in."

He sighed. "Under normal circumstances. But these circumstances...they aren't normal," he insisted. "How long have I been out?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Two hours," she replied.

"And how long til we reach Ambria?"

"About another four. But you need to stay here at least another two or three hours and rest. You won't do Shayla any good if you aren't in the best shape and frame of mind you can be in."

He nodded. "That's true enough. I just hope...that we can reach her before all is beyond hope..."

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

Carefully, the Jedi Master opened his mind to the Force, letting it move through him like a cooling wind. He ventured more and more deeply into the flow of energy, forgetting his problems and even his self. He was a dust mote being carried along on the spin of the universe.

But the renewal didn't last long. The galaxy exploded before his eyes and resolved itself into an image of a Jedi lady, dressed in flowing gray robes and wielding a jade-hued lightsaber. Cella!

She stretched out a slim hand to him, and her eyes glowed with a strange green light. "Come, beloved. Come with me...I'll take care of everything. You will meet my new sisters." Two malevolent presences glowed in the darkness behind her. And he was positive one of them had once been Shayla.

Mesmerized, he took her hand, and felt himself falling rapidly into the darkness. Cella laughed as she had never done before. "Now that I am rid of you...I can achieve my true potential."

Jeroc forced himself back into reality, wiping a hand across his sweaty forehead. Had that been something to come, or something that had already happened? He walked with shaky knees to a computer console, and the ship's log obligingly told him that they were about 16 hours from dropping out of hyperspace.

Jeroc was relieved. He would have time to brace himself for whatever was about to happen.

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

"Did good, didn't I, old man?" Logan was waiting for his slap on the back.

Jeroc smiled a little distractedly. "Yes, I'm very pleased with you. You have a definite aptitude for mechanics."

"Thankee, boss." Logan was pleased with Jeroc's approval, but he sensed that Jeroc was troubled about something, and was trying to keep it from Logan.

"Hey, is everything okay? I mean, you didn't see any weird visions or anything..." Logan trailed off. Talking about the Force always made him feel like an inexperienced kid again.

Jeroc's eyes fairly burned into Logan. "Yes...Cella is in quite a bit of danger, or will be. I don't know which." He turned his back, and Logan felt shut out again. Don't treat me like I don't know anything, he wanted to scream.

"Well, I guess I'd better practice my lightsaber work, then." He was obviously kidding, since he didn't even own a lightsaber, but Jeroc suddenly grabbed him by the collar of his flightsuit.

"Don't ever even joke about that. I've lost Shayla already, and you're sure as sithspawn not gonna put yourself in the way of the Dark Side. Remember you're an apprentice, and act accordingly." Jeroc stalked off, leaving behind a confused and disturbed Logan to gape at him.

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

Shayla...

As he laid in the darkness, eyes closed and breathing deep and slow, he could see her face in his mind's eye. Her shoulder-length dark blonde hair, her sparkling blue-green eyes...her smile...

"I love you too, and I hope someday you will understand...." she had told him. But still she had silenced him from her mind, he just knew it, he could feel it...

Oh, Shayla...what are you trying to accomplish? Surely you know this is not you...

He thought out into the void of the Force, and felt her strongly, yet got no response from her. She seemed elsewhere, deep in thought and meditation.

Slowly, Erik drifted to sleep, back to the same dream of Shayla and the duel. But this time, the ending was much different.

Shayla, who stood before him in surroundings he did not recognize, pulled a short silver cylinder from her weapons belt, and flipped a switch on it with her thumb, causing the bright violet blade of the lightsaber to ignite.

"We can be together, you and I Erik. But first you must learn the ways of the All."

"The All?" he questioned.

"Only in time, shall you understand," she answered cryptically.

"Shayla, I will not fight you," he said, understanding her intentions precisely.

"You will become a part of my All," she stated, fire raging in her eyes, "Or you, like anyone else who stands in the way, will be destroyed."

Before, the dream had ended here, leaving Erik to wonder what had become of him and her.

Now, he would at least see one version of what was to come.

Erik pulled a similiar looking cylinder from his weapons belt, and flipped the switch, igniting a blue blade. Shayla's violet blade met his, and she watched him measuringly beyond the blades that were between them.

In one swift stroke, Shayla pulled her weapon back to where the hilt was almost level with her right shoulder, then she brought it forward. Erik parried the blow, and pushed her back with his weapon when her violet blade met his blue one. Surprisingly, Shayla stayed on balance, and deactivated her weapon.

Erik stepped back from her, but kept his blue blade burning. She laughed at this, sending a chill through his bones.

"Little insignificant things, these weapons are," she stated darkly. "We battle each other as animals, when we could be living together as one."

He arched an eyebrow at her, confused. "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"The Jedi, the Sith, the Dark Jedi. We all use the Force. The only difference is in how we use it. Must we be so uptight about such an insignificant detail?"

"But Shayla, it is a significant detail. If you use a hammer to put a nail in a wall, you use the tool properly. If you use it to stub a person's toe, then you abuse the tool you have been given use of. It is the same with the Force. If you use the Force for the common good of others, you use the gift correctly. But if you use the Force to better things only for yourself, you've overstepped the boundary."

He expected a reply from her, and he probably would have gotten one had the dream continued. But a beeping in the room was stirring him back to conciousness.

Numb from the dream, he slowly reached over to his nightstand and grabbed the beeper, turning the light on. He squinted, adjusted to the brightness, then looked at the number.

Katrina. They must be near Ambria...and the Truth...

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

"So," she said, breaking the silence on deck after his arrival, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm allright," Erik replied, meeting her brown-eyed gaze with his own deep brown eyes. "Just ready to be in action. Has everyone in the fleet been contacted to make sure we are all still on the same course?"

Katrina nodded. "Yes, everyone is on schedule. And ready to act."

"Good," Erik said, running a hand through his dark hair. "Does anyone know if this Jedi contacted his associate and told her we were going to be coming in system?"

Katrina's jaw dropped, then she worked it and spoke instead. "Ummm...I guess we'll find out when we revert to realspace?"

Erik grinned, a little amused by the situation. "Yeah, and we'll probably scare the Sithspit out of someone. This could be interesting..."

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

...which terminated when the image crashed into the cognizant mind of one Erik Kartan.

[ 09-02-2001 03:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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At that moment, from within his link to Shayla through the Force, Erik caught a flash of vision, and at last he saw her captor.

Her captor? Usually a prisoner does not come willingly with a smile. The woman, violet eyes calm yet even so still blazing, reached out a hand to Shayla, and she smiled weakly, yet accepted the offered hand.

Shayla. Suddenly she seemed so small and so innocent. She was always so self-assured, she always took care of herself. But she needed him, now...

Erik hadn't realized he'd phased out, and that Katrina had been softly calling his name, trying to get his attention. "Erik?" she called once more, this time tapping his left arm with her hand. "Erik?"

At last, he snapped back into it, but felt the haze that had overtaken him once already threatening to do so again.

"I need...to sit," he muttered, wandering over to a vacant control deck chair and sitting slowly. Again his thoughts wandered back to the sight of Shayla and the woman, and of Shayla's obvious willingness to be where she was.

But how was he sure she was really willing to be there? What choice did she even have in the matter?

Then something else hit him. That wasn't Shayla's Force-touch on your mind...that was...hers... Realizing this, Erik shuddered.

Then suddenly, he firmed, and reality came into focus once again, Katrina standing next to him with that same concerned look on her face. He looked up at her and his eyes met hers, full of anger and passion at the same time. "We have to find her, soon. I know she's in trouble, and I know that she needs me. I hope the Jedi have a way."

Katrina nodded. "We'll find her," she assured him, a little less than sure herself.

Suddenly one of the deck officers called out. "Reversion to realspace, one minute and counting...."

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

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

"Thea! Are you all right, kid?" asked Logan with unusual concern.

The little girl nodded half-heartedly. "Just bored. When are we getting Cella and Shayla back?"

Jeroc sighed. He was about to tell her to go back to her cabin, but then he stopped. Maybe he had been too secretive about this mission. After all, Thea had a right to know some things; her youth didn't make her stupid."

He laid a fatherly hand on Thea's shoulder. "We'll see Cella soon, I promise. We're going to meet with her in about an hour or so, when the Pride drops out of hyperspace. As for Shayla...that's harder to say. A very powerful Sith has her, and we don't know what exactly happened. But we have good friends to help us now, and I promise we will do all we can to get Shayla back. Okay?"

Thea nodded, but Jeroc could sense she was still unsatisfied. "Yes, Master Jeroc."

Logan rose from the copilot's chair and took Thea's hand. "Come on, I'll show you a new game on the holoboard. The time will pass faster if you have something fun to do."

Thea obediently followed Logan to the living quarters. Be back soon, Jeroc thought intently at him. I'll need your help pretty soon here.

You got it, boss, Logan responded readily.

With that, Jeroc leaned back in the pilot's chair. A wave of turbulent emotions swirled around in his head...overlaid with the joy of getting to see Cella again.

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