I threw up my hands dramatically, suddenly irritated. "You know what?" I announced in a too-loud voice, then paused as they both jumped a little at my sudden melodramatic impulse. When they had settled, I leaned forward toward them, and pinned them with a look to their respective spots. "I have come to a conclusion."

I drew in a breath, aware that they were now looking at me as though the biggest krayt-pearls of wisdom were about to drip from my lips. I don't know if they really were or not, but what was about to be said originated from nothing more than good ol' common sense... the kind of common sense by which I had made a good living as a smuggler for a good many years.

"I think that all we can do is let circumstances stand for themselves. We'll get Cella, return to Sullust, and just sit back and see what develops. BUT we're not going to sit back lightly; we're gonna make good and sure there is always...always!... one of us in direct contact with Galen and Terrin, and I don't care what kind of damper this might place on them. We're going to keep them both under scrutiny; I hope we can persuade Cella into keeping an equally watchful eye out over this Rean guy."

I paused again for a space, glancing back and forth between Matt and Nassy. "We're going to guard Terrin and Galen, especially Galen, for as long as it takes, and keep Rean under a magnifying glass until circumstances parole him.

"Because when Neks come to Noghri, there really isn't anything else we can do."

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”Take care, my sister,” the warning whispered through the Link. ”There is one near you who has the ability to bring harm to you, although not to us or our destiny in general. But it is for your safety that I now have some concern; on one hand this is meant to be a test of your abilities, my sister. But on the other, I do not wish anything to happen to you.

“Do you need me there?”

Pulling back her thoughts, she looked up again into Lord Roan’s eyes, that voiceless look telling him precisely where she would go, and what she would do, if she deemed it necessary.

[ 02-04-2002 11:48 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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After all, she wasn't an All user, not yet. She didn't have the skills Graysith had, and this would be difficult.

But then, calling on aid before she'd even taken the first step would go against the very reason she'd come here on her own. She, Shayla Petrolu, wanted to develop her self-esteem, her self-worth, her self-confidence. Doubting self before she ever gave herself a chance would be a step backward instead of forward.

She would do this. And she would call on help only if it were necessary. After all, this laid before her, right at this moment in time, and any delay might result in not accomplishing some of the things she desired.

"I go, my Sister, with your blessing," Shayla answered at last. "I shall be careful, but I feel this is my time to branch out, to discover what I am capable of. Should it, however, become necessary that I call for help, you will be the first to know."

Turning from the link, Shayla's hand again returned to the navboard, preparing to land the Lioness on the surface of Sullust and to follow her prey...

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Grimacing, he shoved that particular demon as far back in his mind as possible and forced himself to pay even more attention to Rean for any hint of deception.

As if he possibly could pay the man any more attention than he already was. His eyes and ears had been focused on the Jedi alone.

Jasyn followed closely behind acting as a trail and a back up man. Terrin knew if anything went amiss, Jasyn would be the first to pick up on it. And that was the reason he was behind them. One false step by Rean, and Jasyn would react. He had a quickness about him that made him good at what he did, regardless of how much he liked to complain or how much Whyrene's Reserve he could consume. Still twisting through the labrinyth before them, following the lead of the Jedi Master even with questions still firmly implanted in his mind, Terrin could only hope when they got to Galen she would be allright...

[ 02-04-2002 09:10 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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"You may bind me now Terrin, as you had wished," he said in an even and stronge voice. Rean's eyes pierced the other man's and it was clear he could be bound but never broken.

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Okay. So he was a bit on the mistrusting side...

...allright, so he was a lot on the mistrusting side. But he no longer had the ability to mistrust this man, not at the moment anyway. Not once now, but twice, he'd come to their aid. And this time perhaps he had prevented something even worse from occurring.

Although that little demon on his shoulder had his way in reminding Terrin that perhaps this was yet another trick of the Sith, he ignored it. So he still had questions, and he wanted them answered. But Terrin wanted to give Rean the chance to throw all his cards out on the table before he made any more decisions.

Laying a hand on the Jedi's shoulder, Terrin smiled just a bit. "I don't think that will be necessary. We'll talk, later." As Jedi nodded in understanding, Terrin let his arm drop back to his side. Rean then left with Jasyn following closely behind.

Turning his attention to Galen, Terrin sat on the edge of the bed, gazing into her deep brown eyes. He wondered if she was angry with him for trusting Rean, although after all that had taken place he doubted it. She knew he wasn't one to trust easily; and that very fact had almost put her in further jepordy. After all, what would have happened if he hadn't finally taken the man's offer to help?

"You scared me, love," he said at last. Then he added, "But I understand why you reacted as you did. I'm just glad that we got there when we did...that Rean lead us to you..."

He paused a moment, waiting to see her reaction, if any, to the Jedi's name. Not sensing any sort of adverse feelings in response, Terrin continued.

"...I think that he is truly who he says he is, sweets, although I have more than a few questions I want answered after today's events," he admitted, reaching a hand to her face to brush a stray tendril of red hair from her face.

"But now I think we all need a little rest." Leaning forward, he planted a small kiss on her forehead. "I love you."

[ 02-05-2002 05:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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After a quick inner perusal I realized somewhat to my shock that rest was the farthest thing on my personal agenda at the moment. I don't know what the Jedi Master had done, but I suddenly not only felt no more aches or pains, but another deeply inner anguish seemed to have finally been totally eradicated. My eyes reflecting this surprise, mingled with not a little gratitude, I quickly sat up. Er, that is, I sat up as quickly as my body would let me; quite a difficult feat in advanced states of pregnancy.

My self-absorption turned outward, and I became aware of the words Terrin was speaking to me. He thinks we should trust this man, and he's suggesting that I follow suit? I shook my head at that incongruency: my trust had entirely emplaced itself into the hands of the blond-headed Jedi the moment I saw what he was doing to that horrible creature. I might have been being naive about it, but that little niggle which had guided me so long and so far raised it's little hand for attention, and strove to point out the little fact that, trick or not, it was highly unlikely that the Sith would turn so heinously against one of their own. As far as I knew, the demon had perished beneath the roiling lava, and good riddance to bad rubbish was my final thought on that subject.

I smiled a little, nodding in agreement. "You're absolutely right, love," I finally spoke. "I think this guy is someone we not only can trust, but in all probability need to. And trust begins with communication-

"Hey!" I interrupted myself as I got to my feet. "You, Master Rean!" I began to take a following step, but paused when I saw not only him but Jasyn as well coming to an immediate halt just outside our bedroom door.

"Terrin is right; we do need to talk. Only I really think the time for procrastinating has long passed. We already know what those Sith have done in retaliation for us stealing the Nar Kelba; I don't like to imagine what lays in store for the fact that we stole the Claw when we did so.

"But we somehow managed to hurt their little imp; I really shudder to think of what might happen now as a result of that. I really think that now is the time to lay our cards on the table and be nothing but brutally honest with each other."

I stopped, keenly aware of the slight frown crossing Terrin's face. However, I was also aware that time was rushing forward... and I wanted a touch more reassurance than preceding events had revealed to me thus far that my baby was going to be absolutely safe when she was born.

I swallowed and pressed on. "Can't we go get comfortable over a cuppa caf, and shake the last skeletons out of our various and sundry closets?"

I took one step toward the Jedi, then turned to Terrin. Then, in an effort to link them together across some sort of emotional bridge, I just stood there and held out a hand to each of them.

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The gap that you've made by not trusting Rean, you ole' pirate! the angel that popped onto his shoulder sputtered. Businessman or not, you've still got the smuggler in you, don't you buddy? He's been in you for longer than you'd like to admit...

His grin shifting to a more bemused look that was completely a result of these inward musings, Terrin was unaware if anyone else had a clue what was going through his brain.

And there was something else. This seemed like the first time in months, since that horrible, awful night, that Galen radiated any amount of certainty about anything. She knew as well as, probably more than, he and the others that they would still face alot of troubles and alot of obstacles...they were still in harm's way. But she seemed to have some bit of hope that something could be done to combat this now; something that she hadn't had evidenced since that terrible evening...

Finally realizing he still hadn't moved a millimeter, Terrin stood, smiling and taking her hand in his and squeezing it. Then he looked over to the Jedi and to Jasyn. "Okay, time for some caf and some closet-cleaning..."

[ 02-05-2002 09:16 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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Graysith would be very, very pleased...

[ 02-06-2002 07:41 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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Now I sat up, totally alert, and placed Devil-May-Care into manual control. While we were coming in from above the general plane of the Maw, the myriad black holes within that nearly unnavigable void had a nasty tendency to perturb the bajillion meteoroids from their already chaotic orbits. More than one spice runner had managed to defeat the Maw only to die at the hands of one of its unnoticed satellites.

Although it took every ounce of concentration I possessed, I managed to avoid the major bodies which occasionally came looming unexpectedly up to us. After blasting a final, smaller one to dust, I guided my ship in a widening arc, the apex of which intersected the upper atmosphere of Kessel. Soon my efforts were rewarded with the vision of sickly pinkish clouds beneath us as we looped once around the planet, twice, and then settled into a steady high-altitude orbit.

I puffed out my cheeks and sat back with a sigh, powering down the majority of Devil-May-Care's systems in preparation of our departure. Then I slammed a fist on an inboard comm control. "Hey, ol' Cricket!" I called out to K'kihl, and was soon regaled with a variety of mysterious clacks and chitters which I took to be questions. I brushed them aside, and continued. "I'm about to go planetside and find Jedi Poliani; you stay here and keep the ship up to snuff, right?"

Although to the average ear the sounds emanating from the speaker's didn't seem to vary, by now I was so accustomed to the subtle Verpine nuances K'kihl was so fluent in that I clearly read his seeming affront. I grinned. "I know you will, pal," I concluded. "This ought not to take too long. Keep specs on us, and if we don't come back in a quarter cycle, come and get us!"

With that I flipped the comm to shipwide broadcast, and cleared my throat. "Attention all shipmates," I began somewhat formally. "We have successfully attained orbit around Kessel. Departure for the planet's surface will be in fifteen minutes; all desiring to accompany me should meet me at the Bee in the main docking bay. That is all."

Feeling very much the captain and more than a bit along the lines of what I named my ship, I gave my head a jaunty nod. Then I headed for the docking bay, to see who was planning to accompany me to the hideous and notorious surface of Kessel.

[ 02-06-2002 08:14 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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Rean then turned once more, wordlessly moving past a stunned and panting Terrin in order to make his way back to where Galen and the others waited.

[ 02-07-2002 12:08 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Master Rean ]

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Strangely enough, she hadn't tried to follow him back as he returned to the underground home. She hadn't spoken a word, in fact; not that he had either. Terrin had to wonder why she had been sent here and, more importantly, if she was alone.

Well buddy, if she was alone before she won't be after THAT, a devil persisted.

OH SHUT UP!

After securing the door behind him, Terrin headed for the room where Galen, Jasyn, and Rean had gathered. He turned and addressed Rean directly.

"I think we're in trouble," he started, taking a moment to catch his breath. "The woman who tried to make off with the Claw...that was Shayla Stargazer Petrolu, a former Jedi student. Last anyone heard a thing about her, she was the student of one of the Sith, in particular the student of Graysith. And something tells me she's been sent here to watch us, my friends..."

[ 02-07-2002 07:42 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Terrin Danner ]

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This Jedi Master needs to meet his match...

[ 02-07-2002 07:34 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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At length Yaoksi reared off the durasteel plating of his infiltrator's hull. "OK, then," he began with a little sigh of disappointment. He turned to Matt. "Looks like it's just gonna be you and me, pal."

With that, he waved his hand toward the open hatch of the Bee, indicating that Matt enter and make himself comfortable. The moment the other man had entered he followed, closing the hatch behind him. Making his way to the forward pilot's seat, he began a quick systems check and warm-up procedure. Soon his navigation board glimmered as myriad green lights proceeded to pop on and inform him that all systems were go.

He leaned forward and flipped a comm switch. "Bee to Devil-May-Care, we have green board and are requesting bay vent for departure." He sat back, adjusting a couple controls as a red light began blinking a vibrant warning, telling him wordlessly that whatever he would do now, it would behoove him to NOT step one foot out of his little ship. A forgotten datapadd flicked past, substantiating that warning as it headed out into space along with the atmosphere once held within the bay.

Yaoksi smiled a bit, grasped the controls, and waited for the light to turn green. Then he asked the Beeto do what came so naturally to her, and she happily obliged him. In a burst of ignition and a completely soundless accompanying roar, the infiltrator leapt out from its hangar and headed toward the sickly mauve potato that was Kessel.

Now Matt sprang into helpful life in the seat next to him. His eyes seemed to widen with pure joy as he began fiddling with the bio-sensors, seeking the unique signature of Cella Poliani from whatever other organic life that might still be evident on the planet below. Yaoksi couldn't help but see that look, and he smiled. Nothing he enjoyed better than the company of a man who appreciated a good ship... unless it was the actual ship itself. He refrained from pointing out shortcuts to Matt, understanding that half the fun was discovering them on one's own, and realizing that the man had the intelligence to do so quickly. His smile broadened as that thought was justified by Matt's low whistle.

"I think I've found her," he announced, adjusting a dial to clear up the muzzy signal he was receiving. "She seems to be inside one of the old Impy forced labor mining camps, ahh--" He fiddled a bit longer, then turned to Yaoksi who was waiting patiently. "I have her coordinates as 380357N by 1274524E, or at least somewhere within a square klick of that position." Sitting back in his seat, he turned to Yaoksi with a satisfied look on his face.

"Way to go, Ace," Yaoksi smiled before typing in the coordinates. "You ever need a job as a navigator, you just come see me, ok?" Still smiling, he then focused all attention on his controls, and soon brought the Bee into a gracefully swooping descent through the terrible atmosphere of the remote little planet.

Matt's orienteering was impeccable; no sooner had the values begun to scroll across his data screen than Yaoksi caught a visual of the old camp in his forward viewscreen. In a whirl of dust and blasted rock and soil, the lethal little infiltrator came to a feather-light landing immediately outside the perimeter of the mining camp. Yaoksi powered down then sat back, puffing out his cheeks.

"Well," he finally spoke. "The easy part's over. Don't forget your rebreather; you won't last long on the surface without it."

With that he got to his feet and indicated Matt lead the way. Soon the pair had departed the ship, and stood on the salty, barren soil of the surface of Kessel. About half a klick ahead of them, the crumbling facade of a foreboding primary entrance loomed in the dim light of the planet's setting sun.

Yaoksi shook his head. "Figures we'd be heading into nightfall," he commented wryly as he set off toward the old durasteel gate. "Just gonna be all that much more fun finding the Jedi.

"C'mon, let's go get her. Hopefully she'll be sensing us, and this won't take that long."

Whatever thoughts Matt had on that subject he kept wisely to himself, and together the two men proceeded to seek out Jedi Knight Cella Poliani.

[ 02-10-2002 04:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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The Link snipped off with an almost audible snick.

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"Please, come, teach me."

[ 02-08-2002 11:31 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Master Rean ]

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Pulling her arms even more closely to her, Shayla awaited the man's response.

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"I wish to talk with you, to understand why you have chosen this path. I will, however, abide by your wishes; if you wish for me to leave now I will do so. You have my word that I will not trouble you in this matter again." Rean sat motionless awaiting the young adept's reply.

[ 02-09-2002 10:20 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Master Rean ]

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Funny, Shayla really didn't think of herself as being "lost to the Sith" anyway. Rather, she felt that she had been found by them. And she wasn't about to betray them now, not after they had done so much for her.

Letting herself relax a bit but staying on the alert, she decided she'd at least entertain this one for a little bit. "I have chosen this path through my own means as well as through the means of the All which guides. There are those that I care greatly about, those that you and others misjudge. I will not turn my back on them now, or presume to speak for them.

I chose this path because there is far more to the scope of life than the Light Side or the Dark. These are but small pieces of a much grander and beautiful picture. So tell me," she said, changing the subject just a bit, "Why is it that one who has use of the All places himself among the Jedi?"

Curious as to the man's response, Shayla sat and tilted her head a bit, waiting his next reply...

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"You sure she's in there?" I indicated the forboding entrance with a nod of my head. Then I looked around at the crumbling salt flats over which we had trekked to get here from the Bee. I'd much rather trudge for kilometers over that desolate terrain than to enter into one of the forbidden spice mines of Kessel; not only were they notorious for the Empire's lack of proper upkeep, they were home to the stealthy and deadly energy spider. The Impys had long gone, but I really had my doubts about those spiders... with a small gulp, I tightened my grip on my blaster and directed a hopeful look in Matt's direction.

He fiddled with his biosensor, then raised his shoulders in a shrug. "Yup, she's in there," he affirmed, now pinning my eyes with his. Then his eyes moved off to stare through the massive gateway. "According to what I have here, she's about two and a half klicks due east by northeast. Maybe three; there's a lot of ore here that's kinda messing with the sensor." He shook it for emphasis, then quieted.

I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips. Blast that Master Rean; he just couldn't have sent her to Dagobah or one of the Outer Rim worlds; oh no, he just had to zip her off to this backwater of the forgotten swamps of the Galaxy instead. I hoped to Fates she hadn't actually been planted inside one of the tunnels themselves; dire and unseen dangers lurked therein, and not only in the form of the aforementioned energy spiders. It was well known that glitterstim dust often wafted up-tunnel from the mining depths below; it didn't take the inhalation of much to produce an instant addiction in anyone breathing it in, and I didn't know if she had a rebreather on her. The thought of a Jedi Knight suffering from THAT unpleasant malady was more than I wanted to consider at the moment, since glitterstim was reknown for it's ability not only to heighten one's mental and telepathic abilities, but to loosen one's emotional inhibitions as well.

Forcing down another shudder, I sighed. My hand tightened its hold on my blaster. "Well, I guess there's nothing for it but to go on inside, is there? C'mon, let's do it and get the hell out of here." With that, I checked my own rebreather yet again, and stepped through the massive gate, followed by Matt, who I was certain was just as apprehensive as I was about this entire affair.

I all but tiptoed as we moved along the abandoned and ghost-haunted avenues of the old Imperial camp, my eyes everywhere, my blaster in dutiful synchronization. There wasn't so much as a puff of wind to mar the oppressive silence of the place; the only sound was the steady crunch, crunch, crunch of the salt crystals which gave way beneath our feet. Wonderful old Empire, wouldn't even spring for the cost of pavement here....

My wandering thoughts were interrupted at length by an announcement from Matt. "OK, sorry buddy, but I think she's in there." He indicated a mining tunnel off to our left, and about half a klick in front of us. He pursed his lips, fully realizing the import of the words he had spoken to me. "Yeah, I'm positive," he replied to my upraised brows. I sighed again.

Oh yeah. This truly DOES all keep on getting better and better and better....

Making my blaster an automatic extention of my body, fully attuned to every sense I possessed, I took a breath and continued on through the darkness which by now had fallen about us. Soon I led my companion to the mouth of that tunnel where, after but the merest moment of hesitation, we girded our figurative loins and entered into the even deeper darkness which taunted us there.

[ 02-10-2002 04:32 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Yaoksi Joao ]

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She was that psycho-woman’s student now. And she was here, watching them.

Watching them for what? Since when had the Sith ever needed someone to come watch for them? Usually they just popped up out of nowhere and did something or other that was absolutely horrible.

Then reality dawned in him.

The baby. She was here to wait for her birth. And then...

...then...

Suddenly a quite natural and altogether furious and passionate thought welled within him.

Over his dead body would she take little Jhin’Darra. And over his dead body would she dare touch either the little one or his fiancee, his soon to be bride, his true love... Sure, he might not be a Jedi. He might not have one lick of Force ability. But he’d gladly give everything he had if that’s what it took to protect them.

Truthfully, the entire thing infuriated him. In trying to take the baby before she could even hold her own head up, everyone was deciding for her what she should do with the gifts she had been given. Since when did everyone else come over her own wishes and the guidance that would be given to her by her family? Her mother? Her...father? By those who loved her?

Running a finger along the rim of his fresh cup of caf, he look over the table to Galen and then to Jasyn and back. There his gaze rested on her pair of brown eyes. When Rean returned, Terrin wanted to get everything, and that meant everything, out in the open.

They were going to protect this little girl and her mother, at whatever cost...

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I sighed, and looked at the nasty weapon which lay quiescent on the table next to my plate of food. Suddenly not hungry any longer, I reached out a finger to push my cold food away from me... and in pulling it back allowed it to lightly trace the alien designs on the articulated device. I shivered, remembering it on my sister's finger, and how it came to be here now....

Pulling my hand back with a jerk, I raised my eyes to Terrin's again. I squeezed his hand with my other, my thoughts beginning to drift. And I didn't like the look of the murky waters into which they were drifting.

There had to be something we could do to assure our safety, Jedi Master with us or no. The way these demons kept popping in and out of our lives, wreaking havoc with almost offhanded nonchalance, was certainly not something we could defend ourselves against with normal weaponry. To be honest, I didn't really think the Force that the jedis used with such dignified pride would even be helpful; something told me that Force was just a drop in the bucket in comparison to what we were up against.

The All. What the heck WAS that, anyway? Did it have anything to do with those wonderful little ships I had, er... appropriated from that awful planet where this entire mess had been given birth? The mere thought of my uncatchable little ship yanked me off into a tangent:

While Jester had been flung into a star in a fit of rage by that awful Sith Lord who had hounded Sorben and I, somewhere Jester II was still functioning. Rather, I hoped not actually functioning per se, but operable and just waiting. I wondered if Quee still had her docked aboard his ship, waiting for me to come back and claim her. And Khaandon knows she had the ability to elude that nasty Dark Lord... maybe she could help us to elude this bunch as well.

The problem was, I didn't have a clue where Quee had gone after I left Sorben. Maybe back to his retreat on Sol Varek. Possibly to the Bounty Hunter's Guild, to leave my little ship with Seus. I wondered if those there still remembered me, and would yet extend a hand of friendship in our direction for my sake alone. That was a possibility....

Placing a hand across my mouth, I considered this for a bit. Then I spoke up, and proceeded to spit out my musings, wondering how Terrin would react to them and the potential they held.

[ 04-26-2002 06:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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Secondly, Terrin wondered if the nasties they were dealing with now were the same as this Dark Lord that Jester II had been able to elude. These guys seemed to be even worse than any Sithspawn he could possibly ever imagine. Would they be able to even get past the wonderful workings of this ship?

Frowning a bit as he thought, one obnoxious shoulder devil finally made a point worth listening to. You won't ever know if it'll work or not if you sit on your rear and never try it.

No time like the present.

"I think we should contact the Bounty Hunter's Guild and try to find Seus," he said at length. "The ship may or may not get past the Sith we are dealing with and might not even be in our grasp, but at the very least having more contacts means having more friends to call on. And we'll never know if the ship will possibly help us unless we have her. Any small item in our favor is worth going for, and the time to act is now..."

...before something else happens to one of you, a nagging mental voice added.

[ 04-26-2002 06:55 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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[ 02-14-2002 04:07 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dark Lord Roan ]

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