But, he knew he had no other choice...

He took Galen up in strong arms,"What are you doing?" he whispered into her ear...

Not willing to let go...

Until, she gave him a slightly legitimate reason for the brutal beating she was handing out...

After all, Lo Ban wasn't too fond of Shayla Kartan...

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...and for the simple fact that she really needed air. She began to gasp for it, entirely too worn out to really fight back. Finally they stopped rolling and against some bulkhead, with Shayla simply slamming into it, and Galen atop her, her eyes ablaze. Words registered enough for her to realize that Galen was wanting to know where her daughter was...

...but everything else was pretty hazy, and Shayla was seeing red even as Galen's weight upon her seemed to be removed, the hands about her throat gone. She was still seeing too many stars to know what was going on, so she simply spoke up as best she could. "Tarnus..." she gasped, "took her..." she continued, her voice raspy, "...from Kamino..."

She fell silent at that, her breaths quick and raspy yet, her body limp against the bulkhead of the Eagle...

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I froze, the vagueness of the Prime Minister's sidelong comment about not wishing to live under threats suddenly turning into understanding of crystal clarity.

Sorben had her... on Coruscant.

She was with her father... in the hands of the Empire.

I sagged, limp, and only Lo Ban's arms kept me from falling to the deck beside Shayla.

If she was with the Imperials, then I knew I'd never see her again....

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He entered course, for Coruscant...

"What'ya say, babe? give it a shot?"

[ 03-09-2003 02:21 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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Something flared deep in my eyes again.

"Not with her aboard," I growled, albeit somewhat faintly. Then I shook my head again, and sat up straighter. The movement sent the lambda reeling a bit about me.

I really needed somewhere to go and rest and plan, that's what I really needed.

"No," I repeated. "I'm not going to Coruscant, not now. Not without a plan.

"And not with her aboard my ship."

Now I turned my big browns up into Lo Ban's electric blues... and forced myself not to give in to the look I saw within their depths.

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"As you wish, my love..." Lo Ban triggered the comm...

"Dash, I have a proposition for you... I will give you a companion, for that quest of yours... AND... I'll pay for any expenses, or charges you endure... sound like a deal?" He closed the connection on his side, awaiting a reply...

Lo Ban slid the back of his right hand to the side of Galen's warm, soft cheek,"Will that do, my sweet?"

He again, waited for any reply...

[ 03-09-2003 02:35 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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An abrupt sigh escaped from me, and I slumped, leaning into Lo Ban's caress. I reached up with a hand of my own, holding his against my cheek.

"That is just perfect, my love," I finally sighed, tilting my head into his touch, stroking his palm with my index finger and letting my lids droop a little, wishing we were alone....

At least I could kiss that sweet palm, which I did before turning his hand over and replacing the back of it against my face once again. Then I just continued sitting there, relishing the warm touch of that hand as Lo Ban maintained his light caress.

I closed my eyes....

[ 03-09-2003 02:43 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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Things seemed to literally heat up for Lo Ban, he longed for Galen's more intimate touch...

Damnit Shayla, even now you're keeping me from feeling that which is so sweet...

He simply leaned back, letting Galen come as close as possible...

For, anything and everything else would just have to wait...

[ 03-09-2003 02:43 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Loban ]

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"I've got to go to the bathroom.." Lo Ban said, as inspiration struck...

Galen allowed him to leave their embrace...

He stopped over the unconscious form of Shayla Kartan... taking her into his powerful arms, he went into the small bathroom...

Propping her on a small stool, he closed the door... locking it from the outside...

Genuinely pleased with himself, Lo Ban aggressively approached Galen's sitting form...

Round 2...

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My eyes cut to the aft of the shuttle... to the empty deck on the aft of the shuttle.

Another tremor raced through me, and quite suddenly I recalled that sensation that had flooded me so inexplicably when I was facing the Prime Minister.

Jedi--

I simply stood up and went to him then as a moth to a flame, drawn by the sudden heat, seeking that particular warmth that was him....

I needed this. I hoped to Khaandon he needed it as well.

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"Companion? What do you mean? You guys aren't coming?" I said with a hint of disappointment in my voice. "Who is this companion you are speaking about?

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...water was literally dripping from her body, chilling her further. What she was more aware of, however, was the fact that she needed to tap into the Force, or something terrible was going to happen. She was so cold...

...and so very tired. But she simply had to fight the exhaustion. So she struggled a great deal, keenly aware that no one here had any intentions of helping her, and finally succeeded, drawing the Force's energy into herself and allowing it to entwine with her mind, her heart, and her body, using her one greatest strength in the Force to begin healing herself...and her yet unresponsive son as well. In only a little while she was out cold, by all appearances simply unconscious...

...but in reality in a deep and peaceful healing trance. Her body fell limp from the stool she'd be propped on to curl into a little ball upon the cold decking of the Eagle...

[ 03-09-2003 08:41 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Shayla Stargazer Petrolu ]

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I wasn't sure why DASH was SPACEWALKING... he didn't tell me... he never tells me anything. Like where we are going, what I should do... nothing! He just come in all proud of himself after his successful SPACEWALK, and throws some device at me to analyse.

I only needed a minute to recognize the device. It was designed for TRACKING!

"Mabbi mabo DI DI" I said to him, which roughly translates to 'It's a tracking device.'

Dash just stared at me in amazement. Then he said "DINK, you can say something other than 'OOO-TEE-DEE'!!!

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"Put your gun away, remember were friends. Not enemys." I said.

I came to an entrance to a very lagre room and walked inside.

"Hello, My jedi friend." Someone said.How did he know i was a jedi. I thought.
"Hello, we come here to ask if we can be refueled and be on our way." I said.

"Someone will help you, but first tell me what bring you to Kamino?" the person said.

"We are looking for some archives and we ran out of fuel." I ansered him.
"Thank you for your time, your ship will be refueled momentarily."

Later...

Ruhatt launched the ship torwards space.
"Hey there is 3 other ships up here." He said.
"what are their names?"

"Don't know. Hey look!" He pointed at one of the ships where a blue guy was walking outside of his ship and picked something off his ship and then went back inside.

"Strange, maybe he needs help getting something. send a message to him." I said.

"Hello, this is Luthan's Quest to unidentified vessel, do you need any help?" Ruhatt said as he drove the ship right next to the blue guy's ship.
we stood there waiting for a reply.

[ 03-09-2003 10:43 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jebbua Dahutt ]

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Damn....

...and padded to the control console. I flipped open the channel to Scimitar.

"Galen here, Dash," I began, continuing with, "The one we're sending, or would like to send, to you is a sorta Jedi by the name of Shayla Kartan." I then paused in consideration, recalling his earlier transmission. Biting my lip thoughtfully, I went on.

"You wanna give us a clue as to what might await us on Ord Mantell,?" I finally asked, sniffing as memory rose insidiously up in the back of my head with the image of Sorben and I getting married there. I shuddered that away, thought of Darra being with him and not me, and frowned.

My shoulders slumped.

How in Hell's Seven Circles were we going to get her out of there?

All I knew was that we just couldn't rush off willy-nilly. Perhaps now was the time to go assist Dash; he had, after all, followed through on his promise to help us here... even though he hadn't the chance to actually do much.

Maybe a stopover on Ord Mantell might be just the ticket....

My gaze cut back to Lo Ban, who was merely laying where I left him, directing THE LOOK back at me, a little curl of a smile on his lips.

I shuddered again, albeit for a totally different reason, and jerked away from him, waiting to hear what Dash had to divulge about his planned destination.

[ 03-09-2003 12:55 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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[ 03-09-2003 01:03 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Dash Kelderon ]

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Ord Mantell... Orb Cartell... the similarities were striking, to say the least, and when one considered exactly how much of my attention had been given to the first transmission at the time....

Still smiling, I reopened the channel.

"Er, sorry about that Dash... I copy your destination as being Orb Cartell." Even as I spoke the name a starmap popped up unbidden in my head, my mental zoom zeroing in and pinpointing the little body trundling lazily along in its orbit.

I turned back to the comm then.

"Look, can we dock and transfer our, er... our passenger..." I couldn't help but grit my teeth, refusing to even say her name again. I opened my mouth to go on, but stopped with that.

No promises at this point... but at least I knew where it was he was planning on going.

And why.

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What are you DOING? logic screamed in his head. She's a bounty hunter. A BOUNTY HUNTER! You know damn well you can't do what you've been intending to do all along anymore, not with the risk it would involve, not as long as she remains with you...

So you're back to square one, buddy. No purpose...nothing to do...

...or are you?

That particular thought seemed to bring Jasyn full-circle. He turned his browns back to the ones now beginning to dry in front of him and for another long moment simply gazed into them. Then he stood, helping her to her feet as well, keeping her close til he was certain she was steady, avoiding the raging testosterone responding to her proximity and those wide brown eyes of hers. Lonely scoundrel though he was, Jasyn wouldn't dare take advantage of her in a moment when she might be overly vunerable.

If something was ever going to happen between he and Cartina...

...or he and anybody else for that matter...

...he wanted it to be real, and not the byproduct of roused emotion alone. After all, better to be a lonely scoundrel than a miserable jerk...

"So, where to?" he queried, still fairly softly. "Or should we...

...we...?!

...stay and see just what the hell is going on here at Kamino?"

Quieting at that and waiting for indication that Cartina was completely steady on her feet and in control of her senses again, Jasyn's mind returned to that purpose he'd been seeking in life as of late...

...and that thing that he was doing to try to fill it. That's when an obvious question finally registered...

...and he couldn't help but blurt it out. "And who the hell has a bounty on Galen Danner's head anyway?"

Allright, so he didn't expect an answer. But he sure as hell hoped he'd get one...

[ 03-09-2003 01:47 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jasyn Lancaster ]

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Hadn't Lo Ban offerred to pay passage for her? Hadn't he offerred to pay expenses?

Pay? The man has credits for such things???

Didn't I tell Dash she was a jedi -- sort of, er... at least I think so --? Didn't I give him her name?

All the repressed despair over my fear of never seeing Darra again exploded within me at that, curling about itself until it found the means to make itself known... as nothing more than sheer misdirected anger.

"FINE!" I snarled into the comm. "We'll just keep her locked up in the head until we can find a handy place to take her. Good luck on Orb Cartell!

Eagle out!"

I hurled myself into the pilot's seat at that, still snarling to myself.

Never did like this quadrant of space much anyway, I sour-graped myself as my fingers danced along the navigation board, keying in another destination.

Damn if I could think of any place better to take the woman but Sullust...

Space erupted into the beauty of hyperdriven lines, as Eagle spread her wings and knuckled down into serious flying again....

((OOC: Follow Galen, Lo Ban and Shayla into The Lion's Den in "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

[ 03-09-2003 02:01 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Galen ]

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"may I ask where you are going? And we would be happy to come along." I released the button.

Ruhatt looked at me.

"But I thought we..."

"We won't get on Corcasant for a while and since we have nothing esle to do why not."

Well, you can but i'm going back to Sullest to live peacefully."

"Fine." I pushed the button again. "Make that just one person. my friend doesn't want to come along. If thats ok with you. since we are already next to you I can make the transfer now." I said to Dash waiting for what he would say

[ 03-09-2003 02:00 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jebbua Dahutt ]

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"Hi, name's Jebbua." I said as i extended my hand for a handshake.

[ 03-09-2003 02:48 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Jebbua Dahutt ]

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I motioned to the co-pilots chair, "Have a seat."

"I am off to the moon above ORB CARTEL, I'm going to need some help searching a wreckage. How much will you be charging?"

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